Wounded Warrior Project

Tough Mudder Recap(Or How Maximum Results Boot Camp Owned Vermont)

“You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals.”

-Booker T. Washington

My journey to the New England Tough Mudder began 8:30 pm in West Hartford.  My teammates had arrived long ahead of me in Vermont while I stayed behind for a CT-Alive event (more of that to come in a future post…when I have pics).  By the time I arrived at the house, it was pretty rowdy- a vast understatement. lol Most of the group had run that morning and were celebrating their victory by further dehydrating their sunburned bodies with massive quantities of alcohol.  Makes total sense to me. 🙂

Being the only sober person in the room (it didn’t take Adam and G-dawg long to catch up, having only arrived 2 hrs before I did) it was a pretty entertaining scene… especially when G-dawg was telling my friends how terrified he is of me because I’m “impervious to pain”.  In his drunken state, he also managed to convince one the guys who ran Saturday to do the course again with us.  There were considerable amounts of Patron involved in this decision process…

All that being said, I didn’t get a heck of a lot of sleep.  I resorted to stuffing tissue in my ears and curling up on a chair in another room in an unsuccessful attempt to drown out some of the noise.  I probably drifted off to sleep in the early hours of the morning, only to wake up a few later.  The Saturday group was in pretty rough shape, but in true team form came out to support us anyway.  

The course was different from the NorCal mudder in that you had to climb a Berlin Wall to get to the start.- a nice touch in my opinion.  Many of the obstacles were the same, but there were a few new ones like the Electric Eel (getting shocked while crawling under barbed wire) and some under ground tunnels that were tight  even for me.  Our first obstacle was a dumpster filled with ice where you had to climb under a board and out the other side. There was so much ice it was hard to wade your way through; and the temperature of the water made it difficult to breath. Sound fun right?

From there we ran up and down the ski slope so many times I lost track (oh and there were some obstacle mixed in between).  The uphills were so steep there were times we were crawling on all fours, and the downhills were so muddy it was hard to move.  I would take a step and be literally knee deep!!!  I LOVE mud, but it was A LOT- even for me. lol

No surprise, there were a lot of water obstacles. We crawled under barbed wire in muddy water, climbed through tunnels in muddy water, went under and over logs in….you get the idea.  😉 We got blasted with snow and freezing water going up the hills- at one point the water hit me so hard I got knocked off track. lol  Thankfully, the water on the walk the plank was not NEARLY as cold as last time.  It was nice to be able to breath when I hit the surface!   BTW it was still TERRIFYING- absolutely my LEAST FAVORITE obstacle!!!  I would rather go through the electric shock 5 times (which just for the record was not that bad… maybe they turned down the voltage?) than jump off that plank.

I spent extra time swimming because I fell in on the monkey bars (in retrospect, maybe not the best obstacle to try with my shoulder…) AND off the rope where we were supposed to shimmy across the pond.  The rest of the obstacles I managed though! The walls were much easier with a team- especially coming down.  I also made it up Everest this time despite wearing mudddy Vibrams with no tread.  The cargo net, snow obstacles, logs, and tunnels were all pretty easy for me, although I did a great job scraping myself up on the logs and came out of the tunnels bleeding from my knee.  I think I was the first to draw blood!  I also made it across the plank in record time because I was afraid of the guy yelling at everyone to move faster.  There was a point where Kelly and I momentarily got caught up when we went to jump over the fire and they cranked it up.  We were so cold and close to being finished at that point that we (not so gracefully) hopped over it anyway.

Overall, everyone on our team KICKED ASS.  I don’t think anyone was prepared for those hills, but everyone plowed through them.  We worked together as a team and BEASTED through that course! (even our recruit from Saturday, who stayed with us even after he sobered up)  The energy was amazing. I was so happy for everyone who had finished for the first time.  There is no greater feeling than achieving a goal you aren’t sure you can reach.  I was especially proud of all the people in our group who ran with various injuries and were still able to push through the pain and finish.  I couldn’t imagine being part of a more motivated, determined, and dedicated (not only to their goals, but also each other) group of people!

So in case you are wondering what a bunch of Boot Campers do after conquering a Tough Mudder, I will tell you.  They set another goal AND KICK IT IN THE FACE.  Looks like G-Dawg and I will have some company in September for the Ultra Beast! (…at least for half the course)

Love these guys!!!!

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Versatile Blogger (Take 2)

“All the gold in the world cannot buy a dying man one more breath

– so what does that make today worth?”

Og Mandino

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!!

