Bainbridge Island native Megan Gleason won a second-place medal in her first-ever climbing competition at the Paraclimbing Nationals March 1-2 in Oakland, CA.

Gleason, 29, began rock climbing a little over 2 1/2 years ago, starting out doing indoor climbing. Around that same time, the Paralympics added rock climbing to its catalog of sports. Gleason saw that as an opportunity to “be competitive” in a swath of able-bodied climbers.

“I had to make this decision of, ‘OK, do I just show up?’” Gleason said. “And I didn’t really see a downside to doing that, so yeah, I just decided to go for it.”

She has battled spastic cerebral palsy since birth, placing her in the RP2 category of climbers. That classification is for those who have impairments that have a moderate impact on their climbing ability. Gleason noted that her cerebral palsy “mostly affects my right leg, but also my right hand and then slightly on my left foot, and it also makes the muscles really tight.”

Gleason noted that the spastic cerebral palsy makes “my muscles always tight, so while most people can go without stretching, I have to stretch my legs every day or else I feel like I’m trying to walk with stiff boards for legs.” Her right foot does not communicate well with her brain, so she can’t balance on that foot very well, she added.

Nonetheless, Gleason trained for when the cerebral palsy would flare up during a climb, telling herself to “keep climbing” and attempt to calm herself down since the disorder is related to the nervous system.

The scoring for the competition was based on how high each climber went. Gleason obtained a score of 1.73, earning second place in the W-RP2 category and a silver medal. She also said the gym she was climbing in was really cold, so she wore sweatpants to keep her muscles warm and to help control the involuntary shaking in her legs and arms.

Gleason also mentioned she was nervous during the climb, largely due to “imposter syndrome.” She was doing it for the first time while other climbers have done it multiple times. So she doubted if she really belonged there. Regardless, Gleason tried to stay in the head space of being “calm and collected” and attempting to problem solve and stay on the wall for as long as she could.

She grew up in an athletically minded family, as her parents and siblings are runners. Gleason is the oldest of three with her brother Will (25) and sister Cate (22). Gleason said that her mom, Susan, passed down to her grit and the ability to compete at a high level. However, Gleason’s grandpa was on her mind during the climb. “We lost him last summer, and he was a really avid competitor and just all-around athletic guy,” she said.

Growing up, Gleason also competed in “non-physical activities because it’s hard to be competitive with your able-bodied peers” such as Kitsap Regional Library writing contests and Island Theatre’s 10-minute play festival.

For strength training, Gleason said she follows her coach Emmett Cookson’s training plan, which consists of a combination of pull-ups, push-ups, squats, tricep press, bicep curls and core workouts. She also noted that she is incredibly serious about adequately warming up her fingers with hangboard exercises to keep those tendons “happy.”

Cookson started coaching Gleason last November when she was curious about going to nationals. Cookson is based in Seattle through Insight Climbing and provided one-on-one coaching, creating a training plan each month and conducting Zoom check-in calls and climbing video analysis to figure out where she would need to improve.

“Megan grew more [as a climber] when she began doing the workouts,” Cookson said. “I could tell she was highly motivated.”

Gleason noted her competitive nature is what allowed her to weather some of the harder parts of the climb. She said the night before she only got about four hours of sleep because “my body was so ready to tackle the wall,” noting it was difficult to not slip into “panic” mode.

During the climb, Gleason had to figure out how to adjust to the route curving right, her weaker side. She attempted to take it move-by-move and trusted in her strength. She also tried to conserve energy and think about when she could properly use it to assist her effort.

Gleason still climbs on BI at Insight Climbing and Movement and has been a member for two years. She encourages others with disabilities to take up climbing. “If they have disabilities, and they’ve thought about climbing, just go for it,” she said. “If you even have an inkling of thinking that it might be for you, just get out there and try to take a climbing class.”