Have you watched the National Geographic Documentary called Free Solo yet? If not, you should. It’s about this climber named Alex Honnold who did the unthinkable.

He climbed a 3,000-foot rock wall in Yosemite called El Capitan at 31 years of age. Not only that, he did it without any ropes, harnesses, or a net. What does that mean? It means that if he made a simple error or slipped on his footing during the climb, he would most likely fall to his death. It’s one of the most extremely insane, audacious achievements in human history. In fact, some people call it “one of the great athletic feats of any kind, ever.” And on a side note, it took him 3 hours, 56 minutes, and to this day, he is the ONLY climber to free solo El Capitan.

So, I was thinking…3 hours, 56 minutes…that’s like 4 hours. You know what 4 hours sounds like and reminds me of? An ideal round of golf. So, how about 18 holes of pure, extremely insane, audacious achievements…I mean, Alex Honnold only had to worry about falling to his death once; we get to experience that special kind of terror 18 times per round.  And we willingly subject ourselves to 4 hours of emotional torture every weekend, then come back for more…who’s really the crazy one? And “greatest athletic feats of any kind, ever?” Whatever.

Alex said this…”3000 feet of climbing represents thousands of distinct hand and foot movements, many of the moves I knew through sheer repetition. I climbed El Cap 50 times over the previous decade with a rope. But also, I would spend the day from the summit with 1000 feet of rope, finding the sequence secure and repeatable, and I had to memorize them. I had to make sure that they were so deeply ingrained within me that there was no possibility of error.”

He did it so many times that he said it became easy. For him, it was like taking a walk in the park.