Stinging Truth

      Does anyone else have that one painfully honest friend? The one that will actually tell you if you look fat in those pants... Well, if you have that friend, you’ll know that as much as you hate their stupid and insensitive opinion, it matters more than everyone else’s combined. The way I see it, negativity can produce two things: disregard or determination.
       So you look fat in those pants, what are you going to do about it? Are you going to keep wearing them, even though they don’t fit or work? Even though they bunch and crunch and restrict your movement? Or, are you going to change something about yourself so you can fit into those beloved pants that you are so determined to wear?
       In case you haven’t caught on, the pant thing is an analogy! And that painfully honest friend... well, her name is “Tour De Bloc”. A Climbing competition is a friend that will always say “you look fat in those pants,” The question is... are you listening?
       After running into the same hurdle twice in a row during finals... I realized it was time for a little self reflection. For those of you that don’t know me, I’m a gangly 5’10” climber.... typically not hosed by height. However, the last two comps have felt rather scrunchy for me. Women’s 4 at the November 30 CCC TDB and Women’s 2 at the Jan 11 Elevation Place Comp ended up costing me big time.

What a high-step shouldn't look like - Me

      These problems shared an identical move directly after the bonus hold. Essentially, bring your foot up to your ear (when you are my height) and rock over onto that foot. When I couldn’t do the problem in November, I decided to shrug it off because it wasn’t my style and we all have problems that simply don’t fit our strengths... Yesterday in finals my jaw literally hit the floor when I saw that same awkwardly impossible high step that I was somehow supposed to conquer.

What a high-step should look like - Erica Carlson

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   It didn’t go so well... I cruised the problem to bonus and literally ejected myself off the wall as I dynamically tried to hop my foot up on that stupid high crimp. But this time, instead of walking away from the competition saying “that problem just wasn’t my style,” I chose to do evaluate it. The reoccurrence of this obstacle taught me something painfully honest about my climbing. Reluctantly, I will be working on flexibility and vertical type-writer stye shoulder transitions for the next month/s. Yay, party in the house, right? NOT!                                                                                                        I’m determined though, to do whatever it takes to reach my goals, even if that means listening to the advice that I don’t want to hear. I can’t spend all my time and energy playing on strung out balancy slabs when things like scrunchy high steps keep appearing in finals problems. “Learning about your weaknesses is like discovering a gold mine, for this is where your potential for improvement lies” If you look fat in your pants, which I’m sure you do... Figure out a way to make them fit.