Tales of a Fat Chick Running: The Warrior Within

This actually happened in March. I sometimes need time to ponder things, and by the time I was done pondering, the Boston attacks happened and I was too angry to write about it.

There were two races in the same town and I was interested in both. They were The Biggest Loser Off-Road Challenge and the Spartan Race. I have wanted to do the Spartan since discovering its existence. Fear, however, got the better of me and I signed up for The Biggest Loser race. My brother went with me for support. When we got to the town, it seemed as if everyone that was signed up for the Spartan was staying at the same hotel. I felt embarrassed for being such a chicken. I truly felt like the biggest loser. Sitting on the bench as an act of caution is forgivable. Fear is not. The next day at the site, my brother and I couldn't help but notice that the entire area was marked as being a Spartan Race, but only two tents were labeled as The Biggest Loser Off-Road Challenge. I kept asking, "So...where's our race?" To my complete and total shock, I learned at the BL tent that the "challenge" was to finish the Spartan Race! That's right. There was no BL loser race. I had actually registered for the Spartan but was considered part of Team BL!

I exclaimed, "Are you freaking KIDDING ME?! A surprise Spartan Race? ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?!"

It seemed like everyone there except Team BL looked like a personal trainer. My heart was in my throat, but I exhaled and went to the starting line with everyone else. As I went along the race path, it felt like I was just in the way of these elite runners. But every single one of them stopped to encourage me to keep going. After a while, the fear dissipated and exhilaration took over. I took my time with each obstacle. When I didn't complete an obstacle, I took my punishment like everyone else. Some racers even offered to do some of my burpees for me, an act that really touched me. Even though some obstacles were a serious challenge for me, to my surprise, I conquered the others like a boss! After finishing one of the more time-consuming obstacles (a low-crawl under barbed wire through thick Georgia mud...by the way, getting your 'fro caught in barbed wire is 10 tons of suck, but I digress...) I came face-to-face with the last obstacle: the gladiators. Instead of beating me up, one of them took my hand and ran with me across the finish line! At that moment, everything became surreal. I kept murmuring "I just finished a Spartan..." as a woman put the Spartan Race medal around my neck. She smiled at me and then another woman came up and put a Biggest Loser medal on me! After I got my Spartan t-shirt, I found out that Team BL also had a Spartan Race bib. I never picked my bib up because I didn't know that we were supposed to check in at the Spartan tent, too. On my way out the gate, I spotted one on the ground and took it home instead.

The bib is laminated and on a wall with the rest of my race bibs. It serves as a constant reminder that doubt is the real obstacle I must learn to conquer.