I didn't get a chance to write about our Friday morning workout. We did our ab workout and added the stationary bike at the end for about 30 minutes. Those workouts are always good and challenging especially when we are in the middle of them.
Today was the Bootcamp Challenge. It is a three mile course with about 50 obstacles which includes pushups, over/under crawls, tunnel crawls, wall climbs, and more. My first time doing this race was in 2008 as a five-person team. I hadn't been running or working out at the time so this course completely kicked my ass. I think my time was somewhere around 45 minutes and my whole team was waiting at the finish for me (you have to cross the finish line as a complete team). At that moment, I told myself I would NEVER do a five-person team again because I hated the feeling of holding everyone back.
Last year I did the course as an individual (my brother and Kristin did it too) and completed it in around 39 minutes (from what I recall). Around the half mile mark, I had to walk for a little bit. I wasn't running much last year, but I was doing cardio in the gym each morning. This course again kicked my butt. In fact, when I crossed the finish line, my heart rate monitor had stopped and I turned to Kristin and asked her if I had died.
This year my friend Cyndi was kind enough to have her work sponsor a five-person team so we got to do this for free and represent a really good organization; Project Not Forgotten. Our team was Cyndi, Christine, Kristin, Marcy (a last minute sub for us who Cyndi knew from work), and me. Being in a five-person team again made me nervous, but I knew I was doing this with some of my closest friends who wouldn't judge me.
The race started at 9:00 and they sent groups off in waves with the five-person teams going last. We didn't actually start the race until after 10:00. I hadn't given the run much thought. In fact, we were doing our photo shoot, hanging out, STRETCHING, and just enjoying our morning. The running part hadn't actually dawned on me until we were waiting at the start line. My thoughts were all over the place; would I be last again? It's hot out here, how will that affect me on the course? Can my foot handle the jumps? And then there was no more time to think about it. We were off.
When we were at the point on the course where I stopped and walked last year, Kristin said to me "remember you had to walk this part last year?" It felt so good to know I was already doing better than last year! My first mile was about a 10 minute mile which for me is FAST. It felt fast and with the heat I started dragging. Luckily, at mile 2 when we started the obstacle course, they had put sprinklers out for us to cool off. The downside to being sprayed off was then we had to crawl in the dirt which created some nice mud spots on my body. Mile 2 is all obstacles; most of which I did no problem. The first wall climb, I ran up the hay to the top of the wall and realized what a big jump it was (it seemed like it was 10 feet off the ground). I jumped, but was afraid I'd hurt my foot even more if I continued to do those. So the next couple wall climbs, I climbed to the top, but then climbed back down and ran around it. The one big thing I'm leaving out is all the drill instructors yelling at us as we were moving along the course. They were standing at the top of obstacles shouting, at the bottom of obstacles yelling, along the running stretches screaming. I learned that if I didn't make eye contact, they didn't focus on me.
As we came into the home stretch, I was running with Christine and needed a distraction. To take my mind and hers too off the run, I started talking about our day ahead and what we had planned after the race. At first I think she was confused because I just started talking about random things, but then she realized I was creating a distraction. We finally made it, met Kristin and Cyndi, and then we waited at the waiting spot for our final team member. We got to this point in just under 35 minutes!!!!! We were still about a minute from the actual finish line, but we couldn't cross until our final team member was with us. Once she joined us, we locked arms and ran across the finish line. I don't know what our final team time was, but I know I did the Bootcamp Challenge in my best time yet and I wasn't as tired as I have been in the past. Today was a huge accomplishment for me. It made me realize how hard I've been working in the gym and it feels really good!!!
Tomorrow is supposed to be our long run, but we are doing a bike ride outside instead. Should be a nice challenge in the heat...
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