Pushing Boundaries

Last week I wrote about what it is like to truly meet yourself when you are in the midst of a seriously hard physical challenge and how difficult it can be when you are in the middle of this type of challenge to really truly confront yourself. This past weekend the Spartan Ultra Beast proved to be an amazing experience and an equally amazing test for me to truly meet myself. The race course was 32.6 miles long with 80 obstacles built into the race. This race tested all of my emotions, my physical abilities and my mental fortitude. This race was all about finding out where and how far I could push myself. It caused pain that was constant throughout my body. At my lowest points both physically and mentally it made me think "Why" why am I doing this, what purpose is this really serving. At mile 10 I formed a huge blister on my right heel. My first thought was 22 more miles to go. My second thought was, HOW? One foot in front of the other. At mile 19 I tore one of the callus's off on my left hand. Blood everywhere. Again, 13 mile more to go. HOW? The same way you got the first 19 miles done. Change your perspective. Wounds heal and pain goes away, but quitting stays and never goes away. Quitting is not an option. Towards the last few miles of the race my feet were killing me from the swelling in my shoes and I knew that toenails were soon to be lost due to the beating my feet had taken during the endless miles of mud, water and rocks. I was meeting myself and finding myself and I was determined to take this new me to the finish line. When I crossed that finish line I knew that I had changed. I knew that I had found new levels that I was capable of going to. I knew that I made my resiliency grow 20x more than it was when I started. I got to meet myself and I loved the person who was there with me. I now know that I can go farther than before. That I can push boundaries past places that I never thought possible before. This is what it is like to meet yourself and accept that you are more than you have ever realized. That your abilities are only limited by what you think you are. You are more and you always will be more. It is up to you to go and find that more that is inside all of us.

Thanks for reading and as always your thoughts and comments are always welcome.