I haven't written in a while. I took a look back and read some of the things I had written and thought man...I am such a downer. I want to write something more positive. Well, here you go. THIS is MY positive blog. I am going to try and be more positive. I want to be a more positive influence on people, instead of coming off as a big fat whiner.
I decided to do the Warrior Dash. Well, really it wasn't my idea. My friend in Kansas City, who I was planning on visiting had posted something on her Facebook page about the Warrior Dash. I was like WHAT'S that???
I looked it up. You should too!
http://www.warriordash.com/register2011_kansas.php
My reaction was first, wow...um NO. Then I sat and thought about it for another few hours and said, hey I can do that too! She and her husband were doing the 9:30 am wave and had encouraged me to do the same, but by the time I got to the registration, all that remained was 9 am and 1:30 pm. I went for the 9 am spot.
So for the next month, I decided to try and physically train for the thing. Yeah right, like that's possible. Let's go find a mud pit and swim through it in the back yard! Oh my kids would have loved that! I tried running, which I hadn't really done for the last few months. I had been doing the Wii Active Fit, cause let's face it. I don't have a lot of time and that was what worked for me.
I downloaded the Nike GPS+ on iPhone and started running the first night. I crapped out after a half mile. I thought...well I am super screwed now! But I kept trying to run. I would go as far as I could and then catch my breath and then go again. Then the real fun began. Ever had shin splints? WELL those are fun...and hurt really really bad. I got my first shin splint within 3 days of running. It wasn't bad at first, so I stopped running and just super sped walked. Then it became painful to walk. I visited my doctor, who informed me that I needed to stop running and speed walking althogether until I was completely healed. I asked him if it was safe for me to do the Warrior Dash, and he said no. I was totally bummed. I really wanted to do it.
So I get healed up, and go back to the doctor and he clears me for running and the Warrior Dash. Guess what? I get another blasted shin splint, in the OTHER leg!! I couldn't believe it! I had less than two weeks to train for the blasted race and I couldn't run AGAIN!!
So I didn't even go to the doctor, cause I already knew what to do. I waited for a week, doing my physical therapy and resting my leg. It seemed to go away. I even bought better shoes, thinking that my crappy tennish shoes were the reason I might be having problems.
Then even more fun happens. My youngest son comes down with RSV, in the middle of July. I was like ARE YOU FOR REAL??? RSV typically strikes in the winter. He was so sick and he was put on a nebulizer for 6 days before we went for a follow up. When we saw his doctor the first time, they initially told us, no travel. Then after his follow up, the doctor cleared him for car travel only.
It came down to that last minute. But I was able to compete. We packed our stuff and came down to stay with my parents for a week.
The Day of The Dash:
Got to say, I picked a crappy day to do this race on. It was humid and hot. The temperature was threatening to go to 103 for the day, and who knows what the heat index was of that. For someone who was used to no humidity and low heat in summer, this was not fun. But I kept up my energy, ok it was a lot of nervous energy. I was a big ole ball of nerves. I paced, I wrung my hands, and I peppered my husband with about a million questions. I'm surprised he didn't smack me on the head from getting annoyed. LOL
I met some really awesome people on the bus to the dash. They had just completed the Tough Mudder in Beaver Creek, Colorado. I was like oh we're from Colorado!!! Then we got to talking. I ended up hanging out with them until the race started. They were very good at keeping me calm and kept me in good spirits the whole time.
Finally when it came time for the race to start, I was very anxious. At this point, I just wanted to get it over and done! I wasn't prepared, but I WAS going to do it! I started out fairly good. I kept up the running for a while, taking breaks when I needed. Cause let's face it, I'm not much of a runner right now. Got to the first obstacle, and I was like hmmm this is pretty easy. Yeah, don't ever say that. If you're afraid of heights, this race is NOT for you. I happen to be pretty terrified of heights. There were about three that gave me the OH CRAP...I CAN"T DO THIS. But you know what rocks about this race, the team work. I was in the back, let's call us the people who don't care whether or not we get a good time, we just want to finish. I hung out with them for the entire race. It was awesome, everyone was encouraging each other through obstacles. There was one, where you had to climb up, then go down a few steps and then slide down. I was shaking in my muddy sneakers. I didn't want to do it. I started chanting out loud: I can do this, I can do this. I grabbed the wooden slats and kept chanting the whole time, even though I felt like I was going to die.
The guys behind me and in front of me kept yelling encouraging words of support. They kept saying, Great job! You can do it! And you know what I did! Then came the cargo net. You had to climb up the cargo net and then turn around and climb back down. No big deal right? WRONG! Felt like the blasted obstacles was 100 feet in the air, even though it might have been 20-30. I started my chant again, and I noticed I wasn't the only one who was scared. She smiled at me and chanted along with me. Got to love that team work!
The last two obstacles were the fun ones and some might call them the scary ones. I had to jump over two rows of flaming wood and then crawl/swim in a mud pit to the finish line. That was actually kind of fun. The fire makes you feel like you've accomplished something pretty spectacular. The mud, well that was just plain fun! I felt like a big kid. I stood there for a minute, contemplating whether or not to get in or just dive in. Yep, you guessed it. I kind of dived/fell in. And then I swam through the rest of the way, under the barbed wire to the finish line. I got me my medal!!
So, what did I learn? Well you could say I can do a marathon, but I know I'm not ready for that. I could barely run half the dash without having to stop for air. What I do know is this: no matter what obstacle I face, I WILL overcome it. I will fight my fears and I will not let things stand in my path. I am a warrior now!
