“Many of the great achievements of the world were accomplished by tired and discouraged men who kept on working.”

Spartan Shape-Up, Day 97, 98...and 99 &100:

Dear Blog. I'm sorry. Life has just kicked my ass in the last few days, via some family bullshit, as well as internet outages, OT at work, and other assorted craziness. It makes me angry, because it's not a good excuse. But, my brain checked out, I think. SO... I am admitting publicly that I did no form of physical work-out on Day 97 and 98. I definitely iced my foot, and tried to keep my mental marbles in my head (harder than you might think).

THAT said, yesterday, Day 99, I got myself back together and got up early for the before-work WOD. It has been really hard to adjust to the new hours. My work hours are now 10am-7pm, which makes post-work wod's nearly impossible... Thus, I must get up in the morning, and get my Spartan on. This... may be my greatest challenge, yet. I loathe mornings more than anything. You could never understand the extent to which my very CELLS struggle that early, unless you've actually witnessed me at that time of day. However, I'm kicking my own ass. Soon (next week), I will be doing CrossFit a few (EARLY. Holy Crap. Gym at 6:45am?! WHAT?) mornings a week. I think I just need to get into the new routine and soon, my inner Spartan will get on board.

So, Day 99's WOD. It felt harder than usual, but I did it, nonetheless.  It was a Swing/Lift Day (I'm on a temp run-hiatus):

• T-Handle Swings (25#), 20 sec on/10 off, 9 rounds.
• DB Thrusters (22# DBs), 6 reps, 8 sets

It's not much, and certainly not the epic wod that I would like to be able to report on... but it was a bit of a mental victory. I was up, it was early, and I was getting sweaty - despite the nagging voice from Old Me reminding me how comfortable my bed was....

Today was Day 100 (WOW.) of the Spartan Shape-Up... and my last "Rest Day" for a little while. I haven't been running at all in the last week and a half - I've been babying the foot, icing it and hoping that it will un-inflame itself and/or heal so that it's okay for the.... 

.... DRUMROLL.... 

5K Race that I'm running tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to cross that one off the little goal list. I have no idea what to expect, but I'm excited. Sadly, my most-fabulous GT can not be with me to run, but I'm taking his infinite Yoda wisdom with me: it's just another 3 mi run. No need to worry, or stress or anything like that... I'm just going to "run my own race" (as the Spartan ladies have advised), push myself as hard as I can, and cross the finish line. Whatever that time is, however I cross it (it could be limping...), I will be proud of what I've done. I know it's "just" a 5K, but it represents SO much more, it's difficult to even explain. I never, EVER thought I could run, or could develop the discipline to learn to run, or do half the things that I find myself doing... that's what the 5K represents to me - the first step in showing myself just how powerful I actually am, when I decide to be. Crossing that finish line will be winning the first battle in the war against the Old Me. 

Surprisingly, I find myself not running alone. An old co-worker of mine, and probably one of the most genuinely NICE people that I know is going to run with me. She said she didn't even care if she could register - she'd run with me just to support, as she knew what it felt like to run your first race all by yourself. I almost cried (held it together), because it meant a lot to me that she would reach out like that and do that, when we're not even close by any means. I would've run the race on my own, for myself, regardless.... but everything is better when you don't have to go it alone. I was feeling the absence of my GT, worrying that I would not be able to perform my best with an injury, feeling scared, nervous... I don't even know... a lot of things. (I can't help it, I'm ridiculously emotional by nature.) BUT, The Cosmos sent me Lisa, out of the blue, most randomly, and I don't have to be alone. I think this is a good sign for tomorrow. 

AND THEN (I know, it gets more random), I found out another friend of mine is running  - she's a crazy speed demon, so more like I'll be chasing her.  A close friend of mine has promised to be at the finish line... along with (are you ready for this!!??) my DAD and his fiance. MY DAD. My Dad has been criticizing this process, my "crazy" workouts, all this Spartan stuff... etc. but he's going to come to my race. I'm kind of hoping that maybe this visual will be the moment he needs to SEE the difference, and see WHY I'm doing this. He even promised to take me to breakfast afterwards! LOL. YES!

So... I'm feeling okay about tomorrow. My 900+ Spartan Chicks are behind me virtually, my GT is keeping tabs on me from afar, I'll have a awesome buddy-runner to keep me going if my foot starts screaming, a buddy to chase to keep me focused, and there'll be a cheering section at the finish line. What more could I ask for?

If only I could get to sleep!

OH, and I will leave off with this... I've always been taught that with confidence, you must always fake it 'til you make it. So, I was feeling a little lack of confidence with this upcoming race, so I decided to fake myself into feeling some confidence. Dressed up a bit snazzy for work today (who doesn't love a matching vest and pants?), and sported a new bit of jewelry (Thank you. :-)) that I'm using as a bit of a mindful mental anchor (forgive the bit of a blurry picture):
It garnered a lot of compliments (it is a very unique piece), as well as a lot of questions. It got me talking all day about my Spartan Shape-Up, and my road to completing my first Spartan Race next year. That is exactly what I needed to keep me focused and my eye on the prize. All day long I talked about what I've been doing, and now tomorrow, it's time to put my money with my mouth is. So, here's my latest, favorite sparkly bauble, up close:

 Pretty, right? :-)




Alright, BlogLand... Off to pack some clothes for post-race breakfast out, and try and get to sleep...