Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone
When was the last time you acted like a kid? When was the last time you stepped outside of your comfort zone? Every once in a while we should all test ourselves, right? For those of you who know me, you know that I’m regularly training for some sort of race, whether it be a running race or triathlon of some distance. Doing a race gives me a goal, and something to strive for, an extra reason to get that workout in. I don’t sleep in too often when I have a race I’m training for, and I’m a much happier person when I’m racing.
Well last month I did step outside my comfort zone, I did a race that I really didn’t train for (okay, aside from just running). It was the “Spartan Race”, a 5k race with many crazy obstacles in the way. So yes, I was a kid again for about 90-minutes.
Just to get to the starting line, we entered a small coral area designated for our start time. And there was a wall to climb over. Not high, maybe 4-feet, but it was still a wall….the first of many. And that was before the race even started.
Without going into crazy details, the race involved running/walking/trudging through lots of mud, climbing over several walls (the highest being about 12-feet), pulling sand bags, crawling under things, balancing on logs, jumping over fire and more. It’s not a race you can do alone; you must rely on teamwork & helping others out. Several times total strangers helped me and the favor was returned. Luckily, they gave us an “out” since if we couldn’t do certain obstacles we could pass on them, and do 30-burpees instead. Sounds easy, but have you ever done 30 burpees? There were only 3 obstacles I passed on and needless to say, did my burpees and moved on.
The best thing about the race was that I had no watch. I wasn’t checking to see how fast I was running, I had no expectations, I was simply having fun. Sure I got muddy and had plenty of cuts & scrapes as a result, but I felt like a kid for a few hours. And best of all, they actually HAD a kid race, a ½-mile mini obstacle race. My son came with me and had so much fun trudging through the mud himself. It was a fun day for both of us.
And guess what? I’ve signed up for two more obstacle races, one a much longer harder one in April and another shorter one in May. Not sure what I have gotten myself into, but I’m looking forward to this new adventure. And I’m sure glad that I get regular chiropractic adjustments to keep me injury free and functioning well. When was your last adjustment? When was the last time you stepped outside your comfort zone? Try it…you just may like the results.
(And did I say you had to crawl through mud, under barbed wire?)