In the spirit of giving thanks, the theme of today’s blog is gratitude.  I have so many things to be grateful for- not least of which is a second chance at a HAPPY life.  Escaping a bad (dangerous, and potentially fatal) situation can give you a new outlook and appreciation for life.  If I had any idea how much happier and fuller life could be when I was in the abuse, I think I would have gotten out a lot sooner.  There is no reason for anyone to settle in this life.  There are no do-overs.  If you want to make something happen for yourself, don’t wait.  Go for it now!

I am so grateful for the life I have now- my supportive boyfriend, family, friends, coworkers, fellow boot campers, the CT-ALIVE members, and the Arch Angels.   I am also grateful for this blog and bonds it’s allowed me to develop with other bloggers.  There are so many inspirational individuals out there, and I truly enjoy reading their blogs and feeling connected to many of them.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Sweet Simple Living for nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award.  It was a very pleasant surprise. 🙂  Although I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to accept twice (this being the second time), I thought this would be a good opportunity to say thank you and share some of the recent awesome blog discoveries I’ve made.

I would like to nominate the following wonderful bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award:

Tina Running For Freedom:  This blog is bran-spanking-new.  It belongs to a close personal friend of mine, and fellow CT-ALIVE board member.  She is a survivor of domestic abuse, thriver, and hosts a network TV show called Beyond Violence to raise awareness about abuse.  She is currently running in an effort to lose weight and raise money for victims of abuse.  Today she is participating in her first 5 K!  I am SO PROUD of her!

The Healthy Push: I would recommend this blog (and Facebook feed) to anyone interested in working out.  They have great images, recipes, exercise tips, motivational quotes, etc.   Conveniently, there post today is tips on how to avoid over stuffing (bad pun intended) yourself on Thanksgiving.

Heikewrites:  Heike is a talented writer, an optimist, and also a survivor of childhood abuse.  She is very open about her own struggles and always has something interesting posted and I definitely recommend checking her out!

The Everyday Warrior:  Well, she is just that- an everyday warrior (better known as a super woman 😉 ) She is a wife, mother, and runner who happens to be training for a half marathon and Tough Mudder.  She is also tirelessly working to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and could use our support !:)

Cerridwen’s Cauldron: “Wit, Wisdom, Humor, Nonsense, Rants and Raves, Brewed With a Pinch of Individuality Since 2009”- that pretty much sums it up!  I especially appreciate the wit. 🙂  She’s already been nominated, but I’d like to recommend visiting her blog anyway.

Remember the H:  A fellow marathoner with an awesome blog to get you motivated off the couch. (or maybe I’m the only one you wants to run a marathon after reading someone else did it- either way it’s worth the read!)

Thetortoiseruns: This blog seriously cracks me up- on a regular basis. Love it!

Soles of a Mom: “shoe addict, workout queen, wife & mom celebrates motherhood one shoes at a time!”- my kind of gal. Plus she’s a runner!

Rules of the Versatile Blogger Award:

1.  Thank the person(s) who shared the award with you by linking back to them in your post. 

2.  Pass this award to 15 recently discovered blogs and let them know that you included them in your blog post. 

3.  List 7 things about yourself.


Believing and Becoming

“If you can imagine it, you can achieve it; if you can believe it, you can become it.”

William Arthur Ward

Today, I became a Marathoner.  I successfully completely the Hartford Marathon in a respectable 5:12 (recap to follow- likely tomorrow).  Because I’m sure everyone has been extremely worried about whether survived (ok maybe just my mom- don’t worry I called her when I finished!) I figured I would post a quick update and allow you all to get back to your relaxing weekends! lol

I was not a huge fan of the course, but I did enjoy the spectators.  The signs were hilarious, sporting phrases like “You’re running further than many people will drive today”, “Keep it up CRAZIES”, “Free high fives” (And YES I took advantage whenever one was offered!), and “Any day started with a run is a good day”.  I hope some one posts pictures so I can share them! I especially appreciated the signs around the water stations that read “You are doing great”, “You look strong”, and “Keep it up”.  I was also touched by one group who held up “Believe in yourself- We do” and “You can do this!”.  Oh- and I HAVE to give a shout out to the people playing music, dancing, and passing out walnut bread- You guys rocked! I totally wanted to ditch the race and hang with you instead!!!

It was clear it would not be a good running day for me from the start.  I don’t know whether it was because my legs were still fatigued from boot camp (thanks Mike :-p) or I just haven’t been stretching well; but they started hurt from step one and continued the ENTIRE WAY.  I pushed through by reminding myself why I was there, who I was running for, and that “every step is a victory”.  I think before my next big race I may have “If I look tired, remind me why I’m here” printed on the back of my shirt for added motivation.  I only stopped to walk briefly a few times past the halfway point.  Adam was with me the whole way, despite the fact that I finally asked him to stop walking next to me while I was running.  (He replied “Oh” and proceeded to jog at a painfully slow pace- that I’m sure looked slower on him than me, but made me feel pathetic none-the-less) 

The important thing is that we FINISHED side by side- despite struggling the whole way (Adam was pretty miserable too despite his experienced history of marathon running).

