“Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.” – J.K. Rowling

 

It’s official, I completed my first 5K obstacle course/mud race and I didn’t DIE or come in last.  I said 5K right, 3.1 miles for us Americans?  Come to find out my first 5K race was actually 3.8miles, or at least that is what I heard.  How dare they sneak an extra  0.7miles into my first race.   I’ve never been an over achiever, but damn, maybe I am?  Back in May I blogged about an Eleanor Roosevelt quote that read, “You must do things you think you cannot do.”  For me the thing that I just couldn’t do was run, so being the foolish person I am, I signed myself up for the Vino and Beast 5K race.  I was determined to prove myself wrong, tell that negative person in my head, that I could do it.  I am so proud to say I tamed the Beast.

As in all facets of my life, I plan events months in advance figuring I’ve got time to prepare for them, and then the day sneaks up on me and I realize I’m NOT nearly ready.  That is how this past Saturday was for me.  I knew that I attempted to train for the race, ran some here and there and even felt good about myself for taking a crack at it.  But when I woke up Saturday morning, I wished I ran further, trained harder and NEVER signed up for the asinine race in the first place.  It was indeed too late; there was no way of cramming for this test.  The anxiety was killing me, and to add insult to injury, I had to wait until the afternoon to race.  I had myself all worked up but this was my idea and there was no turning back.   I’m lots of things but a quitter isn’t one of them.  Having my friends and family around for support helped me realize that I just had to get up the nerve and push through it.  Given that this was a personal goal that I thought I would never be able to obtain, my plan was to just complete the race and hopefully NOT DIE trying.  Signing the race waiver, made my fears that much more a reality when it said it was possible I could die.  Who needs to read that when you are already sure you could be taking a ride in an ambulance during the course of the race?  I’m so happy I was wrong and the negative thoughts in my head were just that, in my head and not a reality.

As I stood at the starting line, I was scared to DEATH but energized with so much fear that I knew I had to do it.    One of the most unnerving moments of my life was when I watched the clock hit 4:25PM, my start time.  I thought my heart might bound out of my chest and then as soon as I crossed the starting line all the apprehension left my body and I was off on a new and inspiring adventure.  I kept up with my chums and other half for about 30 seconds (really it was about 30 seconds or maybe even a minute), at that time I realized I wasn’t going to be able to keep up that rate, so I watched them all fade into the distance, seeing nothing but the backs of their heads.  Once I was all by my lonesome I set my pace, soaked up the atmosphere and just told myself that I could do it.  I am so proud to say that I finished the race and I completed it all, unlike many that I saw along the way skipping obstacles.  I didn’t set any land speed records and if I lived in Kenya, they would think I was a disgrace but what is essential to me is that I can say I completed the entire race and even beat around 100 people.  I am delighted to say I threw myself over culvert pipes , wooden walls and numerous bales of hay.  I climbed a Marine style teepee net.  I ran through muddy corn fields and vineyards.   I jumped in a good old fashioned sack race.  I climbed over tires.  I swam in a cold grubby pond and pulled myself out with merely a rope.  I army crawled in sludge under wires.  And I climbed to the top of a inclined wall with only a rope (the picture is from that obstacle) all while exhausted from running a 5K.  I can say I did all of that.  There is nothing better than knowing I didn’t give up.   I completed something I thought wasn’t possible for me.  During the race, I told myself that if anyone asks me to do this again next year, I would rather have a pencil shoved into my eye, but as soon as I was done; all I can say is WOW, the feeling of completing something is a total rush, a feeling that might become addicting.

The famous author J.K Rowling once said, “Anything’s possible if you’ve got enough nerve.”  No words could be truer; the only obstacle stopping us from doing what we want is ourselves.  If you had asked me last year at this time or anytime in my life, to run a 5K, I would have laughed, in your face.  I would have made up a million excuses and told you that I couldn’t do it.  Here I am now, a FINISHER.  I ran 3.1 miles (correction 3.8 miles) and pushed myself through obstacles fit for a Marine.    There is truly NO better feeling than finishing something you NEVER thought you could do.  It’s all about pushing yourself further than you want to be pushed and having enough nerve to do it.   Not only did I want to prove to myself that I could in fact do this but there is no lesson that you can teach your children better than by example.  The life lesson that I can now tell my daughter is to challenge yourself to do things you don’t want to, are scared to death to do or think you can’t and it’s NOT just lip service anymore, I’m leading by example.

