The Red Band

Today was a day that I wasn’t sure that I would ever reach.  I completed my 3rd boot camp which took quite a while to get too and earned my red band (big deal for me)!

I started my journey back in October with Amy while we were both a part of Steel Magnolias – she continued on her journey and has completed 12 boot camps  and also teaches kickboxing.  My journey has been a little slower since I just completed my third bootcamp otherwise known as 3.5 too me.

Back in my first boot camp I had a lot of doubt and mental struggles and wasn’t sure I could stick to my new fitness program.  Amy was a part of my journey from the day I met her and she shared her struggles and encouraged me to keep going.

I still remember how she described her first day with a lot of crying and I believe puking as well!   I have watched and admired her as she took on each challenge, as well as some struggles  but the thing she always does it she gets right back up and goes again.   That folks is dedication and heart, someone to look up too and a major inspiration as well.

First graduation – I had to be dragged up the hill!

Amy taking the hill at our first graduation

My first boot camp I dealt with a lot of pain from my back and the shins from hell, but I kept it up.  I do admit there were days I skipped because I didn’t think I could succeed.  I am sure there are some people that are in this same place right now.

My 2nd boot camp I had to stop after 4 weeks so that is my .5 boot camp.  I then took a two month rest to try and get my back problems to calm down.

After meeting with my neurosurgeon (who thinks I am a little bit nuts) he agreed to let me go back to boot camp and to keep at it for as long as I can.  I do admit I have to take a pain pill at the end of some of the tough days, plus I now own stock in ben gay and Epsom salt!

The plan is for me to go the non-surgical route for as long as I can.  I plan on having an epidural shot in the fall when I finally have health insurance and I hope  that I can put off surgery all together by continuing to lose weight and by building strength.    I have degenerative disc disease, herniated discs in l5, S1 and nerve damage that likes to kick in at funny times and knock me off my feet.  But I have decided as long as I can move that is what I plan on doing.

In May I started boot camp plus and gave it my all.  I discovered that I was stronger then I thought and exercise was fun.   The six weeks of boot camp plus flew by till round two in the series arrived with a  whole new level of commitment.

The last six weeks have had their ups and downs.  I have discovered that I can finally run without hyperventilating, but when some things are thrown in my path such as carrying heavy sandbags or taking on massive sand hills I can’t always keep up.  That left me feeling defeated, but looking back on my journey there is no reason for me to feel that way.

I am moving forward, growing stronger and I can’t focus on what I am not able to do, I just need to focus on what I can do.  In the past six weeks I have run four 5ks, showed up for boot camp mornings and made time to run on my own on the off days.   I may not always be the strongest or the quickest but I am there and committed to the journey.

If anyone of you are struggling in this journey, keep your  goals in site and know that it may not get easier but you will be able to accomplish so much just by putting in the time.  I have been moved by people that have started their journey, have come to me and thanked me for inspiring them to take on the journey and also for friends joining me in the next boot camp series.  Taking the time to change your health is the best gift that you can give to yourself, your family and friends.

Find someone that inspires you and keep them in your sites so that you can move forward.  If you are struggling find someone to share the struggles with and know that each and everyone of us have had our doubts but kept the end goal in site and kept going.

From the bottom of the heart I thank my husband for his unwavering support, my coaches for tough love and support, extra special thanks to Matt for believing in me, my friends who have encouraged me and joined me along the way and my boot camp friends that have inspired me to be a better person in fitness and in life.  There have been several on the journey and all I have is love and admiration for you.    I can’t wait to see what the next 7 weeks brings!   15.23.14.9.20

Amy and I (her 12th graduation and my 3rd)

Swimming with Dolphins

Today was an all over kind of morning in terms of strength and endurance with boot camp.   We had a treat with Jay leading our group this morning.  I love Matt, but it is nice to have different coaches to mix it up.

Apparently it was heard that Jay was an easy coach, um what!  Not true!  We started with push-ups and then Jay handed out empty sand bags and off we ran.  I thought we were headed for the beach but we ran through the neighborhood for a while.  This part of the morning I was able to hold my own even when we had to run holding onto the person in front of us.  I felt like I was doing great for me with running until we hit the beach to fill up our sandbags.

