A note to all the contributors: All your stories are great! I appreciate the reflection and time you put into sharing about yourselves.
Brian, knowing what a consistent and dedicated runner you have become makes this story extra fantastic. You are one of my sources of inspiration. Go Trainers, Brian is now running sub-8 minute miles (avg 7:30's I Think) and has completed a few half marathons and a marathon...he is just getting warmed up. He is also a great friend period and super supportive of all his running buddies. He is the definition of community. Thank you!
Brian's story
This actually from the first time I went running in April, 2011. Rewind back to December, 2010. I went and saw my dad, who happens to be my doctor. He drew my blood for my physical, and I was shocked with the results. My cholesterol was pushing 200. He told me I needed to exercise and eat better. I half listened to him. However, when spring came, I decided to try running. It was cheap (free) and something I could do on my own.
My coworker Randy who has been running his whole life took me under his wing. I ran with him for the first time, and I was barfing after 8 minutes. However, I forged on, and completed 2.5 miles at around 12 minutes a mile pace. That entire run, I wanted to quit. It was flat out awful. But I competed it, and I was hooked. Every time I want to quit, I think back to my first day, and remember what it took to complete that first run. :)
Jen, wow, what an adventure you described. My husband and I went mini-golfing once and I totally had to lean over the rail to retrieve my ball from the blue colored pond. You traversed a swollen flooded river on another continent. You and your guy scaled Patagonia, in Chile! I think you need to write us a weekly "amazing things my spouse and I do column". Thank you!
Jen's Story
Hey Beth! I picked a journal entry from one of our fun trips pre-kiddos. This is from a backpacking trip we took in Patagonia in 2008.
We woke up at Las Troncos with more rain and wind AFTER waking up in the middle of the night to pee to see partly cloudy skies with no rain. Eddie went to look at the Rio Electrico and sees that it had definitely risen. When I asked him about it, he replied, "Remember the bank we were standing on to get water? It's not there anymore." When I looked, he was right. Sketchy! So, we started to get organized to get out of there at 715 in the morning-probably our earliest start. We finally got going at 9:00. It always amazes me how long it takes to get everything together. Our first obstacle we came upon was that the little bridge we had crossed was flooded over from the rising river! Luckily, we had two other options and the first one worked. We hiked along for a while through a nice forest which protected us from the weather. We eventually came to another area that was flooded out (but not as bad) and managed to negotiate it over a few logs and rocks. After about an hour and 40 minutes, we came to the park boundary, and then the trail began to traverse parallel to the river. We came to a granite section of rock that we had to rock climb up since the lower part was filled with water. We had to bushwack our way through some bushes at another section. We finally came to the dreaded river crossing near the Glacier Piedras Blancas. We had to negotiate up and over some boulders, then came to the actual crossing. At this point, we have been pelted by rain for about an hour and were soaked. I was hungry, cold, and subsequently tired. Ed found a path with large boulders to potentially cross the water on. He went first and ended up taking off his pack to slide down a boulder to get to the next one. Then, I had to slide the pack down the rock to him. He then swung it over to the next rock and almost lost it. At some point, his Crocs came off and luckily, just sat on the rock. He then threw his pack onto the next rock which was on the bank. For a second, I thought the pack was going to come off the rock and take off down the river. So, it was my turn. I started feeling scared.
I managed to slide down the rock with my pack on. I then had to jump onto the last rock to safety. It was at this point that I lost it. I was crying, "I can't! I can't!", but Eddie urged me on, saying, "Don't think, just jump!" So, I cleared my head for a second and jumped to safety, sobbing. My main fear was not that I was going to get hurt, it was that Ed was going to get hurt trying to help ME. I don't know what I would have done if he fell in that river. We quickly recovered to get to the next crossing which I didn't even remember since it had probably been just a trickle. We had to walk across this one in knee to thigh deep cold glacier water. Ed did it twice since he carried his pack first, then mine with me behind him, holding onto him, walking sideways. Then, we were REALLY cold. I lost it a few times in the next hour it took to get to the next camp which had a shelter for climbers during the climbing season. At one point, I think I started to really lose it and started to hyperventilate. I was a mess. I was also upset with myself for crying in the first place. We got to the shelter and took all of our wet clothes off, replacing them with our warm, dry layers. My body temperature finally increased to normal. We drank some hot tea, made some more hot tea, and ate like savages. It took us 4 hours and 20 minutes to get there and we really took only one break. We hung out in the shelter for 3 hours! By the time we set out, the skies cleared (at least in the direction we were headed) and we hiked the last 2+ hours, staying dry. All of a sudden, fall was here. The smell of fall was around us. I love that smell.
Cathy I loved how you described your transformation! You are the winner!
Here is my entry for this month's go training contest. If I win you can quote me on this (well you can quote me on it even if I don't win) - I have been really out of touch with exercise and and eating healthy over the past few years. It has been a long time since I've enjoyed, really enjoyed working out. But writing out my thoughts about being pushed out of my comfort zone with exercise really reminded me how much I miss the exhilaration that comes with a great workout. Very inspiring and hopefully something I can build on to start rebuilding my health.
It was a challenge to isolate the one best example of pushing myself out of my comfort zone in terms of exercise because my mentality toward physical fitness has evolved so dramatically over time. I have never been a "natural athlete." Exercise seems to come easily for some people who flawlessly execute yoga poses, gracefully jog down the sidewalk or cycle through an intense spin class while barely working up a sweat. I'm not that guy. I have been known to loudly fall down in yoga class, I lumber down the street when I'm jogging or come out of a spin class easily confused for someone exiting the pool. None of that has every stopped me from exercising but it always lingered at the back of my mind, this sense that I had to try harder in order to succeed.
I have also had a complex love-hate relationship with exercise. My first experiences with working out go all the way back to fifth grade and being at the very back of the pack when we had to run the mile in gym class. It wasn't the best way to form a positive relationship or appreciation for what my body was capable of. Moving into adulthood, I was very all or nothing with exercise - I was either working out for 90 minutes every day to the point of exhaustion or I was stationary on the couch. Neither of which are healthy approaches to working out.
All of that changed when I found kickboxing. I was so nervous my first class. Everyone was incredibly nice and so encouraging. They were also in amazing shape and watching the end of the class before me I could see the class would be intense. When it was my turn to hit the floor for the 50 minute session I took off my shoes, strapped on my gloves and grabbed a punching bag. We started slow with some basic punches and then moved on to basic kicks. Having my fists and feet come into contact with the bag was such a release! All of my negative energy and stress was channeled into the bag. We moved on to more complex combination moves and while I was a little clumsy at first, when I would get the move down I felt graceful. Graceful! Me! It was exhilarating and exhausting all at the same time and I slept better that night than I had in years.
Needless to say, I was a convert. I attended classes diligently 2-3 times every week and I got better. And better. I felt strong. I felt healthy. And my love of exercise flourished. Kickboxing changed everything about how I looked at exercise. Suddenly workouts were hard but fun and I left with more energy than when I came into the studio. And my appreciation for all that my body is capable of grew exponentially. I was a natural.
Once again, it is truly a treat and honor to be invited into people's life for a little story telling, thanks all and stay tuned for March contest!
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