Book Nine

Well, that's it. I finished a Lee Child book last night, right before Steve showed up. I stood outside of the taxi that Steve was in, and the taxi driver said, repeatedly, to Steve, that you should not get out of the car, that there is a scary man outside waiting for you, scowling at you. He looks dangerous. I enjoyed the Lee Child book, as I enjoy them all. The title isn't important. I don't think there's much of a difference between any of the four or five that I've read.

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For my last day in Arkansas, I decided to go to Fountaine Red and Fred's Cave. I did five or ten problems in Fountaine Red that I hadn't done before, in the range of v0 to v4 or so. Great stuff. Almost all of the climbs in that area get two stars in the book, which, I think, is strange. I mean, the ones that I did were every bit as good as many of the three star easies at HCR. Anyway, I had a good time doing that. Fountaine Red is remarkable for its ability to make me feel like a competent climber even when I'm climbing very easy things. It's a great place.
Then Fred's. I felt pretty good, and thought I had a good shot at Fred's Roof, a v10 that I worked for an hour or two a couple of days before. The problem is just three big moves, from good edges to good edges, and then a huge throw to a jug at the end. I managed all three moves on the first day, but did not link any of them.
On the 2nd day, I worked on it for a while before I was able to stick anything. Then, suddenly, I managed the 2nd move (the hardest), and decided to keep going, and stuck the last throw! So I had linked the last two moves at that point. Then I started working it from the start, and, after a couple of tries, linked through the 2nd crux. I found myself bewildered to have managed the crux of the problem, and set up to make the last throw. I went for it, my feet in precisely the right spots, the body position just as I needed, and my right hand blew before I even set off, so I ended up inches short of the last jug. I had never missed that move before.
After that, I took a long break, went back to FR, and did a couple more problems there, flashed a v7 called Unassisted Helicopter (showed to me by Katie and Jonathan, and couple of locals that I've gotten to know), and went back to the Roof.
This is when I started making big mistakes in strategy.
Instead of trying to do it from the start repeatedly, I tried to link the last two moves again. After several tries, I linked the last two moves, again. Then I felt mentally ready to do it, and, physically, completely unable to do it. I tried it twenty more times from the start, and never managed to stick the second crux again. I found that, even though I had maybe enough power to do the moves, my fingers hurt so much that I didn't even want to stick the second throw. I mentally guarded myself from holding that 2nd throw. This was surprising to me. I had been filing down my skin every week or two for months, and didn't have any problems at all with wearing down my tips, although I climbed most days in two and a half weeks. Despite having tough skin from repeated self-inflicted trauma for months, my fingers got sensitized by grabbing holds so hard, so many times. I don't know how to train my skin to not feel pain. I guess the best I can do is just to keep filing the skin down every week, and keep the callouses strong. Don't know what to about the pain.
I left defeated. It remains a struggle to remind myself that it was never a sure thing that I would climb Fred's. v10 is still hard for me. But this bothered me because I felt like I could do it, and, despite a hell of a lot of effort, just didn't.
On the way out, I did another couple of climbs at Fountaine Red so that I left with the feeling of having done something.

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Now I'm back in school. Five hours of lecture today, and a traumatic venipuncture lab that left me and my partner reeling, trying to console eachother that the other person did a good job, and that we were both really sorry. I think we both did pretty well, but there were definitely some tough moments. Ah, med school. I can't imagine being happier doing anything else. I can't wait to be a third year, a fourth year, a resident, and a doctor. And I'm looking forward to training my ass off in the gyms. I'm the luckiest guy in the world.