Drowning over Burpees

Stephanie and I at the finish

I've been eager to get this story out because it is so inspirational.  Stephanie started crossfit less than a year ago, and has since lost around 80 lbs.   As a single mom and awesome friend of mine, when she told me that a Spartan race was on her bucket list, I quickly got her registered for the closest race coming up.  She attended crossfit and my Saturday obstacle course trainings to prepare, and showed up at the starting line.  So without further ado, here is Stephanie's experience at the Las Vegas Super Spartan 2014. 

"She looked straight at me without a scintilla of hesitation and said, 'you can do this Steph'!  I was amazed at the amount of confidence this girl had in me when myself I felt like the biggest loser in the world. I wanted to do this race because I wanted to get out of my head. So much was spinning out of control in my life.

 Monday before the race, I became ill. I started to vomit and had a fever and hives everywhere. BUT - I don’t quit!

"I will run this race," I thought, "I will run it!" TyAnn’s trainings were grueling and I never actually gave my 100 percent partly because I just didn’t believe that I could. I have said it once and will say it again, I don’t know how I can be this blessed to have people see more in me than I see in myself. The night before the race my hives were out of control. I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep. I was a wreck with nerves and stressing about the fool I was about to make of myself. Saturday morning, I went anyway. I am no quitter. I may suck at doing things but I don't quit. 

When the race began, I jumped that wall and I knew, I was in the game. I could hear (trainer) Ann’s voice in my head to keep running. I could hear Matt’s (blackridge trainer) voice in my head to keep going. All I could think about is use my legs, tighten my core, jump the walls. I could hear the voices of my friends telling me to keep going. The walls were the easiest part. Mile four came and my legs decided to give up on me. I thought 'who the boss here'. My legs were cramping so bad that I wanted to walk off and say screw this,  I am no Spartan. I am only human.

I had this thought, Ann, Justin, TyAnn, Jared, they knew I was going to finish, why I couldn’t see what they saw. Before I had any time for self-doubt, I saw the sign. “Three miles left before your free beer.” I said "Screw free beer; I want to jump that fire!!!

Little did I know I was going to come face to face with my nemesis: water. I don’t dive in water; I cannot stand the feeling of water against my throat let alone above my head. I am looking at the obstacle thinking, there goes my next 30 burpees. After 90 burpees, I couldn’t fathom the idea that I had to do another 30. I stood in that pool for 20 minutes talking my way out of it. I looked over and saw the finish line and said, (@#*!) it - Today is a good day to drown.


When I popped on the other side, I started to scream and cry because I couldn’t believe that
I chose drowning over burpees!!!.
 When I crossed that finish line, I was running on pure adrenaline and complete and total joy. I knew it was the beginning of my journey to no longer live comfortable and to harness discipline in my life. My friends were proud and I was really happy that I made them proud. No Blackridge crossfitter should be labeled as a quitter. I made TyAnn proud. She trained me to succeed not to fail and succeeding I did. I don’t know how she planted that idea in my head but I am very very thankful for her. I am thankful the support that I have. I am thankful for that #@$@ race!

I wanna do more, I wanna be more.