Have you ever watched someone do something and think, “I could never do that?”

After this picture was taken I heard that exact saying from so many people.  It wasn’t that they didn’t want to, they believed they couldn’t.  Well, months before this picture was taken I spoke those very words.  As you can tell, I am not an ideal weight for a runner/jogger, that’s me in the yellow.

My husband had decided months before that he wanted to try jogging to lower his weight and after watching him doing so well at it, I decided I would give it a try.  My first attempt I lasted literally 10 seconds down the track.  I kept at it though.  After several months I could jog for 5 minutes at a time.  I’m not very fast but I can do it.

That picture above is of me at my first 5K.  My time was not impressive but the feeling of finishing was unbelievable.  The people running around me were not people who were participating in the race.  They were people from the finish line who ran out to me to encourage me the last stretch of the way.  I found out later I knew only one of them.  It was an amazing show of humanity.

I enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment so much that I went on to run (jog/walk) several other 5K’s including this one to the right.  This is me with my husband and one of my best friends at the finish line of the Rebel Race.  It took great mental strength to finish this one with all the obstacles there were, but what a great time.

This year I will be participating in the Spartan Race.  My reason?  Because I watched my husband, his sister and her husband as well as my husband’s co-workers complete it and I said then I could never do it.  I want to be wrong again.  There will be high walls to conquer, crawling under barbed wire in the mud, and so many other physically trying feats that must be conquered.  The one I am most concerned about is this hill.  We have to run up the hill to start then later, we have to come down the hill and go back up with a 30 pound sack then bring it back down and climb back up to finish more obstacles.  If you cannot complete an obstacle you must do a certain number of burpies (lay on your stomach, do a push up, then bring your feet under you and jump up with your hands above your head – not my favorite – but they will be done.)

I’m nowhere near ready and I know it but I will continue to go to kickboxing twice a week and work out on the side to prepare.  I will start it and I will finish it.  The journey in between is the stuff that life is made of.  There may be tears and there will definitely be fears but as I cross the finish line, I will have done something amazing for myself.  I will once again have proved to myself that whatever I set my mind to, I can accomplish as long as I work hard and believe in myself and never give up.