Like most people, I have a list of things I'd like to do in my lifetime. Some of those things are personal challenges that I feel I need to mentally and sometimes physically conquer. Back in April I was feeling tired and bored with my routine. Rowing wasn't really helping me keep off the unwanted pounds that kept creeping on. It was getting harder to invest the 4 hours per day I needed for sculling (driving, rowing and boat maintenance). One morning, while walking the dog I was lamenting how I had let myself go. I got home and was just about to pitch the flyer on my front door in the trash—and then I saw it— "Cave Creek Adventure Boot Camp for Women". I thought to myself "Man do I NEED boot camp". So I looked up the website and the next thing I know I'm heading to 4 weeks of 5:30 a.m. workouts. That very first day I realized that although I thought I was in shape... I really wasn't. What I learned over the course of the first 4 weeks was that I am capable of doing more than I ever thought I could and the physical improvement in just four weeks was amazing.
Four months later I'm still going to boot camp 3 mornings a week and have found a fellow boot camper, Heidi, to run with 2 days out of the week. We're now training to for the Tucson Marathon on December 7.
It will be my first marathon and for Heidi it will be her 5th marathon. We'll also be accompanied by a two boot camp relay teams. The relay teams split the course amongst 4 people. Some of these gals, including Jodi—our boot camp trainer—are using the Tucson marathon as prep for the PF Chang's marathon in January. Heidi and I have a jump on the training so we should be ready in December to go the full distance. We'll have the benefit of having some other boot campers there to help cheer us through the last grueling miles.
From time to time, I'll blog about how training is going. I'll have a "shoe" follow up as I test my 3rd pair of running shoes on a couple runs this week. We did a 10 mile run last weekend and I'm learning a thing or two about the right gear.
And for those of you that haven't seen me for a few months...I can tell you that boot camp really changed me. Both physically and mentally. I'm quite a bit lighter and my muscles are taking shapes that are pleasing. Mentally, I feel tougher and I try never to say "I can't do that". Instead I plagiarize the Nike saying "Just Do It".
