When the dust settles and you have time to reflect
You realise you might have made a rash judgement
After regaining the use of my legs
A sports massage
A jaw massage
An ego massage
Cleaning mud from parts of my body I didn’t even think were accessible
Ceremoniously dumping the running trainers
And detoxing from my 2 day 90% sugar diet
I could sit back and think about the task that id just undertaken
It was nearly a marathon in length
There were 200 obstacles
It took 5 hours
I nearly died (well poetic license..but i did get really cold and lonely)
It did hurt at the time and for a while afterwards, but that pain soon gave way to feelings of
Satisfaction
Achievement
Unstopabaility (might have just invented this word)
Motivation
I refer back to my previous blog about the highs and the lows
Knowing what you are capable of
Believing in yourself
And without ever testing our own physical capabilities
Without ever trying to see just how far we can push ourselves both mentally and physically
We lead a pretty mundane life
Floating from one day to the next not really pushing any boundaries
Apart from perhaps trying a new takeaway on the weekend or a different tube route to work
And for those that think you cant do something like this
Its for those exact reasons you are limiting your own self belief
How would you ever have confidence in being able to do something you have never done before
WITHOUT doing something youve never done before
It takes just one time, even if you fail
To realise you are A LOT more resilient than you give yourself credit for
Probably tougher then you think
Able to work hard and train hard to get there
Able to overcome a lot more hurdles than you would think
I see it every day
People lifting more than they ever thought they could possibly have, training harder, moving faster
This isn’t about positive thinking
Quite the opposite
Its just stopping the negative thinking and understanding that,
As i did
With very little training
You ARE fit enough to do these things
So im signing up for the race next year
20 miles again of glorious running, mud, obstacles and water
I can’t wait
But will YOU
Or the Half Mucker
This isn’t the only option
There are other races, other challenges
Im going to find a race to do around july time and put a team together
With different difficulties for all levels of fitness
Interested??
This could be your first step…even the first step of starting training
Then once youve completed that the next challenge is a tougher one
Further
Harder
Maybe one like the ratrace dirty weekend 2016?
Come on i dare ya!
Paul ‘the mudman’ stafford
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