A Different Kind of Training

Last weekend I went to Kentucky for a business retreat. Lots of things happened there.

Including TREE CLIMBING!

For the past few months I've felt like I put myself out on a limb (call the pun police) repeatedly so this was perfect. Absolutely perfect. My extremely close friend Paula took tons of pictures which I'm so happy to have and be able to post and share with you.

DAY 1

We arrived, a bit discombobulated and annoyed -- well I was discombobulated and annoyed. After getting settled we got ready to climb!

Me, Heather, Wendy, Debra, Paula and Shelly (our host)

Our hosts Shelly and Bill had put balloons and other assorted surprises in the tree.
I captured one of the balloons!

Paula captured a space in the hammock!

Climbing this gorgeous tree was a great way to end a long travel day. And a great reminder to me of how much I love physical activity!

DAY 2

Day 2 was tricky. Because this was a high level business retreat, we had to deal with stuff. Like how happy or not happy we are with how our businesses and lives are going. We did an "exercise" where we walked among the trees, and reflected about all of this stuff and the emotions it brings up. The past few months have been stressful in my business and one of my go to emotions in times of stress is anger. During this exercise I went from being annoyed to 110% pissed off in less than 30 minutes. Seriously. It sucked. Bad. Part of why I was angry is that we had to do this exercise before we could climb again.

Once the exercise was over I was ready to climb and climb quickly.

Ever climb angry? I have.

Ever ride angry? I have.

It sucks to be in that angry space but you do what you have to do. I personally am not willing to settle for being anything other than an entrepreneur with a wildly successful business that directly reflects who I am. Because I know it's possible. And guess what's to "blame" for that?

SILVERMAN.
Yes.

Silverman showed me anything is possible. ANYTHING. And now I have to live with that. And I'm willing to live with that. 100% willing to do whatever it takes. It's not always easy but I'm grateful every day I have that evidence. You'd be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't) at how many times I go back to that race. That day. It's connected to everything I do. Everything.

So I persevere. I do whatever it takes. Even when that means I get angry, stressed, and scared. Because I do. More often than I'd like sometimes.

Climbing angry. I was the first one at the base
of the tree and the first question out of my mouth to
our co-host Bill was "any additional direction for me?"
Bill said "for you, no." Right answer!

My extremely close friend Paula either didn't know
I was livid or didn't care. She captured my
fake smile here. I should mention that my
anger wasn't personal toward anyone there.

DAY 3

As may be typical in retreats of this kind (this was my first one) by Day 3 I'd gone from being 110% extremely pissed off to being extremely grateful for everything I have. People, places, things, experiences . . . you name it, I was grateful for it. Kind of like that instantaneous shift from T2 to the run in the Utah Half. I've had numerous similar shifts since then and they never cease to amaze me.

I started out Day 3 planning to not climb. Yeah. Right! We were each going about the morning at our own pace and when I got to the tree my extremely close friends Paula and Debra were already up in the branches. Paula was tying a stuffed money in a branch about 55 feet up and told me I had to get it. She was tying it up there just for me. Challenge Accepted!

Here I am maneuvering to the other side of
the tree (had to change ropes -- so FUN!) to go get the monkey.

Hell YES! Reaching for the monkey

Shelly helping me maneuver and change ropes.


Look how high I am (upper left)! Shelly and Debra (arms out) on the right.

Getting ready to zip down with the monkey!

And she's down!

Paula me and the monkey

Me, the monkey, and extremely close friends Debra and Paula

_________________________________________

I've got to be honest here. I haven't trained seriously in months. And yet I still see myself as an athlete and I still talk about myself as an athlete and from feedback I receive I'm still seen that way. I still BELIEVE in myself as an athlete! It's part of who I am and I need to be that part of myself to really be fulfilled and successful and happy.

So to be able to go on a business retreat that was based around physical activity was a huge gift for me.

Since being back I've started on the weight training program I'd been putting off for months and Tony and I have gotten back into running. Tomorrow we're doing an open water swim at Lake Mead just the two of us. It will be my first open water swim of the season. Still wetsuit temps. Brrrr!

Oh and I've sworn off recreational sugar for the month of May and have STUCK TO IT.

Much much more to come!

[All photos by Paula Gregorowicz]