Foiled Again! But not for long..

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Some of you remember when I wrote a post about entering into my first race and how excited I was to finally get involved in the competitive running circuit. Then, when I was unable to make the 4th of July run in Texas because of AJ & my Idaho trip, I rescheduled to run another race in September. Once again though, I was unable to make it because AJ & I had an emergency trip down to Texas that week and the race was in Oklahoma. 

I'm jealously, yet proudly, watching my friends run half marathons, train hard for and even compete in, their first full marathons but I have not even competed in a simple 10k. It's been ridiculously frustrating. Now that AJ & I have become total home bodies in our attempt to save money and prepare for our transition out of the Army, we are going to make practically no trips to either Oklahoma City or Dallas the next few months, giving me practically no opportunities for races this fall. When this realization hit me last week, I became very bummed out. I desperately want to stand with a number pinned on my shirt and run a truly competitive race. 

It also just so happened to be last week when I discovered Tough Mudder. 

Tough Mudder isn't really a race, they don't track your time or give you a medal. It's an obstacle course and your entire goal is to just simply finish. It's descriptions on the Tough Mudder website goes something like this:

"Tough Mudder is not your average lame-ass mud run or spirit-crushing ‘endurance’ road race. Our 10-12 mile obstacle courses are designed by British Special Forces to test all around strength, stamina, mental grit, and camaraderie.... Tough Mudder is 3-4 times longer and MUCH TOUGHER than a typical mud run such as Warrior Dash. On average, only 78% of participants finish the event..."

You can also check out this video:

After watching and researching, I became SOOO excited! So what if I missed my first couple of 10k's, I can continue training and enter the Tough Mudder! There is an event happening this upcoming March in Dallas, AJ & I should be able to make that one and he said he would do it with me.  It's official, we are entering the Dallas Tough Mudder. Hell yes!! 

Excited about the training, I started working on more than my running last week. My upper body strength is going to need a serious overhaul if I am going to actually complete this event. It figures then, that last week I would come down with a horrible cold. Coughing, sneezing, couldn't breathe, couldn't talk, and definitely couldn't work on a hard training program. It figures.The fates it seems are trying to conspire against me. But I won't let them. Not this time. I want to do this so badly. I am so excited. This will let me leave Oklahoma with a bang, a Tough Mudder competitor. So, after a weekend (or actually more like a week) of medicine, sleep, and green tea, training continues today.

Tough Mudder, here I come!