
The last time I was at the rock gym I had a really good workout and sent some new routes. Tonight I wasn’t nearly as lucky. It started out well enough when I was warming up doing some easy bouldering routes. After finishing a couple of those, I was ready to try a problem that I’ve been working on for a couple days now. I quickly got to the point where I get stuck, but then made a quick and decisive move to finish the route. I was so excited to have sent this route before Aimee because she was giving me crap, telling me how hard it was and suggesting maybe I should try an easier one first. I quickly brought her over to show her my progress and help her finish it too. I tried to hop right back on the wall and send it again to show Aimee, but my arms were too pumped out and I couldn’t make it. After Aimee tried a couple times without success I offered to try to show her the move that finished it for me. I hopped straight up to the tricky part and showed her my technique. I proceeded to do the same move a couple times in a row to demonstrate it to her. Now that I had a little confidence back, I tried to climb the route again. I was working my way up the wall when I stretched for a hold, but couldn’t keep my grip. I came off the wall and felt a quick burning sensation on my hand. When I looked down I saw that I had pulled a large flap of skin away from my pinky. It looks a lot more gruesome than it feels, but it still shortened my night at the gym. I was able to tape it, but at a severe cost to my dexterity. That, coupled with my weak, tired arms made for a lousy workout tonight. The good news is that my expectations are now lowered so next time almost has to be good by default.