3 races in one week (insane)...

8/31/2015

Yup you read it correctly... Mud Hero Sunday August 9th then the Spartan's the following weekend. I gotta say though... Mud Hero was a blast. When you take the serious out of it and just go and have fun with your friends it is such a great time. This year was all about the fun. My friend Kaire and I just went out and did what we could and took pictures along the way. We had the most fun in a long time and completely sober I might add. I am so glad she is still in my life and is truly one of my best friends. That experience made me realize we need to make time to see each other more. So like I said we had fun goofing off along the way and captured some fun pictures. Our kids did the kids race and got so muddy. They had a great time.

Well I did complete new Spartan last minute goals... accomplished way more crazy goals. Friday August 14th that night was the Spartan Hurricane Heat in Calgary and it was hard, pushed me to different levels and was the most amazing experience. I met some amazing new people and got to hang out with my usual amazing people. It was just so amazing!! lol I can't wait to do that again as it was such a rewarding and confidence building experience. OK so the whole weekend was awesome. I was sick the whole weekend so to see how I handled things that way was pretty cool too.

I ran the Spartan Sprint the next morning at 8:30 in a downpour. The rain started just after the elite heat started and progressively got worse as the morning went on. Even starting at the starting line we felt the rain pick up. The course was muddy and extremely slippery the whole entire way. As the morning went on obstacles were changed and deteriorated. The downhills turned into muddy water slides and the up hills turned into waterfalls. I thought I might be done after the first water slide as my awesome Reebok Terrain Super runners have great grips and I was able to stop and gain control. I stopped and as I was trying to get out of the way a lady crashed into my back. I felt slightly paralyzed and had issues getting back up. My friend Paul helped me up and I got moving again. I guess the pain in my back didn't bother me as I was going due to being so cold and having rain run into my eyes. I was able to push thru and go at a decent pace despite the trails being so muddy. The sandbag carry was modified so we didn't have to go down that steep hill and it was moved onto the flat land. Monkey bars were slippery and lots of injuries happened there. Same with the slippery wall. My friend Paul did amazing for his first one and kept up to me pretty good. We finished and had not bad times despite the conditions and running the Hurricane Heat the night before. I had a case of mild hypothermia and took me till later that day after several hot showers to warm up. With the weather being really cool my asthma felt amazing and I felt strong and like I could run for miles. The night before it was humid since we had rain before it started so I struggled during the hurricane heat and that was my downfall. Regardless it was still an amazing experience. I was sad for my son since he sprained his ankle before his youth race and wasn't able to compete in it.

I was thankful I booked holidays at the right time. The day after my son and I took off with my parents to Montana for our annual vacation at the condo. I needed that rest bad. We had a few bad days of smoke from the forest fires so once again my asthma was bothered. What was strange is that my asthma last and stayed pretty calm then I used to be. Goes to show with all these races and exercise my lungs are getting stronger to tackle things that bother it normally.

We came back and the smoke became worse. Really worse that Friday my asthma was starting to win and give up. Ended up having to take it easy to let my lungs heal and calm down.

Everything else is my life is going great. I am excited about some new things going on in it and excited to see how things will progress. So far it's been amazing. ;)

My next race isn't until September 12th in Red Deer where I will get the second pie piece at the Super. On my way to completing my first trifecta. Then end of September on the 26th I will go do the Beast in Sun Peaks and complete my Canadian Trifecta. October 17th I will head to Seattle and complete the Spartan Super there and finish my US trifecta for a Double Trifecta. I am excited to be able to do that and make all these amazing memories along the way. The new friendships I have made as well have been so great. I love being apart of this amazing community that is extremely supportive of each other and up lifting. I am truly blessed!

Until next time...