HAVE you ever hit send on your mobile phone and regretted it a second later?
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I have plenty of times. But I was particularly annoyed with myself after I sent a text agreeing to take part in the AllFit Border Battlefield at Albury last weekend.
I remember having great respect for a high school teacher who told me he didn't believe anything was worth running for and yet I found myself agreeing to an eight kilometre course with 27 obstacles.
After realising what I had agreed to, my way of coping was to push any thoughts of the impending event out of my mind.
The reality of the situation hit home when my alarm sounded at 4am last Saturday morning.
On the way I played what I considered the most appropriate song given the circumstances Highway to Hell.
I arrived in Albury with two friends and we found the battlefield.
Suddenly we were surrounded by dozens of lycra-clad fitness fanatic types and I started to feel like I had mistakenly stumbled into the first class section on a plane and it was only a matter of time before I would be kicked out.
My friends informed me I had suddenly become very quiet.
Of course I was quiet I was picturing my friends having to drag me to the finish line.
I was looking at the barren obstacle course littered with tyres, shipping containers, muddy creeks and mud hills and started planning my escape.
But before I knew it I was being whisked away with the crowd of enthusiastic participants to the starting line.
This consisted of a shipping container that participants had to get up on and over the other side just to start the event.
Perfect, I thought.
Not only am I afraid of heights, I was terrified the poor person who had to help me up would struggle and I would be mortified before I even crossed the start line.
Then we were told we were starting in groups of 40 and those who were not in the first group would need to keep warm by jogging on the spot and doing push ups.
"Are you mad?" I wondered.
"Why would I want to do more than the eight kilometre course?"
I made a half-hearted attempt to take part in the warm up and before I knew it we were off.
The ground was a little uneven but it was a good distraction from the fact I was actually running (sorry, jogging).
Surprisingly, I was able to complete most of the obstacles without much of a struggle.
There were tyres you had to run through, ropes you had to get through, tyres you had to drag or move across a large distance, logs you had to carry and wooden fences you had to jump.
The jogs in between the obstacle courses were short and achievable.
However, I failed one challenge and almost put another person in hospital.
It was a fireman's carry and intent on ensuring no one had to carry me, I volunteered to carry another woman and then proceeded to drop her.
I couldn't stop apologising profusely.
She told me she was fine, but she was probably just being nice.
My friends and I were overtaken by dozens of people on the course.
But it didn't matter to us or anybody else for that matter.
There was such a great sense of camaraderie and everyone was cheering each other on.
My friends and I helped each other over hay bales, through creeks when we got stuck in the mud and encouraged each other on when we had a moment of doubt.
We didn't break any records and we have bruises to show for our efforts, but it was worth it.
The feeling of crossing that finish line cannot be explained.
It's a test of the mind, not the body, everyone told me.
They were right.
After we finished the event we all said we were looking forward to the next one.
If I can do it anyone can, so the next time you are asked to challenge yourself in a similar event, I would encourage you to say yes immediately.
Don't overthink it, just say yes.