Earlier this year I blogged about how I wanted to get in shape.
I'm not there yet. Well, I have a shape, its just not the desired shape I strive for.
But in regards to that goal, I recently ran in the Warrior Dash in Crawfordsville, IN. I didn't set out to finish first, I would rather not have finished last (I got my results and didn't, by the way) but my ultimate goal was to simply finish.
It was an adventure.
For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, Warrior Dash is similar to Tuff Mudder, Mud Man, etc. Its a 5k obstacle course that truly tests your body. The first obstacles were mostly climbing muddy hills and falling... I mean, running down them. Some of the hills were so steep you could almost grab a hold of a rope and repel down like it was the side of a mountain. Mostly I would just run down as fast as I could until I fell down and slid the rest of the way. That part was actually kind of fun.
Other obstacles included a bunch of hay bails with boats between them - we had to run and climb and jump through all of that mess. Crawling under barbed wire, once was just a normal crawl and another time it was through several mud pits. My favorite part was the fire I had to jump through. Mostly because that sounds a lot more impressive than it really is.
But yeah, I jumped through fire.
What did you do on your Saturday? Oh, I jumped through fire. You? Oh... uhm... I learned to cross-stitch.
What does this have to do with being a dad? Well, part of it goes with the whole concept of wanting to be in shape for my kid. The other part is, even as a parent, you have to make time for your own adventures. Parenting is its own adventure, this is true, but you have to also get out now and then and do something that makes you feel alive.
I don't know what that adventure would be for you. Maybe you want to go sky diving. What gets your blood pumping? Searching for Sasquatch? Take a Judo class and imagine yourself as Batman? Whatever you need to do, but make time for your own adventure. For yourself.
Just make sure its not something you're going to look back on in a few days and say, "That was stupid" because even though my body is screaming "LET'S NOT DO THAT AGAIN!!!" my heart and my mind are saying, "Shut it, muscles, we finished!"
So now, I can mark that off my list and look for my next adventure.
