Best. Day .Ever.

Today marked the first of 3 Epic Sunday Workouts that are part of the Fran Challenge. I have to say, considering the statement that was made: "Everyone will have their breaking point", I had a wee case of the butterflies prior. Luckily, I bedazzled my Fran shirt, and we all know that it's been scientifically proven that it makes you faster if you're wearing shiny things.

The morning starts off with me driving Justin to the airport for his trade show in Florida.Afterwards I have time to kill and desperately need some caffeine so I stop at the Coffee Bean for some liquid stimulation, settle into a comfy chair in the corner with my Nook and read for a bit, relishing the fact that I am A). Comfortable and B). able to breathe easily. Both of which are soon to be distant memories of the past. But I get antsy and decide to head in.

Max (the owner) is there when I get in already writing the workout out on the board....

We are split into teams of 4. One to carry the barbell (35lbs), 2 to carry the Weight plates (25lbs each) and one (me) to carry the Sandbag (75lbs). We trek down and across the street to the park much to the confusion of the traffic passing by.
When we get to the park we set up the barbell with the weights to make it a solid 85lbs and as a team rep out 100 push presses. Oh and by the way, the sandbag is never allowed to hit the ground or there are extra hill sprints. Once the push presses are done we do 3 laps on the very appropriately named "Pain Hill". I have to say this was the hardest part for me.
But of course it's not enough to just run pain hill. Next we have to carry all our equipment (including the sandbag) up and around this hill of death. Twice. When we finish we re-assemble the weights (remember, sandbag still not allowed to hit the ground) and rep out 150 deadlifts as a team. And then carry it all back down and across the street to the gym.
Did I mention we had to carry the barbell back in one piece? Luckily I had the sandbag, because as awkward as it is, I think the loaded barbell would be hell on the shoulders.
...and we're only 45 min in.

Next piece. AMRAP means: As Many Reps As Possible. Still in our team of 4 we need to knock out 30 box jumps (24inch box). 15 log shoulder to shoulder (135lbs). For this you load the barbell up, and use 2 team members. You face each other, get it on your shoulder the press it up over you head down to the other shoulder. That. Shit's. Heavy. The we go to 10 team push-ups, which are pretty fun. Think of a dog pile push-up. One person lays on the ground and the team just starts stacking up with their legs on your back and on 1,2,UP! we all push-up as a unit. We got 4 rounds and 11 box jumps done in the 15 min.
This next part was just fun. We run as a team 800 meters, then climb to the roof to do 100 airsquats...sadly we had to come down off the roof because it looked like we were going to fall through. (it did feel kinda hardcore doing squats on a roof) Then we pretty much did monkey bars across the entire line up pull-up bars. Scaled a 9 foot pull-up rack, Pushed a 250lb prowler (freakishly hard to do), and did a balance walk across these bars for 20 feet. (Took off my shoes for that one and actually made it across on my second try w/out falling off)
Team work time over, we all load up our own barbell (95lbs for the dudes, 65lbs for the girls) and have an AMRAP for 4 min of ground to overhead. My team was still in the team spirit though so we all faced each other in a square. The first 5 I'm able to snatch it overhead, the rest I end up having to power clean and then push jerk. Pretty much we could do whatever it took to get the weight from the floor to an overhead locked out position. I got 33or 34....can't remember now. But it was awesome.

I have to say it was a fantastic day. I'm tired but I feel great. Afterwards it kinda felt like I should keep going, practice my pull-ups or thrusters. Some people got on the rowers, some started lifting. I don't know why, but I think we were all so in the zone, we just didn't want to stop. However, as I was carrying a measly 35lb barbell back to the rack it literally fell right out of my grip, which told me I might be more spent that I realized with all the happy workout endorphins flooding my system. So I call it a day and drive home.

Getting home I look in the mirror at a sweat soaked dirt covered face with the biggest grin. I am happy. I love this. I want to be doing this then I'm 70. I want the whole world to do this. For some people working out is a chore. For me, it's survival. I am my best when I am working out, my mind is clear, my thoughts are focused. There is no room for anxiety, worry, doubt, depression..all things I have battled my whole life. Outside of the gym it's the real world again, the same struggles. But I carry home a little more hope, a little more light. And that's how I've learned to not just survive, but thrive. Working out out for me means more than a goal of rockin' abs (although I wouldn't mind them), it's quality of life. Without it I fail to thrive. I've been in some very dark places and I don't know if I'll ever feel safe or immune from the "dark night of the soul" (to borrow from the Bible). I'm very aware of what I fight and it's not far beneath the surface. So I keep moving and keep working and I can say with confidence and a smile:

"I'm Alive"