HOW MUD can make you large

This weekend I joined a group of amazing women in the mud! When I was asked to be part of the team for the Dirty Girl 5k Mud Run, I was very reluctant. The barriers started to go up....I'm not a runner. I'm not sure about the mud, I'm not strong enough to tackle the obstacles. I'm too old for this. What if I hold the team back? What if I hurt myself? My head was filling with "what ifs" and "I'm nots" like there was no tomorrow and WORSE....I was beginning to believe it! Fear of the unknown brings forth all kinds of emotions, judgments, expectations, excuses and doubts for almost all of us at some time or another. Embrace it! That inner voice is not always wrong but also examine it because it is at the juncture of doubt, fear, examination and choice that you get a glimpse of a very special gift; EMPOWERMENT! You can choose to say no because it doesn't feel right and you know you will have absolutely no regrets when you say "Thank you anyway, not for me" OR you can look your small self right in the eye and say, zip it up....I can do this...it's time to live large! As I put on my Dirty Girl Shoes the morning of the race to join Sue, my best friend of 40 years and our fellow teammates, I won't lie, I was nervous as hell and I heard the "live your life small and safe" voice saying "GIRL you are nuts, what are you thinking, can you back out? My reply was... 
TAKE ME TO THE MUD! 
 I