I More Than Survived....

First of all I want to extend a HUGE thank you to everyone who was involved with yesterday's boot camp - for the organizers, the instructors and the participants!  What an awesome day!


So, yesterday was my first boot camp.  Honestly, I was terrified to go.  I kept hearing how awesome they always are but in my mind I couldn't get past the 14 hours ending with the black belt fitness test.


When I joined the IHC team originally, I told Sifu Brinker that I was done with living afraid.  I was done living telling myself that I couldn't do something simply because I thought it was impossible.  I have spent so much time living within self imposed limitations.  Boot camp definitely fell within those limitations as a no go zone. 


This year, with much fear and trembling, I signed up despite how I was feeling.  I did my best to not think about what I had gotten myself into leading up to the event.  That is until I hit the pillow Friday night and that was all I could think about...  The alarm went off ridiculously early and off Way & I went - both severely lacking sleep and a bundle of nerves.  My goal at this point was to just survive.


The day was fantastic.  The people were amazing.  The seminars were packed with new things to work on.  Then the fitness test hit.  Let's face it, we all want to go in and totally smoke it out of the park.  There were some participants who totally rocked the test.  Seeing their success and determination were so inspiring.  I, on the other hand, struggled big time with nearly every single part of the test.  Honestly, by the time we hit the 2 km run at the end I was feeling extremely discouraged.


I started off that run feeling like I had less than nothing in the tank.  After 13.5 hours of kung fu, perhaps that is an understatement...  I was not able to run much of it.  I just did not have the energy to ensure that I was properly engaging all of my muscles in my legs to keep my weaker knee safe.  I had a choice to make.  I knew that I could never walk it in the acceptable time limit but I chose to not quit.


While I was out walking at the back of the pack I reflected on where I was and what I was doing.  I thought about the last year and it nearly brought me to tears.  The last year has been brutal.  First the ACL on my knee and then the car accident.  For 2 months this winter, I was supposed to lay flat on the couch with my eyes closed.  By February I was allowed to move but I had to keep my heart rate under 120 or all of my concussion symptoms hit full force.  Slowly I was able to push that up so that by April, I no longer had any restrictions.  It has been a long hard process trying to work myself back towards any semblance of shape.


Yesterday, when I thought about it, was a total win.  I tried everything that was thrown my way.  I did not quit.  I had my heart rate up as far as 158.  I spent 30 minutes in the peak zone.  I spent 4.5 hours in the cardio zone.  I spent nearly 12 hours in the fat burning zone.  I burned over 5000 calories according to my Fitbit.  I had no symptoms!!!!!  To think of where I was just a short time ago and what I managed to do was very emotional.  I am not where I want to be but I am working on that.


That said, from the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who has been with me through this past year.  It has been quite the ride.  Thank you to everyone who was there at the finish line last night cheering me on.  I more than survived!