London |

Sometimes you have to shake it up.

Over the past few days, we have opted to take our training to new places and give ourselves new sorts of workouts. I have found this to be a very helpful change-up to getting bored on the elliptical or tired running the same stretch of beach I always run (not that I would ever complain about living on the beach.)

On Friday, for the first time since I was in undergrad, I played racquetball. ~~I don’t know the rules.~~ I like to get creative when I play. Typically, I alternate hitting the ball against the wall with my opponent and then try not get hit by it when it comes soaring back our way. (No Whammy! No Whammy!)

Sophie, our dear friend Robert, and I took rounds of 10-minute turns* which averaged out to a 45-minute workout with stretching. Now, none of us are going to be champions of the racquetball arena—but when you’re running around and slamming balls (and your bodies) against walls, it ends up being quite a lot of fun. I highly recommend it.

*In between each round, whoever was sitting out did a ten-minute circuit session. I opted for a ladder-circuit that a friend recommended to me:

10 Sit Ups, 10 Push Ups, 10 V-Ups

9 Sit Ups, 9 Push Ups, 9 V-Ups

And on down to zero.

Dad. Sister. Sister. Cousin. Cousin. Uncle. Friend. Boyfriend. Friend.

Above is a mysterious list of very important people in my life who have or will shortly complete their first, second, third, or fourth Tough Mudder in the United States. I started this year thinking that choosing to study in jolly ol’ England would severely limit my ability to participate in what I perceived to be the crème de la crème of adult adventure races with everyone I love (and their fathers.) International flights are expensive, you know. Then a dear friend brought it to my attention that the head honchos at the Tough Mudder picked up their tea cups, spread their wings, and flew across the pond. My gut flipped and said, “Huzzah!” … and then my brain followed with, “DO NOT DO THIS ALONE.”

Now, having survived The Apocalypse during a Run For Your Lives event last year, I knew that the (crazy American based) “mud run” phenomenon was beyond worth the effort. Not only is it fun and difficult but the team element of it is bar none. I grew up going to adventure camp and I have two sisters, so I know what it’s like to do trust falls and share common goals.

These races are adventure camp on steroids.

I set about asking around for someone to participate in “the toughest event on the planet” with me… by leaving that tag line out. First, to my partner in crime, Sophie. To my ~~disbelief~~ happiness, she said ,”sure” without batting an eyelid. I vaguely remember saying something like, “Don’t worry. It’s mostly a team building thing… in a run. We’ll get in really good shape while we train.” (We’re stumbling upon bathing suit season, so the words “really good shape” are always alluring, right?) We then, very luckily, picked up my wonderful/very strong boyfriend to help us over walls like these:

And finally, formed our modest team by enticing Jonny, our very own lovely human/resident drill sergeant. And so, Team: North of the Wall, was born to claim ~~Westeros~~ the South London Tough Mudder course as it’s own.

My personal mantra for 2013 is NO SCAREDY CATS and with this race, and everything else I do, I fully intend to live up to it. Follow our progress, ask us questions, send us good karma or support, and keep your hands strong for clapping. We’ve signed our death waivers and it’s go time.