"My Climb" NSV

I live less than a 1/4 mile from some beautiful mountain top walking trails. Obviously, to walk these trails, you need to climb the mountain first. I've done this 3 times over the years. The first time I was about 20 and weighed about 135, not a problem. The next time I took my kids. I'm guessing I weighed about 220 by then. I barely made it to the top, my kids were waiting for me there, then had to sit and wait for 10 minutes for me to catch my breath and gain some strength back. Over the years since then, they have begged and begged to go for a walk on the mountain. I have come up with excuse after excuse as to why today wasn't a good day to go. Last year at 38 and about 250 lbs, I attempted the climb again with a friend. It was one of the most embarrassing times in my life. We had to stop about 4 times on the way up.
After four months of hitting the gym 5-6 times a week and losing 45 pounds (about 62 left to go) the mountain has been calling me back. So today instead of getting in the car to drive to the gym, I strapped on my HRM, grabbed my ipod and water bottle and headed to my mountain. I climbed all the way to the top, never stopping once. Funny, I remember it being much steeper! I walked the trails for about an hour and was a bit emotional. I am so mad at myself for all the years I have wasted being an overweight, out of shape slug. I can never get those years back with my kids. But, I'll tell you what, you can bet that the first thing I do this summer with them will be climbing that mountain. Maybe I will be waiting for them at the top!
I feel more inspired than ever to keep this journey going. Today, I stood taller than the trees. I hope I have inspired anyone else out there that has a "mountain" to climb.

gonna try to add a pic