Spartan Up! A Day I Will Never Forget.

Have you ever set out on one objective seeking to accomplish a specific goal and find when you're finished you actually accomplished something even greater.

Here's a quick example: 

Recently, I ran a Spartan Race with my husband and a couple friends.

For my husband and I, the objective of the race was to have a fun day hanging out doing something different. Plus we thought it could only strengthen our relationships with those who joined us. Personal growth and relationship building. Score one for Team Kiefer! 

I had my fears. There would be hundreds of people. What if I failed an obstacle or just fell. How would I look? Would those with me see me differently? Would I lose respect? Did I have respect? Would I just leave my friends and seek my own agenda? It didn't matter I had to go. Thanks to John C. Maxwell, I have learned a thing or two about personal growth and this had to happen. 

Race day was like this: The weather was horrible. It was cold and rainy. The course was more muddy than ever expected. We couldn't get our footing to run because of the depth of mud and tracks from previous participants. The course was longer than expected. Then there was the barefoot walk back to the car where I could't feel my toes. 

Needless to say this wasn't our ideal day. That would have been more like sunny, 75 degrees, less mud, and the ability to actually run and/or feel our extremities.

Yet something amazing happened in me. I didn't care how I looked or how I finished. Our team was just that, a team. We were pushed to limits that we didn't know we had. We helped each other. Encouraged each other. Pulled, pushed, and lifted each other. At the end, my accomplishment wasn't merely some fun relationship building experience. It was actually a lesson in authentic relationships! 

Here was my takeaway: 

You don't have to be famous, perfect, or have all the answers to have great friendships because great friendships are less about how you perform and more about how much you care!