tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8685631402425377462023-06-15T09:11:49.996-05:00Marti TimesMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-81347608969729274272016-02-01T13:48:00.002-06:002016-02-02T10:27:05.795-06:00Our thoughts and experiences hosting "K", "I", and "S"<div class="MsoNormal">
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I just wanted to clarify a few things concerning “K” (9 YO
girl), “I” (7 YO girl), and “S” (5 YO boy all as of Dec. 2015) as my wife and I
hosted them through Project 143 in December of 2015 for four weeks. </div>
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<b>I
appreciate the volunteers that give their time and resources to interview the
children and I know they are given the impossible task of trying to gather
information concerning children with almost no quality time with them.</b></div>
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In this
case, these children were interviewed at their new orphanage so even the
caregivers would have been lacking much time with them (the time stamp on their
photo tells me they couldn’t have been there for even two weeks?). I wanted to
clarify some things here as the profile on the Open Hearts and Homes listing is
limited and contains some factual errors as well. </div>
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<b>My goal is to see these kids end
up in the perfect family someday (if their parent’s rights are ever terminated)
and more information can only help. </b></div>
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A quick background on our family…</div>
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My wife and I have been married for 23 years and are
adoptive parents to Anna (15 y.o.) and Victoria (12 y.o.) who we adopted in Jan
2011 after hosting them from Ukraine during the Summer of 2010. They were 7 and
9 when we hosted them so basically the same age as “K” and “I”. Our girls have
family back home in Ukraine and we keep in close contact with their half-sister
(age 19) and their Babushka (their birth mom’s mom). We have even had their
Babushka here to visit twice and half-sister here on an F-1 visa for school one
year. Through this, our girls have been well adjusted and Anna has been able to
keep much of her verbal Ukrainian and Russian. We aren't experts in hosting, adoption, or child behavior but this wasn't our first rodeo either.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My thoughts and observations on “K”, “I”, and “S”…<o:p></o:p></div>
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“K” will capture your heart almost immediately. She was the first to open up to us, was NEVER
shy, and never had a problem expressing her feelings outside of the language
barrier. She is the oldest and the “mom”
of the family when need be but really didn’t have a problem being a kid most of
the time. She shifts into and out of “mom mode” quite easily and often. Honestly,
she is pretty amazing with her younger siblings while in mom mode. She knows how to deal with “S” when he has a
meltdown and can quickly calm him down. Her tone of voice and mannerisms while
in mom mode suggest a mom with experience! And she knows how to deal with “I” and her
fits (which is usually to walk away). <o:p></o:p></div>
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She is a real sweetheart but full of drama as well. She can
over-react and pout quite easily but she recovers quickly and this is probably
typical for her age. All of the kids keep score and “K” is no exception. They
all need to be assured they are getting the same treatment as the other. She
loved to blame anything that went wrong on my girls (usually Anna) and “K” and
Anna clashed a little bit. I called it a battle of queen bees. Anna, as the
only person in the family that can speak Russian, had a lot on her shoulders
and the kids went to her for EVERYTHING in the beginning which didn’t work well
and overwhelmed Anna. In hindsight I wonder if things would have gone smoother
if my daughter didn’t know Russian at all?<o:p></o:p></div>
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“K” really had no behavior issues outside of what I would
call normal for her age. She had no problems following requests to pick up her
plate after eating or to clean her room. She is probably a little ahead of her
age as far as being able to take care of herself. She is a happy kid and one
that is very compassionate. She quickly warmed up to all of us. She has no problems relating to others and
was truly sad when our Saint Bernard Bear had to be put down half way through
hosting. She loves dogs and I think pets would be a great thing for her. She is full of energy but my wife was able to
give her tasks that she could focus on for decent lengths of time. The
trampoline was a huge hit for all of them and she loved the trampoline park we
took them to. In general she likes to be active and loves to do things
outside. Having said that, she isn’t tom-boyish
and didn’t like to get dirty, wet, or stinky…things my girls have no problem
with. When taken to my family’s dairy
farm, the kids spent a good bit of their time plugging their noses due to the
smell. <span style="font-family: "wingdings"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> She
can read English quite well but has no idea what the words are. The Latvian
alphabet is generally the same as ours so obviously that helps. She can count
to 100 in English but stumbles in the transitions at every 10. “K” will eat
just about anything and loves the same foods that American kids do…pizza, hot
dogs, etc. “K” talked about her parents (whom they see and stay with every
weekend) several times but is in denial about her past, even with Anna. Anna
talked about her past and the alcoholism and physical abuse but “K” quickly
denied she had ever experienced any of it herself. She broke down one day
crying because she missed her parents (“S” then followed suit but “I” looked at
them like they were crazy). <o:p></o:p></div>
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“K” appears healthy in every way. She is tall at 88<sup>th</sup>
percentile in height and 56<sup>th</sup> in weight. Her teeth are good and we were able to get
her only two cavities filled while she was with us. “K” will do well in a new
family if that opportunity happens for her.<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I” is the middle girl and the one with the most challenges to
overcome. We call her our wilted flower
and it was amazing to see how far she came over the four weeks we had her. We had some major issues (nothing compared to
what some families dealt with though) in the beginning of hosting. These were
behaviors we had heard of but never experienced before. These issues included some fits of defiance
and rage and this rage was directed towards anyone near her. When “I” hits, she hits hard. As she began to trust us, things improved
greatly. “I” didn’t have a problem being a kid most of the time but she had her
moments and these “moments” happened more often than the other two for sure. “I”
finally came out of her shell and it was nice seeing a real personality out of
her where she would laugh, joke, and act like a normal kid. It took roughly two
weeks or so for her personality to show through. “I” kept score more than the
others and her reactions would be a little stronger than the others but not by
much towards the end. Like “K” she loved to blame anything that went wrong on
my girls (usually Anna) but she didn’t really clash with my girls like “K”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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“I” can be very stubborn and defiant at times and it can
come out of nowhere. I really didn’t see
a pattern outside of when she didn’t feel she was being treated equally. Let me
define “equally”…If I gave “K” a ride on my shoulders “I” would get jealous
unless I made sure to explain to her beforehand that she would get a turn next.
She had to have an equal amount of time or this could set her off. Simple
things like telling her to fold up her pants and put them in her drawer could
and did set her off at times to where she had to sit in her room until she
could calm down. She always came around
after a period of time (sometimes minutes sometimes hours) and when we
explained that we wanted her to join the family for XXX after she did her task
it would always work.<o:p></o:p></div>
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All the kids hit each other (and even us) but “I” hits with
the highest frequency. To be blunt, she has some anger issues to work through
and of course this comes from whatever it was that she has experienced to get
where she is. If I were to guess, I would guess her stubbornness didn’t help
her situation. I can’t say I ever observed compassion on her part and at least
3 out of 4 hugs I received from her were after “K” hugged me first. It always
felt like something she just observed someone else do so she did it. These latter points are the most worrisome to
me, but again, I think they can worked through. Again, I am not an expert but the behavior is too serious to leave off a profile and ignore. I assume a professional can get these things figured out and can help “I” heal. I truly
hope so as I believe she has a ton of potential.<br />
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“I” has some major tooth decay that needs to be addressed. Most
of her teeth are actually missing but the dentist says most of her adult teeth
are not yet in so that is good. “I” and “S”
hate brushing their teeth as they hurt so bad and my wife got them some soft
foam type toothbrushes and mouth rinse which they liked a lot better. All told, they are looking at a dozen
extractions, a half dozen root canals, and another handful of crowns that need
to be done between the two of them. One of “I”’s top front teeth started to
come in while she was with us and she was very excited about that as she admitted
to getting teased about her teeth sometimes.
We are currently trying to get things fixed in Latvia through a
competent dentist and as of today (Feb. 1, 2016) “I” and “S” are scheduled to
go to a good dentist in Riga this month and they are to come up with a treatment
plan which we intend to fund. Anyone
that is considering hosting these kids should ask for a current status so that
they can continue whatever treatment plan they may be on. We wished we had been told of their teeth
issues so that we could line up proper care. Unfortunately, “I” and “S” were in
need of an oral surgeon and lining one up at the last minute was impossible
around Christmas.<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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“I” is a tall girl for her age, at the 78<sup>th</sup>
percentile in height and 43<sup>rd</sup> in weight. “I” is a physically healthy
and active. Like the other two, she will eat just about anything without
complaint but she is a very slow eater (like “S”) perhaps because of her teeth.
She actually lost weight while she was with us. They all did.<br />
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I believe “I” will do well in a family that can help her
work through her past with the long term guidance of a professional that
understands these things. I do not understand them other than a lot of
proactive reading before adopting my girls years ago. In our limited experience
with her I think she would do best in a family without other children (besides
her siblings of course) and/or a family that can perhaps homeschool her to
limit her world. Give her the right environment and she is going to do great
things. My wife worked with the kids and really believes she is a smart girl
that wants to prove herself. In our
experience she is not a “special needs” child outside of her behavior issues
and we are hopeful that in her new environment she will be able to go to a
normal school. I don’t think it is fair
to her to categorize her as “special needs” without some clarification. It wouldn't surprise me if she was misdiagnosed as special needs just so the school didn't have to deal with her behavior issues. We were told that she doesn’t currently
attend school, in her words, because she can’t read, but this was as of her
previous orphanage (they were moved when they returned to Latvia after being
hosted). <br />
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“S” is a funny little kid that loves to joke around. His
favorite activities seem to be farting, making funny noises, and touching or
otherwise getting into EVERYTHING! He had a hard time settling down for more
than a few minutes although Cammie claims she could get him to do so. He likes
to wrestle around and get tickled and loves to do anything that burns energy.
He loved to ride bikes even when the others didn’t but I couldn’t get him to
try a bigger bike without training wheels. He seems to lack the attention span
for things like Legos. “S” did like to get hugs and cuddle, especially with
Anna and my wife. He is ALL boy though. He is very animate about what toys a
boy plays with and which toys a girl plays with. In all honesty, I think he is
likely to slap you if you suggest he should or ever has played with dolls.<o:p></o:p><br />
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As far as behavior goes, he was usually a good kid, defiant
quite often, but not an angry defiance like “I”. Probably more of a testing
boundaries type of thing with him which I would categorize as normal for his
age. He really bonded with Anna and I know Anna admitted that he reminds her of
her younger brothers who are still in Ukraine so that may have driven some of
it.<br />
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“S” also has some major tooth decay as well that needs to be
addressed (10 teeth that need extraction for starters). “S” also is a tall kid, at the 81<sup>st</sup>
percentile in height and 66<sup>th</sup> in weight. These numbers suggest he is thin but he
actually looks to be a little overweight. He lost over two pounds when he was with us
and he tells us that he eats lots of candy when they visit their parents on the
weekend. <span style="font-family: "wingdings"; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">L</span>
Other than that, “S” is generally a healthy, active, and happy boy. Like the
other two, he will eat just about anything without complaint but like “I”, is a
very slow eater.<br />
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A few more details that may be helpful to a potential host
family. The children all speak Russian
as their first language, not Latvian. They have two older siblings that they
claim live in England and are from a different mother. I don’t see this as a potential complication
in the future and the kids don’t even know their siblings’ names. They do,
according to them, stay with their parents every weekend and we were told by
the previous hosting organization that the parental rights have not been
terminated. Also, they have two living grandmothers, one that lives with their
parents and the other that in their words is too sick to see them anymore. We
are not aware of, and the children wouldn’t share, the reason these children have
been removed from the home other than what I already stated but it is clear
that something “broke” within the family sometime after “K” was born. “I” and “S”
are clearly impacted by severe neglect while “K” is essentially unscathed.<br />
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I hope this is helpful and we are happy to answer any
additional questions any potential host family may have. We aren’t experts but
we believe strongly that more information is always better than less and we
hope the above will help any future potential host family make a more informed
decision.<o:p></o:p><br />
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lorenmarti@cox.net<o:p></o:p></div>
Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-67825957331770260692014-05-07T19:23:00.002-05:002014-05-08T10:09:42.697-05:00Outback In the Ozarks 2014- It's Only Fun if it Sucks<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>“Daddy I am so proud of you! You worked so hard to get ready
for your race and you did it!”</b></i><o:p></o:p></div>
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Words from my daughter Anna after arriving home on a sunny
Saturday afternoon. My team and I had just completed something that a few years
ago I wouldn't have even considered being a part of; something that I would
have said only crazy people do; something that may have given me a heart attack. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Early on a Friday morning myself and six friends loaded up
and headed out to Eureka Springs, AR to run a 200 mile, 6-man relay race
through the Ozark mountains. Thirty one and a half hours later not only did we
finish, but we somehow managed to win the Ultra Division of <a href="http://outbackintheozarks.com/" target="_blank">Outback in the Ozarks</a>!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<u><b>The Race Course</b></u><br />
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Notice the red path near the top center. That is the overnight "Death March" we did a year ago. That thing sure does seem "nice" compared to what we just did!</div>
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<o:p>I first heard of this race last year. As it typically happens, I saw someone else's post on Facebook about this thing called "Outback in the Ozarks". It is a twelve person relay, patterned after the Ragnar series of relay races that are quite popular all over the country. Only this one was local as it started twenty minutes from my cabin and ended 20 minutes from my home. I texted a link to the race to a good friend who I was pretty sure was crazy enough to try it. The exchange was something along the lines of: </o:p></div>
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<o:p>Me: We should do this race.<a href="http://www.outbackintheozarks.com/" target="_blank"> www.outbackintheozarks.com</a></o:p></div>
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<o:p>Cary: Which one? The 12 man or 6 man?</o:p></div>
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<o:p>Me: 6 man. 12 man is for girls. It's only fun if it sucks.</o:p></div>
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<o:p>Cary: Ok. Let me check my calendar and I am in.</o:p></div>
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<o:p>He is <u>so</u> easy!</o:p></div>
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<o:p>From there it took a little more time to pull together the entire team. My brother was another easy sell. Again, it was a matter of fitting it into his calendar. Another friend and neighbor, an awesome athlete and Ironman surprisingly joined us as well (I say surprisingly because I thought this might be too easy for him). So that made four. The other two joined us last minute (or at least last minute considering how tough this thing was going to be) really only committing in the last few weeks before the big day. Overall, we ranged in experience from newbies like myself to a couple seasoned pros whom we were able to rely on for some really sound advice.</o:p></div>
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<o:p><u><b>Planning</b></u></o:p></div>
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Like any other big event that I had no experience in, this took some planning. Planning included training, nutrition, recovery between runs, and logistics. </div>
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<u>Training</u>:</div>
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For training I really didn't change a whole lot from when I got ready for World's Toughest Mudder in Dec. 2012. My normal fitness "routine" for a couple of years now has been 4 days of Crossfit during the week and either a 7.5 mile run with a 22 lb weight vest or an 8.75 mile hilly run from our cabin to the lake and back. Ramping up really just meant adding two additional runs during the week and increasing the distance of my weekend runs slightly. A month before the event I did the Hogeye Marathon just because I figured I needed to be able to do it by that point.Plus, it has a reputation as a "hilly" marathon. Haha. Cary joined me as well to knock out his first marathon. And finally, the last few weeks before the race, I did two runs separated by five hours of rest just to try to simulate the race conditions.</div>
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<u>Nutrition</u>:</div>
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I went with the same Hammer Nutrition Perpetuem product I used for World's Toughest and the Hogeye. At this point I trust this product even though it doesn't taste all that great. I know myself enough to know that I start getting sick to my stomach after several hours of pushing myself and don't have an appetite. I can always force down liquids though. Olive Garden provided food at exchange point 12 which was awesome but it caused some stomach pain for me on leg #15. I probably should have skipped it. By the way, my GPS says I burned over 6200 calories during my 6 legs.</div>
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<u>Recovery</u>:</div>
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After every leg I took in my nutrition almost immediately as I wanted my body to be able to process it before my next leg. I took in 900 calories after my first three legs and fewer after my final three legs which were shorter and easier. Scott provided some excellent advice concerning recovery as well; I put on thigh high medical tights immediately after my runs (Nathan and Scott did as well) and kept them on until right before my next leg. They made a HUGE difference as my legs really felt refreshed and ready to go all the way through the first four legs. I still don't understand how something tight helps with blood flow.</div>
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<u>Logistics</u>:</div>
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Nothing profound here. Just a lot of details and contingencies that needed to be addressed. We looked at the legs and Nathan came up with a way of ranking the total miles by difficulty. Scott, our Ironman, got the most difficult position as runner #1 (somewhere around 38 miles and over a mile of elevation gain...ouch!). I got the second hardest grouping followed by my brother and so on. The course was very well marked, we had detailed driving directions from one exchange point to the next, and we had been told very clearly that if we go over a half mile and don't see a marker we are lost. Other than spotty cell service, which we expected, there really weren't any issues. As we understand it though, at least one team did get lost and it forced them out of the race due to a time cutoff.</div>
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<b><u>The Race</u></b></div>
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<b>Team "Misery Loves Company"!</b></div>
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From Left: Chris Hudgens, Scott Hamilton, Dave Castronova, Nathan Marti, Cary Stokes, Loren Marti (me)</div>
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There were two start times and those start times were based off of our submitted 10k times. Roughly half of the 18 total teams started at 7:00. We started at 8:00 a.m. I guess that meant were were supposed to be fast. Unfortunately, we didn't have any idea until much later what times which teams started. This made it difficult for us to figure out where we stood during the race. Early on though it didn't really matter as we just needed to get out there and run!</div>
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<b><u>Leg #3- (My first leg)</u></b></div>
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The first few rotations included legs that were generally longer than the final legs. My first leg ended up being 6.8 miles of dirt roads with 639 feet of elevation gain (88 ft. net). This was pretty similar to my typical weekend run, just a little shorter with an extra 100 feet of gain. We all put down our goals for each leg. This was mainly for planning purposes but I suppose it also helped hold ourselves accountable (although none of us ever worried about what each other put down). My goal for this one was a 9:30 average pace which was slightly faster than I would normally do a training run at home. I figured the extra elevation change and running on dirt would slow me down but the excitement of the race would speed me up. Scott and Nathan both knocked out their legs like champions and as Nathan slapped the runner's bracelet on my wrist he told me "I just passed someone, don't screw it up". Thanks. No pressure little brother. I took off running and a few minutes into the run I made the mistake of looking back. <b>Of course there was some woman right behind me!</b> I knew immediately it was going to be a miserable run because my brother would never let me hear the end of it if I got "chicked". And I knew as they drove past me to the next exchange point that he was laughing at me. Of course Scott confirmed later that he was in fact laughing at me! Just for the record, I have been "chicked" many times in other races and don't really have a problem with it. No offense to any ladies out there. I learned in my first distance event that you can't judge the speed of anyone by size or gender. It did motivate me though. So anyway, the first leg was pretty much spent in panic mode, running faster than I wanted to. Too scared to look back but too scared to not look back. I finished maybe a couple of minutes ahead of her, passing no one and not getting passed either with an average pace of 9:13. Crisis averted!<br />
