Day one: Our Journey Begins

Wow, my first blog entry. I don’t mean my first for the Men’s Health Assault course...I mean my first blog entry EVER. I feel that this is a moment to remember...Quick, pop the Champagne. Ok, Ok, not just yet...

Growing up, I always thought that the exercise in military movies looked so cool. I mean who wouldn't want to say "yeah I'm as bad as Samuel L Jackson, Sylvester Stallone and Jean Claude Van Damme all rolled up into one!"

When I found out about the Men's Health Survival of the Fittest challenge in 3 weeks time I found myself thinking "I really want to do it..." It seems I had already decided before actually thinking about it.

Now I have always thought that playing a sport is the best thing in the world. I am happiest when I play any sport. It doesn't even matter if I'm good or bad, new to it or a seasoned pro... It’s the competition that I crave, it is getting stuck in with a team of like minded individuals and giving it you’re all. Sports literally helped me survive High School. There was always a game to look forward to when studying was mind-numbing. It was an avenue to vent my extra energy and keep me out of trouble. I literally made lifelong friends through my football, athletic and hockey teams. This carried on to university, where I initially felt overwhelmed with the sheer number of new faces; Warwick has something like 17000 students. Showing up to taster sessions for clubs led me to make new friends and try out sports I had never done before such as American Football or Muay Thai (Thai Boxing).

So I couldn't help but fall in love with the work done by Right to Play! RTP is a childrens charity that believes in giving all kids an equal opportunity to get involved in sport and games. It doesn't matter what background they are from, everyone enjoys a game. They work with 15,000 coaches, teachers and leaders from around the world to give 688,000 children activities to get involved in.
They basically use sports to give children what I was lucky enough to have...Fantastic!

I have been fighting a knee injury for a while and as I thought of chickening out of the race, I managed to convince myself that this was because of my knee. I admit, not very Spartan of me but even Spartacus had a few doubts (Yes I know those are two different T.V shows, but, they are really good shows!). The laws of the universe intervened, as I browsed the Right to Play website, I read a fantastic article about how children in Uganda would step up to a leadership role when a coach was late. This was a trend noticed, studied and rewarded. The children would mobilise themselves and get the games going all on their own. RTP coaches are now travelling and identifying these junior leaders and teaching them valuable leadership skills that will not only be useful in sports, but will really become a way of thinking and a part of their lives. This took me back to July 2010, I was in Uganda working on an Engineering project and a small kick about with my fellow volunteers grew into a daily football game with the local community. The children from the local area quickly got involved.  We had teams, refereeing and even half time refreshments! A simple kick about grew into something huge, I can't quite explain the feeling but it was clear that everyone was having a blast.

You can check the article out here:
http://www.righttoplay.com/uk/news-and-media/Pages/NewsBlog.aspx?ID=59

How could I not go for gold now? I immediately got in contact with my age old friend and football Nemesis Leo Matlock (he now works for Right to Play as the Educations Partnership Manager) and he introduced me to Megan Prosser (who is the Marketing and Events Manager for RTP) and the rest. as they say, is history.

I have now committed to the run and I am doing it in the name of none other than Right to Play. More importantly, I cannot wait!

So what is the race? Well it's a 10 KM race with 16 crazy obstacles. These range from crawling, jumping, rolling and sprinting. All require strength of both body and mind. After you are battered, bruised and exhausted...Well then comes the Men's Health Wall of Fame...a massive 8ft wall to climb over. Here are a few snaps of what is to be expected...

A full view of the course is available here:
http://www.mhsurvival.co.uk/page64.asp?utm_source=LONDON+MH+Survival+2011&utm_campaign=63b66d00c1-Mh_Survival_News_21_10_2011&utm_medium=email

Over the next few weeks I will be writing up about my excruciating training to become more Spartan! I will log work outs, dietary information and much more, as I attempt to become fighting fit in just three weeks. Keep an eye out for regular updates (Twitter and Tacebook should be involved very soon) and don't hesitate to get in contact with me...
Any questions? I want to hear them!
Any advice? I want to hear it!
Any comments? Give me a shout!
Running the race too...Let me know!

Your involvement will really help me keep motivation on a high! So let's do this!!!