One day a few weeks ago, I was listening to @new.things talk about marathons he'd love to do around the world. I watched his face light up and I heard a genuinely excited tone of voice I rarely hear from him.
I love seeing him when he's like this and I also had an immediate realisation: despite running on and off my entire life, calling myself a "runner" and having participated in countless running events from 5-100km... I don't share his deep love of running.
Don't get me wrong, I like running, sometimes, when I feel like it, as part of a balanced diet, you might say.
My very next thought--after realising that I just felt flat at the idea of running endless marathons around the world--was a question:
What would make me that excited?!
And I immediately had my answer.
It had been there all along.
It showed up in my natural inclination to climb up the rope swing and into the trees with my brother while my sister played inside.
It had revealed itself when I was one of only two kids at high school who chose rock climbing for my school sport.
It was there when I had the opportunity to do further study in anything in my mid-twenties and I picked a leadership course that included canyoning and abseiling.
It made sense when I thought about how I could watch YouTube clips of Ninja Warrior events for hours and be fascinated, secretly wishing I was one of the strong, fast, capable humans climbing and jumping and balancing on this huge jungle gym.
And it was obvious, in hindsight, when I remember thinking, "I wish that there were more obstacle courses for adults like we had as kids." (I guess I was remembering Girl Guide camps?)
So, it had been there all along.
And while I do recall entering at least two obstacle course races in South West Sydney back in my mid-late twenties and early thirties, I guess I just got busy with ultra marathons and then moving to Bali, and, I don't know, life.
Somehow I had forgotten, yet again, how much playing on obstacle courses bring me sheer and utter joy.
I love them so much I'd give up parkrun to do them if I had to. (And if you know me and you know parkrun, then this might shock you).
Like I did yesterday.
It was a Saturday, which means it's parkrunday. But at 7 am I wasn't at the start line of my local parkrun with @new.things somewhere nearby. I was taking a leisurely walk through the bush, letting my body slowly wake up so I could make the most of the Obstacle Course Training event that would start one and a half hours later.
I could have made it to parkrun and still done the OCR training at the nearby gym but I didn't want to rush and since I'd had a rubbish night's sleep, I wanted to prioritise my new found relationship with tackling (physical) obstacles.
At 8:15 am I arrived at a gym I'd never been before and was greeted by the talkative, friendly and enthusiastic gym owner, herself a competitive obstacle course racer.
We started on time with just four of us participating. The others were friendly and helpful, and encouraged me in between their own huffing and puffing. The woman in charge walked me through every single obstacle in turn resulting in her newbie feeling taken care of.
I knew it was going to be a challenge.
There were a lot of obstacles, many of which I'd never tried before. Like the "Twister" - a series of tiny, side-by-side monkey bars that twist while you are on them!
And a few of which were far too hard for my current level of strength. Like the "Hoist" - which sees you pulling down on a single skinny rope to pull a 30kg bag up to the ceiling and then slowly lowering it back down again. Given that I only weigh 60kg, I was struggling to even get this bag off the floor, let alone up to the ceiling!!
We had two hours scheduled for this event. And while the others all finished faster than that, I needed most of the time to have a decent crack at all of the obstacles.
Because my strength and fitness are not where I want them (yes, I'm still fitter and stronger than most women by age, but these things are hard yo!) I knew I would need to have tiny rests between each obstacle.
I walked between all obstacles (rather than run). I broke all the skipping and jumping type activities into smaller chunks. (So, 100 on the heavy skipping rope was done in 2 lots of 50 with a long pause in the middle). And I drank an entire bottle of water, one small mouthful at a time, over the whole session.
I was annoyed when I couldn't do something (like the big monkey bars - I was out of sufficient arm strength by the time I got to them) but mostly I was surprised by how much I could do and I was proud that I showed up and gave it a go.
To say I'm delighted would be on the right track.
I am delighted that I've finally re-found the sport that my heart has loved all along. I am delighted that I've found something I can happily commit to training for most days for years into the future, and maybe even decades to come.
Caroline loves Obstacle Courses.
Can you remind me if ever I forget?
Photo of whiteboard and Garmin watch, taken by me. Photos of me in the gym, taken by @new.things... after he'd finished his beloved parkrun, of course. 😉