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<b><u>Leg #9- (My second leg)</u></b></div>
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This one started at War Eagle and ended on Clifty Hwy just southeast of where we started. The distance was 8.13 miles with 805 feet of elevation gain (55 ft. net). The first two miles were a gradual climb out of War Eagle. Other than slightly tight legs in the beginning I felt fine and of course made the mistake of looking back. <b>Another woman right behind me</b>! And of course, odds are that this is her first run of the day (if she was on a 12 person team). More panic (yes I know that is stupid) for the next 20 minutes or so until I can no longer see her behind me. Finally I can relax a little bit. I get to the first measurable straight distance and I can see someone a few minutes ahead of me. Now I have the stress of trying to catch him! Eventually the pavement turns to dirt and I get my first "kill" of the day. I caught him and passed him. That was fun, now to stress out over him catching me! This leg was kind of frustrating because I went into it thinking it was going to be just over 7 miles. I got to mile seven and instead of getting to the next exchange point I got to a couple of pretty big hills. The bad thing about big hills, other than they are big hills and you have to go up them, is that people behind you appear to catch up to you as they run the flat or downhill section leading up to them. I looked back down the last big one and saw both runners right behind me. In reality they were at least a couple minutes behind. So for this leg, one kill and another crisis averted. Goal was another 9:30 pace and I averaged 9:21.<br />
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<b><u>Leg #15- (My third leg)</u></b></div>
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By now it was well into the evening, about 9:30 p.m. We were a couple miles south of Huntsville in what appeared to be the middle of nowhere. While waiting for Nathan to finish we noticed the four man ultra team waiting at the same exchange point. Up until this point, we didn't really know for sure how we were doing. After the first full rotation I believe we were second from the last through the exchange point and we thought we were 40 minutes behind the leading ultra team already. It was a little discouraging although I honestly hadn't given much thought to actually winning this thing. But this was cool because we actually had gained significant ground. For the life of me, I can't remember if their runner got to this exchange point before us or not. <b>What I do remember is how absolutely horrible this leg was.</b><br />
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This leg came in at 8.51 miles with 1,429 feet of elevation gain (713 ft. net gain!). The leg started with about a mile of rolling hills which allowed a person to get warmed up and loose. A half mile into the leg there was a point where I was supposed to hop in our vehicle instead of running the highway. Problem was we didn't realize where the ferry portion was so my ride was still back at the exchange point...I just kept running. It couldn't have been a tenth of a mile or so anyway. Just over a mile into the run it was basically all uphill except for a few quick downhill sections that were too steep to enjoy. As I started the hill section I could see a runner ahead of me (of course another woman) and it seemed like I was gaining on her. Just more stress. I ended up passing her and getting my second "kill" and then of course my anxiety level shot up as I again felt like I was being chased. Around mile four I rolled my ankle and came really close to actually injuring it and taking a nice fall. For some reason I had forgotten to take my flashlight out of my pocket until then. Kind of dumb running in that terrain with just a headlamp. Around mile six some guy flew by me like I was standing still running with a nice smooth stride and a stupid smile on his face...the only time I got passed throughout the race. I am glad I didn't even see him coming because I would have had even more anxiety. Finally I finished, killing one and being killed by someone else. Target pace was 11:00 and I came in at 10:19. <b>I was pretty happy as I never would have thought I could have done that leg at that pace even on fresh legs. </b>When I compare this leg to the Hogeye Marathon, which people call a hilly marathon, the leg had the same elevation gain over only 1/3 the distance (and the Hogeye is a net negative course). As Dave said earlier in the day, "these things will recalibrate your sense of what a hilly course is". Um, yep. I was so excited to be done with this leg as the rest of mine were going to much much shorter!<br />
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After each of my legs, since I was the final runner from our vehicle, we had a nice break before we needed to be ready for Scott's next run. The runner from the four man team was waiting for his runner so we chatted with him for a while. They came up from Memphis (I think) with a three man, one woman team. Pretty interesting guy and it sounded like they all had some pretty good experience in things like 50 and 100 mile races. It was funny hearing him tell us how they basically drew straws as to which legs they would get and he felt like he got the worst of the legs and he was the oldest (60 years old). He looked more like 45. He also mentioned how this type of race was different for them because they can run all day long at slower paces but it is different when you run hard and then take a break. I have so much respect for their team. Running 50 miles of this terrain, running HARD, is pretty crazy. Unfortunately, it sounds like they ended up getting lost at some point and missed a time cutoff. They had to drop out of the race.<br />
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Somewhere around this point we realized or were told that we were actually the first place ultra team! How did that happen!?!<br />
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<b><u>Leg #21- (My fourth leg)</u></b></div>
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This one started at 4:00 a.m. and was easy. 3.48 miles of mostly rolling hills, only one significant hill about midway. Only bad thing about this leg was that I had forgotten to put on my correct shoes and ended up running the entire leg (paved the whole way) in my zero drop, heavily lugged, Tough Mudder shoes. It beat up my ankles a good bit as by now my calves were trashed and my running form was getting bad. I got one more kill on this run and it was nice to have an easy run for once. Target time was a 9:00 pace and I came in at 8:50. Elevation gain was 228 feet (net 4 ft. gain). If I could have run this leg every time, I too could have been one of those annoying smiley, happy people I saw throughout the race!</div>
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<b><u>Leg #27- (My fifth leg)</u></b></div>
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By now it was 8:15 a.m. and we were all pretty tired. Nathan and I both had issues keeping our heart rates down. He mentioned his heart rate never coming back under 100 beats / min. well after he stopped running. Mine just seemed to skyrocket and I would lose my breathing as soon as I started running. This leg was a long steady climb of just over 600 feet in the first mile and a half. From there it was pretty much all down hill the rest of the 4.82 miles. My target pace was 9:15 which meant the plan was to struggle up the hills and fly down the backside. Didn't work out that way (well the struggle up the hill part did). I ended up with a 10:16 pace instead and had a hard time at that! Total elevation gain was 654 feet (like I said, all of it in the first 1.5 miles) with 393 feet net.<br />
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We headed to Devil's Den State Park to wait for our runner and the start of the final legs for all of us. While waiting we checked with the Ham radio operator for the status of the other ultra team. They were three legs behind us and we believed they had started an hour earlier than us (they had not). Thinking we were a good 3 1/2 hour ahead of the nearest ultra team took away much of the stress. At least for me.<br />
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While waiting, we noticed a dog running up and down the hill into and out of the park. It looked like she was having a good time. By the time we headed up to the next exchange point to wait on Scott, the dog was there relaxing in the shade. She apparently liked one of the runners enough to follow them up the ridiculous climb out of that park for the entire 6 miles or so!<br />
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Running Dog!</div>
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Scott killed this run like all the others. Totally amazed me. I had mentioned earlier in our vehicle that my sister's van's brakes had overheated going down those hills when we visited a while back. They are that steep. Scott ran up those hills, after 32 miles of previous running, faster than I could do a flat course on fresh legs! Way to go Scott!<br />
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Scott after his final leg</div>
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<b><u>Leg #33- (My sixth leg)</u></b></div>
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By now it was 1:00 p.m. and I have to admit I was pretty tired. We knew we had the race in the bag at this point so it was just a matter of not dying. This leg was 3.58 miles with 151 feet of elevation gain and a net change of -70 feet, my first and only leg that ended lower than it started. <b>Who got all the downhill runs!?!</b> This was rolling hills all the way and most of it on a highway. I just wanted to get done. I wanted to just run nice and slow and consistent but I had apparently forgotten how. I ended up running around a 9:00 pace, having my heart rate and breathing skyrocket at that rate, and then walk up the hills (which were laughably small compared to the earlier ones). Target pace was 9:15. I didn't even come close although I think if this was still a race and I had someone chasing me I might have been able to come close. I ended up at 10:25. I can't tell you how relieved I was to be done. I was tired, it was getting hot, and I was in no mood to do any more running!<br />
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Done...and Tired!</div>
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From there it was off to the finish line at Prarie Grove Battlefield State Park to wait on our final three runners complete their legs. At approximately 3:39 p.m. after over 31.5 hours of running, Misery Loves Company crossed the finish line as the first place ultra team!<br />
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<b><u>Debrief</u></b></div>
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This race was an amazing experience and I couldn't have asked for a better team. We all came together and had a great time even though we were certainly miserable much of the time. The majority of us had never attempted anything like this at all but yet we sucked it up and somehow managed to pull out a win! In fact, we actually held our own quite well with the 12 man teams as well, placing 5th overall out of 14 teams that finished. We logged just over 201 miles with an elevation gain (we think) of approximately 5 miles and an average pace of 9:25 per mile.<br />
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My totals were 35.5 miles, 3906 feet of elevation gain, 1183 feet of net gain at an average pace of 9:46 per mile. As I mentioned earlier I burned over 6200 calories during my runs. Let's just say the BBQ waiting for us at the end of the race was especially delicious!<br />
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<h1 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; font-family: '"Helvetica Neue"', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.375px; margin: 0px 0px 0.8125em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
Final finishing times for Competitive* teams:</h1>
<table style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-bottom-style: solid; border-spacing: 0px; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #373737; font-family: '"Helvetica Neue"', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.375px; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 584px;"><tbody style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Start Time</strong></td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Team Name</strong></td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Finishing</strong></td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">8:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Team eNeRGy</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">29:04:06</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rundown</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">30:14:35</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">8:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Mud Hogs</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">30:19:20</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">8:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lake Area Runners</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">30:28:15</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>8:00</b></td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Misery Loves Company</b></td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>31:39:25</b></td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">501 Years of Experience</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">31:58:20</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Soul Runners</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">32:11:15</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Zen-E-Thang But</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">32:26:30</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">8:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Running Rednecks</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">32:30:15</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On the Run</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">33:02:14</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">GBP Final Cut</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">33:05:12</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">White River Roadrunners</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">33:25:15</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Between a Walk and a Hard Pace</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">35:19:49</td></tr>
<tr style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">7:00</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Blazing Saddles</td><td style="border-top-color: rgb(221, 221, 221); border-top-style: solid; border-width: 1px 0px 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 6px 10px 6px 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">35:39:20</td></tr>
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The race itself was very well organized, the trail was clearly marked at all times. That by itself is a big accomplishment. 200 miles is a lot of road to mark. I really can't think of a thing that we could complain about. Well, except sleep. Sleep would have been nice. The race director and her husband worked their butts off to put this together and their work paid off. Thank you Kimberlee and Todd for such an amazing experience!!<br />
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On a personal level, this thing was pretty tough. I have never run so hard for so long in my life. Getting chased, the pressure of brotherly harassment I would get if I got chicked, and the nature of the race all combined to somehow push myself harder than I would have thought I would have run. I swear I was running in a panic almost the entire first three legs. Comparing this to World's Toughest Mudder is really an apples to oranges comparison. WTM was a very slow continuous slog. We walked a majority of the 50 miles we covered during WTM. This thing was very intense for short (generally an hour or so) periods of time. My body was more beat up after WTM but my energy level was completely wiped out during Outback in the Ozarks! Oddly, my legs are actually less sore than they were after my latest marathon. I guess the rests between legs and the varying terrain which drove varying muscle movements were the key. Now I just need to figure out why my heart felt like it was going to explode during the last two legs!<br />
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Anyone looking for an awesome challenge and a fun time should check this thing out! Seriously! It is something you will always remember. If the ultra version scares you, do the 12 person and have a blast!<br />
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As to next year, who knows. It makes me sick to think of pushing myself this hard again but as we say, it's only fun if it sucks!<br />
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One by one, our legs got crossed off!</div>
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Scott handing off to Nathan after his fifth run.</div>
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Team photo after the race. Loved the shirts we got.</div>
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Cary wiping down after one of his legs. He is so sexy when he is sweaty!</div>
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Chris handing off to Dave during their first legs.</div>
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Dave handing off to Scott for his second run.</div>
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<a href="http://www.arkansasoutside.com/the-go-rock-roadshow-outback-in-the-ozarks-sensual-avocados-and-dueling-banjos/" target="_blank">Another blog writeup on the same race from one of the other ultra teams: </a></div>
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Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-20924222210783372582012-12-17T21:00:00.002-06:002013-01-04T15:23:30.998-06:00World’s Toughest Mudder- Part 3- The Race<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<u>The Battlefield</u><br />
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I have to admit I had bigger expectations concerning the course than what I saw. No doubt, this course was more difficult than a traditional Tough Mudder. There were 50% more obstacles than normal over a slightly shorter (at 10 miles) course than I have normally seen. And yes, some of the obstacles were made slightly to significantly harder than normal. But it seems like compared to last year’s WTM, they scaled things back a little bit even though they added 1.5 miles?<br />
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The race was held at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ. It is simply a drag strip race park with some motocross tracks off to one side. We seemed to make use of the entire facility including a couple of loops into the woods. The same site was home to a traditional Tough Mudder about a month earlier, so Tough Mudder is able to reuse many of the obstacles.<br />
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I did wear my GoPro for the first lap so I could capture all of the obstacles on film. Lucky for me, someone else did the same and did all of the work of editing. Here is a video of all of the obstacles and where they were located on the course.<br />
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There were two types of obstacles on the course, obstacles that you must complete or you would face disqualification (or so they say) and those that you must attempt or face a penalty obstacle. The penalties consisted of either an additional 200 meter run or an extra Artic Enema obstacle. Both of the penalties were a joke and ended up being easier than the obstacle itself.<br />
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<u><strong>Pre Race</strong></u><br />
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So after getting a decent amount of sleep, all things considered, my brother and I got to the course around 8 a.m. or so. There was still frost on the tents from the night before but it was sunny out and warming up quickly. They announced that we all needed to be at the start by 9:30 for the safety meeting which was annoyingly early. The weather forecast was for low 50s as a high and 36 for the low overnight. I debated with myself for quite a while as to what gear to wear for lap 1 and finally made my decision. By 9 or so, we were alll dressed and hanging out in the pit area, just waiting for the show to begin. We went to the staging area a few minutes early when I noticed a couple of areas on my wetsuit where the seams were coming apart. Not good. I knew if my wetsuit failed me, it wasn't going to be pretty. My brother had brought some wetsuit glue and duct tape so we ran to our tent to try to make an emergency repair. There wasn't much else we could do at that point.<br />
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The pre-race stuff was pretty typical with the addition of the race rules and safety concerns that were never really followed anyway. The only notable differences were the lack of out of shape people and the fact that all but a few people had full wetsuits on. I noticed a guy dressed as Spiderman in Spidey tights. We saw him in the medical tent half way through the first lap. I supposed the other big difference is that by the time it was time to start, there were puddles of pee everywhere as people generally decided against waiting for the first water obstacle to take a leak. <br />
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<u><strong>Lap 1</strong></u><br />
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At 10:00 a.m. on a cold sunny morning,after countless hours of training and 100s of miles of running over almost a year,the race began. As is typical for long races, most people started out way too fast and way faster than they said they would. We didn't. We did a very slow jog just to get ourselves moving and took in the scenary. It was actually kind of cool seeing the mass of people twisting and turning through the hilly motorcycle section of the raceway because I knew I was going to pass most of them eventually. Lap 1 was pretty uneventful. I typically start to get a feeling of dread halfway through the course as I realize that I am about to go face to face with Electric Eel and Electroshock Therapy. This time, I didn't give it much thought until a couple of hundred yards before we got there (other than the lap where my brother chose to bring it up much earlier). <br />
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I hate the Electric Eel. I have always hated it and I the more I do this obstacle, the more I hate it. Getting shocked and possibly knocked out sucks. One would think that in a race filled with veteran hardened racers that have likely all been through this numerous times, that we would all just face the obstacle and do it. The reality is that I saw more people hesitate at Electric Eel the first lap than at any Tough Mudder I have ever completed. Most people don't have a clue as to how much it sucks until they have been hit with it. We came up to the obstacle (around mile 8 or so) and started to look for a route through. The wires that hang down all have a varying amount of curl to them so there is always a chance of getting through untouched. I did notice one athlete walk right up to the obstacle and just start crawling...three seconds later I heard someone screaming like a girl...at least it WAS a girl so I guess it was okay. Nothing like hearing the screams of a fellow competitor right before I face the same suffering. I paced back and forth several times and chose a route that looked like it might work. A few deep breaths and here we go! I have a problem with staying calm once I take the first hit as I seem to go into fight mode so I figured I would slowly wind my way through until I take the first hit and then crawl as fast as I could once I took the first shock. My brother and I both started our low crawl. We would lower our head underwater while going under the wire then lift it once past a row of wires. That way we could see where we were going. <br />
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Every once in a while, I could hear a sizzling sound of electricity when I had my head under the water and every once in a while I could heard screaming (and a couple of cuss words...this WAS New Jersey) as others were getting hit. Slowly but surely I got to the other side with NO SHOCKS!!! My brother took one to the leg at the very end but I made it shock free. I crawled out of the obstacle, raised my arms in victory and shouted "NO SHOCKS"!!! Unless you have been in this torture chamber and knocked out in it you probably don't understand but this was a huge morale booster. I knew if I could beat it once, it could be beaten every time.<br />
