Scrambled, grounded

This past Saturday I thought it would be a neat idea to run through five miles' worth of trails, ravines, and puddles in the woods.

On second thought, "run" probably isn't the best verb to describe my experience. When I first signed up to do the Outback Scramble at Eagle Creek Park back in October, I pictured jogging on an easy to moderately difficult trail while admiring the splendid reds and oranges of the changing leaves, smiling at chipmunks as they crossed my path, and bobbing along to Miley Cyrus on my iPod as I slowly but steadily made my way to the finish line. I ran two to three times a week after work and eventually hit four miles in preparation for the event to up my chances of completing the course, if not score an impressive finish. My company paid the registration fees for employees and a plus one for each of us, so I invited Katy of Must Be Motherhood--my Mini-Marathon training partner in crime (MMTPIC?)--to be my guest, and since Katy is a more seasoned runner than I am, I assumed the Scramble would be a fun way to gauge how we gelled together, pace-wise. Sure, the ads warned we'd get wet and dirty, but duh, we were running in the woods; I could handle some raw Mother Nature. I threw on my crappy maternity lounge pants, stashed a couple of towels in the car, and figured I was good to go. Having one 5K under my belt helped to soothe my fears about performance so much that my sole focus was making sure I arrived on-site in enough time to pick up my tee-shirt.

It wasn't until I found the entrance and spotted a sign that read "Are you sure you want to do this?!" that I started questioning my ability to, well, do this.

By the time I parked my car, encountering a helpful "Last chance to turn around!" sign just before pulling into a space on the grass, you could say I was a bit nervous.

I found Katy a couple of minutes later. We didn't know what we were in for but were optimistic nonetheless.

The calm before the storm.

Even talking with several experienced Scramblers and learning we'd made a crucial mistake in neglecting to bring gloves wasn't enough to faze us. "We can finish this in an hour, right?" I said to Katy as we took our place within the crowd. "Five miles at ten minutes a mile should have us done in about an hour."

"I hope so," she said.

You're smart people. I think you know where this is going.

Roughly an hour and twenty-five minutes later, we crossed the finish line--mud caked into the cracks of our hands, gym shoes soaked to the bone (at least mine were), and aches in muscles I didn't even know I had. Meanwhile, the awards ceremony was more than halfway through; I later learned that another member of my department finished the race in 45 minutes, arguably leaving us with a tiny window for improvement next year. Teeny-tiny. Positively miniscule, or whatever.

As you have no doubt already guessed, this was more than just a casual jaunt through the woods. In total, I would guess we only ran about a mile of the entire course; the rest of the time we were parting through trees, sliding down ravines, hiking up the opposite side, and generally praying to God for that branch not to break from the stress of our body weight or our toes not to lose their fragile grip on the various footholds barely visible beneath the earth. We dashed over puddles and balanced on tree stumps. We pulled up on bungee ropes and slid in the mud. And the kicker is that Katy and I weren't even all that slow; we never collapsed in a heap on the grass or took a sitting break or even stopped for very long to catch our breath. It's that the people in front of us wearing their afro wigs and mismatched pajama bottoms combing the grounds for rubber snakes and party hats just to shave a minute off their time were batshit insane.

 

My shoes will never be the same, will they? Sob.

Despite the face that my left arm and both thighs still ache from climbing around like a jungle cat, I would do it again in a second. I had a great time talking with Katy, who I first met at a local blogger thingy at Rock Bottom way back in March 2008, not even a full week after returning to work from my maternity leave with Kara, unfamiliar with the role of working mother and missing my baby something fierce. I felt supremely out of my element that night, to say the least, and quickly declined an invitation to bowl after dinner so I could rush home and cry into Kara's shoulder, clutching her with all the strength inside me after being separated for just two hours. Afterwards, I tried to keep up with everyone's blogs, anxious to make friends in a city that after three years still felt so foreign to me, but I was barely able to stay connected to the bloggers I knew while keeping my own site fresh and making sense of my routine. Failing on all three accounts, I quickly lost touch with everyone, and friendships were formed without me.

You'd think that living in the same city would have me at least bumping into someone at the grocery store, but almost a year and a half would pass before I saw Casey and Emily again, at BlogHer this past summer, once again during an emotional low point as Luke and I had a terrible time managing the kids and I was reeling from the loss of my Parents job, in addition to seriously examining the role that I wanted blogging to play in my life. I wanted to be approachable and happy, I hated being on the verge of tears in my sweat pants at 8:30 p.m. while they were dressed to the nines en route to a party, but I didn't have the strength to be anything else; those three minutes I spent avoiding eye contact in the elevator with a tight-lipped smile frozen on my face were the most awkward of my trip. I can only imagine what they thought of me, if they thought anything at all.

It's only now that Kara and Nathan are older and I'm feeling more confident in my ability to work and parent in tandem that I'm finally ready to reach out, only I didn't have to because Katy did it first by suggesting we train for the Mini together. In addition to enjoying the easy conversation, it felt good to know that at least one mom from that night would get a chance to see the real me feeling comfortable in my own skin. Plus, it was awesome to push my body in ways I've never used it before, on a beautiful day, with the sun shining brightly and Indianapolis fall weather at its best.

Not a bad way to earn my second number.

   

Comments

[Must Be Motherhood]

I curse all of those vampire/teenager/knee-sock wearing/afro-wig donning crazies who finished so far ahead of us. *shaking fist*

Cheers to new friends and new adventures!

[Erica]

Very cool! Sounds like you had a great time and you did it! Way to go. I have been trying to run, but I can only make it about 2 miles and that is a run/walk combo on a treadmill, so there is no way I could do something like the scramble you just finished.

[daddyd]

Fall time is the best time of the year. The weather can be oh so nice. Good job on the finshing the course. It was a rough race course. To keep going the whole way was just super. I am glad you had a good time.

[rkmama]

Navigating the waters of new friendship, once you have a family, is really tricky. I am just starting to emerge from the "new family cocoon" that has been in place since we had Rowan and trying to get to know a few moms in my area.
What can I say about the scramble, but HOLY SHIT and good for you!

[Jen L.]

Excellent all around! New friends are awesome. I talked to my new mom friend on the phone a couple of day ago and Marcus said I was grinning like I had just been on a really good date. Friends are so, so important.
Congrats on finishing the Scramble! I would have turned around at the second sign, just so ya know, but I'm kind of a weenie.

[eva]

Awesome work Bree! Trail running is definitely slower and muddier than road running eh? I love it though and find it way less stressful on joints, way less likely to lead to shin splints.....although way more likely to lead to twists because of all those roots and narrow downhill trails. We did a 12K trail race last weekend. On raod 12K would take me less than an hour. On the super steep trail system for this race? I won in the women's category! In 1 hour, 23 minutes! So yeah...slllooowwweeerr for everyone involved.

[massageon]

Hell Yeah! You go girl! I ran my second 5k (ok more like walked, but the first one I ran and thought I was going to die) on Thanksgiving morning, and it was awesome. You should give yourself a pat on the back!!!