The Manitou Incline. I'd heard about it. I had seen pictures that had been texted to me. I learned that Apolo Ohno climbed it several times while residing at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, and that it was the proving ground for locals. But this stair climb, which looks completely wimpy in this picture shot at the Incline's base, beats any skyscraper stair climb I've ever done or could do in the Windy City.
You see, this is the easiest part of the climb. And then it goes up. And up. And up as you scale a mountain at some crazy degree that I'm too scared to look up for fear that I'll never want to ascend these stairs again. Your legs burn. Your lungs can't get enough air. You're chugging water desperately hoping that might make it a little easier. Your back starts to ache. You're breathing as hard, maybe even harder, than your fastest sprint around the track. Yeah, there's a reason that sign warns that it's an extreme trail.
But I'm ready to climb it again, even if I'm still too scared to descend using any other trail but the long winding one that everyone ran down except me (one slip on the gravel and I was walking). And do it faster than that first-time climb.
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