Above Pic: Heather poses.
As a writer, I am always interested in the story behind the story. Adventure Racer Heather Kluch chats in detail about her experience with American Ninja Warrior. She raised money for her trip to Miami, and the money she did not use she donated to the March of Dimes.
I had originally applied for a Bear Grylls reality show last year but didn't make the final cut. A few months later, I received a call from NBC asking if I wanted to be a part of the American Ninja Warrior. I said sure, but they told me I still needed to fill out the application and send in a video. I had plans for someone to help me with the video, which fell through, so I was in a time crunch and only had about a half hour to come up with something before the deadline. I put something together at the last minute, and I think it sucks so much that I still haven't watched it again. So you can imagine my shock when I got the call saying I made the cut to be on the show for the taping in Baltimore! It took me a while to finally make my decision and sadly I had to turn them down. I just had too much going on that weekend and I just couldn't make it happen with such a short notice. The casting producer asked if I'd like to be put in the decision pool for Miami with no guarantees that I will be called again. I said sure, might as well take a chance, at least the dates of Miami were more doable than Baltimore, and I knew it would be a lot warmer! I really didn't expect another call...One day out of the blue, I got the call for Miami! My first thought was "Are you freaking kidding me? Did these people not see my horrendous video?" I contemplated for a couple days since I had not been specifically training for these types of obstacles. I'm an adventure racer, so I've done 36 hour races that include non-stop orienteering, mountain biking, and paddling, so I knew I had the mental and physical strength, but I also knew obstacles could be tricky. I had also done a few Tough Mudder races, but knew that American Ninja Warrior was a whole different animal. Then I thought, when would I ever get a chance like that again? And Miami? It's hard to say no to Miami!!! I knew I couldn’t afford the trip, but when I mentioned on Facebook about the Baltimore call, my friends offered to donate, and suggested to set up a donation page. I didn’t feel right about doing that. I’m not one to just take people’s money like that, but knew it was the only way to get me to Miami. So I decided to setup a donation page and set it to a goal of $1500. I wasn’t sure exactly how much everything would cost me in the end, but I thought $1500 should be enough. I also decided that if I had anything leftover, I would donate the money to the March of Dimes charity on behalf of my running team, Team Randomocity. I ended up reaching over my goal, which got me to Miami to be a ninja warrior for my first time! Follow the rest of Heather's Story on her official Blog @ http://heathersyapcrap.blogspot.com/
