Okay, for this one you must have the theme song from the movie Rocky playing in your head to get the total picture.

Brad and I have had some difficult back issues the past year and it didn’t help when I broke my tailbone during the holidays. I think the back issues were one of the reasons I wanted to retire now rather than wait another six or seven years. We are doing better so we decided to challenge ourselves and see if we could hike up the steep trail to the top of the hill where the Xativa Castle sits rather than park at the top. The road up to the top is about a mile, but the hiking trail was shorter and steeper. We hiked down the road later to spare our knees. It was a beautiful hike, but some sections had steep and rocky stairs. At one point Brad asked me if I wanted to turn back and I was feeling good so we pressed on.

Here comes the Rocky’s theme music. You should have felt the immense joy I felt when I reached the top. I would have jumped up and down with my fists in the air, but I was afraid I would scare off the other tourists or get us kicked out. It felt so good to make it and I was giddy all day long. I think all the walking we have done over the last seven weeks has also helped our endurance. I can’t wait for the next challenge. I do have to admit we did down a couple of Ibuprofens when we got to the van and I took a nice long hot bath when we got back home, but I could walk the next day, so I call that a victory.

You still hear the Rocky theme music in your head, don’t you? You are welcome.