Fun Size Slackmistress

betheboy:

A brief list of some of things I did this past Saturday:

1. Willingly waded through ice water.
2. Crawled through mud
3. Climbed over 10 foot walls
4. Hiked up hill, after hill after hill up to 7,500+ feet
5. Made my way back down those hills
6. Went down a water slide
7. Got electrocuted

This and about 15 other challenges were all part of The Tough Mudder, an obstacle endurance run that my wife, some friends and I participated in this weekend along with a few thousand of the bravest people I have ever met.

We’ll have pictures soon and there are some on the Mudder Facebook page but now that it’s done I can tell you a few things:

• It is not easy. In fact, it was really hard; even harder than I expected. 10 miles, much of it uphill and over 20 tough obstacles is no picnic. I made it, but it pushed me to my limits. Had it been longer than 10 miles I might have fallen out because I was absolutely out of gas by the end. This is in part due to my failure to eat enough that morning but I think the hills had a big part in sapping my energy. Just so you know what we were up against, the bulk of the hiking involved going up hills like this one below, and I’m talking about the hill in the background AKA, a ski slope, one of many we went up without using the lift.

• Now that it’s done I am wrecked but in the moment it was great and crossing the finish line with my wife (after we ran through live wires) was exhilarating.

• While it’s not easy, it is possible for anyone to do this. If you think you can’t, consider this: I am in good, but not great shape. Two years ago I was in terrible shape. One day I tried to jog and lasted all of 27 seconds. A few months later I ran three miles, 6 months later I ran a half marathon and 6 months after that a full marathon. Yesterday I completed this crazy thing but I am not special, I just put in the work; a little at first, then a little more until I found myself doing amazing things. You too can do amazing things.

• Maybe I’m crazy but I’d do this again someday.

Thank you to everyone who supported me, everyone who ran with me and everyone who helped me along the way. I am exhausted but grateful.

I need a day to properly process this (not to mention that I got back from England on Friday, went straight to the race, ran it on Saturday, then came home last night and I have a pile of work to get through) but I will say this:

I spent more than half my life as a fat girl. And I’m going to be 40 years old this year. It’s never too late to make changes. Little steps turn into big steps. And then suddenly you’re running up a slippery half pipe in 90 degree heat after climbing 9 miles of hills.  Put in the work, have a little faith, and there will be someone there to catch you.

Ami, Dylan, and Rudy help me the rest of the way.