Even though I crossed a finished line the other day, I hope that my race to try new things is just beginning.   I plan to look at the end of one race as the start of another.  I hope to continue my journey to push myself this coming year.  I know I must be batty because I intend to sign up again next year and I am even considering running a couple of other 5K races throughout the year.  I’m still NOT a runner and I can without a shadow of a doubt say I still HATE running.  I would however say I was willing to push myself further than my comfort zone and I am a better person because of it.   It’s all about having the nerve to do it.  What have you always wanted to do but thought you couldn’t?  What do you have to lose?  If you think you can’t do something, you are wrong.  Put on your big girl panties and dig deep for your nerve, you won’t be disappointed.   All of your dreams and goals are truly possible, if you have the nerve to try.

I ran in honor of Gianna, a very special 1 year old, who I know will find her nerve to beat (the Beast) Cancer.
  

“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it.” – Robert Orben

My feet are kicked up, the air conditioning is blaring and I don’t have a care in the world because I’m on vacation.  This week we are in the Outer Banks of North Carolina enjoying a vacation with a great group of friends.  I like to think of myself as someone who has done a fair amount of traveling but I’ve never been to the Outer Banks and I’m so glad we are here.   If you’ve never been, you should put it on your bucket list of places to go.  In my opinion, it’s one of the best family vacation spots on the east coast.  The area of the OBX that we are in has house after house of huge three story rental homes near the beach that accommodate multiple families, which is what we have choose to do.

I must say it’s interesting to bring four different families together (all of us friends of course) and throw us all in a house, talk about a social experiment.  Four different ways of raising kids, grocery shopping, sleep patterns, dietary habits, and just basic ways of doing EVERYTHING, with one common interest, having an incredible vacation with our kids.  We have four different families comprised of seven adults and eight kids ranging in ages from two all the way to fifteen.   Being in this big house together feels a little bit like the show “Big Brother” meets “19 Kids and Counting.”  After we worked out a few kinks and  had some growing pains, I think we have figured it all out and are having a GREAT time.  I must say we have a really great group of kids and the adults are ok too, I guess.

Robert Orben said it best about vacations when we said, “A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it.”  I would say besides the eight noisy kids (ok, in all fairness the 15 year old is quiet) in our house, this is one of the more relaxing family vacations we have ever taken.  One whole week with NOTHING and I mean nothing to do, no expectations, no schedules, no plans.  Of course we are having some wonderful new experiences and still go to bed every night dog tired.  My stance on this week has been to not plan anything and so far, it’s worked.  My brain is officially on vacation.  It’s nice to get up in the morning and not have your whole day planned, it’s how every vacation should be.

One of the happiest things for me to do in life is to be by or near the water and this week is no exception.  Being by the ocean is always so refreshing and rejuvenating to me, besides going to bed with sand in your ears, teeth and many places that just don’t need to be talked about.  I love to see the kids in bathing suits and flip flops all day, with the sea salt in their hair and a boogie board under there arm, just like real beach bums, walking to the beach.  The beach brings out the kid in everyone.  It’s awesome to watch the amazing dads we have with us sit with the kids and build sand castles, the grown-ups body surfing in the rough night time surf or the look on everyone’s face when they catch a crab on the beach at night.  Priceless moments that you can only have at one of my favorite places, the beach.

I’m sitting out on the 3^rd floor deck tonight finishing up this blog from the other day and I have the whole house to myself.  Being by myself always centers me and makes me listen to my inner thoughts.  I’m enjoying the light ocean breeze, smell of the salt in the air and the sounds of crickets.  My hair is full of ocean salt and sand from the beach, I’m not sure if I showered today, my thighs are chaffed, skin is burned, my back is sore and I’m definitely lacking sleep from a long night of fun but as I listen to my inner thoughts, the only thing going through my head is, how did I get so lucky?

As I look out into our community, there is house after house full of families that are getting to experience this truly beautiful place.  This vacation hasn’t been perfect but I’m so glad I’ve been able to share this experience with my two favorite people in the whole world and a boat load of really GREAT friends.   I hope you and your families are as fortunate as mine and are able to share an amazing vacation this summer with great people.  If you can’t get away to somewhere like the OBX, treat every day like it’s a vacation and de-stress yourself from the craziness of the daily grind.  We have a few more days left in this vacation and my plan is to not plan anything, go where the wind blows me, and take home stories and memories that will always be with me.   On that note I’m finishing up my bog entry because I have nothing to do and the rest of the day to do it.