Location: Honolulu, HI
Length: 1.6 miles roundtrip
Difficulty: Easy-Moderate
Duration: 2 hours
Elevation Gain: 990 ft

The trail started around 5:30 am. After parking the car, my wife and I decided to do the trail together and take it slow as our sons decided to walk fast.

One knee in pain, with knee braces and with no exposure to hiking I started the walk. At one point of the trail, I was able to see the Title whole path and it was so steep when looked from the bottom. The first thing struck my mind was “I am in no way going to make it, should I quit it now or after a while”? Since I needed my walk for the day, I decided not to quit and started my walk with my wife.

“You can’t make it” screamed my mind. I walked, and the destination extended far and far the more I walked. My concerned wife asked me if we should go back and added flavor to my decision of “quit and go back”. The first part I decided was to remove the flavor, so I told my wife why don’t you walk fast and join our sons, when I could do it slow and in worst case I will halt. She too felt that’s a good idea and started her walk.

I sat in a spot and glanced at the destination which was like a Himalayan peak now. Now the question was, how can I do this with a painful knee? A great idea came in mind, how about using a milestone process in place and see! Here it is distance to be covered and not time. I decided to split the track into 4 segments. As I Finish each segment, I will go for a small halt to relax. I also decided to use the metal trail to hold and move so I could use my hand as well for my walk.

All these played a role in me being able to complete this task

• Making sure I had my knees held on place firm with my knee brace. – PREPARATION
• Allowing my wife to move forward so I don’t get into the comfort zone – AVOID COMFORT ZONE
• Splitting the trail into segments – STRATEGIC PLAN
• Utilizing the metal trail bar to move with my hands –MAX UTILIZATION OF TOOLS

Well, the journey was slow and delayed, but I am proud I was able to do it. The result was I wanted to do more, and I had gone for the next one in two days.