Since I announced that I would not be using the word “I Can’t” I opted not to use it when it came to running with the sand bag.  Running didn’t occur for me at this point but I did walk fast with my sandbag.  Carrying that type of weight for me presents a challenge due to my herniated disk.  I choose not to say no to the exercise, I just did it to the best of my ability.

I went from doing okay at the beginning of the morning to dead last on the beach.  UGH, hate that feeling!  Even though I hated that feeling I know that is the beauty of boot camp, to be challenged and pushed to go beyond what we have done before.  I may not have been able to do some of the challenges today, but it would be boring if they made it easy for us.

After heading down the beach with our sandbags we reached a stopping point in front of a house on the beach, and we had quite the captive audience from vacationers.  We had a gentleman that was filming us, which was quite funny.  So how does he present the video footage, “you won’t believe this, so I was walking on the beach and this large group of people came running up with sandbags, proceeded to do sit-ups with sandbags and then ran into the ocean to swim.”  I am sure we are a site!  The fun part was when the vacationers on the deck at the house were cheering for us.  Nothing like a morning on the beach with built-in supporters!

Once we headed into the swimming portion of the morning I felt like I was back on equal footing.  Swimming in the ocean felt great and somehow Jay was able to arrange for us to swim with dolphins as well!  Wonder what he will coordinate for next week.

It was a perfect way to end a challenging morning.  On Wednesday is the Outer Banks Firecracker & Freedom 5k and Friday is my 3rd Boot Camp Graduation.  I am super excited to finish my 3rd camp and look forward to my next go round.  Thank you to all my teammates and coaches for the encouragement and the support.  Everyone of you encourage me to do better and to strive to take it to the next level.

Jockey’s Ridge Take Two

Yesterday, June 27th was my second boot camp morning at Jockey’s Ridge.   I was thankful that one of my fellow boot campers gave me a ride as my mind was already struggling while my back was cramping.  The thing is, I am not here to whine, so old Lisa would have said “no way, my back is hurting.  I am not going to go”.  New improved Lisa ” do the best you can and finish”.

Taking on the first hill was quite the challenge, especially when we were told to go up and down the hill twice.  For those of you not familiar with Jockey’s Ridge, this is not a typical hill, this is a sand hill.  Takes on a whole new meaning to get up the hill.  Once we got to the top of the hill we were instructed to do jumping jacks on loose sand, that didn’t go so well,  so up and down we went.  Next up was sit-ups ( I think!) then push-ups that turned into the longest holding position in my life.  My arms are still aching, we then took it to a plank.

After the first adventures of the morning we took off following the coaches.  Let me just say it is quite the site to see all those people running in the sand.  When we stopped we were broken into teams.  Off Matt went and the bull sharks followed.   All I know is we ran, and ran and then ran some more.  In the sand, on a trail and then back to a very large sand hill where we met up with the two other teams.  One of our coaches led us in squats while we waited for everyone to return.

The rest of the morning was a beautiful run, I did take time to notice the scenery even though my body seemed to be fighting me every step of the way.  When we reached a point we teamed up with a partner.  Thank you to my beautiful partner, Jamie who carried me (I am not light so I was very impressed!)  I was not able to carry her due to my back so we ran when it was my turn.

Photo Credit: Jay Bowman

During this entire morning I never felt quite right and with my back in spasms the whole time I eventually ended up in the back of the pack.  I felt disappointed and angry that I could not keep up.  I was close to tears as well but decided I was going to keep strong and keep the tears at bay.  When the morning came to an end I was happy that I finished but left with disappointment.  I had not felt this way in quite sometime and did not like the feeling.

I found this photo and it did help me remember what my journey is all about.  As long as I keep trying then I am working towards achieving my goals.  My lack of fitness and weight gain did not happen overnight and I can’t expect everything to turn around in under 6 months time.  I did discover why I felt off all morning, Wednesday afternoon I started running a fever and a stomach bug hit me.  At least I know I did the best I could even when my body was working against me.  Next week is the end of my 3rd complete boot camp and I look forward to staying on my journey and taking on Jockey’s Ridge again in the next 6 weeks.

