So I did a thing last week. Actually, it’s my 3rd year in a row doing this race. Yes, 3 years in, and I am still a beginner. I first said yes to this race when my friend Karyne asked me to join her. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into at the time, and was very scared and nervous to find out how grueling a 5k on Blue Mountain could be. I was simply being a good friend and said yes because I’m agreeable. lol.
As the Spartan website describes: “A classic obstacle course racing experience. The Sprint combines trail running with 20 obstacles, held on off-road terrain featuring water and or mud. Climb walls, crawl under wire, traverse monkey bars, aim a spear throw, and more.”
What in the world is and more? Turns out it was up and down terrains, constant leg burning, scaling 8 foot wall, climbing and fire jumping.
Am I sporty or athletic? Heck no. Do I like running? Not since grade 5 track team. But was I ready to challenge myself? Yes! This yes is in part of being enlightened towards the understanding of resistance and muscle training to preserve and maintain bone and muscle mass through perimenopause. There has to be purpose to pain…
I needed this big audacious goal to work towards, and scare me off the couch. Here’s my training: I gained the endurance part of jogging 6km in my very flat neighborhood. I figured the extra 1 km in distance will factor in the ascension. Just barely. lol. I trained in kids’ playgrounds to get across the monkey bars (mostly without my kids, as they laugh at me), grip strength is incredibly hard! I made friends with 10lb dumbbells over time. I even sack carried my boys up the stairs nightly near the end of training.
When the big day came, and we started off barking “We are Spartans!” I hit my first wall with the immediate hill climb. My thoughts immediately went to Michael Scott’s quote: “no one can finish this gd 5k” (in Fun Run episode). I couldn’t catch my breath, and I felt terrible my friend had to stop and wait for me at times. Now I know how important controlling one’s breathing is to have stamina.
My heart was beating out of my chest, throat was burning. But the scene was beautiful, the gorgeous Georgian Bay in the backdrop, and the fall colors all around. So many negative thoughts went through my head. I had to overcome them by replacing it with singing worship music in my head. With others cheering me on, and the leg up from others to scale what is lacking in my upper body strength, I finally finished. Elation and relief came over me.
This race has taught me that we become stronger and more resilient through trials. This race is a literal physical trial. It’s important to set goals, because even if we don’t meet it (my time was slower year 3, compared to year 1 + 2, d’oh!), we still grew and achieved something! It is better to have tried and ‘failed’, then to have never tried at all. How do I tie this all back to nutrition? Uh, use creatine and electrolytes, and don’t eat fried chicken and cheesecake the night before (lesson learned).
Michael Scott quote (from Wayne Gretzsky quote): You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
