After our last group workout in the Dare to Lose program, we had two participants down with injury. They couldn't complete the workout. I could see that they were distraught over it.

Sarah was one of the people out. She had an injured calf and, because we were having so much fun and being a little competitive with each other during the workout, she was pretty bummed.

She wrote about it in her blog.

This last week has been a challenge. I didn't see the scale budge, I ended up with only a two lb loss for two weeks. Then at the group work out after the weigh in I pulled my calf (medial head of gastrocnemius). I was killing that work out too, with an average hr of 155, it was a calorie torcher. I was really warmed up, but it pulled as I sprinted.

I wanted to cheer her up, and let her know that she has no reason to be upset every reason to be very proud of her self.

I made an attempt to point it out, and she mentions that later in her post.

Part of this program is being on a team, and our team captains are DJ's through Town Square Media. My DJ is Paul Wozniak of Tri-102.5. At the end of our workout on Saturday he addressed our group with some really encouraging comments. As I was not the only contestant with ice by the end of the workout, he told us to not be discouraged by the minor setbacks that injuries present, but to consider them as part of being in the game. It is better to be in the game then never have started. I really appreciated the comments, he was right. It was good to be reminded of those things so as not to leave the workout in a dark place, but to understand that it will be alright.

I appreciate her giving me credit for something that President Roosevelt (the first one) said.

   The Man in the Arena
Excerpt from the speech "Citizenship In A Republic"
delivered at the Sorbonne, in Paris, France on 23 April, 1910

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

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If we fail, let us fail while DARING GREATLY! Jeez, it's easy to link back to old Super Soul Sunday posts. Daring Greatly is the title of the renowned Brenee Brown book that led to talks and an interview with Oprah that set the world on fire last year.

The point is, when we stay on the couch, injuring our calf isn't a risk. When we injure things, it's the most obvious sign that we are doing something. And doing something, in my humble opinion, is sooo much better than doing nothing.

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