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The rest of lap one was where the bigger water obstacles were. None of them were of any issue early in the race. We also had to drag some tires for 1/3 of a mile near the end. On the first lap, I just grabbed a set without looking at them. Big mistake as they were bigger than most and had a very short rope. Lesson learned. The last obstacle was electroshock therapy which was a joke this time because the wires were so high you could just crawl under. From there, it was maybe a half mile jog on pavement back to the stadium area for the finish of lap 1.<br />
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<u>Time</u>: 3 hours 31 minutes.<br />
<u>Position</u>: 1022 of 1097 that fnished lap 1. <br />
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<u>Gear: </u><br />
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Wetsuit: I had a 3/2 and a 5/4 wetsuit with me. The 3/2 was a cheapo that I bought off of Ebay for $20. It was a little looser and my testing showed it let in much more water than my 5/4. I really hoped to be able to wear it for a couple of laps but given the cold temperatures in the morning and since we were going to go slow from the start I wasn't worried about overheating with the 5/4. I ended up putting the 5/4 on right from the beginning and never took it off until 26 hours later. Under the wetsuit I made the last minute decision to wear my off brand long sleeve shirt that I wore in Houston (the one my girls decorated). The reason for the shirt was because my 5/4 fit so tight that it took forever to get situated around my shoulders and comfortable. The shirt helped the wetsuit slide. I also had Bodyglide smeared all over myself to try to prevent any rashes. I also smeared plenty of Vaseline around my crotch area to prevent urine burns (thanks to a recommendation from a previous years' competitor). I have to say, other than some missing skin behind my knees, I came away 50 miles later completely unscathed.<br />
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Headwear: Neoprene swim cap.<br />
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Shoes: I brought two pairs of shoes....Innov-8 Roclite 318s and Innov-8 X-talon 190s. I love the 190s but only brought them as a backup since I had never done anything close to 24 hours in a minimalist shoe. The 318s are a very light shoe but still offer full support. I did end up drilling some small holes around the perimeter of the shoe to allow them to drain water better. My pool testing showed me that they didn't drain well unmodified. I wore the 318s the entire time.<br />
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Socks: One pair of drymax calf length socks. I also smeared a paste of Goldbond foot powder / Vaseline on my feet before the start of this and every lap. Again, this was an awesome tip from a fellow competitor. I never got a blister, never got a hot spot, and my feet never even wrinkled up even though they were wet for 24 hours.<br />
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Gloves: Mechanix gloves.<br />
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Jacket: One cheapo windbreaker. I mainly wore it on this lap because it was bright orange and stood out among everyone else's black wetsuits. This made it easier for our cheering section to find us. I wore this windbreaker the entire time and had a letter my daughter wrote to me before the race tucked inside a zippered pocket. <br />
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I also wore an armband with "Neeve" and "Tatum's" photo inside. The intent was to replace the photo every lap. I ended up wearing it for two laps before abandoning the idea as it kept getting hung up on the obstacles. </div>
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<u><strong>Pitstop #1</strong></u></div>
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I wore my GPS watch for the first two laps so I could measure how long the laps were, capture the layout of the course for later, and most importantly, to get a feel for how many calories we were burning. The course came in just over 10 miles and said I burned 1,004 calories. I figured we burned a couple hundred extra through the obstacles and I decided to take in 1,000 calories per lap. My fuel of choice was Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem powder. It is geared towards ultra endurance events and like I mentioned in my previous post, it seemed to work for me. Even between laps 4 and 5, I was still able to take this in without feeling sick. Between laps we also pulled off our shoes, wiped down our feet, checked for any issues (blisters, hot spots), reapplied Vaseline/Gold Bond powder, then put on dry socks. We never had a pit stop where we didn't do this. </div>
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Total time: 35 minutes.</div>
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<u><strong>Lap 2</strong></u><br />
<br />
At roughly 2:00 p.m. we head out for lap #2. I made two slight gear changes for this lap...I added my 2mm neoprene vest over my wetsuit. I did this simply to try to protect my failing wetsuit from further damage. I also added some windbreaker pants. I did this because of the "Skid Marks" obstacle which was basically the Everest obstacle but we climbed up the back of the obstacle on a tactical ladder and then slid down the obstacle. The obstacle was pretty dry on lap 1 and I thought I was going to tear the butt out of my wetsuit and thought the pants would be good protection. Big mistake as the pants ended up being a constant drag when wet. By lap 2, skid marks was muddy and slippery anyway.<br />
<br />
<em>Going down "Skid Marked"</em><br />
<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SBKCCVBS9wk/UM_YZ1Ws5KI/AAAAAAAAAfw/8YYsLFi_e_c/s1600/IMG_3895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SBKCCVBS9wk/UM_YZ1Ws5KI/AAAAAAAAAfw/8YYsLFi_e_c/s640/IMG_3895.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
Lap two was uneventful. I got through Electric Eel again without getting hit and I found a much lighter set of tires to drag towards the end of the lap. By the end of lap two I was starting to realize that any tiredness I felt around mile 8 disappeared once we went through the two long water crossings (roughly 300 feet). The cold water, while unpleasant, was doing a great job of rejuvenating my legs! My feet were pretty cold after this lap though. Time to try out the neoprene socks!<br />
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<em>No problems with ripped pec muscles at Everest this time!</em></div>
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<br />
<u>Total Time after two laps</u>: 7 hours 32 minutes.<br />
<br />
<u>Position</u>: 834 of 1097. <br />
<br />
<u>Gear: </u><br />
<br />
Wetsuit:5/4 wetsuit with 2mm neoprene vest over the top<br />
<br />
Headwear: Neoprene swim cap.<br />
<br />
Shoes: Roclite 318s <br />
<br />
Socks: One pair of drymax calf length socks. Goldbond foot powder / Vaseline on my feet.<br />
<br />
Gloves: Mechanix gloves.<br />
<br />
Jacket: One cheapo windbreaker. <br />
<br />
Pants: Windbreaker pants<br />
<br />
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<u><strong>Pitstop #2</strong></u></div>
<br />
Same as the first pit stop but this one took us a few more minutes as it took almost 45 minutes. We were wasting valueable time. By now you could see a few people here and there that were limping. Several tents in the pit area were already missing. People were calling it a day.<br />
<br />
We took in the same nutrition, checked our feet, and made some significant gear changes because we could already feel it getting cooler and knew it would be dark by the time we returned. I added a second windbreaker, changed into 5mm neoprene gloves, added my 2mm neoprene socks, and put on my neoprene hood.<br />
<br />
Total time: 45 minutes.<br />
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<br />
<strong><u>Lap 3</u></strong><br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
At roughly 6:15 p.m. we head out for lap #3. It was now dark and the course was pretty empty already. By now, the conversation between my brother and I was becoming even much more limited than it already was. You can't really hear much with a full neoprene hood on. One conversation I remember vividly was at the midpoint of lap three when we saw the mile 5 marker and commented that it kind of looked like there was frost on the sign. Ummm...it was only supposed to get down to 36 degrees overnight, why would there be frost on the sign? This was going to suck a little worse than we thought. By lap three, I could feel water leaking into my wetsuit through the hole I noticed early in the day. Not fun. <br />
<br />
Within another hour we could see ice forming on the obstacles. By this point I felt fine physically. In fact, I was pretty excited about how good I felt. The misery level was probably what I expected, nothing too bad really but the ice forming so early in the evening just told me it was going to be a long night. The colder the better was our thought as we always thought we would be able to handle it better than most. I will say it felt good knowing that my brother and I were out there and most people were not. Every step taken was another step gained on probably a couple hundred people. We heard several competitors comment that this was their last lap and no one was going to talk them into another one. Good. Go home!<br />
<br />
<u>Total Time after three laps</u>: 12 hours 12 minutes.<br />
<br />
<u>Position</u>: 473 of 1097. <br />
<br />
<u>Gear: </u><br />
<br />
Wetsuit:5/4 wetsuit with 2mm neoprene vest over the top<br />
<br />
Headwear: Neoprene hood.<br />
<br />
Shoes: Roclite 318s <br />
<br />
Socks: Injinji toe socks. 2mm neoprene socks. Goldbond foot powder / Vaseline on my feet.<br />
<br />
Gloves: 5mm neoprene gloves.<br />
<br />
Jacket: Two cheapo windbreakers. <br />
<br />
Pants: None<br />
<br />
Headlamp: Black Diamond Storm<br />
<br />
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<u><strong>Pitstop #3</strong></u></div>
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When we got to the pits after lap 3, it was obvious that most people were done. I talked briefly with a neighbor who told me he was too old for this (41) and that he was going to take a nap and see what he felt like in a couple of hours...he never returned to the course. Many others had taken their wetsuits off and were walking around the pit area or climbing into their tents. We knew the tents were where you go to die and it appears that this is what happened to most of them. I pulled off my 5mm gloves and could barely get my 7mm gloves back on. By now, all of the climbing and / or the cold was taking a toll on my hands as they were starting to swell up. Thanks to a volunteer in the pits, we were able to wrestle my gloves back on. It was freezing out so I added my third and last remaining wind breaker. We did the normal routine and headed back out for lap #4. Where is everyone?</div>
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<strong><u>Lap 4</u></strong><br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
By now, I won't admit I was tired but things were no longer fun. It was freezing out, the festive astmosphere of earlier hours was long gone, and I knew things were only getting started. At roughly 11:00 p.m. we went out for lap #4. The course was really thin now and I was really glad my brother was out there with me. Shared suffering is the best suffering. It was pretty cold by now and it was very obviously below freezing as every obstacle was frozen over and slippery. We had been smart enough to save our energy in the beginning so running was no more of a problem than it was in the beginning although it wasn't enjoyable either. When we were cold, we ran until we were warm. By lap four, they had shut down the top rung of the "Ladder to Hell" obstacle so that if we fell, we wouldn't fall as far. The only thing I really remember about lap 4 (they all kind of run together) was how quiet everything was other than the same old music they were playing over and over and over again through some cheap crackling speakers. Crossing the long water obstacle "Pirate's Booty" was now becoming interesting. <br />
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<br />
It was a 300 foot (roughly) swim and after crossing the pond we had to crawl up a twenty foot(?) cargo net that was hanging into the water. My hands were freezing cold during lap four and I wasn't all that enthused about climbing it again in the dark for sure since all of the rescue workers had decided it was so cold out that they were going to go sit in vehicles or elsewhere much further away from the action than they should have been. The good thing is that the water was shallow enough the whole way that I could walk the entire distance and hold my hands out of the water. It slowed me down some but seemed to make the most sense.<br />
<br />
Pirate's Booty- Lap 1<br />
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<br />
By this time, "Balls to the Wall" was pretty dangerous. This obstacle was a "simple" rope climb against a wall followed by a climb down the other side. The transition from one side to the other was very oddly / poorly designed and it just seemed to be designed to capture limbs and snap them off. I have read numerous posts and comments about people that fell off this obstacle and I witnessed three people that couldn't make the obstacle walk right around the obstacle in front of a Tough Mudder official. So much for enforcing any kind of rules on a "must complete" obstacle. I did hear one woman cry out with tears in her eyes on lap two with "won't anyone help me?" as she couldn't make it up. Myself and another guy gave her a boost and she was fine but I was surprised how difficult this obstacle was for so many people.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7MtboYi2MBE/UM_GQaqNiKI/AAAAAAAAAeA/QltH-hYd2_w/s1600/IMG_3852.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7MtboYi2MBE/UM_GQaqNiKI/AAAAAAAAAeA/QltH-hYd2_w/s640/IMG_3852.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
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"Balls to the Wall"</div>
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<br />
We crossed the finish line for the fourth time and wondered where we were in the standings but confident that we had to be in a pretty respectable position.<br />
<br />
<u>Total Time after four laps</u>: 17 hours 12 minutes.<br />
<br />
<u>Position</u>: 192 of 1097. <br />
<br />
<u>Gear: </u><br />
<br />
Wetsuit:5/4 wetsuit with 2mm neoprene vest over the top<br />
<br />
Headwear: Neoprene hood.<br />
<br />
Shoes: Roclite 318s <br />
<br />
Socks: One pair of drymax calf length socks. 2mm neoprene socks. Goldbond foot powder / Vaseline on my feet.<br />
<br />
Gloves: 7mm neoprene gloves.<br />
<br />
Jacket: Three windbreakers. <br />
<br />
Pants: none<br />
<br />
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<u><strong>Pitstop #4</strong></u></div>
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<strong><u></u></strong></div>
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By now it was 3:15 a.m. All this time, I had been checking in on Facebook between laps. Amazingly, there were a ton of people that were actually still up and keeping tabs of us. This is where we learned that we were in 192nd position and I was 18th in my age group. A volunteer told me most of the tents were empty but still here because people were dropping but didn't have the energy to pack up their stuff. By this point we knew several things. A lot of people were paying attention and were cheering us on. Very few people were out on the course. One more lap was going to move us up significantly in the standings. My brother and I did the usual routine in the pits and got up to do it again. We never discussed quitting. We didn't have any more clothes to put on so we were stuck with the gear we had. I did, however, have a quaterback hand warmer tube that I brought along for lap five. It made all the difference in the world. It was well below freezing now as the ground was freezing hard as well. Having grown up in MN we estimated it must by mid to high 20s. The ground doesn't freeze up when it is 32 degrees out. My brother did lose his headlamp somewhere on lap 4. Being the cheapo that he is, he didn't want to take out his spare as he planned on returning it unopened. So he went without one. A Tough Mudder official told him to make sure he put it one as we left the pit area. He pretended to pull it out of his pocket and we sped off. It was too cold and the rules were too slack for them to disqualify him for lack of a headlamp.</div>
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<strong><u>Lap 5</u></strong><br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
This lap sucked. We started it around 4:00 or 4:30 a.m. (I don't really know) with the knowledge that the sun would be up before we finished it and it wasn't going to get any colder than it was when we started it. I have to say that there was nothing fun about this lap. Nothing. We walked up to almost every obstacle and commented on how stupid, how lame, or how dumb it was. Then we overcame it. By now the simplest obstacle like "Kiss of Mud" (low crawl or roll under barb wire) was dreadful. As I rolled and rolled and rolled, I would stop every thirty feet or so to try to get my bearings. By the end of the obstacle I was so dizzy I was ready to puke. <br />
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<em>I am SO dizzy right now!</em><br />
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<br />
My brother's feet were freezing on this lap (and the previous one) so our strategy was to move from medical tent to medical tent and warm his feet for a few minutes each time. It turns out he wore the exact same model neoprene socks but his had a leak while mine were water tight. That seems to have made a difference even though water (or pee) would get in from the top. There were a half dozen zombies in each of the medical tents. Normally, I would get a good laugh out of other people's suffering but even that wasn't funny anymore. Nothing was funny. We would spend maybe 5 or 10 minutes in the tent, long enough to get some warmth on our feet but not so long that our body furnaces would shut down too much. We knew the heated tents were a bad idea but we needed feet to walk on so I guess there wasn't much we could do at that point.<br />
<br />
So we continued. We complained. We made fun of our selves and our situation. We might have even talked about how stupid we were as we continued to press forward and overcome obstacles. In the medical tent before the rings obstacle, we saw the men's leader and eventual winner walk into the tent as we walked out. He was on lap #8 and he looked pretty rough. I say that, but he still ended up passing us a few minutes later. By then, it was getting lighter out and we spotted our sister who had just returned to continue watching her idiot brothers suffer. It was really cool having her out there watching us. <br />
<br />
<em>Midway through lap 5, right after my sister Cheryl found us. We reminded ourselves numerous times while out on the course to put something on our face to prevent windburn but never remembered to actually do it.</em><br />
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<br />
Soon we came up to Electric Eel again. By now it wasn't working because ice had built up enough on the wires to pull them down and into the water so it shorted itself out. Bummer. We continued to trudge through the remaining obstacles.<br />
<br />
<em>Crossing the pond in front of "Pirate's Booty" on lap five.</em><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WXMH2kRTLlo/UM_Joa9SdUI/AAAAAAAAAeo/GeJxEuz2tHA/s1600/IMG_3907.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WXMH2kRTLlo/UM_Joa9SdUI/AAAAAAAAAeo/GeJxEuz2tHA/s640/IMG_3907.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ydiQ47hFBQk/UM_KbHT4xDI/AAAAAAAAAew/SGUyWFArZJs/s1600/IMG_3911.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="530" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ydiQ47hFBQk/UM_KbHT4xDI/AAAAAAAAAew/SGUyWFArZJs/s640/IMG_3911.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
By the time we got to the tire drag obstacle, we saw the woman's leader (Amelia Boone) catching up to us. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oPAtMgvlCw8/UM_KhbbPyHI/AAAAAAAAAe4/TQlNdPkJvFM/s1600/IMG_3913.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oPAtMgvlCw8/UM_KhbbPyHI/AAAAAAAAAe4/TQlNdPkJvFM/s640/IMG_3913.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<br />
She appeared to be in much better shape than the men's leader but at the time was maybe 30 minutes behind him? She almost ended up catching him though. Next up was the mud mile, a series of mud trenches that tend to take a good bit of energy to get through. Luckily, they weren't that bad for this course and even after five laps they were weren't that bad.<br />
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<br />
Finally, after 22 hours and 24 minutes, we crossed the finish line for the fifth and final time!<br />
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<br /></div>
<u>Total Time after five laps</u>: 22 hours 24 minutes.<br />
<br />
<u>Position</u>: 61 and 62 of 1097. <br />
<br />
<u>Gear: </u><br />
<br />
Wetsuit:5/4 wetsuit with 2mm neoprene vest over the top<br />
<br />
Headwear: Neoprene hood.<br />
<br />
Shoes: Roclite 318s <br />
<br />
Socks: One pair of drymax calf length socks. 2mm neoprene socks. Goldbond foot powder / Vaseline on my feet.<br />
<br />
Gloves: 7mm neoprene gloves.<br />
<br />
Jacket: Three windbreakers. <br />
<br />
Pants: None<br />
<br />
Other: Quarterback hand warmer and headlamp.<br />
<br />
<strong><u>Conclusion</u></strong><br />
<strong><u></u></strong><br />
So that was it. We were done. We decided not to go out to attempt another. While I am 90% confident we could have made it through another lap in time, we were done. We had proven what we needed to prove. We decided being able to walk away unscathed was more important than an extra 20 or so places in the final standings and risking anything. Besides that, I was tired and I am lazy. There were certainly people there to encourage us to continue...of course none of them had actually even completed one Tough Mudder lap in their life so I guess we kind of ignored them. :-)<br />
<br />
I have had plenty of time to reflect on this whole thing. One thing I have to say is that the event was poorly organized. As one volunteer that worked through the whole thing said, "it is run by a bunch of kids, what do you expect?". I won't go on about everything that was done poorly. It really doesn't matter at this point and Tough Mudder isn't known for their customer service so I wouldn't expect many changes anyway. Having said that, I had a great experience, I accomplished what I hoped to accomplish, and I am content. Have I looked back and asked myself if I should have gone for another lap? Of course! But I have no regrets. I went much further than I have ever travelled in my life on foot and I did it in some pretty harsh conditions. While I firmly believe almost anyone could do what I just did if they put their mind to it and put in the proper training, <strong>very few people can actually say they did. </strong>I am 43 years old and have never been in better shape in my life. Ever. Not even close. And the fact that I was able to walk away in great shape proves that. <br />
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As to the future, at this point I don't know. I suppose I would consider doing the event again someday but only if I thought the event was going to be improved and only if I could assemble a team that had an honest chance at winning the team title (first place team did six laps in 23:15). It wouldn't have been much of a stretch to do even seven laps with a better strategy althoug I recognize it is nothing but talk unless one actually does it. Mentally, it would have been brutal.<br />
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As to what I would do differently if I were to do this again, the biggest change would be in our pit strategy. Like I said, we spent way too much time in the pits. Those 35-45 minute pit stops added up into enough time for an additional lap. Other than that, it seemed like we were, as my brother put it, one lap behind on our gear choices, meaning we didn't add the warmer gear fast enough. We never really got to the shivering stages though except while we were in the pits.<br />
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Training wise, I think the two days after the event tell the story. My body was almost entirely unscathed. I had some stiffness pretty much everywhere but nothing more than I have after any good crossfit workout...just pretty much all over. I had zero joint pain besides my hands. My hands were slightly swollen for two or three days. I should have spent some time strengthening my hands. Outside of my hands, I had some skin missing from behind my knees but I never noticed any rubbing during the entire race. I also had some mild chemical burns down my legs from peeing on myself for 24 hours but I was expecting that. From numerous Facebook posts and blog posts, it is obvious that many people weren't so lucky. Tons of people fell from Pirate's Booty and Balls to the Wall. One guy suffered Rhabdomyolysis and was hospitalized for three days after completing seven laps. One guy tore the exact same muscle in his chest as I did in Dallas and just had surgery. And of course plenty of people were taken out by the cold.<br />
