After my first session, we moved locations to Franconia Park in Harleysville. I had learned the meaning of DDIP from an inside location, but now I was going to be training outside. Something I dreaded.
Not that training outside is bad. But it’s hard. And dealing with something that was hard was something I was a little concerned about. I didn’t want another obstacle. I wanted things to get easier.
This is NOT how DDIP works.
So, we moved to the outdoors, and training in part-dark, part sunrise, part early morning began. The bugs. The dirt. The mud. A playground of land to run in. To do pushups in. To sprint in. To do side-straddle-hops in.
I was still at the point where I was new to the program. It was my second session, but I was determined to make myself stronger. The problem was that I hated to run. I still do. As soon as I step off, I want to quit. I want to stop.
There is no quitting in DDIP.
Somehow, we were lucky for those 8 weeks, because there was no rain. None. It made for some dusty mornings, but it made it easier to deal with.
There’s a different mentality when training outside. The source of motivation is different. When you’re in a gym, you’re constantly moving back and forth. So when you feel like you’re lagging behind, here comes somebody to help you out.
Outside is different. We would go on runs, or marches, and people would extend away from you. You have to find it within yourself to catch them, or at least keep up with them. It’s not easy. Especially when you are slower than them. Heavier than them. Not in as good of shape as them.
But, I persevered. I’m still persevering. I’m still trying to catch up. I’ve found a group of people who don’t judge you by how fat or thin you are, by how beautiful or ugly you are, or by how fast or slow you are. They don’t judge you. They find out who you are, and accept you as you are. There is no judgement. There’s only encouragement and motivation and acceptance.
If the rest of the world was like this, we’d all be better off.
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