Awesome

There's a loop of connecting roads in New Zealand, up behind the village of Hanmer Springs. Jack's Pass and Jollie's Pass roads angle from the town like a pie slice, then join a tangent road on an alpine plateau nearly 2000 feet above. It's an impressive set of gravel roads that twist and switch back relentlessly. The views are wonderful and on a summer evening - coming back from a day's fishing it gives you a sense of really being alive as you stare to the valley below.
The steep grades are also used by the mountain bike club and the folks from Christchurch that come to town every weekend. Our friends in Hanmer - she works at the local medical unit as a nurse. And every weekend someone comes in with a slit open nose, leg, scalp, forehead - you name it the mountain bikers manage to do it. It's a steep and crazy set of trails between the gravel roads. Many times we've passed cyclists pushing or trying their best to cycle up the grades. The cars we've had in our trips have all had to go up in first gear.
And so it was that we were set out fishing one summer morning, driving in first gear through the steepest part. Around a corner we came and 1/2 way up the straight away was a fellow running up hill, all by himself. "Look at this crazy bastard," I commented to Amelia, shaking my head that anyone found joy in that kind of suffering. We all enjoy our physical exploits, but running up a steep hill for 9 km? As we drove closer, something wasn't right. He was using ski poles to run up the mountain. Closer, we noticed his legs were incredibly skinny. As we came behind him, things hit home. He was a double amputee from his thighs down, running up the mountain, using the poles as support, and moving faster than I could have. There were so many things I wanted to ask him right then, not the least of which was what motivated him to run up the hill. But you can easily read into that kind of thing - because it's there and because I can, the most likely replies. It's no different than hiking 20km a day for us to go fishing. Why? Because we can, because we want to, because we enjoy it. The fact that he was a double amputee running up a mountain shouldn't be seen as any different. He was just going about life. And for the 10 seconds of my life that I was watching as we drove past, it was simply awesome to watch someone living their own life to their terms.