Ready or not, here I come!

I’m one of those people who has a tendency to live in the past or future (i.e. I’m usually thinking “In exactly one month I’ll be doing this,” or “It was three weeks ago I experienced this”) and Saturdays and Wednesdays have become very important to me: I leave Toronto on Saturday, June 19th and I start the climb on Wednesday, June 23rd. Don’t get me wrong, I try to live in the moment as much as I can, but taking myself back and forth in my mind can bring happiness and create motivation for the future. In any case, countdown to climb is at T minus 2 weeks!

I’ve had the great fortune of getting a lot of support from the current Ivey MBA class (they’re putting on another fundraising social event for me this Saturday), and earlier this week I was in Toronto at a networking event with the group and the big question was “are you ready?” My honest answer to that is yes – as ready as I’ll ever be. I’ve logged countless hours on the stair climber (the one that is like a perpetual stair case), my boots are feeling pretty good (altough admittedly I haven’t been outside hiking as much as I would have liked due to weather and being a little nervous to trek in the bush alone), and I think I’ve purchased all of the key things I’ll need to pack -I’ll find out this weekend when the piles in my room make their way to my new REI duffel bag….

The only thing that could stop me from getting to Uhuru Peak is altitude sickness due to lack of oxygen. The one thing I have no control over will be the determining factor, but the key to making it to the top is “Pole, Pole” or “Slow, Slow” in Swahili. I know that going slowly is going to be a challenge for me – I’m the kind of person who would rather run than walk – but I am determined to get myself to the top and get the picture to prove it, so I’ll do whatever I need to do to get there and hug the sign. Fortunately, I’m also a very curious person, and from what I’ve read, the best thing a climber can do is stick close to the guides, which will allow me to ask my million questions while keeping my pace in check .

Jenni