thatgirlisfunny.com

Adventures in living a healthy, juicy life

Guest Post by Hayley Forster

The last time we saw Hayley here on thatgirlisfunny, she and I had her husband, Pete, wrapped up and looking slightly uncomfortable when they both came to visit me and joined me at my martial arts school to try out a Brazilian jiu jitsu class.

I’ve known Hayley to be adventurous, but I didn’t know that she was THIS adventurous.  Hayley has signed up for the Tough Guy Challenge – a dangerous, dirty, wet and cold obstacle course held twice a year somewhere in England.

She invited me to join her.

I declined.  Vociferously.

After determining that she hadn’t gone round the proverbial bend, I asked her about her plans to prepare herself for this audacious undertaking scheduled for July 25, 2010.  You can read what Hayley has to say about that by reading her post immediately following this introduction.

As part of her plan for getting ready for the Challenge, Hayley has decided to give us weekly updates.  Each Tuesday, join us here to find out how it’s going  – Cheryl Ragsdale

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Hayley Accepts the Tough Guy Challenge

Do you ever get that feeling that you’ve done something that you shouldn’t have?

In the heat of the moment, you have signed up to something that you regret afterwards?

In an effort to make my life more ‘juicy’ as Cheryl says, I find myself being very impulsive! But none of my adventures have been as extreme as this one. I am not entirely sure what happened to be honest – it went so fast…

Has anyone heard of the Tough Guy Challenge?

Well I have and I’ve always promised myself that I would never do it.

This promise did not survive my impulsiveness.

Oh dear. Take a look at what I’ve signed up for:

Introducing the Tough Guy Challenge

The World’s safest, most dangerous taste of mental and physical pain, fear and endurance.

“If you’ve got a fear of places that are dark, horrible and smelly, this will address all of those elements.”

- Tough Guy Event Organiser

I was at work, just casually sitting at my desk sorting my head out after a morning full of tough meetings and a routine dentist appointment, when I heard my friend, Nicola whisper my name. I turned and expected her to ask me to the canteen for a chocolate break. I was wrong. She asked me the question that sends chills up and down my spine when I think about it….

I’ve signed up for Tough Guy. Do you want to do it too?

My initial reaction was a snigger and a comment along the lines of ‘not bloody likely!’ but then I paused.

Nicola sensed my hesitation and took this moment to pounce. Nicola knows me very well and knows when I may succumb to a challenge.

She proceeded to tell me that if I wanted to sign up to it, I needed to run to ASDA and get some passport photos NOW. Kate, our organiser, was sending off the forms at 3pm. The time was 1.45pm. Tick tock…

Now it’s hard to describe what was going through my head at this moment in time. It was one of those moments where you have your ‘good Hayley’ on one shoulder and your ‘naughty Hayley’ on the other.

• Naughty Hayley: ‘go on girl, you can do it! Others can, why can’t you?!’
• Good Hayley: ‘are you absolutely crazy, you will die, you fool!’

For some unknown reason, I jumped out of my seat and said,  ‘Ok then. Let’s do it.’

Naughty Hayley had won!

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Hayley fact number 1 – once I say, I will do something, I will not back out.

It reminded me of the time I went to see a Derren Brown show and was sitting about 5 rows from the front. Derren announced that he was going to throw frisbees and whoever caught them had to come up on the stage. I looked at Pete, laughed and said ‘There is no way we are getting up there’. We both giggled. The first frisbee he threw sailed above our heads – and then it happened.

Unknown to Pete and, in fact myself, I jumped out of my seat, leaped into the air and caught it! What was I doing??!??!?!

A wave of terror ran through my body. Pete and I looked at each other in disbelief. Oh no….

This was a very similar feeling. I wasn’t entirely sure what had happened – was it a minor brain aneurism? I could not pin point it. I ran down to the car park, hopped into my car and drove down to the local ASDA with £4 in my pocket for my photos. Waves of excitement were running through me.

