lunges

“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something.

You can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.”

-Arnold Schwarzenegger

That, my friends, was my post boot camp workout session. It was the workout from last Thursday, which I missed due to my work schedule. Mike, the instructor, offered for anyone who missed the session to stay to “make it up”. I was pretty miserable through the first work out. My IT bands were bugging me, and I pretty much felt like throwing up the whole time- not actually that unusual for me at boot camp. Call me crazy, but ten minutes after the workout was over I figured “what the hell, may as well see how much of it I can get through”. After all, I thought it would be good mental preparation for the marathon, and I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge.

So the gauntlet was thrown, and I accepted. I offered to run home after so Adam could leave, but he agreed to stay and do it with me. We did the 400 lunges, and Mike laughed when I high fived Adam (who was the only other person who volunteered to stay). He asked what I was celebrating for when I had only finished the first part, and I told him “we need to celebrate the small victories in life”. I continued through the rest of the ~~torture~~ workout with a smile. The further I got in, the more my legs felt like a foreign entity. I was having trouble getting them to maneuver where I wanted them to go, but, in a strange way, it was getting easier. I think it was just the thought of being closer to done. I made it through all the exercises. Then I finished the 30 burpees Adam had left with him. I felt bad that he stayed with me, because he hadn’t eaten and was clearly hurting- but he made it through the whole way too. I felt stronger when I finished than I had when I started. (Maybe I was just delirious at that point) In fact, I think if Mike had told me to go run laps after, I would have gladly done it. lol

That workout made me feel more prepared for the marathon than any training I’ve done to date. The whole way through I repeated my mantra “marathon runners don’t quit” in my head and it worked! I was tired when I started, and fried by the time I finished, but I finished- in a respectable 40 minutes. Now that I am coming down from the endorphins, I’m just starting to get sore and I’m sure I’ll be hurting tomorrow. However, it will be well worth it. 🙂