I am a Rugged Maniac

Becoming a Rugged Maniac

Recently I made the rather stupid decision to sign up and run a 5k obstacle course designed by Navy Seals. No joke. I’ve been out of shape for a year and I needed motivation to get myself exercising and living healthy again. I dislike running in gene

ral and my preferred method of exercise is playing sports. For the past couple of years I’ve been working 70 hour weeks and time has not opened to where I can do that. This presented a problem as I have two jobs where I sit….a lot. So in the past year I’ve gained 30 pounds. Over the fall I started looking at myself in the mirror and not liking what’s happening to my pudgy gut. The problem is when you haven’t exercised regularly in a while, it’s hard to get motivated. Enter Rugged Maniac.

I needed a goal to motivate me to get in shape. The chance to run this course and do it with some friends of mine was a double win. So, I signed up and I started training. It took a while to get in a groove but once I did I went close to three weeks running every n

ight. I finally hit the 5k mark the week of the race and thought I was ready. I wasn’t….

There were several miscalculations the biggest of which was me wearing military BDU pants. Had I worn shorts, I would have finished much faster than I did. Running in sand is difficult in shorts. In COMPLETELY SOAKED pants, it’s near impossible.

Regardless, I finished without stopping. I didn’t lay on the ground during the race, I didn’t vomit; I finished.

I was fortunate enough that in my final moments Dan Meyer was cheering me on and running the last few yards and I tiredly ran my way over the finish line. It gave me the motivation to finish.

So where does that live me now? I’m still 25 pounds over my ideal weight I feel comfortable with. To deal with this, I decided to join a gym. How to find the time to workout 5 days a week was the challenge. Enter YouFit. A gym opened up right next to E3 and it is only going to cost me $10/month. Bonus….they are open to midnight most of the nights I’m over the direction. I can now work out somewhere near where I’m already going a good portion of my week.

So, thank you Rugged Maniac for motivating me to get in shape, and thank you for not letting me quit now that it is over. Very soon, I will be a REAL Rugged Maniac.