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Gear wise, I was 100% prepared. The weather got down to almost 10 degrees below what was forecast but our gear was good. As I mentioned, we should have put on more layers earlier but that is about it. My brother should have made sure his neoprene socks were watertight and I should have had some larger sized gloves to allow for my hands to swell. I put an enormous amount of effort into getting my gloves back on and between lap four and five I thought for a while that I was going to have to go out with just my mechanix gloves as they just wouldn't go back on.<br />
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I also want to thank all of the donors for "Debra and Ray's" adoption fund. I won't post how much we raised but I will say it was a significant amount of money and I was totally blown away at several people's generosity!<br />
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Finally, I have had three dreams about the event since then. Strange, uneventful dreams where I am just back in the race and dreading every step. Nothing scary, nothing worth mentioning really except that this stuff is still on my mind. During the dream I realize I am dreaming and that I have other bigger things to do some day. Then I wake up. <br />
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Time to buy an axe.Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-33398218159459062852012-11-29T12:47:00.001-06:002012-11-29T13:14:35.807-06:00World's Toughest Mudder- Part 2 - Homework / Training<div class="title">
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<em><strong>“I’ll do today what others won’t, so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.”</strong></em></div>
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So I should probably start by stating that I am of average athletic ability. Anyone that knew me growing up knows that I played one sport in high school, football. And I <strong>might</strong> have been slightly above average (at best) on what everyone would have to say was an absolutely horrible team. We sucked really bad. In fact, we were so bad, even our cheerleaders left one of our games at half time. So for anyone out there that thinks I have some type of ability better than anyone else, you are wrong. Lucky for me, my stubborness was a plus for this event and proper training and doing your homework all but guaranteed a much better than average finish. I should also point out that while we placed 61st and 62nd out of 1300, my brother and I only did five laps. The top two finishers completed 9 laps and 90 miles so our "acheivement" really was nothing compared to the winners when you consider how each additional lap is exponentially more difficult.<br />
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My brother and I did a ton of homework on this event. There were several blogs out there from last year's participants and we read pretty much all of them. Some, like the first place woman's finsiher (<a href="http://raceipsa.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Amelia Boone</a>) this year, had some real good bits of information (her tip about using Vaseline and Foot powder was probably the most valuable thing I learned through all of my research). Most of the others simply told us what not to do through their failures. And there were many.<br />
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Very simply, last year's participants "died" due to a number of factors:<br />
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1. <u>The extreme cold / hypothermia.</u> A ridiculous number of people did the first race and only had a wetsuit on during the last part of the course or none at all. There were a few knuckleheads that tried that this year. One guy dressed up as Spiderman wearing Spidey tights. He, of course, was in the medical tent half way through lap 1. Others had wetsuits but no experience in the cold. I remember even reading one blogger talk about how when he got his fingers thawed out that they starting burning in pain so he <u>sprinted</u> back to the medical tent "for treatment". Umm....every kid in MN experiences that pain almost daily during the Winter months when they come in from playing outside. Deal with it!!! Even Tough Mudder itself underestimated the cold as they set up a wetsuit tent on the course which implied to a participant that they only needed it on during part of the course. There were even some that were complaining about having to bring a wetsuit at all. Getting the gear right took some homework and testing on our part but was the easiest thing to address and you could do it without spending a crazy amount of money on gear.<br />
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There were lots of zombies in the medical tents during the wee hours of the night. These zombies didn't try to eat your brains, they just sat there and stared off in space...<br />
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2. <u>Going into their tent between laps to warm up.</u> While it may sound like a good idea and some may have used that strategy with success, most people went into their tents to die. Mentally, only the toughest competitors are going to be able to step out of their tent after getting warm, get hit with 20 degree winds, and then proceed to put on a frozen wetsuit when they are already exhausted and it is 3:00 a.m. The cold on top of the fact that muscles start to tighten up very shortly after stopping a strenuous activity told us we would have to avoid the temptation of taking any breaks outside of quick gear changes and food. Period.<br />
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3. <u>Weak feet / legs</u>. A TON of people had issues with their feet. Most had significant pain and swelling in their feet during and/or after the event. From reading their posts several weeks after the event, it was obvious that almost none of the people that quit due to their feet or legs giving out had actual injuries (some of course did). <u>They just weren't adequately prepared to go a long distance.</u> Toughening up my legs and especially my feet were the top priority.<br />
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Training for me in general consisted of Crossfit 4 times a week at 5:15 a.m. On Tuesday and Thursday nights I would normally run a 7.5 mile hilly loop. Sometimes I substituted a few laps up and down the hill at the end of our road, sometimes with a backpack on my back, sometimes with one of my daughters on my back. Depending on what we did during crossfit that morning, this run could be easy or it could be pretty slow. I just went with the randomness of it all to keep my sanity. Sunday mornings I would do a longer run before church. Up until three months before the race, I kept this run under 13 miles so that I was done in under two hours. There is research out there that suggests your risk of injury skyrockets after two hours and that your muscle can actually start to break down as well. I am pretty lazy so I used that excuse to take things easy early on. In the final three months, I ramped up the mileage and started to mix in some much longer hikes and weighted hikes and/or runs. The furthest I ever actually ran was just over 19 miles and by then it was really pretty easy.<br />
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I should also mention that I always wear Vibram's five finger shoes at crossfit and I fully transitioned to minimalist running shoes for my other runs after my marathon early this year. This put a huge amount of extra loading on my feet compared to regular shoes but once I worked through the transition, I felt my feet, calves, and legs were solid and unbreakable (although still not as strong as I would like).<br />
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Two months out, I did an overnight hike to a neighboring town 17.5 miles away. Somehow I got a friend to join me for the first half. He really seemed to enjoy himself. I almost didn't make it home as my legs got extremely tight at around mile 25 and the last 5 miles were especially horrible! It was very apparent to me afterwards that proper nutrition (I ate just peanut M&Ms and water) and mixing up my power walking with running and/or stretching were going to be necessary. This hike actually scared me because I knew if I felt like I did that night during the actual event it was going to be unbearable once I threw in the cold, a wetsuit, electricity, and all the other nonsense that is Tough Mudder.<br />
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After the hike, it was apparent I needed to change the training strategy somewhat. I also had another Goruck Challenge coming up so I needed to start getting some harder miles in. That is when I started running with 3 bricks in my backpack and hiking with double the load. It seemed to make a big difference in working my legs and I like the weighted runs so much I plan on getting a weighted vest in the future. I also participated in a 100 mile challenge where everyone had to put in 100 miles of weighted hiking in the month of October. All told, I put in about 140 miles in both September and October plus whatever running we do at Crossfit. Nothing impressive to a runner but certainly more than I had ever done in my life, for sure when you consider the extremity of crossfit all by itself.<br />
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I also mixed in a couple of wetsuit tests. Living in Arkansas, I didn't have the luxury of cold weather so my opportunities for testing were limited. I do have a swimming pool so my testing consisted of jumping in the pool when it was 34 degrees out and running a mile lap around the neighborhood, then repeating for 13 miles. The two biggest learnings there were that I could very easily control my body temperature through the changing of headgear and by changing my exertion level through walking or running. The other thing was that the testing gave me 100% confidence in my gear. It is a little intimidating jumping into a freezing cold pool in freezing cold temperatures the first time. Once you know your gear (and by the way you realize you can't drown in a thick wetsuit since it is so buoyant), the intimidation is gone. My brother, living in MN, also did some testing so I was able to learn from him as well.<br />
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Two weeks before World's Toughest Mudder, I did my final test. The goal was to do 45 miles to see what it would be like. I would do my normal 7.5 mile loop, mixing in two miles of running per lap and walking the rest. At the end of the loop, I would consume my nutrition. I ended up going with the Hammer Nutrition's Perpetuem product. It is geared towards very long endurance activities and is supposed to have the right blend of carbs, salt, protein, etc. I ended up doing quite a bit of reading up on this stuff and decided I needed something quick, easy, calorie dense, and something I could stomach even when I didn't have the desire to eat at all (a lot of people last year stopped eating and crashed soon after). I did three 7.5 mile loops and then had my youngest daughter join me for the fourth. By then I realized that:<br />
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1. My daughter is pretty awesome for joining me.<br />
2. I could do this forever.<br />
3. I am completely bored.<br />
4. The only thing I could gain by going further was a potential injury.<br />
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I quit the test at 30 miles with 100% confidence that I had a workable plan that wasn't going to fail me unless my mind failed me.<br />
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I look back at the training and a few things come to mind. One is that the crossfit coupled with all of those miles looks ridiculous. I couldn't even imagine doing all of that a couple of years ago. Two is that it really wasn't that bad and it really isn't a big deal. And three is that I think now that I have learned so much about my body, I wouldn't have had to spend nearly as much time training if I knew those things at the beginning. <br />
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All in all, there aren't many things I would change if I could go back in time:<br />
1. I could train smarter and reduce the hours I put in.<br />
2. I would make one small tweak to my gear, which I will talk about later.<br />
3. I would make one significant change to my race strategy (which I will also talk about later).<br />
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-Loren</div>
Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-83469073835538422192012-11-23T10:21:00.000-06:002012-11-23T10:22:38.611-06:00World's Toughest Mudder- Part 1 - ConversationsMe- "You are walking a lot faster than earlier. Is your foot feeling better?"<br />
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Nathan- "That's because my foot has been frozen since lap three. I can't feel it".<br />
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Just a sample of the conversation over the course of 24 hours. One would think that in an event where you spend 24 hours together, a good majority of it walking, that you would have plenty of time to catch up with your brother on everything, to discuss your kids, to discuss your wives, to discuss pretty much everything.<br />
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I learned a number of things during the World's Toughest Mudder competition. One of them is that when you are absolutely miserable your conversation is pretty much limited to things like "I am peeing now, that feels so warm!" (said about 50 times at least) or "watch that hole", "watch that branch", "you want to walk now?", "you want to run now?", "you want to get some chicken broth or keep going?". Or something along the lines of "You have to poop?", "you know a real man poops in his wetsuit". Pretty basic stuff.<br />
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But I suppose the most important thing about our conversations is that one thing we never talked about was quitting. Outside of the final lap, when we were trying to figure out if our current speed was going to be quick enough for a sixth lap, we never mentioned it. We didn't even consider resting as we knew from our research that the tents were where "people went to die" during last year's event.<br />
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I am going to write a handful of posts on the event itself. I almost feel obligated to pass on everything I have learned as much of our success is at least in part due to a number of blog posts from last years' participants. This thing was as much about preparation, strategy, and experience (which we lacked) as it was about athletic ability. In fact, I would say basic athletic ability is the least important of all four.<br />
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So anyway, maybe a post describing the course itself, our training/strategy, and one on the event itself?<br />
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Stay tuned for more.<br />
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-LorenMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-9087151315140884212012-11-22T07:20:00.001-06:002012-11-22T17:22:18.673-06:00World's Toughest Mudder 2012- A Quick Thank You!So we survived. Not only did we survive, but I have to say I feel great! My brother and I completed 5 laps total in just under 24 hours. After all of the smack talk and lofty (ignorant) goals of so many, we ended up besting the vast majority of competitors as we came in 62nd and 63rd out of 1300 starters. I was 5th place among the competitors over 40 years old. I hate to play the geriatric card but it still feels good.<br />
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I am in NC for the Thanksgiving holiday so this post will be short. I have much to share but for now I just wanted to say thank you first and foremost to those of you that made pledges and/or have already made donations to "Debra and Ray's" adoption fund. We ended up with over $300 per lap in pledges and over $1000 in one time donations! How cool is that!!! The timing is perfect as they should be traveling soon. I will be contacting each of you that have made pledges in the coming days but you can send in your money through a number of ways. If you know Debra and Ray's real name and address you can mail them the money directly. Please just let me know when you have done so that I can keep up with everything. If not, you can mail a check to me and I will forward the money to them. My address, since it is all over the internet anyway is:<br />
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Loren Marti<br />
531 Candlelight Cir<br />
Springdale, AR 72762<br />
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I also want to thank all of you that were there to support us throughout this endeaver / ordeal. Thanks to my sister for coming in from Green Bay to watch us almost the entire time. The photos she took are priceless since as usual the Tough Mudder photographs are a joke, and it was so nice to get real time updates on the standings. It was nice knowing that we were passing people by the hundreds during the last laps. Thanks also to my cousin and his wife for allowing us to stay at their house nearby, for taking tons of video, for relaying results to my sister in the dead of night, and for washing all of our gear and clothes for us afterwards. You guys are awesome! I can't wait to see Brian AND Kelly out on the course sometime soon! Finally, a big thank you to everyone that was cheering us on through Facebook. I was amazed at how many people were there to comment on our updates at all hours of the day. I wish I had the time to respond to all of them but frankly we spent way too much time in the pits between laps as it was. More on that later.<br />
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Happy Thanksgiving!<br />
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My brother and I going through our favorite obstacle "Electric Eel".<br />
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-LorenMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-73012647270576235522012-11-18T08:07:00.000-06:002012-11-18T08:09:31.687-06:00Old Bridge-20121118-00322.jpg<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SF2v7JFVp40/UKjsHDoldPI/AAAAAAAAAaU/7w_Z7dzg8vk/s1600/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FT2xkIEJyaWRnZS0yMDEyMTExOC0wMDMyMi5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-771688"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SF2v7JFVp40/UKjsHDoldPI/AAAAAAAAAaU/7w_Z7dzg8vk/s320/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FT2xkIEJyaWRnZS0yMDEyMTExOC0wMDMyMi5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-771688" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5812154925100397810" /></a></p>Well they finished racing around 830 this morning. I couldn't convince them to do another lap. I think they thought twice to do it but ?? They did awesome! 50 miles... Possibly more as I'm not sure how they figure in penalty miles. Their last 2 laps were extremely cold for them and its now just warming up. We saw the #1 guy pass them when I saw found them at 7am this morning and the #2 person (a woman) finished her lap #8 right behind them. They finished up running and of course I had to run to get to the finish line for pictures too. So this girl is pooped out too!!:)
<br>Cheryl
<br>Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-38021232041993853802012-11-17T22:02:00.000-06:002012-11-17T22:03:05.404-06:00Progress<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--8qVdgbovYE/UKhd-qc3Y-I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/2pRzLIS1L-A/s1600/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FT2xkIEJyaWRnZS0yMDEyMTExNy0wMDMyMC5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-785405"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--8qVdgbovYE/UKhd-qc3Y-I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/2pRzLIS1L-A/s320/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FT2xkIEJyaWRnZS0yMDEyMTExNy0wMDMyMC5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-785405" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5811998650250257378" /></a></p>Well this is another update. Loren and Nathan finished 3 laps now and seemed in good condition yet. Mostly a little cold here and there so they run more if that happens. I was surprised they could do mt Everest yet on lap 3 on try 1 when others couldn't after many. I left after lap 3 but they were planning to do more after a short break. They moved up 200 spots or so between lap 2 and 3 so r hoping to move up more as the night goes on. Maybe 5 or 6 laps they guessed?? I'll go out at 6am again if they are still going
<br>Cheryl
<br>Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-18884104416450230662012-11-17T19:40:00.000-06:002012-11-17T19:41:13.765-06:00Mudder progress<p class="mobile-photo"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4rFWjyGoccU/UKg8uvUULgI/AAAAAAAAAZk/YMMOcm65UvU/s1600/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FT2xkIEJyaWRnZS0yMDEyMTExNy0wMDMxOS5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-773766"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4rFWjyGoccU/UKg8uvUULgI/AAAAAAAAAZk/YMMOcm65UvU/s320/%253D%253Futf-8%253FB%253FT2xkIEJyaWRnZS0yMDEyMTExNy0wMDMxOS5qcGc%253D%253F%253D-773766" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5811962092794949122" /></a></p>This is cheryl writing for loren while watching the guys race. They are more than half way of lap 3 so far and they say they r feeling pretty good yet. They seem to be to me too. Theu r walking mostly and they do most obstacles pretty well but some they slack off on now... Ha ha its easy for me to say that:). What they didn't tell me is how many miles I'd put on too!! Apparently they were 777th after 2 laps but think they'll move up after this lap as many went in tents after lap 2. Gotta run again. C them coming.
<br>Cheryl
<br>Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-17672795710389744372012-11-17T16:50:00.001-06:002012-11-17T16:50:15.244-06:00Lap two completeRunning about 3 1/2 hours per lap. No issues. Getting cold now but gear is doing its job. A few people limping, a handful went home.
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<br>Sent from my iPhoneMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-23448728800169584422012-11-17T12:55:00.001-06:002012-11-17T12:55:06.952-06:00Lap one completeNo problem. Starting lap two now.
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<br>Sent from my iPhoneMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-52968152276675668282012-11-17T07:00:00.001-06:002012-11-17T07:00:28.078-06:00Ready to goTwo hours before the start. Still just below freezing but should hit 50 today. Lots of crazy people here. Gonna be a fun course.
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<br>Sent from my iPhoneMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-31070433410250660182012-11-15T09:08:00.000-06:002012-11-15T09:38:36.122-06:00Raceway Park Here We ComeThis will be short since I am typing this on my phone.
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<br>I am all packed up and on my way to New Jersey. Tomorrow (Friday) we register and set up our tents. The race starts at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on Saturday.
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<br>If anyone has any last minute donations or pledges, please get them in. Thanks to some awesome family and friends we are over $1000 in one time donations and over $200 per lap in pledges!
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<br>I am ready. Tapering over the last couple of weeks has been strange as it makes me feel lazy. For the first time in ages, I am not stiff and sore at least somewhere which also is a strange but nice feeling. My energy level right now is extremely high and I can't wait to get out there to see what this old Marine can do.
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<br>Cammie and the girls made a real nice going away card for me. Cammie is of course worried about me and Vika is as well. It is hard to explain to her (or anyone for that matter) why I am doing this. The fact is if I have to explain, you wouldn't understand so there isn't a point in trying.
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<br>Our plan is to go slow and steady. Running burns much more energy per mile than walking so the logical strategy in our minds is to walk. We believe we have the gear to stay warm without having to run and we have put in plenty of gear tests to feel confident in that. We also have a nutrition plan. If we survive the full race we expect to burn somewhere around 8000 calories. I have tested my nutrition plan as well and it is amazing how much easier 30 miles is with proper nutrition versus 30 miles on peanut m&ms and water.
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<br>I will have my phone in my tent and will update both Facebook and our blog after every lap if possible. Possible, meaning I have the time and my fingers aren't too cold to type. I will also try to figure out which company is doing the chip timing to see if the results are going to be posted live. If so, I will share that info when I get it. Other updates will be available at <a href="http://muddernation.com">muddernation.com</a>.
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<br>I guess that is all for now. This is going to be awesome!
