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I signed up to race in one of those so-called “extreme races” that feature running and mud pits and obstacles.
One of the better known ones is Tough Mudder. The one I’ve entered is called the Warrior Dash, which helps raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
(If you want to make a donation to help save kids from cancer and other horrible diseases, go to http://tinyurl.com/m3kv5sy where you can make a donation. I am participating under the Team About Men Radio banner. Whatever you can donate would be greatly appreciated and will validate my efforts!)
I’ve been working out consistently for the past 13-plus years but I’ve also just turned 50.
And will you look at some of these crazy obstacles?
There are things like shallow mud pits that you have to crawl through under rows of barbed wire. And another one called “Warrior Roast” in which participants look to be jumping over a bonfire.
Forget candlesticks, Jack. You better be really nimble jumping over this wienie roast!
Clearly, there’s lot of opportunities for things on my body to break, bleed or fall off.
As an adult, I am walking around with a fair amount of Bronx asphalt I absorbed into my knees thanks to various falls I took as a kid, including a memorable one on a scooter coming down “Dead Man’s Curve,” which intersects with “Suicide Hill.”
(You won’t find those designations officially anywhere on a map of the Bronx, but ask anyone from my old neighborhood and they will know instantly where I am talking about.)
On the same day that I registered for the Warrior Dash, I went to our local gym to inquire about training. Well, more accurately, my wife got me a gift certificate about two years ago for 10 training sessions.
Now that I have a particular goal in mind, I know what I’ll be training for.
I’ve been good about keeping up my exercise regime at home, working out an average of four to five days a week, but this is going to introduce a whole new level of challenges and expectations.
So, if it’s going to inflict discomfort, and possibly leave some scars, why do it?
It’s a new goal to meet and a way for me to face my fears of being a physical flop in a public setting.
Plus, I get a really cool, goofy-looking Viking’s hat for entering!
I’ll keep you posted on my progress and training.
Until then, here’s mud in my eye!