On the Flip Side

27 Days to a Healthy Body Image: Day 12

So... It was a pretty crazy weekend (Sorry for not posting on Saturday).  It was a weekend  that tested my fortitude, endurance, strength and stamina.  It was a race weekend for me.  But it wasn't the race that challenged me the most.

My friends and family know I am a glutton for punishment.  I love challenges.  I love the thrill of a race (minus the pre-race nausea).  My dear brother Chris and his wife Masha invited me to do the Tough Mudder with them-- they were going to fly to Utah from California to do this race with me.  The Tough Mudder-- 11-12 mile mud run where mixing mud and electricity and copious amounts of ice is the norm.  Sounds like fun right?!?  YES IT DID!!!!  We trained all spring and summer.  I had my typical injury setbacks (separated shoulder, sprained ankles, asthma issues) but life and training were overall good.

RACE DAY dawned cold and windy, but we were stoked and ready for a challenge.  Now the Tough Mudder course was set in the desert west of Salt Lake City-  out where the deer and the antelope (and prairie dogs and snakes) and buffalo (and the accompanying manure) play. That said we were dodging feces, mud and prairie dog holes with every step. Between mile 1-2, my foot landed in a prairie dog hole and my ankle collapsed.  The next thing I knew I was on the ground and couldn't get up.  I was carried to an ATV and driven to the main medical tent.  Where I was released from the race, given ice, first aid treatment and dry clothes (we had already swam in the ice bath lovingly referred to as the Arctic Enema). 

After 3 hours, , I was able to reunite with my family and head home.  As my brother, his wife and our brave photographer discussed the different obstacles, I felt myself becoming more and more depressed.  I wasn't tough enough to finish. Could I have even done what they did?  Maybe it was for the best that I was injured that early.  Just as I was beginning to spiral in depression (a skill I am very adept in) my brother congratulated me on finishing first.  What!?!  "First in your division-- First to the first aid station."  He was right.  I beat the next guy to the first aid station by 3 miles!  A sizable margin of victory!  (Other honorable categories from the first aid tent might include first to receive an I.V.; first to be medically transported to the E.R.; First to be Life Flighted to the specialty hospital.)  Thankfully I didn't recieve any of these honors...(Not to worry, it was an ankle sprain with swelling that looked like a baseball was coming out of my ankle)

The flip in attitude was just what I needed to see my accomplishments for what they were.  I had started the race, trooped though mud, swam in ice, and trained like the dickens for 6 months.  I didn't get the coveted orange headband, or the Tough Mudder Tee-Shirt to signify completing the course, but I was a success!

Don't we do that to ourselves.  We want the visible result so all the world can know what we did or what we are.  I want the six- pack to show that my abs are crazy strong.  Can I be satisfied with the personal knowledge that I can do 100 (or 10) sit ups straight?  It might not elicit admiration from the world; but it is success.

So for today, flip that thing you want to change about yourself into an accomplishment.