So which occupation has the ‘Fittest/Healthiest’ people?
A quick search on Google will bring several mentions in favour of gym instructors, nutritionists and medics. But, we think that they haven’t met movers yet. Here’s why! This past weekend, we took our hype and energy to the Aberdares Ranges in Central Kenya and climbed the Rurimeria Hill, one of the Aberdares towering peaks. The hiking community knows it as the Beast of the Aberdares and its summit is at 3,860 meters above sea level.
Guess what? We did it in a record 5 hours. This has NEVER been achieved before by any group that hiked this mountain according to the Forest rangers and the guides who were with us (the average time taken by hikers is 9 hours).
The unprecedented speed can be attributed to our everyday job which includes climbing up and down several floors with furniture in hand and using our creativity to hit our target. Being in the field has instilled the ‘Do Or Die’ nature in us. Faced with a task, we have no option but to push on, take the necessary risk and deliver what we promise. Giving up is not in our vocabulary. This tenacity definitely gave us a boost at the Aberdare allowing us to break a record, have fun and bond.
Other than this, we noticed a few other aspects that we learned during this hike.
Team Work: Climbing to the first peak (we found ourselves calling it the first floor) was tough! It was literally an uphill task. From the very beginning, we were there for each other to encourage and push each other to achieve our targets. If you had aimed at reaching the 4th peak (summit) and the thought of quitting mid-way came up, the energy around you would keep you going; because there was someone giving you all the reasons why you just had to keep going. This hike really exercised our teamwork muscles.
Mental Resilience: Resilience is that positive attitude that kept us going as the climb got steeper and steeper. We had lots of this going around, especially because none of us had been to these mountains before and we had no idea how far apart these peaks were, so it was just one foot ahead of the other until we got there.
Challenges: If there’s one thing that this hike taught us, it’s that when faced with a challenge, you have to know how to pace yourself according to your strength. From the beginning of the week, our team was advised to assess our physical fitness and choose which peak we’d get to and prepare according to that goal. So we grouped ourselves and climbed according to our ability. Some were faster than the others but we hit our targets with some surpassing them.
If someone asks which occupation has the most physically fit people the answer should be swift that Movers are the real deal. Well, at least in Kenya. Rurimeria Hill in the Aberdares knows this!
