This is Optimal Health Daily, The Power of Teamwork by Suzanne Pellejeepevleski of livehappy.com,

and I'm Dr. Neal. Hello and welcome to another bonus Sunday episode where I like to share an article

from a different podcast in our network, and today's post comes from Optimal Relationships Daily,

where articles covering all types of relationships are read

to you every day. So with that, let's hear this one from Greg as we optimize your life.

The Power of Teamwork by Suzanne Pellejee Pavelsky of LiveHaphy.com. As I muscled my way across the long

stretch of monkey bars, my arms grew tired. With each subsequent bar I gripped, I couldn't imagine how I would

muster the strength to continue. 20 minutes earlier, my friend Michelle and I were stretching and

trying to stay warm as we anxiously

awaited our 3 p.m. start time. With the wind blowing and our adrenaline pumping, we nervously

talked about what laid ahead. We were about to compete in our first Spartan race, an intense

challenge that combines a 3-plus-mile run with 21 boot camp style obstacles. For the past 12 weeks,

we had trained together and were now racing as part of the 60-person Relentless Fitness team,

comprised in part of members of our gym, Relentless Fitness. We were doing the Spartan race,

in part to raise money for Steve's Club, a national nonprofit that helps keep

at-risk kids off the streets by inviting them into the gym to exercise after school.

And so part of our team was made up of a group of teenagers from Steve's Club.

Running along with the teens, knowing that we were helping to raise money for them and their

friends, gave added meaning to our endeavor,

while competing alongside them literally kept us on our toes because they were so fast.

Spartan strong or seriously crazy?

Are we crazy? We asked ourselves as our minds and muscles tensed as we tried to help each other

...