Have you ever done something that you'd never done before? Were you scared? Nervous? or Excited? Today, I ran my first 5K. It was the Dirty Girl Obstacle and Mud Run in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Three friends signed up with me, Julie, Robin and Erika. Erika, Robin and I hadn't ever done a 5K or any other type of race. But we had a good friend Danielle who'd faced Breast Cancer this year and won. We wanted to honor her and do this event for her...but also for us.
There were twelve obstacles in the race. Walls to climb over, tunnels of mud to crawl through. A huge cargo net to climb up and ring a bell. Each one had space between them that allowed us to run or walk. We were excited to be off when they started us at 8 am. We'd justified in our minds the different obstacles and accepted the spaces between. But it was the hills of sand and the mountains we had to run up and down that we hadn't counted on.
There were hilarious moments. My bra hook got caught in one of the nets that I was crawling under and had to get some help unhooking myself. Each of us splashed the other whenever we got to the mud bogs. But the most memorable part of the day was the support of everyone, even complete strangers who stood to help others who came down walls after them. We yelled encouragement and "hoots and hollers" whenever someone made it through the obstacle, even if we didn't know them. It was a community of women who came together to donate to end breast and ovarian cancer. It wasn't a day at the spa or mud bath. It tested each of us physically and emotionally. But it was one of the best days of my life.
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