Feeling the infectious enthusiasm of my american friends in the Golden Flower who completed a Spartan race in 2015 – especially Sangee, Annukka, Damien, Rick, Marc and Wendi – I formed a team on a cold wet New Years day  – it started small and grew organically.  Signing up for the race kick-started my ‘Spartan Up process’… motivated to get stronger whilst feeling a little fear of falling short. I had  injuries and pain along the way that made me worry and the Race was present in my mind as an obstacle that confronted me.  Getting family, friends and more of my Tai Chi family  to join the team felt easy and an amazing team emerged. We had three inspirational training sessions. Two of them led by Carla and Jos Gerritsen who shared their spartan wisdom !  These gatherings where huge fun and created a warm fuzzy glow : )  My training gathered momentum and as the day got closer I felt good about myself and what I had done – including some crazy things like building rope climbing and spear throwing stations at home.

In the end 16 of us where gathered on the start line last Saturday feeling pumped up and ready to go. Wooo.

The race was fun – all the way. The end was euphoric.

Everyone in the team was amazing

The Spartan Up process boils down to a few key elements:
Exercising and getting fit is better within a team and working together to do a race as a team felt great . No gym membership required – just get outside run, do burpees hang off trees…aim for a balance between stamina, strength and few spartan obstacle techniques. Exercising can be fun if you connect with your inner child – go to the park and play on the monkey bars.  Obstacle races where you don’t know what you will have to do offer a mental challenge that mirrors life.