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<br>-LorenMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-90321848239383530302012-10-25T05:00:00.000-05:002012-10-25T16:52:06.267-05:00Changing LivesLet me start by saying this post isn’t directed towards anyone specific. This is about what I observed a couple of days ago and what I have experienced over the past 16 months since I decided to get my fat butt off the couch. Hopefully the handful of people that are actually going to read this will understand what I am saying and where I am coming from instead of seeing this as someone with a “better than you” attitude towards others. Hopefully something I say will make sense to someone out there.<br />
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On Saturday, October 20th at 1:00 a.m. myself and a number of friends and acquaintances assembled on Fayetteville Town Center for a Goruck Challenge that we had set up custom for ourselves. Meaning, we picked the date, we picked the time, we recruited the participants. It was my second Goruck Challenge after <a href="http://www.martitimes.blogspot.com/2012/03/goruck-challenge-tulsa-class-121.html" target="_blank">completing my first earlier this year</a>. Twenty Nine of us embarked on the journey, and approximately 10.5 hours and 18.2 miles later, 27 of us finished. <br />
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This challenge was different in many ways from my first. This time, I knew most of the people participating (somehow I was able to recruit a number of them myself…suckers!) and most of the participants knew each other as well. By the time the challenge came around, many of us had already attended three “practice” gorucks that one of our participants (the craziest of the crazy) organized. This time I saw a group of people that had a vested interest in seeing each other finish. I won’t lie. Physically our team was weaker than the one I was a part of in Tulsa. But yet when it came down to it, this time our team was so much better and the experience so much more rewarding.<br />
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I am not going to blog about the entire experience just like I didn’t last time. Yes, we hiked for hours on end. Yes, we carried a bunch of stuff including each other as we went. Yes, we ended up in a pond in front of a hospital in 42 degree weather so we could get “scuba certified” or whatever. And yes, we froze our butts off for several hours before the sun finally came up. Those things are pretty normal…not normal normal...but Goruck normal. What wasn’t ‘normal’ for my last challenge was for someone to puke at flight #7, #8, and #9 of a nine-story bear crawl up a parking deck stairwell less than an hour into the challenge; to continue to puke several more times throughout the night; to collapse on the ground from leg cramps shortly thereafter, all the while being encouraged by his friends to keep going. What wouldn’t have been ‘normal’ for my last challenge was for that person to go the distance and complete the challenge. He did. It also wasn’t ‘normal’ last time for people to collapse from exhaustion at the end of a 200 meter bear crawl we received as punishment for I don’t remember what, while their "battle buddy" crawled alongside yelling words of encouragement until he finished. And it wasn't normal for someone to show up with an overuse knee injury from a crazy event the week before and hobble, skip, and jump the entire night to complete the challenge, never complaining once and always being encouraged. These people would have quit (or not showed up) last time. Things are different when people care. That is what was different about this Goruck Challenge. I have to wonder if the physical strength of our Tulsa team prevented us from learning much of what the Goruck Challenge is there to teach us.<br />
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<strong>When people care about you <u>for real</u>, they encourage you and they are there to support you. </strong> Our goal, as a team, was to complete our Challenge and we did it. We finished, and all the while we encouraged each other. Some did more, some did less, but at the end we all celebrated our accomplishment. <br />
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Sure our goal, which really just resulted in us getting a little patch to prove we did it, may be pointless to some and silly to others. Likewise, finishing a half-marathon, a marathon, four Tough Mudders or stripping a few more minutes off a Crossfit wod that almost killed me the first time I did it, is again, meaningless to some. There are certainly a lot of things more important than these. I suppose the only thing I "got" out of my efforts are a couple of medals (which of course my little one took to school and lost), a few headbands (yep, lost a couple of them too), and some personal satisfaction. <br />
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What far too many people are missing out on are the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction in setting an "impossible" goal, working towards it, and ultimately achieving it. <strong>Do you really think I thought I could ever run a marathon when I started all this? Really? </strong>What far too many people are also missing out on is a "support group" that is there to encourage you and to celebrate your "victories", no matter how small, with you. And what far too many Americans are ignoring are the sad future consequences of a an unhealthy lifestyle. <strong>We are the ones called "crazy" while Lipitor and bypass surgery are called "normal".</strong> We are told our Crossfit fees are extreme (okay that one is pretty much true) while spending hundreds a month on medications for preventable illnesses are rarely called out for what they are...bad life decisions resulting in bad consequences.<br />
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<u>Crossfit</u><br />
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"Crossfit is an obsession". Anyone that participates in Crossfit has heard it (and I mean anyone) and almost anyone that is close to a crossfitter or works with one has probably said it. You can't blame the outsider. Crossfitters tend to never shut up about Crossfit. Ever. And any outsider listening to a typical crossfit workout or conversation could only come to the conclusion that they are nuts. You want me to frog jump 50 meters, sprint the next 750 meters, come in and do 30 pullups and then deadlift 225 pounds 10 times, then repeat the whole thing two more times and do it all as fast as I possibly can so that I am close to passing out and/or puking? Sure! You mean you start checking online for tomorrow's workout at 9:30 p.m. (hitting refresh every 30 seconds until it is posted) and then sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with butterflies in your stomach because you know how bad it is going to hurt in a few hours? And you like this Crossfit thing!?! <strong>To the outsider, crossfitters ARE nuts!</strong> <br />
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But you outsiders also shouldn't be so quick to judge us. We have found a workout routine that gets people in ridiculously good shape, with a ridiculously short time commitment when compared to other fitness alternatives. We have found others who are like-minded and who are there to encourage us no matter how weak, no matter how slow, and no matter how fat we are or were. When one of us posts a new PR (personal record) for a workout, the rest of us celebrate it. When one of us loses another 20 lbs this month, we are excited for them. When we miss a workout, we have friends holding us accountable asking where we were, and making us feel guilty for skipping. When one of us is in need, either financial or otherwise, we come together to meet the need be it a fundraising wod or other. When one of us gets sick or injured, we are constantly asked how our recovery is coming. All of these things are pretty much the "norm" to us. It is our "culture". I have attended many churches in my lifetime. Sad to say that many of them could learn a few things from Crossfit.<br />
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When I first got off the couch in May of last year, I tried the more "traditional" route. First up, P-90X. That lasted about two weeks. I never even made it through the Yoga dvd once. Two hours of Yoga? Seriously? Globo-gyms? Not for me. Too many people looking at themselves in the mirror...we don't even have mirrors and I am guessing Trevor would lose his Crossfit affiliate if he put some up. So, I started running instead. I hate running. Scratch that. I hated running. <br />
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By any "normal" standards, I was in great shape when I walked into Crossfit 540 a week before Thanksgiving 2011. I was a couple weeks away from my first half marathon, and by most people's measures, "fit". How wrong I was. I don't think I ever felt so out of shape, weak and slow in my life than during my first few weeks. There is something very humbling about showing up thinking you are in good shape and then getting absolutely <strong>CRUSHED </strong>by some cutesy little Kindergarten teacher in a workout that is nothing more than 400 meter sprints, pullups, and situps. How is it that some "skinny little girl" can do this stuff better than me!?! While I beat myself up internally, no one ever judged me at Crossfit. In fact, one of the cool things about Crossfit is that pretty much everybody sucks at it when they start. That being said, progress came quickly and I have yet to plateau. It seems to be almost impossible to plateau since your body never knows what you are going to throw at it from one day to the next. <br />
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When I first got off the couch my resting heart rate was 88 bpm and my total cholesterol was consistently right at 200 (want to guess if exercise was the suggested cure?). Now my resting heart rate is 62 bpm and all of my blood levels are at the healthiest ranges of normal. This stuff works. <br />
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<strong>If "normal" is being overweight and only a decade away from my first heart attack, I will take crazy.</strong><br />
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<u>"Extreme" Events</u><br />
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Speaking of crazy...Tough Mudders, Goruck Challenges, etc. They are all referred to as crazy by almost everyone. I get it. Crawling through water while getting electrocuted will never be "normal". Throwing a backpack filled with bricks, water, and food on your back and hiking around a city for 12 hours will never be considered "normal" either. What most people don't realize is how many lives have been changed by these so-called "extreme" events. I can tell you with 100% certainty that if Tough Mudder didn't exist and if they didn't market themselves as an almost impossible goal, I would still be overweight, lazy, and one year closer to my first heart attack. Get on the Tough Mudder bulletin board, Linked in group, or Facebook page. You will quickly find that there are thousands of people whose lives have been changed by these events. Crossfit? Same story. Lives are changed.<br />
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As far as our Goruck Challenge is concerned, I know of several lives that were changed. Many of our participants signed up months ago even though they weren't exercising at all at the time. This event forced them to get themselves off the couch like I did last year. Lo and behold, they enjoyed the experience too. One good friend of mine joined crossfit to get ready for our Challenge. Now he is hooked, and unfortunately for me, beating me in way too many wods already. Another friend just signed up for new member classes at Crossfit and a second one is close to doing the same. <strong>You can make fun of this stuff all you want, but it works.</strong> You will never feel more alive then when you feel like you are dying. And of course I can only imagine the sense of accomplishment that some of our participants experienced when our cadre finally said we were done. <br />
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Who says this stuff isn't fun!?!<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hAaG_U3nH28/UImVxTMHtHI/AAAAAAAAAYU/_7CUqXuV-aE/s1600/472096_10151129470643842_389152665_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="334" oea="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hAaG_U3nH28/UImVxTMHtHI/AAAAAAAAAYU/_7CUqXuV-aE/s640/472096_10151129470643842_389152665_o.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<u>Changing Lives in More Ways Than One</u><br />
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I have to brag on my teammates one more time. We were able to raise a total of just under $1200 through this Goruck Challenge. We split the funds 50:50 between The Green Beret Foundation and "Debra and Ray", the adoptive family I am raising funds for. <strong>Again. Lives are being changed.</strong> Both charities are helping some really awesome people and I am proud to be part of such a great team!<br />
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<u>What Are You Waiting For?</u><br />
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Getting off the couch and taking back your life isn't easy and to be fair I started in a much better place than most. Again, I am not judging anyone. Some of you are overweight and perfectly fine with it. I don't have a problem with that. I really don't care. But if that is you, do one thing for me. Go to your photo album or computer and take a look at all of the photos that make you look fat. You mean you don't have any that make you look fat? Well then, maybe that means you aren't fat. Or maybe you are like I used to be and you tend to delete all of your fat photos. Strange how I had myself fooled into thinking I was happy with the way I looked too.<br />
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-Loren<br />
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A short video from our Goruck Challenge: <a href="http://vimeo.com/52136524">http://vimeo.com/52136524</a><br />
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Before the fun (most of our Crossfit 540 crew)...<br />
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At the start...<br />
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Five minutes later...</div>
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We did this a lot...</div>
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Bear crawls up 9 stories. Crab walks down...<br />
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Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-89068637890474329382012-09-20T07:53:00.001-05:002012-10-31T12:58:04.897-05:00Battling World's Toughest Mudder To Bring Home Ukrainian Orphans!I have been sitting here trying to figure out how one tries to ask someone else for money. I mean really. The holiday season will be starting in a couple of months and every one of us is going to get hit with requests for Angel Trees, school fundraisers (how much overpriced cookie dough can we be expected to buy?), special offerings at church…the list goes on. Not to mention that we all have a bunch of worthless junk we have to buy to give to each other since trying to outdo one another at Christmas seems to be so important nowadays. Gas prices are high and going higher, the economy is horrible, people are out of work and any of us with jobs could be next. What a bummer. We should all stop reading now and move on with our sad sad lives.<br />
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<strong>Our Story (for you newcomers)...</strong><br />
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As most of you know, Cammie and I hosted two girls (ages 7 and 10 at the time) from Ukraine during the Summer of 2010. They were part of an organized hosting trip that brought a couple dozen orphans from Ukraine to live with various families (most of which have now been adopted). They lived with us for about six weeks. We fell in love with them in about 6 minutes. We had no doubt from the very beginning that we wanted them to be a part of our family...they fit perfectly! Little one even wanted a gun! Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be that easy. We had several months of drama to deal with first. Eventually, one by one, the hurdles started to fall. A few months later and our <a href="http://www.martitimes.blogspot.com/2011/01/all-settled-in-at-home.html" target="_blank">girls arrived home forever</a>!<br />
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<strong>The need...</strong><br />
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Adoption is hard. Adopting from Ukraine is arguably even harder. I have no desire to go through all of the drama that we went through again. That isn't to say we won't go back. But for now, we have what we consider to be a fairly large extended family that are in need and that we can better help (at least right now) through avenues outside of adoption. While the extrended family wasn't something we were looking for going in, this extended family has been a huge blessing to us and it is wonderful to be in a position where we can help. So, while we may never go back, (to adopt) some people continue to go back. <br />
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<a href="http://debraandrayinparadise.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">"Debra and Ray"</a> went to get their first daughter at the same time that we did. They dealt with the same governmental drama that we did and we all worried together whether or not things would work out. They hosted their girl the same Summer we did and they actually got their girl home the same day we did<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">. <span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;"> Since their new daughter had spent several years at the orphanage, some of the other kids at the orphanage became like family to her. I saw the video of their new daughter's best friend as she said goodby. It was heartwrenching! The poor girl didn't know what to say or what to do. She had no idea (nor did their daughter) that as soon as they got home with daughter #1, they started paperwork to go back and get her!</span></span> Six months after adopting their first, they were back in Ukraine not only adopting their daughter's best friend but an additional "unplanned" daughter as well! This adoption trip was harder than the first because this time "Debra" spent much of her time in Ukraine alone without electricity (after a storm) and with a pretty nasty illness. Eventually, this adoption was also complete and their family of five was all together. All three girls are doing wonderfully! Watching them adjust so well and mesh together as a family has been a blessing to myself and anyone that has been watching their story.<br />
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"Debra and Ray" are going back one last time. As I<a href="http://www.martitimes.blogspot.com/2012/09/just-stupid-photograph.html" target="_blank"> already shared</a>, they hosted another girl this Summer and they are headed back to adopt her and her younger sister. It is hard to say "no" once you get to know these kids. For sure when you know you can help them...even though you know what lies in your path and how tough it is going to be. Anyone involved in adoption knows that the costs of adoption are high. When you get them home, the bills continue to pile up as you have years of medical and dental neglect to attend to, special education needs, tutoring, counseling, etc. Not to mention the obvious normal expenses of raising a child.<br />
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I am asking for your support and I am appealing <strong>especially</strong> to those of you that have never been involved in the adoption community. Why? Two reasons: First, because most adoptive families are already tapped out either dealing with their own expenses or giving heavily to other adoptive families. Secondly, and most importantly, because many of you are missing out on a huge blessing. <strong>How often can you actually give to something that is going to make THAT BIG of a difference as rescuing an orphan out of an orphanage</strong>? "Rescuing" you say? As much as I hate it called that now, I said it anyway. As I mentioned over a year ago, I didn't rescue my girls, I went to go and get my daughters. I don't see our trip as a rescue mission and my girls don't think of me as their rescuer. I am their daddy. The truth is, "Debra and Ray" are going to be even more blessed by these two girls than they already have been with the first three. But yes, these girls are going to be "rescued" from a life with almost no hope for any type of a future by being adopted. Any money donated will directly impact the lives of two little orphans in Ukraine. How cool is that!?!<br />
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<strong>How you can help...</strong><br />
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As the flyer below states, I am asking for per lap pledges for the World's Toughest Mudder which my brother and I will be competing in on November 17th and 18th. I am also accepting one-time donations but I prefer the pledges due to the extra motivation it provides (call me selfish). The estimated cost of the adoption is $25,000 and the distance to Ukraine is 4,533 miles. That is $5.50 a mile. Will you consider a pledge of $5.50 per lap or more? <br />
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<a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B45w7SnMoyiZU1FROXcyeHhQMTA" target="_blank">Fundraising Flyer</a><br />
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Keep in mind as you consider a pledge, that I am old (43) and feeble (just look at me) and only 261 people completed even a second lap last year. <br />
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Most dropped due to hypothermia while many others broke bones or were otherwise injured. My shoulder still isn't at 100%, I haven't lived in a cold climate for years, and I hate crawling through water on my stomach while getting shocked with electricity. HATE IT!<br />
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Not to mention, I don't really like exercising, and running for miles on end <a href="http://www.martitimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/tough-mudder-central-texas.html" target="_blank">bores me to tears</a>. Basically, I am lazy and weak. Surely I will only be able to do one lap? Perhaps I will almost rip my arm off my shoulder like <a href="http://www.martitimes.blogspot.com/2012/04/tough-mudder-dallas-my-spartan-ultra.html" target="_blank">last time</a> or maybe the 12,000 volts will finally knock me completely senseless so I can't continue? It seems like even a $55 / lap pledge is safe?<br />
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Perhaps you just like seeing people suffer. I understand. Part of the reason I enjoy both Crossfit and these supposedly extreme events is that I get to see others suffer. If that is you too, <strong>won't you pledge a little extra to see me suffer more?</strong> I will do my best to share my experience both during and after the event if it makes you feel better.<br />
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<strong>The event...</strong><br />
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So the event is pretty simple. At 10:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning we start and we will attempt to complete as many Tough Mudder laps as possible. The obstacles are a harder than a typical Tough Mudder (which to be fair aren't very hard) and there are more of them. Some will have penalties for failure while others will disqualify someone who can't complete them. The weather may or may not be extremely cold. That is all part of the fun. Whoever completes the most laps by 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning wins and everyone else has up to four hours to complete the lap they have started. <br />
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More details can be found on the Tough Mudder website at: <br />
<a href="http://www.toughmudder.com/events/worlds-toughest-mudder-series-finals">www.toughmudder.com/events/worlds-toughest-mudder-series-finals</a><br />
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So that is it. Thanks in advance for your consideration and please check back for more updates.<br />
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-Loren<br />
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P.S. The attached flyer leaves off a good bit of information since this is a public blog. For my family and friends, I can send you a more detailed flyer (including a photo of the girls they are going to adopt) if you wish...just ask.Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-36920784014031401362012-06-18T15:16:00.004-05:002012-06-18T15:16:50.981-05:00My First MarathonSo I initially didn’t think there would be much of a point in a blog post about my first marathon. And given the fact that I had shoulder surgery a couple of weeks after the marathon, I haven’t had a chance to really get anything updated until now. Compared to some of the other things I have done, a marathon sounds pretty boring and perhaps even unchallenging. Much to my surprise, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had thought as far as boredom goes and it was plenty challenging. <br />
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The Hogeye Marathon took place on April 15 in Fayetteville, AR. The weather called for heavy rain off and on all day with 20 M.P.H. winds. The weather coupled with a course that provided 1200 feet of elevation gain and drop with the last 6 miles being essentially all uphill made it plenty tough for an old guy like me.<br />
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So late on the Friday night before the Sunday race, I dared a friend of mine to sign up and join me. Only a crazy man or a fitness freak would decide to run 26.2 miles with a one day notice. He is both.<br />
