So, I've been MIA this summer on my blog, primarily to spend time with my sister's kidlets. The rest of my time I spent thinking about how I should be training for the 25 km bike ride, the Foam Fest, and (most importantly) the Tough Mudder.
I ended up too sick to do the bike ride, which is fortunate because the day of the ride we had thunderstorms and the riders were pulled off the course. Had I gone, I likely would have been electrocuted. I mean, I have no proof that would happen, but no proof it wouldn't either, so there you go.
Summer plans:
- Kid's Spartan
- Bike ride
- Spend time with kidlets (and it was so amazingly awesome). Gratitude every day for being so fortunate to be a significant part of their lives.
- Foam Fest...a learning experience. Ultimately, I had a lot of fun and this is a race I'd want to do again (though in a different location because they were as organized as a bunch of stoned squirrels trying to solve world peace).
- Tough Mudder...was very muddy.
Ok, so for Foam Fest, I learned that my internal dialogue is a jerk. Before even attempting an obstacle, I told everyone, "I can't do this." Fortunately, my team had me try, and I did it...sure, I got teary in the process and I skipped the following ones, but I did do it.
The Tough Mudder was anxiety inducing. We stood in the start chute forever, so enough time for me to realize how many people were invading my personal space and speculate that I was the least fit person on my team. I envisioned them having to literally carry me to the medic station.
But having learned from Foam Fest, I tried to go into it with a positive mindset. And I was 3/4 up the wall before the "I can't" came out. In Tough Mudder fashion, the strangers at the top were like, "well, you are so you might as well make it easier on us". Then they yanked me over to the other side. My gratitude for them in that moment made me all teary. (I am quite the emotional person).
I can't say that I did all obstacles or that I even tried all obstacles. After falling three times on one, which involved hitting the back of my head on the ground, I skipped a couple obstacles. But I'm ok with that.
The Tough Mudder was the culminating event for me. Years ago, I set my sights on completing one. However, I was never physically able to even consider signing up.
This year, though, it was time. I signed up without a team, that's how important this was to me. And then my family came through, as well as a stranger, and we got muddy.
Now that I've been there and done that, I plan to lounge in a hammock, with a good book, and servants to bring me stuff. Failing that, I guess I will continue with my StepBets and maybe yoga?