Welcome to Mud, Sweat and Fears

We are women.
We are mothers.
We are warriors.

And by some standards....we are insane.

I'm Annie.

I'm Kellie.

And we'd like to welcome you into our world of mud, sweat, and fears.

Annie: First, a little background. Kellie and I met a few years ago over the internet. That's right, folks, we are living proof that you can find a life-altering, successful relationship in cyberspace...at least as far as friendships are concerned. As for romance, well, let's just say my inner romantic jumped ship a long time ago so I'll keep my thoughts on that topic to myself...for now.

So back to the friendship...

We started out as two single, working moms of a certain age commiserating online about the struggles of getting through each day knowing that tomorrow was going to be the same grueling and unsatisfying routine. Slowly, as we exchanged stories and viewpoints it was clear we had much more in common than our “single mom” status and a genuine bond was formed. We vented, we listened, we laughed, and most importantly, we pulled each other back from the edge when needed. I now consider Kellie one of my closest and dearest friends. (Enjoy the sentiment, folks, because that’s about as sappy as you’ll see me get. Right, Kel?)  

Since then, the friendship has grown beyond the anonymity of the internet and taken root in the crazy, confusing, and always chaotic reality of the real world. We are in touch daily and see each other as often as schedules allow, which isn’t often enough as we live in different parts of the country. Finally, about a year ago, there was one thing that became painstakingly clear to both of us...there had to be more to life than just surviving.

Kellie: Ooo...we are an internet success story, aren’t we? Love it! And I will echo Annie's rare and greatly cherished sentiment: she is one of my closest and dearest friends also! This is likely one of the reasons why we find ourselves neck deep in delusions of fitness grandeur at this point.

Now don't misunderstand us, we're not two curmudgeon-y, whiny middle-aged women with nothing better to do that voice our discontent in a blog -- well, usually not -- it's just like Annie said, we knew that there had to be something we could grab onto that would give us that personal sense of motivation and satisfaction we were so desperately missing. Some sort of emotional/karmic pick-me-up that would make us feel fabulous and keep us from eating our young.

And since society generally frowns upon picking up cowboys half our age for a personal rodeo...just sayin'.

So it was time for some drastic change. We both knew we were tired of cringing at ourselves in the mirror, and, truly, at my age (mid-40’s) there's the looming spector of "very bad things" happening healthwise. I had visions of the EMTs finding me down from a heart attack and I’d be wearing my oversized granny underwear with the holes because my pretty ones didn’t fit anymore. The horror! (I’m a nurse. We have these kinds of nightmares.)

We began to plan, plot, and make impulsive race registration decisions...

Annie: Back in May 2011, I made the decision to get myself back into shape. I had a few extra pounds to lose, but more than that I wanted to feel the strength and energy that comes with being physically fit. And, I figured punching and kicking things a few days a week would be pretty satisfying to my psyche as well. After about 7 months, I was feeling great, but still felt like something was missing and I added an MMA class to my workout routine. This class, as you can probably imagine, was mostly men and I admit to feeling pretty intimidated. However, I was determined not to fail, so I stuck with it. As I gained confidence in my abilities and felt more comfortable, I began to chat with the guys in class and started hearing stories about these crazy events called obstacle races. After seeing an ad for the Men's Health Urbanathlon, I questioned them about it and they said they’d run it the year before.

My first thought was, 'Damn it, if they can do it, well so can I.'

My second thought was to send the link to Kellie.

Kellie:  Now, I was feeling pretty satisfied with getting my first 5K under my belt (finish time = 47.23 min) when Annie sent me that link. I had planned to find one of those "couch to 10K" plans and set my sights on a half marathon. Having been an athlete most of my life (dancer, cheerleader, tumbler, racquetball, rock climber, martial artist...) I figured I'd probably be able to get myself back into shape with a good dose of self discipline (and Advil) and a moderately challenging running plan. I was crazy envious of Annie's MMA workouts but didn't have the financial means to join a gym here. And my son's TKD school is kid oriented so I wasn't keen on working out there either. I figured it was just me, nature, and a pair of kick-ass, brand-new, magical running shoes. My biggest obstacle? I really like to eat. I mean...REALLY like to eat. I was struggling with, in my mind, reducing my quality of life by
restricting my comfort food. Couldn't I just run it off??

And then there was Annie's email...with the link...

OMG...There were people climbing over walls, charging up stairs, running through tires and mud, scrambling over city buses (buses, fer gods' sake!), hanging off monkey bars and it looked like THE. MOST. FUN. EVER!!

My inner warrior-goddess (who is obnoxiously competitive) suddenly turned green, became massive, and was yelling, "HULK, SMASH!" before I even finished my reply to Annie which basically stated: YES! YES! LET'S DO IT!

Game on, lesser mortals! Comfort food was 86'd and the training began in earnest. I had a plan and I had a goal. A goal I shelled out money for. And more importantly, I had a vision of crossing that Urbanathlon finish line and feeling like a million bucks. (Plus, there might be cowboys! Right, Annie??)

Annie: This is NYC, Kellie, you probably want to stay away from any guys playing cowboy. But, yes, I’ll admit that participating in a male-dominated event sponsored by Men’s Health did have it’s appeal.

So we trained, each in our own cities and our own schedule, but we pushed because as terrifying as the idea of participating in the Urbanathlon seemed when we registered, there was no way we were going to back out. And, through all the physical and mental ups and downs of training, we were there for each other...cheering, sympathizing, listening, and yes, even scolding when it was needed. We’ll share our individual training experiences with you in future posts.

What is important to know now is that on October 27, 2012 we each crossed the Urbanathlon finish line at CitiField in Queens, NY and were hooked, already looking ahead to the next big challenge...training for the 2013 Spartan Race Trifecta (because we can and it's FUN!).

P.S.
Annie: Just a quick follow up note to say that Kellie was scheduled to fly out the Monday after the race, but her plans were foiled as Hurricane Sandy hit the tri-state area on Sunday night. She was forced to stay 4 extra days at my house on Long Island - with not just me, but also my kids, my mom...and my dog - with no electricity, no heat, and no hot water. The fact that she still speaks to me is a true measure of her friendship. Of course, she did get a stockpile of home-baked goodies and alcohol that helped her survive the stay.