Wednesday, December 23, 2015

World's Toughest Mudder 2015

"The ability to accept our limitations and learn from the viewpoints of others” 
― Kamil Ali

This is only 5 weeks after the fact, but surgery and narcotics had a larger impact on my body and brain than I had anticipated. Better late than never. I’m lucky this one didn’t end up in the blog grave yard known as drafts…

What a roller coaster of a year this has been. With the underlying and subtle negativity that is illness, I have experienced and been shown so much love, positivity, happiness and community.   

Deciding to do World's Toughest Mudder

If you have been following along with my posts, you know that I had effectively withdrawn from World’s Toughest Mudder 2015. I started making plans to pit crew for my friend Liza and to support all my friends and WTM family participating in the race with hugs, love and positive encouragement.





Almost exactly a week before WTM, I found out that one of the most wonderful people in my life and an instant best friend, had found cancer in her body again. Not only did it come back, but she started radiation and still wasn’t going to withdraw from WTM. 

After speaking with her on the phone, I immediately called my mom and told her. My mom and I both had the same thought: I should see if she would be willing to let me run World’s Toughest Mudder with her.

I reached out to her and she said: “…if you want to do WTM, you should do it for you, not for me. And we can run together as two friends supporting one another exactly as it should be.”

I really had to think about that for a bit. Was I doing this for her, or was I doing this for me? When it came down to it, I was doing this for me. I wanted to do this with her so I could spend time with a wonderful woman and get to know her better. She would be able to keep me in check, so I don’t injure myself and we can do it with each other for support.

After making sure I was doing this for the right reasons, I responded:
“I wouldn't be doing it if your cancer hadn't come back. That much is true. I want to win the race, so me doing it this year doesn't make sense. Especially since I don't know how to take it easy. It's true I'm doing this because you have given me an opportunity to. I'm not doing this to hold your hand. I'm not doing this because I think you can't.

I want to do this because I want to see what strong looks like.
I want to do this with you because you inspire me.
I want to do this with you because I will regret not doing it with you.

You are one of the only reasons I've kept my head out of the gutters with not training and being sick all year. YOU are my hero in many ways and I want to walk with you doing the event that has changed my life and shown me who I am. I think doing this with you will make me a better person...”

With that, she agreed and I immediately reached out to TMHQ about reinstating my WTM entry. In a brief moment of panic, I ran to my gear boxes. Who does a 24 hour race, coming off the couch after 6 months of doctors appointments instead of gym dates and only a week to prepare?! Fortunately the "Type A" tendencies in me had all my gear from last year, perfectly organized and inventoried. I would only need to worry about nutrition and logistics. I guess that's not completely true. I would very much need to pay attention to my body and how much it can handle. Any risk of injury and I would need to stop running. Surgery isn't scheduled until after World's Toughest Mudder, so I would be running with swollen tonsil on top of all my other symptoms. This might be a bad idea, but a risk I am willing to take. 

No comments:

Post a Comment