The Beginning

There have been many things in life I have failed to follow through with and I found myself blaming others for lack of encouragement. This then led me to fear failure – I refused to try anything new for the simple reason that I didn't want to fail and have others say “it figures”. Finally, I realized that I only have myself to blame, and if I want something bad enough it is MY responsibility to achieve it. This is my journey to discovering that strength and desire within me and building the courage to show it.


First step – training for a Spartan Sprint!!!


Have you heard of it? Well, you can take a look at it here and see for yourself. The sprint is the “beginner” of the Spartan races, however I am a beginner at any sort of athletic activity. Sooooo, I will document my training, as humorous and embarrassing it may be, and share it all. My first race is scheduled for July 14, 2012 at Blue Ridge Ski resort in PA. Yep, that's right....I will be RUNNING UP a SKI SLOPE!!!!! Ugh....what have I gotten myself into???

I've been on and off with workout routines for many, many years. Odd, because at one point in my life I used to LOVE to workout. Honestly, I did. Then life came along – moved away, married my BFF, had babies...you know the drill. That's how long this took place, up until about 3 weeks ago. Someone I know shared her story with me. She was recovering from some pretty traumatic events in her life, yet STILL managed to find time to do what she loved – RUN, TRAIN, and RACE. 'No excuses' for this mama! She's completely inspirational and reading what she had to say sparked something in me; a fire I haven't felt in a long time – she talked about a Spartan race she recently completed and shared pictures of her covered in mud, jumping over fire, and I decided I WANT THAT! So, we talked about this race next year, and the two of us will be doing it together. ARROOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Now, I'm about 2 weeks into training, which consists of me dying on the treadmill every morning, doing a whopping 3 miles in 50 minutes, almost killing myself one of those mornings when I lost my footing and did a split on the belt (thank GOD I was home and not at a public gym!), working through a push up challenge (which has me pretty proud of myself because my weak old body still has some upper body strength in it), and various workouts for strength and endurance. Spartan WOD's (workouts of the day) are posted daily, however they are pretty hard core and I find myself modifying most of them at this stage (which again, is BEGINNER!!!).

So, with the help of my kick-ass husband, my incredible kids, and some awesome new friends, I'm embarking on this journey and stepping WAY out of my comfort zone. Should be an interesting ride ;)