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As far as the race goes, there isn’t much to tell. You run and run and run and run and run and it makes you tired. All of my training has a lot of hills (I actually struggle to find flat areas to run) so the hills seemed like any other run. I just couldn’t seem to figure out the right strategy to run them fast without burning myself out. I focused on my heart rate and keeping it under 160 but in hindsight I don’t know if that was the right way to go. I had the first experience in my life with “hitting the wall” at mile 18 which seemed a few miles earlier than it should have been but I didn’t do any carb loading or any other special dieting…maybe next time. I took a gel every three miles and alternated between water and Gatorade every water station (I think there were about 20 of them). I never had to use the bathroom and I never felt thirsty. My 18 mile training run a few weeks earlier was a breeze and while I was certainly running faster this time, I was really surprised it got me so quick. The experience itself wasn’t all that bad. I felt kind of dizzy and extremely tired and remember telling myself that “if I feel like this for the next 8 miles, this is going to really suck”. Five minutes later and my lightheadedness (not sure how else to describe it) went away but I just couldn’t seem to get my legs to move very fast. My speed slowed down, but again, I was now almost into the final uphill section for the final 6 miles. By then it started to pour rain…it was nice getting the salt washed off my face as it was getting in my eyes pretty bad. I told myself no matter what, I wasn’t going to be one of the walkers. No problem there but it sure was tempting. Towards the end, my focus turned on making sure I beat Oprah. My brother had mentioned that she had run a marathon and that nobody wants to get beat by Oprah (she ran the 1994 Marine Corps marathon in 4:29:15). I ended up “beating her” by a couple of minutes coming in at 4:26:25. My initial goal was around 4:07 which I based entirely off of a few online calculators that scaled up my half-marathon time. I wasn’t even close to my goal. Looking back, there was no way I was going to run a negative split on that course and fighting a strong wind all day seemed to take a toll on me as well. A 4:07 actually would have put me in the top 3 or 4 places in my age division so it was clearly an unrealistic goal. My buddy came in a minute or two behind me (he stopped to take a bathroom break otherwise he would have beat me)….pretty impressive for someone that did nothing to prepare other than his normal fitness routine!<br />
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So the bright side:<br />
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1. I finished my first marathon at a pace that was almost a minute faster than the pace of my very first 3 mile run almost a year ago (a 3 mile run that felt like it was going to kill me).<br />
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2. I beat Oprah. Phew!!!<br />
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3. I ran for a while with a guy that had done the Little Rock Marathon (much flatter) earlier in the year in 3:45 and I ended up ahead of him. <br />
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4. Overall, I think I am still making progress. I was exactly in the middle of the pack (126 of 253) for my half marathon among men but I finished the marathon with only 38% of the men ahead of me (52 of 137). In that way, I doubled the distance but I was still more competitive versus my peers. All told, I was 78th of 211 finishers. Certainly not impressive but I have to take what I can get!<br />
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5. I beat more than 25 marathon relay teams. The teams had four people to split the distance so it does feel good that I could beat several of them although I did get passed by several of them at the end.<br />
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What I don’t know:<br />
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1. How to be strategic in this type of race. We started the race with both the Marathon relay and half marathon competitors. It was hard to slow myself down in the beginning even though I knew this was going to happen and even though I was warned by a couple of experienced friends. There were a lot of hills in the beginning but the first several miles provided a large net elevation loss. I have no idea if I limited my speed too much or too little. Looking at my splits, I passed almost 50 people from the first split and was only passed by 3. Perhaps that means I started too slow?<br />
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2. If my performance would have been better if I had focused on my diet any. I have to admit, that I pretty much eat whatever I want, whenever I want (although I recently started drinking green shakes in the mornings) and don’t give it any thought. I burn so many calories I am constantly hungry during the week. When I bring my lunch to work, it is gone by 10:00 a.m. and I have to go out and eat again at noon! What if I actually paid attention to diet? Crossfit people say you can’t out-train your diet. I think you can but I am not sure that you should try?<br />
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3. How fast I could go if I just focused on training for a good marathon time. Too bad I don’t care.<br />
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I was pretty beat after the race. My joints were killing me for about a day or so afterwards. I won’t lie, I had a hard time sleeping the first night due to joint pain. My leg muscles themselves hurt pretty bad for about two hours after the race. Once the milk and protein shakes got into my system, my legs just felt like they had just gone through a wicked workout. I had minor muscle stiffness the next day. I ran a couple of miles with Anna a few days after the marathon but mostly took the week off afterwards to recover.<br />
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While I didn’t have a blast like I have doing Tough Mudders, I have to say it was very satisfying to be able to do this. Since it is local, I imagine I will do it again next year along with the local half marathon in December. I know I can go faster…I still don’t feel like I am in great shape even though I think the evidence would say I am probably in the best shape of my life overall. I can’t imagine traveling long distances for a marathon though unless it was something truly unique. I didn’t care for it that much.<br />
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-LorenMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-15412440121779395082012-04-01T15:34:00.002-05:002012-04-02T12:19:26.881-05:00Tough Mudder Dallas- My Spartan Ultra BeastWell, Tough Mudder Dallas is complete. These things are getting more and more fun every time. I got to run with a great guy that seems to enjoy bodily abuse as much as I do. The weather was perfect. The course was a complete muddy / soggy mess. All in all, an almost perfect day.<br />
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This one ended up being even more fun and more challenging than any of my previous two. The course was laid out on and around a bmx motorcycle course. This gave us plenty of muddy tracks filled with hills but the official track part of the course was very limited. A vast majority of the trail was nothing more than knee high grass that they didn't even bother to mow. Given the large amount of rain they had received in the week or so before, the ground was extremely soft. Ever tried running 11.2 miles through tall grass after a major rain?<br />
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So this time I ran with a friend from work. He is a former Navy F-14 Navigator, about my age, and basically thought it sounded like fun when I told him about it. I tell pretty much everyone about Tough Mudder and Crossfit...not too many people share my passion. :-(<br />
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Before the race...<br />
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Anyway, after getting through a ridiculously messed up registration process where they lost our paperwork, etc. we were still able to catch our 8:00 a.m. wave. The first wave of the day. Like last time, the strategy was to stay ahead of most of the crowd before the first obstacle. Usually this means a 400-800 meter run. Unfortunately, this time we did about a mile before we came to the first one...underwater tunnels. I hate starting out fast but we managed. Overall, the course was pretty tough compared to my previous two. I ran my first TM in Austin in October and most of the running path was hard packed dirt as the area hadn't seen rain for weeks. My second was the Texas Coast event this January and it had a lot of soft ground and a lot of water given its location. This one, however, was either this soft muddy grass or muddy motorcycle track for the entire course. You could never just get comfortable and run as you were constantly dealing with slick as ice mud or uneven soft terrain. It was pretty hard on the legs. In fact, my right knee kept popping out of place for some reason. I have never had that happen and I have no idea what that was about. It would hurt when it happened but when it popped back in place it was fine. I guess it had to have something to do with the terrain and how I run?<br />
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So what to say about the race itself. Not much really. They had one new obstacle that I hadn't seen that involved traversing a wall by holding yourself up on a continually narrowing handhold and foothold (1 1/2" at the beginning, 3/4" at the end).<br />
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Due to the terrain, neither of us seemed to be able to get any type of speed but at the midway point there was about a mile loop where we ran along a fence and then came back on the other side. We could see the leader and at that point I counted 19 people ahead of us. That would have put the leader less than a mile ahead of us so I know it wasn't just the two of us that were slow...usually the leader finishes one of these in 1:40 or so.<br />
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Given my hatred for electricity, I tend to try to start psyching myself up for the coming torture around the half way point. Lucky for me, the Shocks on the Rocks was replaced with the Electric Eel. Basically take the obstacle from the previous event and remove the ice and plastic underneath. This time I could take my time and actually stay low enough to not get shocked. SO HAPPY! In fact, I was able to stay under the wires for the final obstacle as well. Sorry crowd. No Oohs and Aahs at my expense this time!<br />
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We finished the course in 2:28. My friend's girlfriend watched the whole thing and thought there were 15 people ahead of us. Regardless, it was a pretty decent time given the course. So lap #1 was done!<br />
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So lap #1? Does that imply a lap #2?<br />
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I have been wondering what doing two laps back to back would feel like. The thought didn't cross my mind until after my last Tough Mudder in January. Then a few weeks ago the competing obstacle race organization, Spartan Race, announced that they were going to hold what they are going to call an "Ultra-Beast". The Ultra Beast is a full marathon length (26.2 miles) obstacle race with limited support (meaning bring your own food and water with you). Hmm. I haven't even run a marathon on pavement yet but why not create my own Ultra Beast? Since I have my first regular marathon in two weeks, and since I was still ramping up my weekend long runs (I had only run 18 miles the week before), and since this Tough Mudder still had waves going out after I finished lap 1, and since I was driving home alone afterwards and didn't have anyone waiting on me <b>this was the perfect opportunity</b>! To top it off, I had some friends that were running at 11:00 a.m. (a bunch of crazy roller-blade chicks and a friend that used to live in our neighborhood and is now in the Air Force).<br />
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As good as I felt, I almost wimped out. I mentioned my knee and all day I kept telling myself I probably shouldn't keep running if I didn't need to. Ultimately, I figured it looks way cooler finishing two laps of a Tough Mudder than it does to finish a marathon so I figured why not? So we grabbed some water, grabbed our beer, and Keith's girlfriend stuffed a protein bar in my face and we started walking towards the start line. On the way I decided maybe I should hose myself off a little bit so it wasn't so obvious I had already ran (there isn't any official way to pay and run a second lap). So I hosed myself off a little and said goodbye to Keith. I jumped the wall to the staging area and there I stood ready to go for lap #2! Of course by then my left calf started to cramp up a little. I looked around. No crazy roller-blade chicks (they were stuck in traffic and ended up running later). Hmmm. Oh well. By then, I had a couple of people come up to me and tell me how crazy I was for doing another lap so I certainly couldn't leave now! We went through the standard pre-race hype and off I went again!<br />
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I couldn't believe how much the course had changed from 3 hours earlier to my second lap. It was completely destroyed. Dirt that was just soft and slow was now slick as ice. It was pretty bad. Of course everyone else is all happy and energetic and jumping and splashing in the mud in the beginning. I am just trying to keep my legs moving. No doubt, my pace was much slower during the second lap but I was able to run the entire course where running was possible. The one upside is that much of the grassy area was faster during the second lap as the grass had been packed down quite a bit from the thousands of people that had trampled it. Overall though, the course was much slower and we hit a 20 or 30 minute backlog during a stretch of course that followed a small creek bed. <br />
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So all in all, lap two was tough but it wasn't horrible. My legs were pretty heavy but there were enough waits at obstacles that it broke things up a little. Everything was going perfectly for the first 10 miles. I made every obstacle and I was hanging with the core crowd of people in my wave and passing plenty people that couldn't run the whole course. Until I got to Everest.<br />
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Everest is the quarter-pipe looking ramp that almost beat me in Houston due to a leg cramp. Keith and I both made it no problem on the first lap but Everest was at mile 10 and by the time I reached it a second time I had run 21 miles through nothing but soft terrain. My legs and calves were pretty tired. I waited my turn in line and watched a group of Marines help each other up. It was now my turn.<br />
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I chose my path right between two Marines and pointed to them so they knew I was aiming for them. I gave it a good run, kept my feet under me and was able to grab the top without help. All I had to do was pull myself up. Before I knew it, the bigger of the two Marines got on his knees, grabbed my left hand and gave it a good yank. Rip! <b>Umm thanks dude I just felt something tear in my shoulder could you please let go of me so I can slide to the bottom and go cry like a little girl!?!</b> Ugh!!! As I slid to the bottom of Everest I recollected a conversation I had with Cammie where I told her that surely I will get injured eventually doing one of these things. I even set aside a little extra money due to my high deductible medical plan just in case. I guess it was my time! The front of my shoulder was burning and I knew I had a crawling obstacle (electric eel), a swimming obstacle (walk the plank) and a hanging obstacle (monkey bars) as my next three obstacles. All three were going to require my left arm. I probably could have gotten through electric eel but I didn't really feel like learning to crawl with one arm while repeatedly getting shocked so I decided I was done. I lowered my head so that no one would see me and walked back to the finish line (where the first aid station was) with my tail between my legs. EXTREMELY ANGRY AND DISAPPOINTED!<br />
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So that was it. I was done. I had come so close to finishing but I failed. I could have run the last mile and bypassed the obstacles. Plenty of people bypass obstacles or fail obstacles but I didn't see any point. I had failed. No second orange headband for me. I had failed! Of course I had to walk through the finish area and see everybody's stupid happy smiley faces to get to the first aid tent too! By then I had completely forgotten about finishing my first lap in what was very likely a faster time than them. All I could think of was that I failed! Ugh!<br />
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In hindsight, I had done what I came to do. I had run 21.35 miles in course conditions that were more challenging than I expected. I did my own Ultra Beast or at least something kind of similar. The longest I had ever run before yesterday was 18 miles. At this point, my marathon in two weeks is going to be a walk in the park compared to yesterday (assuming I can move my arm while running). The reality is that up to my injury I was having a blast! This was my favorite Tough Mudder so far. Keith was a perfectly matched teammate with an awesome attitude and we had a blast on the first lap. The second lap was fun because you get to talk to so many people while waiting or helping at the obstacles and just enjoy the fun. My shoulder is injured but as far as I can tell, it is nothing but a muscle tear. If I had to choose an injury, my injury would be a pretty good choice I think. My guess at this point is that I will be fine in a couple of weeks or so. I hate I am going to miss crossfit for a while. I suppose I could go to a gym with mirrors for a few weeks but I just don't see it happening. My next Tough Mudder isn't until May (Twin Cities) so I have plenty of time to heal.<br />
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Overall, I just feel blessed that I am in good health and that 15+ years of being fat and lazy didn't seem to do any long term damage to me. I can run a decent distance at a decent pace. That is about it but I am content with what it is. While I will continue to train to see what else my old body can do, I don't want to lose focus on the fact that many people would give anything just to be healthy enough to try this nonsense.<br />
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-LorenMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-10056509388923836752012-03-12T20:43:00.011-05:002012-03-16T15:31:36.636-05:00GoRuck Challenge Tulsa (Class 121)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">"What are you guys doing?" asks an overweight woman at a riverside park on a sunny Saturday afternoon around 1:15 p.m. "A GoRuck Challenge" someone responds between gasps of air while bear crawling with a 50 lb pack strapped to his back. "What is that?" No answer.<br />
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If you are watching a group of 19 zombie looking men from all walks of life perform ridiculous exercises after more than 12 hours and 20+ miles of suck and you have to ask with a cheeseburger in your hand, then you wouldn't understand. If you click on this <a href="http://goruckchallenge.com/">link </a>and you are at least slightly intrigued, then the GoRuck Challenge might be for you. If it gives you chills, then you NEED to do it. My first GoRuck is complete and it was quite the experience.<br />
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So what is a GoRuck Challenge? From the website:<br />
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<b>"Inspired by the most elite training offered to Special Forces soldiers and led by Green Berets, the GORUCK Challenge is a team event and never a race. Challenge cadre build each class into a team through collective conditions of mental and physical exhaustion. Classes are small, camaraderie is high, smiles are plentiful, and teamwork is paramount."</b><br />
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I first heard of the Goruck Challenge last Fall after reading someone else's Tough Mudder blog. I checked it out and I was definitely interested. It was just a matter of location and timing. Eventually, they had one scheduled for Tulsa which is only two hours away. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Goruck Challenge is advertised as 8-10 hours over 15-20 miles with the tagline of "Under promise, over deliver". Oh yes they did. The challenge always starts at night. Ours started at 0100. We were basically told to bring 6 bricks (4 for anyone under 150 lbs), a headlamp, some water, and something to eat. That was basically it. Each Goruck event has a different Facebook event page which we were encouraged to use and we used the page to organize a class weight (also required), a ruckoff (pre-challenge meeting), etc. We started with a team of 19 men and one woman. Roughly half of us were at a local bar/restaurant a couple of hours before things kicked off. We chatted a while and some of us went back to our cars to try to relax a little before things got started. Around midnight a Chevy pickup pulls up right next to my friend's car. It was our cadre for the challenge. He started to unload a bunch of Goruck bags, ropes, a guidon, etc. So much for relaxing. The guy looked kind of serious. It is almost show time.</span><br />
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</span>At exactly 1:00 a.m. we all assembled. We signed the standard death waiver that all of the cool events require (I didn't read a single word of it) and had our bricks inspected. Our female team member had some real pretty pink and other colored ones. Pretty funny. People like myself that bought a Goruck branded pack received their bags, and we proceeded to pack up and ship out. We also received a "Hurt Feelings Report" to fill out in case we got our feelings hurt during the challenge.</div><div><br />
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</div><div>I am not going to give the blow by blow details of the challenge. If you are my Facebook friend, you can go to my wall and review my recollection of what we ended up doing (I have already been reminded I missed a bunch of stuff). A long list doesn't really do the experience justice anyway. Essentially, this is a team building exercise that tests you physically and mentally...to an extreme. It hurts. Bad. It sucks. Bad. The short story is this:<br />
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We started with a lot of painful exercises with our packs on our shoulders (our bags never left our shoulders except for rest periods which never intentionally went over 10 minutes or when the exercises required the packs be somewhere else...like elevated over our heads). Then we got into the river to do a few more (it was just above freezing at that point with the temperature still dropping). Once we were fully "warmed up" we began our challenge. We had a few tasks to complete such as carrying "medical equipment" (heavy military boxes labelled "live grenades"). I assume that isn't what was in there but I find it hilarious that we found them next to a dumpster and dropped them off next to an oil refinery for the next class. We even had police drive right past our group without a single question. Team leaders, etc. were chosen and rotated, and for the most part, we were allowed to make our own decisions with guidance from the cadre (while constantly being reminded that we needed to move faster). <br />
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Around 0400, one of our team members started shivering a little more than the rest of us. We gave her some extra clothes to try to warm her up. She kept going. By the time our first mission was complete, she was showing some stage of hypothermia and dry heaving. Cold is one of those things that once it gets you, you are done. She had completed a Goruck before but this time she had to quit.<br />
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</div><div>We are all told to have our ID and $20 along with us in case we need to call a cab to get home. Unfortunately, the cab companies weren't answering their phone. Time to improvise. Two team members ran the four miles or so back to where we started to get a vehicle. The rest of us waited around and shivered like crazy while discussing how nice it would be to run 4 miles to warm up and then jump in a nice warm vehicle while taking the long route back. Frost was forming on our packs. It was now below freezing. There was another incident during this time that I won't divulge but as Scott said, we killed some bears afterward so it is all good. Eventually, our team member's ride arrived and we continued on. I think standing in the cold was probably the worst part of it as we knew we had so much more distance to travel and had nothing to do but think about it.<br />
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</div><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e1-UkGkcCns/T16gUxi7IJI/AAAAAAAAATg/5iOg9VgLFz0/s1600/420001_10100521190237552_17117488_47244151_674189535_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e1-UkGkcCns/T16gUxi7IJI/AAAAAAAAATg/5iOg9VgLFz0/s1600/420001_10100521190237552_17117488_47244151_674189535_n.jpg" /></a></div><div><br />
We continued on for a total of 12.5 hours and what I believe was 20.2 miles (based on our photographer's phone GPS). Our team was blessed in that one of our team member's wives volunteered to take photographs for "as long as she can stand the weather". She did the <b>entire </b>challenge with us, carrying her own backpack with her own supplies, etc. When we ran, she ran ahead of us so she could stop and take photos of us running by. She was amazing! I don't know if she was the smart one because she basically got the same experience as us for free or if she is crazy for doing all that and not getting her own Goruck patch! Regardless, we were all very thankful (most of us gave her our $20 bill after the challenge as a thank you afterwards) and lucky to have the entire event fully documented! Thanks again Kayla!<br />
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</div><div>So what did I learn?</div><div><ol><li>Extreme pain in my shoulders. While I certainly did a few long marches with a pack in the Marines. I have to admit I have never gone that distance with that much weight. My shoulders were plenty uncomfortable after only a couple of hours. The pain during the last four hours was well into the "this hurts so much it is funny" stage. Somehow we actually were able to continue to laugh pretty much the whole way.</li>
<li>The pack isn't the worst of it. It is carrying all of the other junk that really wears you down. We carried a 25 lb team weight, a couple of PVC pipes half filled with water, a stupid bucket half filled with concrete for our guidon (which we never really sat down anyway), a bunch of rope, a bullet proof vest, a bunch of other useless stuff in some of our packs, and for several miles, a creosote filled telephone pole. Fifty pounds isn't so bad, but throwing odd shaped objects on top of your shoulders, which already are on fire, just doesn't feel good. Not in the beginning. Not after 20 miles. Not ever.</li>
