Erin B
In 2014 I had a cavernous malformation removed from my brain stem, right on the top of my spinal cord. I woke up from that surgery with my left side paralyzed never knowing what function I’d get back. I learned to walk with a brace and can do very little with that arm.
A year after surgery I walked two 5K’s and was ready to conquer the world!
I’m not sure why, but after that I gave up, gained weight, and thought horrible thoughts about myself. A girl I knew from high school sent me a friend request on Facebook. She was doing obstacle course races and I loved seeing her pictures. I told her how awesome that looked and she said I should join her. She did not know about my limitations and I told her and gave every excuse I could. She showed my other people who are adaptive athletes – I like that phrase better than disabled – and they asked me what were my excuses were. She said she would get a team to help me – she got 16 people!!
I tried the Warrior Dash in Tennessee in 2018, but had to stop because of pain. I was so hyped from that experience and lived on a high for months. I exercised and gained strength and did Warrior Dash 2019 in Georgia with a group. I completed it and still cannot express what that did for me! I can’t thank my team enough for showing me what we can do together!
I’m looking forward to 2020 in Georgia again! The way my health is I know one day I’m not going to be able to do much, but until then I plan on getting muddy, bruised, and joining a great community of people who know how to have fun and live life!!
A year after surgery I walked two 5K’s and was ready to conquer the world!
I’m not sure why, but after that I gave up, gained weight, and thought horrible thoughts about myself. A girl I knew from high school sent me a friend request on Facebook. She was doing obstacle course races and I loved seeing her pictures. I told her how awesome that looked and she said I should join her. She did not know about my limitations and I told her and gave every excuse I could. She showed my other people who are adaptive athletes – I like that phrase better than disabled – and they asked me what were my excuses were. She said she would get a team to help me – she got 16 people!!
I tried the Warrior Dash in Tennessee in 2018, but had to stop because of pain. I was so hyped from that experience and lived on a high for months. I exercised and gained strength and did Warrior Dash 2019 in Georgia with a group. I completed it and still cannot express what that did for me! I can’t thank my team enough for showing me what we can do together!
I’m looking forward to 2020 in Georgia again! The way my health is I know one day I’m not going to be able to do much, but until then I plan on getting muddy, bruised, and joining a great community of people who know how to have fun and live life!!
Riley B.
When i first started OCR, I was weak, unsure, scared, and extremely self conscious, you know, the average 13 year old girl problems. At that point, I hated my body, that in turn caused me to hate myself. At this point in my life, I had just recently gone through a very rough time, I was self conscious to the point of tears & My two best friends at the time replaced me with a girl I introduced them to. This only added to how I felt about myself. “No wonder they like her better than me, she’s prettier and thinner”. I only wore baggy shirts, and dreaded when summer came and i had to wear a bikini. As I continued kickboxing and doing OCR, I began to feel strong. I felt like “an avenger”, as I put it after the first few weeks. Slowly but surely, I fell in love with the gym, especially fight club and OCR hour. That’s around the time that I registered for my first race. I trained and trained and trained for that run, even injuring myself in the process. But even with that obstacle, I still ran, and honestly I killed it. After getting that medal, I finally felt strong, mentally and physically. It wasn’t until my mom and dad brought to my attention how fit I looked in the pictures, that everything changed. It was at this point that I realized “I don’t want to be skinny, i want to be fit”. I can confidently say that without OCR, I wouldn’t be comfortable in my own skin and no where near as confident as I am now. I’m so thankful for this program and for the awesome people that have helped me on my journey :)!!
Ashlee D.
|
|
Five years ago I started having symptoms of Ulcerative Colitis. Basically my large intestine gets to acidic and starts to digest parts of itself. I lost about 40 pounds. I’ll spare you the gory bits, but at the peak I ended up at the hospital. My hemoglobin (oxygen carrying blood cells) was at 4 with 12 being the low end of normal. I’d lost so much blood I was starting to go into heart failure.
Finally we found a medicine that worked and I started to heal. The relief of my digestive symptoms was not the end. One of the common co occurring conditions with inflammatory bowels is arthritis. I started having joint pain every where. Taking off my shirt at the end of the day left me in tears more than once. One day I decided everything thing hurts if I’m moving or not I may as well run. So I did I didn’t go very far and I didn’t go very fast. I limped that entire first run. I went home dejected. Then the next day a miracle happed everything felt a little better. So I ran again, and again, and again. I had found my wonder drug, but it was pretty boring. I had a friend who was running elite Spartans and had finished 3rd at Worlds Toughest Mudder. With unearned confidence I said if she can do it so I.
I found an ocr gym near me and that first class was rough. I loved it and so did my body. Running was fun again. I’ve been part of the ocr world for about 2 years now. I’ve stepped way down on all my medicines. I can plan trips to far flung places and live a life unencumbered by my disease. I’m healthy, strong, and happy not thanks to ocr.
Finally we found a medicine that worked and I started to heal. The relief of my digestive symptoms was not the end. One of the common co occurring conditions with inflammatory bowels is arthritis. I started having joint pain every where. Taking off my shirt at the end of the day left me in tears more than once. One day I decided everything thing hurts if I’m moving or not I may as well run. So I did I didn’t go very far and I didn’t go very fast. I limped that entire first run. I went home dejected. Then the next day a miracle happed everything felt a little better. So I ran again, and again, and again. I had found my wonder drug, but it was pretty boring. I had a friend who was running elite Spartans and had finished 3rd at Worlds Toughest Mudder. With unearned confidence I said if she can do it so I.
I found an ocr gym near me and that first class was rough. I loved it and so did my body. Running was fun again. I’ve been part of the ocr world for about 2 years now. I’ve stepped way down on all my medicines. I can plan trips to far flung places and live a life unencumbered by my disease. I’m healthy, strong, and happy not thanks to ocr.
Carrie P.
I knew what OCR was because my best friend was obsessed with it. I thought she was crazy for doing it for the longest time. The more I saw her accomplishments, the more I secretly wanted to do it. After a nasty divorce and a number of years spent trying to find myself and my place in this world as a single woman, I was broken, insecure, anxious and lived to exist. I worked to pay bills and paid bills to exist. I became reclusive and didn't do much outside of watching Netflix and the occasional dinner with a few friends. As my friend was preparing for a Spartan sprint this past April in Atlanta, I watched her pack her things for the race and uttered the words "I kinda want to do it too".
Those words changed my life as she signed me up before I could even say no or ask a single question. So there I was.... going to do a Spartan race... in 24 hours. I was a nervous wreck but the team never left my side. It was a struggle for me at times, but with each obstacle the team pushed me to get through, I began to find myself. I remembered that strong warrior woman who lived deep inside of me. I could overcome these obstacles, I had a new tribe that believed in me. They cheered me on, helped me when I needed it and supported me like I had not felt in years.
I came home from that race a new person. I have committed myself to exercise, more races, better nutrition and more importantly, become a better and happier human through OCR.
Those words changed my life as she signed me up before I could even say no or ask a single question. So there I was.... going to do a Spartan race... in 24 hours. I was a nervous wreck but the team never left my side. It was a struggle for me at times, but with each obstacle the team pushed me to get through, I began to find myself. I remembered that strong warrior woman who lived deep inside of me. I could overcome these obstacles, I had a new tribe that believed in me. They cheered me on, helped me when I needed it and supported me like I had not felt in years.
I came home from that race a new person. I have committed myself to exercise, more races, better nutrition and more importantly, become a better and happier human through OCR.