My amazing teammates – Photo Credit: Jay Bowman

Holy Hill Food Banks Cans

We hit Holy Hill aka Wright Brother’s National Park yesterday for another round of tackling the hill.  We had a larger amount of boot campers and a lot more sweat!  Yesterday was muggy and buggy!  I love now that I am on the journey I can notice the changes I have made from the last time I hit the hill.  Last time it was a struggle to run from the parking lot to the monument, this time running to the monument was just fine!

We were divided into groups at the top of the monument.  Everyone had backpacks which included not only a change of clothes and a towel but also 4 cans of food and two bottles of water.  Our mission was to unload a canned item every time we ran down and then back up the hill.  This would account for a guaranteed 6 trips up and down.  One of our fellow boot campers even brought her father along, a retired colonel and he took on Holy Hill with us.  It was a hi-light of my morning to see him heading up and down the hill.

Me from the Last Holy Hill Adventure – see how far up and down is!

After completing our cycle of going up and down the hill, Matt Costa and Jay Bowman gave a great motivational talk followed by a heart stopper assignment – Matt said “okay everyone you are going to put the can’s back in your pack one at a time and go up and down until all the can’s are gone”.  Oh hell!  What’s a girl to do but grab a can and head on down the hill.  To my relief upon reaching the top of the hill we were told to pack everything up to bring back to the cars.  The great thing about this morning was not only did we have a fantastic workout, we donated all the food to our local food bank.

I am looking forward to what the next adventure brings!

Update – 372.4 lbs of food was delivered to the beach food pantry thanks to the Hammerheads, Bull Sharks and the Clownfish. Thank you Ann Marie for the photo!

Running on the Rope – Week 2 Outer Banks Bootcamps

This week is a crazy week.  It is the last week of school for my kids and at the end of the week I am going out-of-town for my sister’s baby shower.  My daughter is also graduating from Elementary School and her last week of school is booked solid.   I am happy that I have boot camp to help alleviate some of the stress of running around crazy!

On Sunday night, my brain decided to work overtime and I had a hard time sleeping.  I ended up with about 2.5 hours of sleep before it was time to wake up.  I did have a moment when I thought “it’s okay, you can skip…you have not slept!”  Well, the moment passed.  I did not want to miss my boot camp morning  since I will be out-of-town the following Monday.  So off to boot camp I went, “mind over matter”.

As we were lining up with our teams I noticed an extremely long rope on the ground.  I had a moment of fear when I realized that we were going to be holding onto the rope and running as a team.  Not only was I in for a morning full of exercise I was going to be working on the mental side as well.

I will admit I have been a part of a rope run before and things did not go well, but as I have mentioned things are changing for me.  It’s not an “oh crap I can’t do this moment”, it’s now a “I will do this moment”.    Just making the small switch in thinking has helped me push harder and actually run farther.  No, I’m not breaking records but I do keep moving.

So off we went and for about the first mile, we just ran without walking.  When someone is in front of you and someone is behind you the focus is on moving your feet and not slowing anyone down.  After the first mile, we stopped at intervals for push-up breaks (yes, i know not really a break)  and then headed on down the road.

When we reached the pier, we had to jump up and onto the sand with the help of our teammates.  Once we hit the beach, Matt talked with us about running shoes before we headed down the beach.  I do know that I made the whole 3 miles pushing forward the whole time up until the last-minute when I tripped on a very large piece of concrete which put me flat on my face.  It was amazing that the teammates behind me did not crash onto me!  The good thing was, it was jump in the ocean time so I didn’t have long to reflect on my face plant!  (I just have a little bruising and a sore toe, so I got off easy!)

Once we hit the ocean, we circled up and I was lucky to have a very tall teammate hold me up as my feet were not touching the ocean floor.  I think he actually held up a whole row of people!  We all laid back and floated in a circle, which was quite the feeling after the run.  We were lucky and only had one wave crash on us!

I know I made another turning point Monday Morning when I made it through the whole run with a positive attitude and belief in myself.  I won’t say it was easy, but I would do it again!  I was so proud of myself and my teammates for taking on the challenge and finishing the morning strong.

I know that our workouts will become more difficult each time but I can’t wait to see the challenges as well as the progress I make along the way.