I Survived!

First, I want to give a shout-out to a few people: Kerri, Sorry I missed you. There were a lot of people and we probably should have at least tried to figure out what heat your fella was in. Thanks to the lady who commented on my shirt and said I inspired her (excuse me while I get a little veclempt), and how inspiring to ME to hear multiple 'trainers' out there encouraging their friends/clients. A special thank you to my mother who drove all the way out, held our stuff, went back and forth to the car a few times and waited an hour to see us cross the finish line ... and missed us (I will say, Erik and I were pretty quick over the last hill). She came even though fitness competitions and especially that race environment are not her cup of tea. And most MOST importantly, I want to thank my wonderful, supportive husband, for supporting me the most by actually running right along with me for most of the time, and holding my hand across the finish line.

I feel a renewed sense of hope and strength on my health/fitness journey. Yes, I've gained some weight in the last few weeks due to stress eating, but I continue to learn about myself, how I operate in my world, and how my world - be it advertising and media, my circle of friends or my work/home environment - operates in me. I found myself looking in mirrors as I passed by them, and notice my image of myself has changed again - on the one hand, I am less than pleased with what I'm seeing, but I understand how much stronger and healthier I look than I did last year. This last week, I did a lot of picking apart of myself. My new awesome clothes have been fitting a bit tight and my food choices have been less than stellar. It's been easy to find reasons to beat myself up, and not as many reasons to build myself up.

This race was an important litmus test. It gave me the opportunity to see how strong and adaptable I am in real-life challenges. I had to run up, down, through woods, through mud, jump over walls, climb 5' high mud walls, crawl through sewer-type tubes, wade through the snohomish river, high run through tires, swung like a monkey and generally had a good time. It reminded me again, why I train. But it also showed me how far I have to go yet. With my nutrition plan out of whack, I need to really buckle down on getting my workouts in as well. This next week is dedicated to detox and baseline testing. I'll be testing my strength on 10-12 key moves to then be able to set some realistic goals. More on that on another post.



On the drive home, I listened to my current favourite podcast: Abel James' Fat Burning Man. As he  interviewed the AMAZING Kelly Starrett who BLEW. MY. MIND. Oddly enough, I'd been drawn to this guy a couple times before. I had a friend recommend his website,  www.mobilitywod.com and then a week or so ago,  I saw an ad for his new book (admittedly, while on his website), which intrigued me and I had gone looking for it at the library. His perspective on the human movement as a necessary skill really hit home what I need to be doing: I need to be helping people fully express themselves as humans. I look forward now to cleansing the system and starting fresh for summer - 2 weeks until summer officially begins!