Day 8: Embrace the suck

Sometimes you need an external kick in the butt to get energized and excited about waking up at 6am to hit the gym and train. I know people who pin up pictures of celebrities with killer bodies on their bathroom mirrors, I know people who leave notes on their secret stash meant to deter and motivate. I know a sick handful who are the living, breathing embodiments of some serious branding. I am none of these people, and have devised my own system of motivation: I sign up for races.

I've never been one for New Year's resolutions but this year, at 28, I made a resolution to make resolutions, and stick to them. This year I decided that I would compete in 12 "races" over the course of 2013.

We're officially three months in, and I've only done one thus far. which was just a 6k in Brooklyn. I'm ok with my slow warm up because next month, it is about to get REAL.

Back in October, I participated in my first GORUCK Challenge (watch the video!). For those of you unfamiliar with GORUCK, it's a team challenge that takes place over the course of 12 hours, covering 18-20 miles. Participants are required to wear a backpack with bricks in it throughout the entire 12 hours, while you're going through a series of PT challenges and "missions" that usually involve carrying the heaviest thing your Cadre (the person who tells you what to do) finds along the way.  It's inevitable there will be buddy carrying, burpees, flutter kicks, and submerging fully in water. It's inevitable that there will be moments throughout the 12 hours where you want to quit, but don't, because you're part of a team and there are people counting on you. And its pretty inevitable that you'll want to sign up for another one almost as soon as you're done with the first.

In my case, I've been waiting to get through winter before I sign on for challenge #2 because getting in the east river in October was definitely cold enough for me. But my wait is over--I've officially signed up for the April 6th 1am GORUCK Challenge taking place in NYC.

My first attempt at GORUCK was daunting. I'd never trained with a backpack with any amount of weight in it before (I literally got my bricks the week before the race, then went on vacation, returning the Friday afternoon before our 1am Saturday morning meet up time); I'd not really done that much PT, and out of the group of participants I was EASILY 5 inches taller and 25 pounds heavier than the four other girls doing it. It was hard, and there were points throughout that I wanted to quit. But the people I was doing it with, most of whom were complete strangers at the start, taught me a lot about  focusing on the task at hand, shutting out your mind telling your body what it could and couldn't do, and embracing the suck. There were some amazing people on my team who not only demonstrated effortless leadership with their mental and physical strength but who also provided some seriously needed comedy throughout the 12 hours of voluntary tourture.

 

It was one of those experiences you had to be there for to really get. I encourage all of you to check out GORUCK and their mission.

 

So this morning, waking up at 6am to snow and freezing temperatures, it would have been really easy to roll over and go back to sleep for the extra two hours. But then I remembered there's a GORUCK class going down tonight, a GORUCK Heavy (that's 24+ hours of Good Livin'), and if those guys can embrace the suck in these conditions, I can get my lazy butt out of bed and hit it.

 

So I did. Because April 6 is only four weeks away, and I'm not a newbie anymore.

 

April's also got a Spartan race, and a half marathon. Giddy up.