Getting Dirty

About a year ago, I took care of my son while The Grump ran in the USMC Mud Run for the first time. I was carrying around about 35 pounds of extra weight (both baby weight and just-married weight) and panting just from walking around the spectators' area pushing a stroller. When The Grump finished, he was so excited, and pumped, and exhausted, that I -in my bloated, overheated delirium- made a decision.

I was going to run the Mud Run.

You see, I wanted to lose weight, but I'd lost weight in the not-so-healthy way before (by just forgetting to eat) and then I gained it all right back. I also didn't feel very healthy. I was always tired, and got dizzy spells. So I didn't want to set a weight goal, I wanted to set a fitness goal. The Mud Run was it. I decided that if I could finish the run, then no one could call me unfit or lazy. It's 5+ miles long with about 35 obstacles, you would HAVE to be fit to finish, right?

Well, my friends, I did it. I. DID. IT. 

I DID IT!

I did not wear my coach sunglasses the whole time. I promise. I just put them on after the race.

This thing was SERIOUSLY FUN. I didn't do too bad either, if I may say so myself. I struggled with a lot of the climbing obstacles because I'm not so great with the upper body strength, but I do feel like I kept up with the running. 

Shoes before.

Shoes after.

Our team finished the course in just over 2 hours, which is about 30 minutes faster than I thought we would finish. We came in just faster than middleth place out of 615 teams in the coed division, and we were 800-somethingth out of 1434 teams overall.

The Grump was one of my team members. He was so supportive and fantastic. I couldn't have asked for a better teammate.

So the big question now is, do I really feel fit? I reached my fitness goal, right? 

Well, yes and no. Yes, I do feel pretty much like Frau Badass when I compare my current self to myself from last year... I have to say, though, that I really struggled with some of those obstacles. Now, the Mud Run is a team race, so I had three awesome guys with me who helped me get past my rough spots. But I know that I in no way pulled my weight on the team. I know that I slowed them down over some of the obstacles, too, because I was timid (me and heights don't get along) or just couldn't do them on my own.

Also, outside of the Mud Run, I still can't do ten full push ups in a row. I can't do a single pull up, either. There is no way I could pass any military fit test.

So in conclusion, no one can call me "unfit" any more. I have accomplished things, dammit! I may not be the fastest, or the strongest, or the best. But I'm not the slowest, or the laziest, or the worst any more either. This run was not the culmination of my exercise journey that I had wanted it to be. It was, however, a stepping stone. 

I will Run again. I will be be better. I will be stronger. I will pull my weight. 

And I will do a damn pull up!