Strong, Stubborn or Stupid: Why I finish(ed)

It is the smallest of cracks that send us careening ofttimes.

My third GoRuck Challenge, this one in Munich, was going so very well. The welcome party was welcoming to my favorite brand of fun, the weather was perfect, I was enjoying connecting with comrades new and old as well as rousing renditions of Sponge Bob Squarepants (great wrap video of the entire event).

It was good livin’ at its best. Until it wasn’t.
29_Park_Flags

It was mid-afternoon and I was carrying the flag. We were simply doing a “shuffle” up a sidewalk. I noticed the water egress cover but stayed in line.

Then I was falling.

Even on the way down I thought “this is going to be bad.”

I didn’t get my hands out in time.

The brim of my hat offered little resistance to the concrete and my mouth hit hard. The bruises on my knees that only fully developed a week later say that it could have been worse. But it was bad enough.

I lay face down on the concrete for a about 10 seconds, hearing shouts and shuffles around me. I tasted blood.

I composed my game face and said into the white stone: “I’m fine. I think I lost a tooth.”

Munich_Ouch3I had, indeed, chipped off about half my front tooth. My lip was busted up pretty good. After I asked for “please, only one voice,” Cadre tended to my wounds as best he could in the middle of a sidewalk. I was a bloody mess but didn’t require stitches (or so we thought).

Then he had one question: Do you want to go to the hospital?

“I want to finish.”

It was perhaps too much adrenaline. My lip had stopped bleeding, the damage to my tooth ugly but done. There was nothing, I thought, that the ER or a doc could do for me.

Right then, I had something very important to do for me.

I got myself up and, I’m not sure if it was outloud or not, said: “I’m going to finish.”

If you want the pictorial version of the story, click here through to my new sandbox site Tredecem.

Finishing

It was never a question really. It was, after all, just my face.”Merely a flesh wound.”

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Working Out Works for Me

I got on a treadmill about 2 years ago and couldn’t run a full mile. I was shocked.

I had a mental image of myself as a physically fit person which shattered with the panting, sweating reality. This state of being needed to change both for my body and my spirit.

I was carrying a few extra vanity pounds but (thanks 5th floor walk-up) I was not overweight. I was, however, obviously not healthy or active. I started with making my sporadic Bikram practice a priority and hitting the treadmill. My only gidea was to get to running a full mile without stopping… that means I’m in good shape right?

Jingle Bell Jogger “Get more fit” is pretty nebulous and thus not at all likely to be successfully achieved.

The turning point came a friend suggested that we sign up for a 4mi run in 4 months time. Yes. A true goal and friendly competition. I can work with that.

By the time the Jingle Bell Jog came and went I was hooked on what exercise could do for my body but also what it does for my mind.

Looking over posts and social media presence over the last year I have been surprised at how much I’ve talked about my fitness goals. I never thought I would be that girl – not even to think about a gym rat – but here I am tweeting about lifting and facebooking about triathloning.

It is common to see bloggers and lifestyle designers working on their bodes as well as their businesses. Pushing physical limits beyond conformity (hello obesity epidemic) seems to come with the territory of breaking other social norms for life path. There is the idea that we just want to be around for a long time, stay up later, do more, so we begin to take care of ourselves physically. There is escapism and vanity but there are two additional big reasons for this correlation.

Why do we do it?
1. The Finish Line
2. The spirit-mind-body triad

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