Day 1

I emailed my sister late last night and stated the obvious:

Emma, I have decided that in order to climb this mountain we're going to need to focus. And train. So I'm signing up to a mountaineering course in Scotland in March. By all means, join me. 

Naturally, she replied first thing the next morning, business-like and efficient as ever:

I am with you all the way. Count me in. 

The best thing about my sister, the rest of my family, and my friends, is that when I wake up at 5am with a Eureka! moment and decide I want to live on the beach in Costa Rica - or in this case, climb a mountain - they run with it and often say they'll even join me. 

A couple of hours after said email exchange, I'd booked my sis and I on a week long mountain skills course where we'll learn all about ice axes and crampons and get to summit a few UK peaks. 

I figure - the key to getting anything done is to act on it immediately. If I talk about this mountain any longer and don't put at least one small step in place then there's a 99% chance it will never happen. 

I know myself too well - lots of talking the talk and often not a lot of walking the walk. I'm not lazy, I just get distracted and if I don't make tracks straight away it's likely something new and exciting will pop up and before you know it I'm no longer talking ice axes and crampons in Switzerland but yoga mats and Oms in South East Asia. 

But now there's no backing out. The course has been paid for, I've roped (ha...ha) three other people into joining me on Piz Bernina, and what's more - I've started this blog. I've exposed my big goal to the public arena and now anyone reading this can hold me personally accountable if I don't end up on that mountain by the 29th September 2015. 

I felt quite chuffed with myself for getting the mountain skills course booked, so decided to really push the boat out and go for a swim after work. Swimming is a new hobby for me and I started mostly because I like the peace and quiet it provides after a typical day in chaotic London. But now it's going to serve as part of my fitness training as well. Today I managed a couple hundred metres and basically felt as though I was about to throw up or pass out, but it got the job done and my legs are aching now so I figure that's a good thing.

Like I said ... starting on the couch. Got a looooong way to go before I hit that 13, 284 foot peak.

Image courtesy of Pinterest.