First off, I don’t want to mislead you. This blog post is not really about veterans. It’s about sore knees, team work, and trust.
Last Saturday I ran a mud run. No big deal you might think. Good for you. Here’s why it’s significant.
25 years ago or so, I weighed 231 pounds. That’s 231 pounds on my 5′ 4″ body. You do the math; that’s almost a half a pound per inch. I was round, uncomfortable, and really just unhealthy. I lost the weight and have kept it off mostly for the last 25 years. I learned to eat better, to exercise, and to take care of myself a little bit more.
Fast forward to 2019, I have found CrossFit, Paleo, and am generally a more healthy person all around. That said, I will likely never be an elite athlete. I don’t want to be. I live on this planet and I want to enjoy my time here. Sometimes, I eat too much, I drink too much, and I do things that would not be considered healthy. Everything in moderation, yes?
OK, yes, Lisa. But where’s the magic?
Great question. A few months back I agreed to do a Mud Run with my people from Post 9/11 Veterans. I am on the board and part of our mission is to get out with veterans and do things together. I might be biased in saying this but it’s a great group of people and the mission is solid. So, back to a few months ago…you know how you agree to do something and it sounds good at the time? Then you get to the day of and you start thinking “what was I thinking?” That was me. Yes, I work out. Yes, I’m much healthier. Yes, these are my friends who I love. But run a 5k that starts at 9pm that includes obstacles and mud? What was I thinking?
I did try to get out of it but I conceded and I’m glad I did. I chose doing the run and let go of that obstacle (see what I did there?). Then I just decided I would do my best. AND that’s what I did. While I couldn’t do all the obstacles (I did all but three), I did do many that I thought I wouldn’t be able to do with help from my team. AND afterwards, muddy, tired, and hurting a bit, I could not have been more proud of my team and even more so, of me.
You know, I am always going to experience challenges in my life and I am always going to have some fear of not being able to do something new. But I will never stop challenging myself to do more than I think because the feeling of conquering yourself is one of the best feelings you can have.
My goal that night was not to be the best on the course. Instead, my goal was to be the best me on the course. and that is exactly what I did. That was the Small Magic. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other until I got to the finish line.
What’s next? I don’t know yet. I only know that there is something. AND I will conquer that too.
Here’s the kicker. I made it to that finish line but now the finish line has moved farther. I have to challenge myself a little more for the next time. And as I sit here with ice on my knees three days later, I look forward to whatever that next challenge is. That 231 pound me could NEVER have done something like this.
Now, I have. And I know that I am capable of so much more.
