Manitou Incline: One Mile Of Stairs

This weekend...we walked up almost 3,000 steps to the top of the Manitou Incline, which is one mile of stairs and a 2,000 foot altitude change. I'm too tired to get wordy with this post, so thank goodness for pictures. I think they speak for themselves, anyways.

Five of us made it up to the top, but really, you are a team with everyone on the trail. It's as if you are all together, going through the same grueling adventure, and supporting each other until the end. You even photo bomb each other's photos:

I've been rockin' it out on the stairmaster as of late, but the altitude is what KILLS ya. You already start out at 6,000 feet and then end up at over 8,000. It makes your body work a lot harder, you have less oxygen, and apparently poor circulation. I freaked out when my hands started tingling and I realized that my hands had swollen so bad that my rings were stuck. Here you can compare the during and after pics:

So why did we put ourselves through this?

A) To say we did.

B) For the PIZZA at the bottom!

Five miles later (one up and four down), this was heaven:

I also took an hour and a half nap after, and yet somehow I'm still tired...

I guess it was worth it. Maybe ;)