Aroo! Aroo!

Well today we did our second Spartan run, this one was an outdoor course.  It offered different challenges from the stadium course we did in June, among other things…mud and water.  I was proud to get the chance to compete again with my brother.  The challenge and competition brought us closer together, bound us with a common goal.  It helped us get more fit and healthy, and I’m glad of the opportunity to get to race with him.  I know that he was disappointed in this outing even as I was ecstatic.  The rope climb still bested him, while I miraculously managed to do all of the events.  Still I was proud of him.  He has come a long way and worked hard to get here.  We both have.  

It was nice to have my mother at the event as well, to cheer us on and encourage us.  I’m glad my family has taken an interest in our racing, even if they don’t truly understand why we put ourselves through this…the months of preparation and the hours of pain.  We do it to better ourselves.  To raise the bar and push ourselves over it.  We aren’t competing against other men, but against ourselves.  As Ernest Hemingway said, “There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”  

And that is what we are doing. We are trying to be better than the us of yesterday. We are trying to find ways to prove that we are still alive; that we have not become part of the background. And we can never stop, because stopping would be like giving up. And quitting is not an option. I don’t want to look back one day and regret not trying.  

So, what’s next? Who knows. I have my eyes on a few other challenges…something new, something that will push me in different ways. I’m not done with Spartan, but I am going to take a little break. The training and competition is grueling, and the waiting for months in between is exhausting. For now, I need to clean the mud off and heal.