This one is worth resurrecting. I used to have a Facebook page dedicated to “Stories from the Stairs, Coler MTB,” a place where I could share the stories of everyone I’d meet each week, working out at the Rise.
This gem was one of the posts on the page, and well worth a revisit. Enjoy. 💜
#girlpower
I did a little research into the phrase, “Who’s going to carry the boats,” and it is credited to former Navy SEAL, David Goggins. This was his mantra during a SEAL training exercise, where recruits were assigned to crews, with instruction to carry inflatable boats – weighing over 200 pounds – through deep sand. The exercise is of course, intended to break recruits, driving them to sheer exhaustion and ultimate collapse. When one recruit collapses, the boat becomes heavier for the others to carry, becoming a mind-over-matter situation in shared suffering. Goggins, to motivate his team, would yell out this mantra and trudge on, demonstrating through action that HE would help carry the boat, leading by example, and encouraging others to focus on the goal, rather than on the physical pain in getting there.
There’s something to be said for the journey, rather than the destination.
Interesting side note, I have never seen someone carry the log on the stairs without encouragement from every single person they pass on the way up – and down. Whether carrying the boat, or cheering someone on, it’s truly a beautiful – and motivating – shared experience.
So what does this have to do with #girlpower? At one point today, at the top of the stairs, a little boy pointed out (in a grossed out voice), that, “it’s all girls up here?!” And we all paused, looked around, and smiled. Because yes, it was all girls up at the top. Two women visiting from St. Louis for the first time. The regular gym crew of ladies. A mom and her son. A mother and daughter. Two friends. And a few other women who walked up into the shared moment of #girlpower. I wish I had taken a pic of the dozen or so of us up there. All smiling. All enjoying the camaraderie of The Rise. I can’t say it enough: #girlpower
