Hero Rush aka amazing awesomeness

6 months ago I never would of thought of competing in my first race. Much less a race including 21 obstacles. With the help of my trainer kicking my behind and helping me gain muscle, lose more inches, and gain even more confidence, I was happy to dive into my first race. 

Waking up I had a slew of emotions. I was excited and couldn't wait to get on the road and accept this challenge being set before me. First off, the weather was amazing. God really blessed us with a gorgeous day to play in the mud. At noon my team was called on stage and asked to set off the siren to start the race. Our first challenge was sliding down the fire pole. Not going to lie. I was like, are you kidding me? You pretty much had to reach out and jump and pray your legs made it around the pole. Knowing some girl ahead of us didn't hold well and ate it, I made sure I was in-love with my pole, holding it close the whole way down.  We ran a large amount of the time.  I would say 2/3 of the time, at least. Which was over 4 miles.

The next obstacle was insane. Walking, roughly, 1/2 mile knee deep in a river. Which was freezing. We would find areas that were higher up, but mossy, then all of the sudden it would fall knee deep. It was crazy, but we stuck as a team, holding hands to help keep each other from falling when one of us may slip. 

Next came different steep hills, climbing up muddy hills. A scary one was when we had to walk through a big building full of all kinds of boards, tables, etc. The "smoke" (fog machine) was so thick you could only see your hand if you held it 2 inches from your face. It was an amazing time to trust each other and working with each other. We had to depend on what the other person tripped over at the start, or run into, or fall over. God bless that person so we could all warn everyone else.  Another scary one was having to crawl through a very tight, very dark crawl space maze type thing. After smacking my head I decided it best to feel all around me so I know where I am going. It was honestly hilarious. If I created this I would put those night vision video cameras in to have some free entertainment later that evening. Come on, pop some popcorn and laugh.

My kick butt moments were the tires. Now, I am used to flipping tires that weigh more than I do. So needless to say this was much easier. Well, 2 of the 3 were. One was designed by The Rock or something. They tied a fire hose, which if you don't know, weights about 12 billion pounds, and it was tied to a good size tire. Not only did you have to drag that puppy, you had to drag it up a steep hill and back down then, you guessed it, you had to run back up that hill to get on course. There were a few times I wanted to curse, give up, or stop at a sushi place and eat. Mind you, this is the boonies, so obviously there was NO sushi places near by. The other two were fun. Two tires were connected by a fire hose. I loved watching people dragging these tires, while I threw those puppies over my shoulder as I jumped a 4 foot wall. Then there were the 2 tires connected that two of us had to toss onto a stretcher and take through a course. Including under barbed wire. I kicked butt with that, but unfortunately Jorge was NOT staying on our stretcher. *Jorge was my injured tire). I would swing it forward and he would decide to pop off. Im like, "Jorge. Pull it together."

The 2 Killer obstacles I could of done without was the rope we had to climb up. Which wasn't happened. It was ok. There were big muscle men that couldn't do it. I tried and thats all. Once we made it to the top, which mind you was up very high and with no sides once up there, my stomach sunk and I just wanted down. You then had to get down. They had a fire hose for your feet and connected by ropes were two more hoses to hold onto. Thinking it would be pure brilliant to put the hoses under my armpits, so i wouldn't fall, I made it. You flip to the side and its hard moving, but I made it. Bruised armpits and all.  The other hard one was the last true obstacle (you also jumped into a very dirty pool and were hosed and then jump over 4 fires). We had to shimmy up this weird tube thing roughly a story tall. The only thing inside were small blocks on the sides, a 2x4 here and there. I enter and boom…freezing cold water being poured down on you by a hose. Not just a trickle, but a freaking rain storm. So looking up to see if I could find something new to grab was hard. There was a moment I didn't know what I was doing and thought for sure I was going to fall on the poor man under me, I made it. It was intense. So now we are up freaking high and its time to jump onto a tarp and trust it holds you. It sends you flying into a nice cold brown pool. Once I hit it my legs fly up ever so sexy like and you hope and pray the photographer did not capture that moment. Seeing I was the only one who flew down at the moment and I see the photographer standing there with his camera on me I have a feeling I will be online. Awesome!

I was almost to the end. I had to jump into a dirty pool while being ambushed my little kids with hoses. After jumping out I ran and jumped over 4 piles of burning logs and crossed the finish line where I was given my medal and a banana. Please don't be too jealous over my banana. I was all smiles and pumped that i just finished my first race. God has brought me so very far on this journey and I am not finished. I am signing up for my next race in October. Warrior Dash, which is very similar to this race. 

Hard work, dedication. Dedication, hard work

Hard work, dedication. Dedication, hard work. It is as simple as that. So many people come up to me, email me, text me about my journey. Needing help, asking questions, venting because all they want to do is eat every pizza in their County. My goal and passion in life is to help change this over weight/un-healthy nation by inspiring 1 person at a time. Once I inspire someone and they start making a change they will be able to be an inspiration and soon it will snowball. Starting your journey is so extremely simple, but there is 1 huge step one must make to start. You must WANT it. Im not talking about saying you want it, you must believe you want it. 100% of you in the game, because if you are truly not ready to invest you will fail. It is how it is. It is not an easy journey, but I will tell you it is worth every tear you will cry, every bruise you will get, every drop of blood that may come. If it were easy everyone would be doing it. Being on your journey you will learn so many things about YOU. You will slowly see YOU change and form into an even better YOU. But you have to want it bad enough to go through hell to earn your new you. You will learn to eat better. You will need to learn to love working out. You will need to learn to take care of YOU! Because, if you truly cannot take care of YOU, how can you take care of others? SO many people give me the best excuse ever: I have no time. BS. Again I will call BS. Shame on you for not MAKING time. I don't care if you are single, married, 1 kid, 12 kids, divorced, blind, deaf, white, black, gay, Buddist. Stop with the excuses and learn to accept the fact that you are making excuses. If you make an excuse you truly do not want a change. It can simply be you are afraid. Making a change in life is scary at times. You are afraid of the unknown. HELLO. I was once removed from a plane from having a massive panic attack and 5 years later boarded a plane from CA to the Czech Republic. Fear is an excuse. Do not give in.

