A Van Awesome Journey

Hi thanks for finding my blog! I am a wife of an awesome husband and proud mother to two amazing boys. I just quit my job to stay at home with our children and now have all the time in the world to play play play!!! Play with my children and play some games of my own...hence this blog. I entered a contest to be part of an Adventure Race something I have never done before. So I am required to blog weekly on my journey...so here goes..thanks for sharing it with me :).................So what has started out as a blog for reasons mentioned above has now continued into an on going journey that I have been asked to continue to share...and you with me! So thanks for coming along for the ride :)

Friday, July 23, 2010

It's come to this....




So I came across the letter I wrote in to be entered into the RoackstAR Adventure Race. This is were it all started:


I AM YOUR WOMAN for this adventure race let me tell you! I USE to be the one who sat on the couch eating watching other people’s lives on TV. I USE to be the one who would listen to what others were doing to challenge themselves in their lives, then say, “Good for you!” but never give it a thought for myself to do it.



Then I had my children, both boys… and I started to think. Is this the type of person I want my kid’s mother to be? NO! I want to run and play and keep up with them and so it started…the transformation, body, mind and soul. We didn’t have much money so I had to educate myself on exercise and nutrition. A lot of my fitness is done right in my living room, nothing fancy but instead of sitting on the couch watching TV I started doing sit-ups, jumping jacks and running on the spot. I even joined a Biggest Loser competition to help motivate me even more. It did! I won at the mid-point AND at the end for most weight lost, 8.63% and inches lost. I’m down 4 shirt sizes and almost 4 pants sizes. I don’t know the numbers cause I don’t look. I learned that I don’t need a number to tell me that I feel f’n AWESOME and strong. This is where I have had the most joy in my journey, feeling stronger and doing things that I use to watch other people doing.



This race is the perfect next step in my journey I LOVE doing crazy S#@t like this now! My first crazy thing was climbing all 1776 stairs of the CN tower. I’m doing it again this year and taking 20min off my time…ooooo ya baby!



So I AM YOUR WOMAN!!!!! I will put everything I have into it and then squeeze out some more. We got to show those Mama’s out there that YES you can take care of yourself, feel great and STILL be there for your family :o)






Then the e-mail from Shane letting me know that I was in! WOO HOOO! and bit of OMG!



The next 12 weeks that followed have changed me to the core some good some bad. Mer, one of our trainers and someone I would call a Phat friend her accident...that was not good. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about her and wonder, "What would she do?" or just remember times that I spent with her and her positive attitude......



Now the good things that happened are too many to post but a few that come to mind is how much fun I had with the team. As I said before I use to just workout on my own and run in the night so no one could see me. But being with these girls had to force me to be with people while working out and in the spirit of teamwork, pay attention to what others were doing around me and either help them or ask them for help...a very humbling experience...but the best thing that came out of that was the laughing. Believe it or not you CAN laugh while you are grunting thru the pain LOL!! and it makes it funner...if that's a word.

A few times while I was out there training either in the woods or on the road I would think to myself, "What am I doing here?" "How did I get here?" "Do I even belong here?"......I'm starting to feel that I DO belong out there, it was waiting for me all along :D


So with that all said and done, the training is done the numbers have been tallied the final two have been announced and now it's the night before......

A lot of people are asking me if I am excited, I say yes but I'm not really sure what it is to be excited about...I just have to wait and see. But I keep picturing me and my team out there doing great and being great. I REALLY hope that they have the underwater point this year and that the thunder holds off cause I'm REALLY excited about getting those!!! I know I'm a geek, the idea of diving into gross muddy, sea weedy water to get some sweet ass points for my team excites me...just like the sweet tread on my new trail shoes that Saucony gave me, also floats my boat...sexy LOL!



So I haven't pack yet and it's 4pm Friday afternoon. I still have to ship the kido's off to Grandmas cause my husband will be coming up to the race with me. A weekend away without the kids, this is what you call a romantic weekend away! LOL!..."I'll just scoot off and do the race for 4 hrs then be right back hun" :D....however on a MORE important note, my nails are Rock Star ready!!!

The race starts at 2pm on Sat July 24/10. Racedayrush's facebook page will be doing live updates so click here for them. Of course it will all be taped and I'll post the video when it's done.

OMG! OMG! here I go......


*ive
*ove
*augh
******

2 comments:

  1. I think Mer was behind you on every step of this adventure and she will be racing with you today!!!! You are what she so wanted to see from each woman who entered this challenge. You became what she had so hoped and dreamed for you! Congrats! YOU ARE AWESOME! have fun.

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW, Gail that was really beautiful.
    I have to agree with everything Sharon said.

    Your inner beauty makes you that much more gorgeous, your honesty I love that about you, you follow through with what you say you're going to do :-)

    Keep doing what you are doing!!!
    XO

    ReplyDelete