<li>People don't show up for these things unless they are in good physical condition. At least not to our challenge they didn't. I have read some blogs where team members had to hand their packs to others because they couldn't carry theirs anymore. We never had that issue. Our team was strong.</li>
<li>I felt pretty good about my endurance level. My legs never felt weak, my joints felt strong the whole way. I did use some KT tape on my calves for the challenge as I was a little worried about calf cramps (yes I make another stupid training decision the week before the challenge) but my calves held up and feel fine today. Yes my shoulders hurt during the challenge like never before in my life and I could barely reach forward to lift my cell phone off the dash on the way home but I felt I was able to carry my fair share of the team weights the entire time. I wrote this roughly 27 hours after finishing the challenge and I have slight stiffness in my shoulders (although they feel <strong>very</strong> weak and exhausted right now..I iced them immediately after the challenge) and stiffness in my lower back and butt similar to what I would have after a good deadlift workout. This stiffness was really just caused by the telephone pole as I was taller than the majority of people on the team and found myself having to hunch over for most of the pole carry. All in all, I feel good. And I feel good about the fact that I went through all that and still feel pretty good the next day. If our crossfit wod the day after didn't include a bunch of push presses, I would have gone just so I could say I did...too bad I didn't so I can't.</li>
<li>I am still a big fan of crossfit and loving it more and more all the time. Personally, I wouldn't recommend attempting one of these things with crossfit as the only training (my opinion anyway) but it definitely provides an excellent base of fitness. When I used to run only, my joints would be so stiff after 10 miles of running that I could hardly walk right after a run. Now I am up to 16 miles on my long runs (getting ready for a marathon) and my joints feel nothing. Yesterday was 20+ miles under heavy loads the entire time and my joints and leg muscles feel nothing. Joint strength doesn't come from running only. Joint injuries come from running only. Crossfit likes to talk about how it prepares you for almost anything. <strong>I am not aware of a better "anything" to test that theory out than a Goruck Challenge.</strong></li>
<li>If you are the least bit intrigued by a 20 mile, 12+ hour challenge that will make you hurt like never before, you should train for it and do it. If not, stay home. This isn't a Tough Mudder where you can be overweight and out of shape and just take your sweet time to finish. Do your team mates a favor and don't show up unless you have taken your training seriously. This is a TEAM event. My attitude on this is kind of like welfare, I am happy to help out anyone truly in need but if you are sitting on your fat butt smoking crack all day I would rather see you starve then show up asking for a handout. You made that choice not me. We had a couple of team members that were exceptional, but I saw everybody pulling their own weight. I should mention how extremely difficult it is to volunteer to carry team weights for the last four hours or so!</li>
<li>If you are intrigued by the challenge but what I just mentioned in #6 above has you questioning if you are ready, sign up anyway and get training! The challenge is intimidating but that is the point! Find an event, sign up, and train! You will probably be amazed at what your body is capable of. Just stop thinking about it and sign up. We had guys from their low 20's to just under 60 (amazing!). Anyone that wants to do a Goruck can do one if they really want to.</li>
<li>The Goruck Challenge is NOT a boot camp experience. No worries about getting yelled at, etc. The cadre is very much focused on helping you acheive and I never felt unsafe or at risk. He constantly reminded us to keep the pace up but in all honesty, we controlled the pace and it seemed like as long as we pushed ourselves, we were left alone. Other than some muscle pain and a few lost toe nails, there wasn't a single injury that I know of.</li>
<li>From talking to our cadre David after the challenge, I learned that our original course was over 24 miles. We had to reroute slightly due to our lost team member. I think it would have been easier to do the extra miles and keep moving rather than to wait it out though.</li>
</ol><div>So what is next? Good question. I know there are a lot of people at my crossfit box that are into Tough Mudders, Spartan Races, etc. This is very different but it caters to a subset of the exact same audience (I think most of the people I talked to had experience in obstacle racing) so I will be trying to talk some of them into it. I would love to get enough people interested to do a custom Goruck right here in NW Arkansas. The hills of Fayetteville, the College Campus, Lake Fayetteville, etc. would make for a great experience. <br />
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The Goruck people also offer a number of alumni-only multi-day events that are even more extreme. Things like 4 day mountain climbing expeditions, 4 day beach missions in the Florida Keys, Spy type stuff in Washington D.C., etc. I suppose one of them would be the logical next step although World's Toughest Mudder is my training focus for the remainder of the year. As far as just doing another Goruck, I am probably not interested unless it is either with a friend or friends or in a cool city. We saw West Tulsa. It is a dump.<br />
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In the near term, I am running my third Tough Mudder (Dallas) in three weeks. Should be fun. Two weeks later I have my first marathon which is nothing more than a bucket list item I want to knock out. From there, I have a couple more Tough Mudders that I have already signed up for and a Warrior Dash in Tulsa. I am still debating with myself whether or not to do the "<a href="http://24thehardway.com/" target="_blank">24 The Hard Way</a>" race this fall in OK City. Seems like it would be a good measure of my fitness level for WTM but we will see.<br />
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-Loren</div></div>Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-65005849275394708182012-02-07T09:40:00.001-06:002012-02-09T12:52:07.692-06:00Good News, Bad NewsGood News: I just got into World's Toughest Mudder.<br />
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Bad News: I just got into World's Toughest Mudder and I actually plan on training for and competing in it.<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">World's Toughest Mudder is the season finale. It is essentially a 24 hour race where you attempt to complete as many 10 mile laps as possible. The winner is the person who completes the most laps in 24 hours. All remaining competitors have 4 hours to match the same number of total laps. If they do, they are considered finishers. 800 competitors started last year. Somewhere around 300 finished one lap. Most got wiped out by hypothermia as it was held in NJ in December last year. Only 10 people officially finished the race.</div><br />
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I have no idea how to train for this thing at this point but it isn't until December so I have plenty of time. I have it in my head that I can use this thing to raise some money for orphan care so hopefully I can figure out something in that area as well. Perhaps getting pledges per lap or per obstacle or something? Ideas anyone?<br />
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Finally, I was able to put all of the video from my last TM into one file. I sped up the video for all of the running and the minor obstacles but it is still kind of long. Might be interesting for some of you as it gives you a real view of what an entire course consists of. Sorry it took so long as it turns out that 2+ hours of high def video pushes the limits of my video editing software. The video isn't all that good but it will have to do. I already spent way to much time on it!<br />
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-LorenMarti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-52328050260463786582012-01-31T20:57:00.011-06:002012-02-09T12:53:26.994-06:00Tough Mudder Texas Coast<div class="MsoNormal">I almost drowned. Twice. I was tortured. Once. I have never had so much fun in my life. Ever.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">Tough Mudder Texas Coast is complete and I survived. Barely. Since last June, I spent hundreds of miles running. I spent numerous hours at<a href="http://www.crossfit540.com/" target="_blank"> Crossfit 540 </a>after joining in November. And I spent several hours looking over the course map trying to come up with a plan to conquer the course in a respectable amount of time. In the end, I was proud and I was disgusted with myself. I was prepared and I was unprepared. I had trained smart and I had trained like an idiot. Here are my two-cents on the event...<br />
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<em>Note: This is kind of long-winded but I am including a lot of info that I wished I had known before running my first one. Maybe it will be useful to someone.</em><br />
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This was my second Tough Mudder after doing<a href="http://martitimes.blogspot.com/2011/10/tough-mudder-central-texas.html" target="_blank"> my first one last October in Austin.</a> Remember me talking about how much I hate running? Yep. I still hate it. As the CEO of Tough Mudder said <strong>"Running is the only sport that is so boring, you have to wear headphones to do it"</strong>. He is right. But yet the appeal of Tough Mudder after doing just one continues to draw me in and push me to run. It pushed me to add crossfit to my workout regimen. Heck, I even ran my first half marathon in December just so I had something to "look forward to" between Mudders. Within a couple of months, I had already signed up for four more (Tough Mudders, not half marathons...let's be serious). The really silly thing is that these things aren't even timed and aren't even officially races! It really is pretty stupid if you think about it. Train hard so you can do something fast when no one in the world cares if you do it fast!?! Why? As I told a reporter right after the event on Saturday..."because I am an idiot". Now the reality is yes I am an idiot, but there is just something strangely appealing about swimming for 490 feet and almost drowning; then overcoming the reality that you still have to run through 11.5 more miles of rough terrain, overcome 26 more obstacles, and crawl through an electrical torture chamber (or two) as fast as you possibly can. All of this effort even though your only "reward" is a $2.00 orange head band, a t-shirt, and a beer (knowing good and well that the last person across the finish line gets the same orange head band, the same t-shirt, and the same kind of beer).<br />
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So I decided to run this one alone. Just me against myself but alongside a bunch of others facing the same challenges. The decision was easy. At 42, it is hard to find friends that want to put in the time and money to do such nonsense. Frankly, most men my age have a dad gut like I did when I started running last June. Let's get real. Those fat bellies don't get there by accident. That, and my team mate from last time had knee surgery and was out no matter what. My last experience showed me that there was always someone willing to give a hand plus I had made all the obstacles myself last time. Since I was in much better shape this time surely there was no need right? Oops! More on that later.<br />
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<u>Training:</u><br />
So my training was all over the place. Immediately after getting home from the last Tough Mudder in October, I switched over to a more advanced half marathon running program. It basically had me running Tues, Wed, and Thursday for 6-8 miles each day and then again on Saturday and Sunday with most days including a bunch of intervals at specified speeds. The program was targeted to people that wanted to run a half marathon in under 2 hours which really isn't fast but it was the "fastest" program I found on Runkeeper. I quickly learned the targets were too slow so I started trimming 20 or 30 seconds from the target paces. By the end of November I had decided that my running was no longer my weakest point but that my muscular endurance was. (Note: I ended up doing my first half marathon Dec. 7th in 1:56:46...again not fast but better than my target and the course had 750 feet of elevation change) I started doing crossfit in the mornings 3 days on, one day off while maintaining my running. That ended up being too much for me (at one point I hit 46 miles in 8 days) and I ended up settling on crossfit 4 days a week and running on Tuesday and Thursday using either longer distance intervals from the program I started or the much shorter but more intense intervals from the crossfit endurance site. On Sundays I continued with my longer runs usually 10-12 miles. By the end of December I thought it would be a good idea to combine crossfit and running into a tougher workout so I started running the 5.5 miles to crossfit, doing a crossfit workout, then running home. My Sundays basically became my "Tough Mudder simulation" days as I put my body through a very similar level of total work. Mixed into everything was my decision to start transitioning to Vibrams 5 finger shoes as they feel a lot better on my joints and I know they will allow me to move a lot quicker through a mudder. Let's just say the transition is ongoing and if nothing else some day I will have some sexy calves! <br />
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Between crossfit and the running my body is definitely getting a good shock as I am constantly sore in some area from something. Anna and Vika started calling me grandpa due to all the aches and pains, limping and hobbling. They would even grab my hand and help me walk around the house sometimes. Pretty funny. I actually did put a lot of thinking into what I was doing, although when I read what I just wrote it sounds pretty scatter-brained. <br />
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<u>Gear:</u><br />
This one I did right. The course had a lake to swim across and since much of the course was following along water I wanted to make sure I stayed warm. I checked out the course the day before the event and the water felt about 65-70 degrees. Cooler than a typical pool but not cold. The air temperature was around 50 in the morning and was supposed to hit 71 for a high. I showed up with a pair of Under Armour shorts over the top of a Nike underlayer bottom. For my upper body I started with a short sleeve Under Armour tight fitting shirt with an off-brand long sleeve tight fitting top similar to the Under Armour heat-ware line. When I got to the event and got out of the car, it was pretty windy and chilly. I decided last minute to swap out the short sleeve shirt for a Cold Wear Under Armour long sleeve shirt under my "race jersey" that, once again, my girls designed.<br />
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I also had myself loaded with electronics this time. I got a GoPro head mount camera for Christmas from Cammie and had bought myself a Garmin 310xt GPS watch last November off of Ebay. I even decided last minute to wear my heart rate monitor just out of curiosity...both to get the data and to see if all this stuff was going to survive. As far as the camera goes, I decided on the head mount as I knew I would be crawling on my chest too much for a chest mount to work properly for me. I did end up fabricating a nylon strap that connected to the camera mount, ran between my two shirts, and then connected to a small fanny pack I had around my waist. I know a lot of people lose their cameras and sometimes never find them. Smart move as the camera did fall off my head once. The camera worked perfectly and the battery lasted plenty long to capture the pre-race brief, the entire run, and lots of footage afterwards. Since there were so many water obstacles, the lens stayed clean as well. The GPS watch also performed flawlessly although looking back, if I had thought about it, I would have learned how to use the multi-sport (triathlon) functionality...this thing was going to include a pretty long swim...did I mention I am not a very good swimmer?<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">As I mentioned earlier, I had spent a good amount of time looking at Google Earth and the course map to try to come up with some kind of strategy. At the last mudder in Austin the only thing that almost beat me was the taller set of walls as I could barely jump high enough to grab the top and pull myself over. The other concern I had was Everest which is a quarter-pipe looking ramp you need to have a pretty good velocity to get up by yourself. In Austin, it was a breeze as it was towards to beginning of the course and the ground in front of it was generally smooth although muddy. This time Everest was the second to last obstacle and I had major concerns about my ability to conquer it alone as I fully intended to run myself pretty hard before I got there. But yes. The swim. You would think that in all that time I spent looking at the map, I would have taken a serious look at the 490 foot distance that the map showed me I was going to have to swim across. Oops.<br />
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So the strategy was to start right at the front of the first heat of the day, sprint to the first obstacle which was kiss of mud (low crawl under barb wire through mud), sprint over the first set of 8 foot walls, sprint to the lake and by then hopefully be clear of most of the 500 person mob. I would run the rest of the course as hard as I could and hopefully stay ahead of as many people as I could, then slow down a little for the last couple of miles so that I could take on Everest by myself.<br />
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So as is typical, we all lined up and got a briefing before the start. This time everyone had to scale a wall to get into the start area which was kind of different. One addition to the briefing since my last TM was that they mentioned "if you come up to someone face down in the mud, he or she is no longer having fun. Help them." They then went on to show us the signal to call for help (crossed arms). After that, the National Anthem was played, we recited the Tough Mudder pledge, and off we went!<br />
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And off to the races it was. Like I said, I wanted to stay out of traffic so I kept myself up front for the first three obstacles. It wasn't a fast pace (averaged a 7:00 pace up to the swim) Kiss of Mud, no problem. Three 8 foot walls, no problem. Walk the plank, no problem...or at least that is what I was thinking as I jumped off the 12' or so platform. I came back to the surface and the first thought that came into my head was 'I have never even swam one lap in a pool in my life. How am I going to swim across a lake that I can barely see the other side of'. Umm. Oops!?! <br />
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From the Tough Mudder Frequently Asked Questions:<br />
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<em><u>What is the required swimming skill level?</u></em><br />
<em>Tough Mudder recommends that all participants possess basic swimming fundamentals and be skilled to not only tread water but also prepared to swim a minimum distance of 25-30 feet. Also, we suggest that persons with limited swimming ability to bypass the deep water parts of the course, as basic swimming skills are essential for the safe completion of these obstacles.</em><br />
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<u>The 'Swim':</u><br />
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You would think in all of my preparation, I would have taken the three seconds required to measure the distance of the lake on Google Earth. Or maybe even take the initiative to call the park to ask them how deep the lake was. Nope. I just assumed that since the last mudder I ran in didn't really have any water over my head, that somehow, magically, this one wouldn't either. I swam maybe 20 yards, my feet weighted down by heavy shoes, my body weighted down with a camera, fannie pack, heart rate monitor, etc. and I was already tired. The cool water and lack of having fully warmed up my muscles didn't help either. I know! Our exchange student from Germany spent 10 minutes five years ago showing me how to do the backstroke! Certainly that will work and I will be able to breathe too! Too bad at this point I am getting grabbed and smacked by every other poor fool that was in the same situation as me. Every time I got settled down and moving, someone either grabbed me or a wave dumped water down my throat. Eventually I was pretty much in panic mode. Okay, I WAS in panic mode. What is the signal to ask for help? Oh yeah, crossed arms. That will work wonders in the water. It might be better to just wave good bye to my head cam so at least my final goodbye would be on film. My next thought was reading my friend's blog about his first open water swim in his first Triathlon. Hmm. Now I kind of understand how he must have felt. A lot of good that did me. As it became apparent that there were WAY too many people in my situation for the few rescue people to handle I just sucked it up and kept going. Eventually. Almost 6 1/2 minutes later. My foot finally reached dry ground. <strong>I have to say, I saw no more smiling happy people at the edge of the lake.</strong> They were all either physically wasted like I was, or staring into the water looking for their team mates. This was serious. <br />
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Only 11.5 miles and 26 more obstacles to go!<br />
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All I could do at that point was try to start running. The next obstacle was Artic Enema. I just needed to get through it and I knew there was a lot of flat running with simple obstacles that really were nothing but speed bumps for the next hour or so. Artic Enema is nothing but a dumpster filled with water and hundreds of pounds of ice. You jump in, you duck under a board submerged below the surface, and you climb out the other side. To be honest, it was cold but with what I had on, it really wasn't a big deal. I may have still been jacked up on adrenaline from almost dying though. From there on it was six miles of running against a 20 mph headwind. The guys running shirtless were a little cold but I was fine (I was never cold or hot the entire time). By this time I thought there were 20 or 30 people in front of me as it seemed like I was in the water forever but I didn't really know. There was a group of 4 or 5 running a decent pace (roughly 8-8:30 miles) so I decided to hang with them a while. Teams are good to hang with in case you need help and teams are only as fast as their slowest runner so I was hoping one of them would need to drop back before the finish. By mile 4 or so, we all got passed by a man and woman team. Yep. I just got chicked. One goal was to not get chicked in this event. Nothing against women, and frankly I get chicked at crossfit every day, but I had it as a goal and I failed. Around the same time, I could see that it was inevitable that at least one guy in the team was starting to struggle as you can tell by a persons' breathing how they are doing. By mile 6, they dropped back. <br />
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At this point I was alone. Every once in a while, I could see the couple ahead of me or one guy behind me. I was alone for almost an hour. I rarely even saw volunteers or race officials except for the water stations. Nothing. Pretty boring really. By mile 8 we got to another water station (our third I think). I asked the volunteers how many people were ahead of me and they told me "maybe 10". GREAT! I figured at least 20 which would have been fine I suppose but only ten actually sounds pretty good! By mile 10 the guy that was behind me for an hour came out of nowhere. Okay, so now I am eleventh. I could tell he was a stronger runner but I also knew we had Everest up ahead which could be pretty tough. We kept pace with each other for a little while and I eventually dropped back. I figured it was best to stick to the plan and there was no one to be seen behind me anyway. Finally we were up to the monkey bars. The guy that had passed me struggled a little bit and I almost caught him by the time I got through (And to all the people that say you can't do the monkey bars with gloves on, you are wrong. You have weak hands.). Up next was "Shocks on the Rocks"....Hold on. What? Another swim first!?!<br />
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Another oversight on my part, not that it made a difference, was that we had the "Underwater Tunnels" obstacle to tackle first. This one was easy in Austin. It was the underwater sewer swim I mentioned in my last post. Walk out almost all the way to the three sets of barrels, and one by one, swim under them. This time we had to swim just over 220 feet total according to my GPS. Here we go again. I asked the rescue guy if he ever saw a man actually drown. He said no. I said watch this. The good thing about being alone was that I had my own private rescue person riding next to me on a surfboard the whole time. I got through it without grabbing the board. Again, I am pretty wasted. On to the final three obstacles. <br />
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First up "Shocks on the Rocks". <br />
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I have to say, Tough Mudder really outdid themselves on this one. The obstacle appeared last Fall a couple of races after the one I did and from what I can tell it seemed to slowly morph into the torture chamber it is today. What started out as a low crawl through ice cubes under electrified wires, next turned into the same thing with additional wire whiskers hanging down in several places turning itself into a little maze. But this one just threw the whole maze concept out the window and had wires everywhere so there was no way you were getting through the thing without getting zapped repeatedly. Oh and by the way, this time they had the thing sitting on a slight incline. Ever try to crawl up a hill on wet plastic while pushing ice cubes out of the way and getting hit with 12,248 volts repeatedly? Oh Joy!<br />
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By the time I had reached this point, all of the waves for the day had already started. This means that all of the spectators are now out of the building and out on the course. Most spectators were grouped around the final three obstacles. As I approached the obstacle I was a little surprised at the size of the crowd, how much ice was in the obstacle, and how low the wires seemed. The lady told me "just go real fast". Really? What a profound statement! Thank you! No point in staring. Just do it. <br />
