June 30, 2012

For some reason in early 2012 Kat got it into her head that she wanted to do an obstacle course 5k. 3.2 miles of running on concrete, through mud, through woods, jumping, climbing, crawling toward the finish. She got all of her New Jersey cousins in on it and, for some reason, I jumped in on it, too. While training for this Rugged Maniac race, running distance, running stairs, running intervals, doing box jumps and calisthenics, I ended up working myself into the best shape of my 20s (and 30s, so far.) I also kicked off what would become a minor obsession with running/races in 2013. While I feel a bit guilty for leaving the group behind (Kat kept telling me to run ahead, though I only really ditched them for that last, grueling, obstacle-filled mile) I absolutely relished physically pushing myself through dirt, through heat, and through pain. I guess running is kind of like getting tattood in that way... it hurts while you're doing it but you get hooked on it anyway.