So that is my “brief” update.  I will have more to report tomorrow.  Thanks everyone for your AMAZING support!

BTW anyone who has a chance, please check out The Everyday Warrior’s blog.  She has signed up for a Tough Mudder to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project, and needs our help!  She is in the running for sponsorship and needs our votes!!! Please take a moment to read her post and vote!

Have a great night!

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Earning my orange…

To do anything truly worth doing, I must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in with gusto and scramble through as well as I can.
-Og Mandino

That’s right! I made it!  Through mud, freezing water, electric shock (I didn’t actually get shocked, but I did run the risk of it!), rough terrain, under barbed wire, literally up and down a mountain for over 11 miles (probably over 12).  There were times when I was terrified, hyperventilating, and completely frozen- in the shivering, teeth chattering sense-, but I made it through!    Adam was right there with me the whole way.  He helped me over the tall Berlin walls and up the ropes.  He also made sure I didn’t drown after I jumped 15 ft into freezing water, and it literally knocked the air out of me.  He even offered to pull me to the other side of the water, but I told him I could manage. I think I may have worried him a little.  lol  Casualties included my “Say Yes to Endorphins” shirt 😦 and black hair band, which got caught in the barbed wire on an early obstacle.

The views were spectacular!  I wish I could have taken pictures from the top!  It was completely breathtaking- both in the sense of being awe inspiring and the altitude literally making it difficult to breathe.  If nothing else, the trip and race were worth the scenery alone.  🙂 We saw lots of crazy costumes, some awesome stunts, and great signs posted by the Tough Mudder Staff.  My favorites included the Warrior Dash finish marker with the reminder that you still had a hell of a way to go, and smaller signs reading things like “Remember you signed a death waiver” and “Chuck Norris never ran a Tough Mudder”.

There was also a lot of camaraderie.  Well, that is at least until we hit the last couple miles and things came to a grinding halt.  The course narrowed dramatically and it caused a lot of standing around and waiting- not exactly a fun time when you are tired, starving, soaked, and freezing.  The sun was already fading, and the wind on the mountain made the temperature seem incredibly cold.  I imagine waiting in long lines with the finish line in sight was not exactly what people expected.  There was a lot of vocal complaining and heckling going on.  People were getting down right nasty, but I guess not everyone handles general discomfort the same.  By the time it was all over with, we were all  a happy Mudder tribe again…it may have had to do with the free beer and snacks.   Overall, I think the course was fun, but might have been improved if the paths were wide enough to get around the people who insisted on walking (incredibly slowly, the entire way- I still give them props by the way).

All that being said, I didn’t let any of the temporary grumpiness or physical discomfort drag me down!  Normally, I tell people my three criteria for happiness are to be warm, dry, and well fed; by the end of the race I was none, but I was still upbeat and enjoying Adam’s company- even if I was too cold to feel my legs.  I was proud of myself for still having energy at the end of the race to sail down the hill, while many other people were dropping out and complaining about fatigue and pain.  I set out to do something I knew would be challenging and followed through- despite my better, self-preserving judgement.  I also raised over $70 for the Wounded Warrior Project just in bottle and can donations (Thank you to my awesome co-workers and family for all your help!!!).  While I may not be in a hurry to rush out an sign up for my next one, I would definitely do another obstacle race in the future.  In the meantime, I have realized that what I truly enjoy most is just running on the trails- no crowds, no obstacles, no pavement- just me and nature, and the wide open path.  🙂  The whole time I was running (mostly hiking- the attitude made it difficult on the way up, and crowding did the same on the way down) the race I kept thinking of how much more fun it would be if I could just run the course without all the interruptions -including the obstacles- which were fun, but not quite as much fun for me as just running.

I would strongly encourage anyone to try an obstacle race, especially if you find just running boring.  They start as short as 5 K, which is completely doable- even if you walk the whole way.  It’s a great opportunity to get dirty, exercise, and meet some new people.

Tonight at Boot Camp I will proudly be sporting my orange Tough Mudder sweatband and T-shirt!  Go Mudders!

I am very happy to have completed my first big challege this fall.  The Diva Half Marahton is in just 2 wks and the Hartfod Marathon in 4 wks!  I can’t believe how quickly this is all happening!  Thank you everyone for your support and well wishes!

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