Photo credit: Henrik Olson Photography
A huge high five goes out to all of our Sofa to 5K Challenge participants this year — especially to Lisa, the grand prize winner of a Horizon Fitness product! Keep on scrolling to read her inspiring story (that turned out to be a little more extreme than a 5k), or visit the Horizon Fitness Facebook page to view the online Sofa to 5K Challenge gallery.
Lisa’s story:
This is my second year taking part in the Sofa to 5K Challenge, so this year I took on the personal challenge of “endurance” which included having a mind set of: “if I put my mind to it, I can achieve something a bit on the CRAZY side.” So when I received the invite this year to participate in the Sofa to 5K challenge I thought…this is the perfect motivation to keep me focused and on track to achieve my goal. So what did I do? I signed up for the “Fat Ass Trail Run” (the “Bad Ass” to be exact.)
The Bad Ass is a 6-hour trail run that travels from the bottom of a ski hill, up the front trail of the ski hill to the crest, then travels along the beautiful top of the hill through the woods, down the backside of the hill (treacherous, if I do say so myself), along the side of a power field, into the woods to dodge some fallen trees, a visit to the aid station (that featured amazing volunteers, chocolate candies, pretzels, etc.), back into the woods again to go up a smaller hill, along an old rail bed, back into the woods only to find the biggest hill I have ever gone up in my life. Needless to say, I had to walk up and even stop to adjust my heart rate. This hill (more like a mountain after a 6K) was the backside of the ski hill.
After sidestepping down the front of the ski hill, it was time for a quick break to recharge with some super juice and bananas then head out for another loop, then another, and another and so on. I didn’t care that other people were faster than me and passed me (some of them more than once) or that the weather was chilly. On my last loop, I was coming up the hill and I heard the coolest thing: it was a woodpecker pecking away in a tree making a heck of a racket. It was the perfect ending to a day in the woods. It made me forget–almost–the last grueling incline and charged me up. I did it! I challenged myself to do something that very few people chose to do and I accomplished my goal. It took so much dedication, time and training my mind to do what I thought a year ago would be impossible. The mind and body are crazy things.
I was encouraged daily by my fellow Sofa to 5K challengers and by Coach Jenny Hadfield with the weekly challenges for some cross training. I followed the walk/run intervals but for longer periods of time to build up the endurance that I needed to reach my time goals weekly. Sometimes it was difficult to get out of bed and run for 4 hours alone one day, then 2 hours the next, but when I put my mind to it the time eventually started to fly by and the scenery was always worth it. I cannot thank the encouraging Sofa to 5K team enough!!
-Lisa
Visit the Horizon Fitness Facebook page to view the online gallery and read more Sofa to 5K Challenge stories.
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