How old an old Japanese tour group got me motivated.

They always say that the first step is always the hardest... and it truly is. I recently had a humbling experience last week.

I was on a road trip to Vancouver and my friend and I decided to do the Grouse Grind hiking trail. I was first skeptical whether or not I was going to be able to complete this trail, but I then saw a travel group of elderly Japanese people going up the trail and said to my friend, "alright, goal 1, beat them up the mountain!" and laughed. Little did I know how out of shape I was...

By the first 20 minutes I was completely winded... My friend, who is in slightly better shape than me, was ahead and I was trying desperately to keep up. A little while later, I saw an elderly Japanese man pass me. "Ok," I thought to myself, "he just takes really good care of his body." A little later, another, than another, than another elderly Japanese person passes me up. I was on pace with 2 elderly Japanese ladies and two small children ran passed us. "They have a lot of energy!" I said to the ladies in what little High School Japanese I remember. They replied, "Hai, Genki da ne." Soon, they passed me up too. A little while later, I found my friend waiting for me. "We gotta quit smoking..." he said.

"Yeah... Man I gotta quit smoking."

That became my mantra for the entire ordeal. "Man... I gotta quit smoking. Fuck smoking... I gotta quit..." Step by step, I worked my way up... until finally, a brilliant green sign showed "1/4."

"FUCK! 1/4?!?!?!" I said to my friend. "Are you sure you wanna go all the way up?" my friend asked me. "We'll see how we feel when we get to the 1/2 point," I replied gasping. A while later, we passed the 1/2 point. "Well, we got this far, might as well see how we feel about the 3/4 mark." I felt like that running scene in Forest Gump. "Well might as well run across the entire great state of Alabama. Well, might as well run to the ocean. Well, might as well turn around, run to another ocean."

When we finally reached the top. Completely exhausted, I pulled out my ukulele (yes... I carried my ukulele to the top of the mountain) and played a few songs serenading random people hoping to get some energy back. It seemed all the Japanese people have already taken the gondola back down. I was really hoping to serenade them... and thank them for helping me quit smoking and get my body into shape.

TL;DR Japanese people beat me to the top of a medium level hike and I decided to quit smoking and get into shape.