A whole lot of running, a few burpees, a ton of mud, and an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment!
Cue the alarm clock at 6am, I wake up nervous, unable to even contemplate eating breakfast, knowing I am about to embark on a whole new challenge and unsure if I am ready for what’s in store for me! I am filled with anticipation, shakes, nervousness, and excitement as I get my things together, pack up my bag, and throw on my “I Love Burpees” t-shirt, made by yours truly just for this race! Who can eat with such feelings, but alas, I know I must get some fuel in this body of mine so I whip up an absolutely delicious shake, with Shakeology of course;) Kiss my hubby and kids and say a still shaky “wish me luck” as I head out the door! It’s time to goooooooooo!
As I head over to meet up with my team, only the best teammates ever, my belly is sinking, my mind racing, my thoughts scattered between fear of the unknown and knowing how awesome I am going to feel at the finish line BUT first I have to get there! We share a few laughs about being ready vs being terrified, get all of our junk together, and load into the car. As I shut the back door of someone else’s car I realize THIS IS IT! There’s no turning back, I am along for the ride, and that ride includes MUD, OBSTACLES, A WHOLE LOT OF RUNNING, and more importantly me FACING MY FEARS and PUSHING MYSELF! Oh, did I mention the MUD, lots and lots of MUD!
Fast forward an hour and a half, we are pulling into the event and again, my belly is sinking, my head spinning, my heart racing! We are HERE! Get signed in, BREATHE, get stretched out, BREATHE, snap some pics, BREATHE, hit the restrooms, twice, because I know I downed a bottle of water and then a preworkout concoction, and I’m about to enter a 4 mile muddy obstacle course, not fun with a full bladder! Just when I think we still have a few minutes to relax they call out our starting time! WHAT!?! ALREADY?!? NOW!?! Oh my oh my oh my, BREEEEEATHE!
And we’re off! The best thing about starting is that all of that nervous energy, all of that fear, all of that feeling like I’m going to pass out, it all disappears because I am no longer thinking about being afraid, instead I AM DOING IT! I am doing what I was afraid to do, I am running, running up and down and towards the mud and obstacles that I still fear, but fear or no fear I AM DOING IT!
The terrain is a bit brutal, for sure! The race begins with quite the steep hike/run straight up, or so it feels, then the next thing I know I am sliding down a hill just as steep, grabbing the weeds on the side for dear life as to not slip and take out the people in front of me! The sun is shining down on us, the air dry, the dust almost too much, and after a mile or so of this we are all wondering where the heck is the mud, the water, the refreshing feeling to cool us off! Brutal but awesome! After scaling a few walls on my own I just knew there would be a taller one, just out of my reach, darn! I got myself up there, and as I clung there, feeling like a trapped puppy dog, for what felt like forever I knew I’d need a boost! Before I could even ask someone gave me just the boost I needed to conquer that wall. Thank God for terrific teammates! ONWARD! At this point we are hot, sweaty, covered in dry dirt, and on a mission to get to the water, I say water, really I mean MUD pits!
Be careful what you ask for;) Truthfully it’s all a lil blurry as to what obstacle came first and when, and I am sure I am forgetting something in this glorious experience but back to the race! I do know we were all pretty happy to see a water-slide up ahead after all of the dry running! I got up to it alongside one of my team mates, and as he pushed himself along I had the thought “ok cool, it’s not going to be that fast”…WRONG! This slide was pretty steep, and pretty long, and had a pretty good drop off into a huge mud pool! So, I started to push myself along and all of a sudden I have no control and I am FLYING at ungodly speeds (exaggeration? yes, but in my head that is what it felt like). I have this fear, or maybe just a grand dislike for mud in my nose, so I held my nose for the entire ride down, lol, and so tight that my nose ring cut me. Ah the joy! As fast as it started it ended with me plunging into the biggest mud puddle ever but oh so refreshing, if you can say that about mud!
So, a few more twists, turns, lifts, climbs, and a heck of a lot more muddy trails and I realize that not only am I doing this thing but I am doing it pretty freakin well! As we came upon the inverted wall my heart sank…I can’t do that one=/ Then that cool chick in my head said OH YES YOU CAN! I mean, worse case scenario is that I’d get another boost, but I did really want to try it on my own first. Guess what? This cool chick DID IT, on my own! Score!
The absolute hardest part of this race (in my opinion) and my absolute favorite part of it had to be the quarter mile barbed wire hill climb! This thing was STEEP and SLICK and at times felt IMPOSSIBLE! That is where teamwork comes in in a huge way! To conquer that awful hill we all had to get pretty close, our own team and anyone else around you. Grab a leg, climb a body, slide back down, dig in an elbow, let someone climb up your body, slide a lil, and eventually we all made it to the top with busted up knees and elbows, but with an unexplainable pride for conquering that beast! And what good is any mud run without a few battle wounds, it is called Spartan after all!
More running, climbing, tire pulls, scaling walls, and I can’t forget the burpees, oh those burpees! Another shout out to my awesome team, we all did burpees together, whether or not one of us technically didn’t have to we just busted them out together. It’s an incredible feeling to be part of a team that great!
4 miles of incredibly steep hills, 2.5 hours of climbing them, running them, sliding down them, obstacles galore, beat up knees, cuts and scrapes and bruises, and one kick ass race CONQUERED! One very proud girl right here! Faced the fear, ran the race, and FINISHED STRONG right along side my incredible team, my fit fam, my friends! AWESOME!
~AROO~
Crossed that finish line so proud, so accomplished, so happy, and wondering…..what next? Oh yes, there is a next…..
FitMom34 