Around the end of last June, a friend and I decided we needed something to motivate us to get our behinds off the couch and get into shape. She came up with the idea of signing up for a mud run.
I should preface this by saying I am not a runner. Not just “not a runner” but I avidly hate running. The idea of it makes me lethargic.
Since then, I have drastically altered both my eating and my exercise habits. This was more or less the kickstart to my journey to becoming Tabitha Klausen (maybe not to that extreme, but a girl has to have goals, right?)
In August I ran a 5K mud run in Indiana, a Warrior Dash. It was SO MUCH FUN. We ran (or walk/jogged/dry heaved) our way through woods and fields, climbing ropes, vertical walls, balance beams, mud filled trenches, and jumped over fire. . . It was fantastic.
My tshirt, completion medal, and race number from Warrior Dash
The only obstacle I couldn’t do was the monkey bars, I didn’t even try because I knew I didn’t have the strength to carry myself across. I was so proud of myself for completing everything else but in the back of my head I have that lingering shame of skipping the damn monkey bars. Goal for my next race: beat the monkey bars.
In about three weeks, I, along with a group of others who have aptly named ourselves the Mud Assassins, will be going back to Indiana for a Spartan Sprint! This race promises to much more challenging:
Having completed one and running another this month makes me feel like a badass. Whether I really am or not is completely beside the point. Having the courage to step so far outside of my comfort zone and text myself both physically and mentally gives me more confidence than I could have imagined.
Whenever I wear this shirt to the gym, I almost always get people asking me what it’s for and I live for the look I get when I tell them.
What kind of long term goal do I have with this? Eventually I want to complete a Tough Mudder but I know I am eons from doing that (at least with any kind of success). For now I am content with my little 5K. Five years ago I wouldn’t have considered the Warrior Dash a possibility. . . who knows what the next five years hold for me.
Today’s motivational photos:
a Fisticuffs blog 