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Important Hayley fact number 2 – I love a challenge and get extremely excited by it.

This feeling was short lived. I ran from my car to the supermarket in the pouring rain, got my photos (which naturally, looked terrible) and ran back to the car. The clock was ticking! Now, please bear in mind, I parked my car about 200 yards from the shop entrance…

..I was bloody exhausted.

At this point I sat in my car for a few minutes and thought to myself ‘am I doing the right thing here?’ After all, just running into a supermarket is clearly a challenge for me – perhaps I should just stick to that?

Short answer – no. I drove back to work and signed on the dotted line.

Silly thing is, after signing I read a list of the things on the course that I had to complete.  I stopped at point number 5 out of 23, when I read this:

Two 40ft a frames that you have to clamber up and run down, if that wasn’t enough, between the two are a series of electric fences primed and charged with twice the power required to stun a bull!  The ‘fences’ are actually dangling down from a frame above you so you have to run thru them dodging as many as you can to minimise the electric shocks…

I would rather not know. That sounds more difficult that going to ASDA in the rain.

At this point, I had officially decided I was out of my mind. There was no other conclusion to come to. I could blame this on Nicola, but at the end of the day, I signed that form. It was all my fault.

My own personal doubt was trumped by everyone else’s doubt for me. I have had reactions such as:

‘what?! You’re doing” Tough Guy”, Hayley? I can see Nicola doing it, but not you – at least she has some fitness!’ (This was said in between huge bouts of laughter)

‘wow.  I seriously hope you have thought about this…’

‘I think you should have started with something a bit easier. It’s going to be tougher than you think’.

‘Hayley, is this real? Or are you joking with me?’

There’s nothing like filling a girl with confidence, is there?

I must admit – I initially regretted signing up to this, but now I have, I am super excited to do this. I have sat down and made a plan in order to build myself up both physically and mentally. It will be a challenge, but a challenge I will win and thoroughly enjoy!

So this is what I have to say to all my doubters out there:

Yes, the last piece of exercise I may have done was at Flomac when I visited Cheryl in Boston last October, but that does not mean I cannot do this! I have 5 months and I am very determined to lose weight, get stronger, build my stamina and get in shape.

Remember the important Hayley facts:

1. Once I say I will do something, I will not back out.
2. I love a challenge and get extremely excited by it.

Nothing empowers me more than knowing people think I cannot do something and I then prove them all wrong in the long run. Life is too short to worry about things like this – just get stuck in and enjoy it!

Not only will I do this – I WILL DO THIS. Eat my dirt, tough guys!

Follow me on my journey! I will be implementing Cheryl’s seven steps to learning anything new in order to do this. And yes – exercise and stamina are certainly new things for me….

I will post updates on my training, my targets and my progress.

follow Hayley on Twitter

follow Cheryl on Twitter

photo credit tough guy,  blonde,  man in red

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Tough Guy Challenge – 25 July 2010

So, here we are, ready to provide support and shout encouragement from the sidelines.

Taking on something that’s larger than you’ve ever done before is quite scary, really.

One thing to know about me, is that once you’ve said you’re going to do something, I will do everything in my power to help you succeed.

Join Hayley and I every week on Tuesdays right here on thatgirlisfunny to track Hayley’s progress towards this unusual, physical and mental challenge – Cheryl Ragsdale

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And while we’re on the subject, what about the rest of you?

What challenge will you take on over these next 5 months?

The American Heart Association is encouraging everyone to change our eating habits and get more exercise to support a healthy heart.

Let us know in the comments section!

located on the right hand side of this post about half-way down the page

subscribe to thatgirlisfunny to receive updates

(grey sign up box just below)

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Hayley Forster, a long-time female fight fan, lives in the North of England with her husband, Pete. Both have deep love for the sport of Mixed Martial Arts. Keep up with her MMA chat on SportsChatPlace.com

email her on  Hayley@sportschatplace.com or follow her twitter.com/fairly_normal

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