I have often wondered what a boot camp is all about so when my good friend Blaine asked me to go with him to one I couldn’t resist but sat yes. Especially when he mentioned that it was themed as a survivor camp and it was raising funds for cancer survivors. Something I feel is often forgotten with all the cancer fund raisers out there. I was very excited, my first boot camp and it was for a great cause something worth suffering for.
I always thought of myself as very physical person and at this point I was running and swimming often so I thought this shouldn’t be too difficult for me. How are can it be? Right? To answer that question, it was more pain then I could imagine.
This survivor camp is lead my Mariela, @mariela.fit, an Ambassador for Fight to End Cancer. She herself has gone through her own battle and understands the need for events like this to help support those who have fallen through the cracks. She mentions in her opening speech that asking a simple question like “Are you okay?”, can go a long way to let cancer patient know you care.
The boot camp was set up at a school gymnasium where they also had awesome shirts and other gifts to purchase. Blaine bought me a nice shirt for me to remember my first ever boot camp.
The gymnasium started to fill up with people of all ages all being affected by cancer whether it was themselves, a family member or a close friend, they all had their reasons. The excitement was starting brew as the noise in the gymnasium got louder and we got closer to the start time.
Silence fell across the gym as Mariela stepped in the front of the group. She began by introducing herself and letting us have a glimpse of her experience in getting diagnosed with cancer, going through the treatments and being a survivor.
To a avoid injuries we all warmed up and did some stretching, that was the easy part. After that everything was a blur, and all I remember was the pain and the struggle of getting you body to continue. Looking around the room I noticed I was not the only one struggling, it was a crazy tough class. Every time I stopped I was pushed and motivated to keep going and not to give up. Wow, my whole body was burning and I was already anticipating the end, but it went on and on and on. As soon as we finally stopped my body collapsed on to the floor of the gym and I was gasping for air. We finished with a cool down, to get our heart rate back to normal. I was so glad it was done and I couldn’t believe I got through it, I actually survived my first boot camp.
Music: www.bensound.com
Mariela Burkett, follow her at Instagram:
@mariela.fit • @you.missed • @fighttoendcancer • @buckaburpee • @gear.by.marielafit
Facebook: Mariela Fit
Thank you Blaine Dustin, @skippyjonjone