Another question people ask me is my goal. Of course I would love to be a certain size. Be completely toned and strut my sexy self down the beach in my Marilyn Monroe bikini. Hello. In hot pink too! But one thing i want everyone to know is this is my life style. This is something I will be doing until God choses to take me home and I take my very last breath on earth. I will be on this journey for the rest of my days. I will daily be learning new things. Like food. I will always be changing things around. Finding new ways to stomach veggies and huge amounts of them. I will be in the gym the rest of my life. Its part of me. Some people do not understand my passion for the gym. But, simply I chose the gym as my life/my hobby. While others chose cooking, crafts, music, etc. 

I want you all to know that I am always here to answer any questions, to encourage you on your journey, or to help you begin your journey. I will push you, I will be tough while being encouraging, I will be straight forward and sugar coat nothing. God is good!

Update on my journey

So it has been a long time since I have jumped on this blog and share things. I know Daja, shame on me. But, lets face it. Im not as cool as you. So here I go. There will be ramblings. There will be stories. There will be health talk. But, simply a place for me to talk and share my heart. Please feel free to ask questions, but one thing I will not tolerate is rude people. So with that said, lets rock and roll. 

As most of you know I started my journey to wellness 2 years ago. The first 10 months I was un-stoppable. I dropped a lot of weight. Then I went on a glorious month long vacation. Hello. When you have family in California and Hawaii you must take long vacations. The first week went great. I went running and did yoga right on the beach. Ate amazingly well and then I fell off the wagon. Ate horribly and stopped working out. I gained some weight back and stayed off the weight loss wagon for about a year. I just got lazy and well…thats the truth. Not going to lie. 

I joined the rec center and would go and spend hours a week half behinding it. I would drink tons of soda, eat half way healthy and then get so upset when i wasn't seeing the results. I knew I needed a change. I started seeing my friend write about all her success with Zumba. I never stepped foot into a class and always thought this white girl could not dance. Maybe because the only "dancing" I ever did was in my home and at a friends wedding. My brother told me about Zumba at his church and I gave it a whirl. There begins a 2 year love. 

Zumba has become my passion. I have learned so many moves, steps, and gained many amazing friends. But still, wasn't back on track. I would eat very well, then have a cheat meal on a weekend that would turn into a cheat day and some times a cheat weekend. As time rolled on i became even more addicted to Zumba. I have an amazing friend, who is an instructor, and would trust me with her class at times, leading a few songs. My passion grew. But, I know I needed more.

In August of 2012 a new gym opened. It happens to be directly in front of my house. I was thinking about joining when one day my boss sends me a text that says, "I just bought you a year membership to Olympus. Because you're so awesome!" I was so excited! Olympus has been incredible! A few months back I hired a personal trainer who is like my brother and friend. I always wished I would, some how, get the opportunity to train with Bob Harper, Jillian Michaels, or Dolvett Quince, but after working with Aaron I would not trade him for any trainer in the world. He knows me. He knows how and when to push me. He takes me to a whole new level I never ever would think I could go.  (I will have a bragging session is a minute). I started losing again and the weight and inches fell. Then I hit a wall. Spending 5-6 days a week at the gym, 2 with a trainer, and spending a couple hours a day, I was lost. I tried different things with my diet. Changing this up or that. Adding new things. I recently got SO frustrated I finally broke down. There is another trainer who specializes in nutrition who sat down with me and explained everything to me. I was eating the right things, but at the wrong time. Here was my WHAT moment.

Who knew you aren't to eat carbs after lunch. Not me. Had no clue. Who thought it was bad having a scoop of brown rice or quinoa with grilled fish was bad. With all the weight loss shows I watch and all the books I read. No one ever mentioned that. He sat there and explained everything and drew pictures. It clicked and everything was so easy. I have gained major muscle and strength and I have Jesus and my trainer Aaron for that. But now the rest of this stubborn weight will start coming off. THANK YOU JESUS!!!

Aaron is my trainer and the sweetest guy. I remember first meeting him. I had seen him a lot and knew HE was going to train me. I love how God crossed our paths. It was nothing else but God and I am so thankful. I told him "I want you to make me throw up and help me get Jillian Michaels arms". He told me he would work me hard, but to never compare myself to someone else. He does not like me saying i will be skinny, but,  I will be STRONG and healthy! And strong and healthy I am becoming. 

*Caution. If you don't like people who brag now and then, simply skip this portion-lol* I go through intense workouts. He likes to torture me, in a good way, and he has earned a t-shirt I made that reads "I don't like Aaron". He loves it when I wear it. He has a workout called "The four quarters of hell". My favorite days are weight/strength training. I have shocked a lot of people and out lift a lot of guys. I currently free weight squat 275, I bear squat over 400, I leg press over 400, and I flip tires for fun. We are known as the power team and I love being able to get people intrigued and share my passion. Because over all my biggest passion is becoming a personal trainer and changing this over weight  world. One pound at a time.