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I got in and started crawling. Next thing I know, I was riding my red bmx bicycle on my dad's farm as a young boy. SNAP! Crap! No. I am in Texas laying in a pile of ice getting my butt kicked! I have to get out of here! The remaining shocks all hurt the same but I was fully conscious and able to think as I frantically clawed my way through the ice crying like a little girl the whole time. After going through electric obstacles twice now, it seems like the first shock knocks me out for a split second and then my brain reboots and the rest don't impact my ability to think. Perhaps the first shock each time was on my head and that is what did it. I don't know. The flashback was very strange though. I have seen several comments from others that had similar experiences. I finally I got to where I could see a fold in the plastic at the edge of the obstacle and I was able to grab it and pull myself out. My GoPro worked wonderfully and captured the pure joy I experienced.<br />
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</div>I also captured some video later on of a woman that got knocked out for 12 or 13 seconds. She is in the far lane. They had to shut the obstacle down until she woke up. This obstacle is no joke. Next up, Everest.<br />
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<u>Epic Failure:</u><br />
As I looked over to Everest before crawling through the electricity I saw my lone competition stuck at Everest. I sensed that he might not have the strength left to pull himself up given how long the monkey bars took him but that he probably had the speed to get up to grab the top. I secretly hoped he would still be there when I got there. He was. Everest was different this time in two ways compared to the Austin event. It was the second to last obstacle here but showed up early in the course in Austin. It was sitting on nice level terrain in Austin but they decided to run a plow or something through the dirt in front of it here. I don't know if their initial intent was to make a mud hole or what. Maybe they just wanted to make us trip. It worked. I knew my legs were tired and I didn't have the speed of fresh legs but since it was so easy for me in Austin (I easily ran fast enough for the top to be at chest level when I did it there) I hoped that I would at least be able to grab the top and pull myself up. Try 1, trip and crash. Try 2, Cramp! At this point my left calve muscle cramped up on me. I knew instantly where I went wrong. The Wednesday before, I did three miles in my Vibrams and was feeling so good I kept bumping up the speed. During the run, I felt a little strain in my left calf but decided it was Wednesday and surely by Saturday I would be fine so I kept running. My calves were a little sore Saturday morning but since I was wearing regular shoes, I didn't give it any thought (not that I could do anything at that point anyway). Now I was getting frustrated! The other guy and I both continued to try. He would run and was able to to grab the top, but couldn't pull himself up. I couldn't even reach the top. My legs were failing. Stretch, run, fail. Stretch, run, fail. We both knew we were stuck until someone else showed up. We continued to try and in between tries, we paced back and forth like caged animals, both of us frustrated with how much time was ticking by. After 3 1/2 minutes, one guy finally showed up. He took a shot. Fail. Over the next 8 minutes and 45 seconds, 6 people trickled in. A couple of them made it themselves and lucky for me and the others, they were willing to give us a hand. Finally, 11 minutes and 1 second later, we all were able to get up and over Everest. My final attempt was probably the last one that I had a chance on. My calf cramped up so bad I couldn't move my entire leg. I sat on top of Everest for a few seconds trying to get it loosened up so I could climb down the back and hobble in. The guy that was stuck with me for a while waited for me and we headed towards Electroshock therapy. My calf was now free and I could run again.<br />
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Compared to Shocks on the Rocks, Electroshock was a joke. Yes, I took a good hit again and yes it knocked me down but the only pain I really felt was that my calf locked up on me again as I tried to sprint through it. That is why you see me whining like a little girl in the video. I thought the video was pretty cool though as the camera got itself turned around and faced me when I fell. I crawled to my feet and ran the last 100 yards to the finish. I AM DONE!<br />
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I thought the video of me going through Electroshock Therapy was pretty funny...<br />
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The atmosphere at the finish was a lot different than Austin because it was away from the last obstacle inside the building. The building was almost eerily quiet. There were only a handful of competitors standing there. I thanked the guys that helped me up Everest and headed to the showers. Mission somewhat accomplished.<br />
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<u>Debrief:</u><br />
Looking back, my biggest failure was my decision to run in my Vibrams the Wednesday before the event. When you sprint, you run on the front of your feet. I lost my ability to sprint because my calves were exhausted and eventually cramped up. The 12 miles in mostly soft terrain had already pre-exhausted them as well. I had never had a leg cramp in my life until then. Ever. And I have done 10+ miles in 90 degree heat without bringing any water several times without problems. I lost a lot of sleep over the next couple of days thinking about it and I am still mad at myself for losing so much time at Everest.<br />
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I reviewed the entire video and noted each obstacle and the time it took me to complete it. When I do the math and subtract out the obstacle times and swims (along with the swim distances) I did the run part at an average pace of 8:50 per mile. Given the fact that this still included a fair amount of running through mud and water and given the fact that I had only run my half marathon at a 8:53 pace, I am pretty happy. It is amazing how much faster you can run when you are having fun and actually care. Maybe I should have worn headphones for my half marathon. By the way, I happened to meet the CEO and the COO of Tough Mudder at the Mystery Obstacle.<br />
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After reviewing the video I think I finished 17th from our wave. Again it doesn't really matter (and there is no way to know for sure) but for me, this time, it did matter. I am somewhat satisfied but again I really hated to have 6 people pass me at Everest.<br />
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If I had showed up to this event in the same shape as the Austin event, I wouldn't have made some of the obstacles. This event required more strength. The two swims were rough and the mystery obstacle took a good bit of strength as well. I would have failed at probably all of them if I hadn't joined crossfit when I did. Crossfit was the missing piece that I really needed. The 10 foot walls were a breeze to jump and grab a hold of. After the race I wasn't even sore except in my shoulders from the swim. I was certainly banged up and bruised and I can't remember how I got a footprint bruise on my abs but all in all I felt pretty good.<br />
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I learned the next day that they shut down the long swim immediately after our wave. We were the only ones that had to do it. The rest jumped off the platform and turned around towards shore. After reviewing my video, I think this cost me at least 6 minutes versus the remaining waves. Not only did we have the much longer swim, but we had a longer run as well. Tough Mudder has had to make last minute changes like this in the past. I totally understand but I am glad I was able to do the "real" course even if I did almost die and lose a lot of time.<br />
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My Garmin watch, the heart rate monitor, and the GoPro camera all performed flawlessly. I added the heart rate monitor last minute but it actually came in handy as I used it to gauge how hard I was pushing myself. With the varying terrain it wasn't really reasonable to use my running pace as a measure but I know myself well enough to know as long as I keep my heart below the mid 170s, I can go for hours. The monitor worked nicely but I wish it would have worked during the swim. It would have been funny to see my heart rate of 456465887 beats per minute when I was about to drown.<br />
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As for future events, I have a lot going on between now and this Fall...<br />
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- March 10th, <a href="http://goruckchallenge.com/events/tulsa/" target="_blank">Goruck Challenge Tulsa</a> (I am really excited about this one. 15-20 miles over 12+ hours should really kick my butt).<br />
- March 31st, Tough Mudder Dallas (Running with some good friends. we won't break any records but we are going to have a blast!)<br />
- April 15th, Hogeye Marathon (I figure I might as well do one just to say I did).<br />
- May 19th, Tough Mudder Twin Cities (So far my brother in law and brother are joining me. Still working on a few others)<br />
- June 2nd, Warrior Dash Tulsa (way too short at 3 or 4 miles to really get excited about but it is close to home and I am going with some friends so why not? This one is an actual timed race which will be interesting)<br />
- Sept. 15th, Tough Mudder Missouri<br />
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I have one more event I am hoping to do but it is still up in the air at this point. As I mentioned earlier, I got the entire race on video. I am still working on putting a final version together with the whole race in a compressed file where the obstacles are in real time and the run is fast forwarded. I will post it on this blog once it is done...maybe in a day or so?</div>Marti Timeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05752008054217044825noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-868563140242537746.post-83676967641336620322011-10-12T22:18:00.002-05:002012-10-18T12:28:29.560-05:00Tough Mudder Central Texas<em>“FACT- Marathon running is simply boring. And the only thing more boring than doing a marathon is watching a marathon. Road-running may give you a healthy set of lungs, but will leave you with as much upper body strength as Keira Knightley. At Tough Mudder, we want to test your all-around mettle, not just your ability to run in a straight line, on your own, for hours on end, getting bored out of your mind.”</em><em></em><br />
<em></em><em>-ToughMudder.com</em><br />
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Let me just start out by saying I <strong>hate</strong> running. Seriously, I hate it. Left Right Left Right Left Right…Ugh! But yet, I just spent the last 16 weeks training for and finally participating in a 12 mile obstacle course / mud run called Tough Mudder. Why? Perhaps because I am a sucker for marketing…I don’t know…but I can’t remember that last time I had so much fun! <br />
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Until this Spring, I had never heard of Tough Mudder and was quite happy sitting my fat butt on the couch when I got home from work. I saw a Tough Mudder link on a friend's Facebook wall one day and thought it looked pretty cool. 25-30 military style obstacles (along with a bunch of silly ones) spread out over 10-12 miles. Looks like fun. But the distance! 10-12 miles! Even in the Marine Corps I don’t think I ever actually ran more than 5 or 6 miles. Hiking, sure, but running, no. <br />
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So I found one person to join me for the event down in Austin, TX. Yep. Just one. Imagine that. We signed up and a month or so later (remember I <strong>HATE</strong> running) I actually started training. While some of the Tough Mudder courses are held in the mountains and/or at ski resorts with serious hills, a review of the course map from the same event held earlier in the year told me the hills would be minimal…the course was at a motocross park and the surrounding cow pastures. The terrain where I live is pretty much constant rolling hills and it turns out was pretty well matched with the actual race. My thought was that the obstacles wouldn’t be a big deal as long as I could keep my legs under me. <br />
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I uploaded a free GPS app called Runkeeper to my phone, bought a Bluetooth heart rate monitor that would ‘talk’ to my phone and paid $20 to runkeeper to take part in a Beginner Half Marathon training program. This was probably the smartest thing I did. I am somewhat of a data junkie and I needed to see improvements to my speed / distance / heart rate over time to keep myself motivated. It also helped to see the times of other fatties to compare myself against. <br />
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So the training (just for reference, I am a 42 year old male, 6 ft tall, and weighed 189 lbs going in, 173 lbs for the race. I hadn’t done any kind of consistent weight lifting for probably 10 years and no consistent running for probably close to 20). Oh boy. I will just go ahead and make fun of myself…my first three mile run took me almost 34 minutes and my average heart rate was 176 beats per minute! <strong>Ha! Loser!!!</strong> <strong>And I even had to walk for a few seconds going up a couple of the</strong> <strong>hills!</strong> <strong>HaHAHAAHAAA! </strong>I remember getting home and reading the results on the runkeeper site after my first run and then looking up what a typical heart rate is. The website said I was in the “extreme athlete range” or something to that effect. Obviously, they needed a special heart range titled “About to skinkin' die”! Anyway, like I said, I <strong>hate</strong> running but I did stick it out. I ended up modifying the program to delete the Saturday runs as I spend my Saturdays building a cabin by the lake. So basically I was running anywhere from 3 or 4 miles in the beginning to 5 or 6 miles later on, on Tuesday and Thursday. Sundays were the long runs and basically they just add another mile almost every week until you hit 13 miles a couple of weeks before the race. Other than some bad foot pain the first 5 or 6 weeks (my foot arches were obviously weak) everything went pretty good. The program was about perfect for me and I enjoyed watching my average heart rate go down almost every time I ran while I slowly increased my pace to 10 minute miles. This ended up being a comfortable pace for me. Seeing the data points was almost enough motivation to keep me going. I had also told my daughters I was going to do the race and from time to time I watched some of the TM youtube videos with them. There is something about watching people get zapped with electricity and landing face first in the mud that just never ceases to be funny. <br />
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This video is from our event last weekend. This one shows the crowd and the final 'obstacle'.<br />
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This one was at the same location but in January. You can tell that Tough Mudder has continued to improve the course and obstacles and that the crowds are growing!<br />
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Getting my daughters to think I am Superman was kind of cool too. So anyway, by the end of the training, I could do 12 miles at a 9:47 pace without feeling exhausted and with an average heart rate of 156 bpm. Not fast AT ALL, but a huge improvement for me. The program worked.<br />
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So finally it was race day. Unfortunately due to the distance from my house, Cammie and the girls weren’t able to attend. A lot of people wear costumes to the race. I had my girls take a white t-shirt and let them each write on one side. I told them no hearts or flowers but fire and blood and explosions were fine. Vika asked if bunnies were okay I said not unless they are bleeding or dead. They came up with this….<br />
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I have to say I had several moms give me compliments on how sweet the shirt was. There were even two spectators (following their husbands I assume) that would shout ‘go daddy go’ when I ran by in the very beginning. By the way, it seems they do a really good job of laying out the course for spectators to follow the participants. I saw several of the same spectators throughout the day.<br />
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So back to the race. Again, what a blast! Tough Mudder markets the thing as “Probably The Toughest Event on the Planet”. Certainly it isn’t...at least not in the perfect weather we had. But some of these things are run in 10-30 degree weather and you are jumping into water the whole time. That would change the whole dynamic of the event. In other words, our event wasn't that tough but some of them are bound to be <strong>extremely</strong> tough. Regardless, you can make it as tough as you want by pushing yourself as hard as you want. <br />
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Tough Mudder does a good job of creating an atmosphere of teamwork and camaraderie (I should mention that the ‘race’ isn’t even timed). They have a live band playing, plenty of activities in the staging area, free Mohawks for anyone that wants one, etc. The ‘race’ is run in waves with roughly 500 people starting every 20 minutes. Before the start, they play the National Anthem and have you recite some silly Tough Mudder pledge...<br />
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<em>"As a Tough Mudder I pledge that… </em><br />
<em>* I understand that Tough Mudder is not a race but a challenge. </em><br />
<em>* I put teamwork and camaraderie before my course time. </em><br />
<em>* I do not whine – kids whine. </em><br />
<em>* I help my fellow Mudders complete the course. </em><br />
<em>* I overcome all fears."</em> <br />
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...Then a little loud music and yelling and screaming to get yourself all pumped up and off you go! <br />
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What a blast! The obstacles vary, but almost all of them involve water and mud. One thing that never occurred to me until we actually started running was that this was basically a cow pasture that we had taken over. Most of the mud holes used in the course were, up to a couple of weeks ago apparently, used by cows and the trails were solid cow patties. Anyone that knows anything about cows knows that they like to stand in the water to keep themselves cool. I have never seen a cow leave the water to relieve themselves. By the time we ran the course, there had been over a thousand people that had stirred up the cow manure, cow pee, and water into a nice black broth of filth! I also know for a fact that it is much more convenient to pee in the ponds yourself than the use the handful of porta-potties they provided throughout the course. Trust me. Too bad for the 7,000 people that followed Jay and I. If you have ever done any plumbing work on drain lines and know what that black water smells like, that is what some of the water was like. It doesn't taste good either. I remember going through the ‘swim under the barrels’ obstacle…or whatever they call it…and thinking to myself ‘Now I can say I have swam under water in a sewer’. I can’t believe I didn’t get sick. I could still taste the water the next day and was pulling out sewer boogars for two days. Just in case you were wondering. <br />
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Some of the ponds had fish in them and they were mostly dead or dying probably because of all of the silt being kicked up. Anyway, the course was well marked and there were only a couple of bottlenecks at a couple of obstacles. People were always ready and willing to lend a hand and frankly it got a little annoying if you wanted to get through it on your own.<br />
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There really isn’t much else to say about the course itself. The "jump off a high platform into nasty water" obstacle (or whatever it is called) was a little higher than I thought it would be and I thought it was funny that the little TM girl at the top told me to jump or she would throw me off. All of the obstacles can be completed by someone in good shape as long as you are tall enough. The walls were probably the most difficult as you had to get your timing just right to catch the 2x4 nailed near the bottom while trying to step up and grab the top of the wall (either 8 or 10 feet high depending on the wall). Most people, if they try to go it alone, run and bounce off the wall several times before either making it, or asking for a lift from others. This also seems to be where the most injuries happen...people dropping down on the other side of the wall and breaking ankles and legs from what I hear. Hanging down from a 10 foot wall isn’t a big deal to a 6’ man but if you are short you have a longer drop. I should say that I only saw 2 injuries myself. The first was an overweight guy laying on the ground around mile 2. His wife (an overweight spectator) was standing next to him with a <strong>‘what the heck were you thinking’</strong> look on her face. I also saw a petite little thing with a nice set of gashes on her neck from some barb wire early in the race. It didn’t seem to faze her and she kept going. Her head is probably is getting eaten by flesh eating bacteria by now though. In general, the obstacles were safe enough and except for the drop from the wall and/or just bad luck or being stupid, most people don't get hurt….just a bunch of scratches and bruises. Other than getting help on one wall (before discovering the correct technique) I was able to do every obstacle by myself. I also fell off of ‘twinkle toes’ (30 foot long balance beam maybe 6’ above the water) on the first attempt but made it the second. The biggest thing with the obstacles, I think, is not being dead tired from running when you attempt them. Most people don’t make a lot of the obstacles at the end. The toughest obstacles were mostly bunched up at the end of the course after you have gone 8 miles or so. <br />
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So anyway, right at the end you get to where you can see a large crowd assembled and hear a bunch of yelling and cheering…the finish line. One more obstacle to go. 10,000 volts of electricity running through wires hanging just inches above two shallow mud holes. Twenty feet in front of the ‘obstacle’ is a crowd of competitors trying to get up the courage and / or strategizing how to get through the thing with the least amount of pain. Almost done!<br />
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Let me add to my hate list... <strong>I hate electricity too</strong>. I believe the obstacle was powered by a cattle fencer. I grew up on a farm and had certainly been shocked by them before. But I have to say, I have never been shocked like this! So my strategy, which by the way didn’t work…<strong>AT ALL</strong>…was to run full speed and just get through it. Here is the problem. You don’t actually see the obstacle itself until you round the corner and then realize there are two mud holes underneath. My thought process at the last moment was ‘if I stay in the air I can’t get shocked because I won’t be grounded’ so I tried to jump as far as I could. Umm nope. As I was in the air I felt a nice solid SNAP in my neck (I had a red mark the next day) and proceeded to face plant into the ground. FYI...getting zapped in the head hurts worse than getting zapped elsewhere and it kind of makes you dizzy for a second. Half dazed I hear a ‘OOOOH!’ from the crowd and try to get up and crawl. SNAP! I took another shock in the ribs and heard another nice response from the crowd. Down again. Ugh! <br />
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By then I was just crawling and flailing trying to get out of there. Imagine a 40 something balding fat man flailing about in the mud…that would be me. The announcer yells ‘keep crawling! you are almost out!’...I kept going and as I crawled out of the last mud hole visualized a dying Wildebeast making his final attempt to get out of the lake away from the crocodile....finally I didn't feel any more jolts and figured I was out. I crawled to my feet and stumbled over to the four hotties at the finish line handing out head bands (Cammie says maybe they weren’t cute…maybe I was still dazed). Anyway, a couple of seconds later and a slap on the butt from Blondie and I was done! <br />
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I will say that next time I do a Tough Mudder I will approach every obstacle with more confidence than I did last time…all of them except this ‘Electroshock Therapy’ obstacle. I didn’t like it one bit and I am already cringing at what it will feel like next time. Next time I cover my head! I wish I had myself on video going through it though. It would have been priceless. Luckily they caught a couple of photos.<br />
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So what did I learn? As dumb as it sounds, I learned that it is worth 16 weeks of training just so I can enjoy a few hours of bodily abuse. I will say it again, <strong>I had a blast!</strong> <br />
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As for the training itself? I was generally well prepared although my teammate messed his knees up so we couldn't run the whole course. I can't claim victory unless I make every obstacle (which I did) and run the whole course (which I did not). The day after felt like a typical Saturday morning after a high school football game…slight soreness and plenty of scratches and bruises. No big deal. Except my abs! One huge oversight on my part was that I didn’t do any core training. I didn’t realize how much I was going to use my abs to climb and move through the mud. My abs were killing me the next day. Other than the running I did, I did a few push-ups and pull-ups every once in a while but mostly ignored everything but the running. Participants shouldn’t be fooled into thinking they need a bunch of weight training. This is a running event. You are travelling 12 miles. There seemed to be a belief out there (judging from FB posts) that you can train for 5-7 miles and somehow magically run twice that distance on race day. A LOT of people were cramping up around mile 8 or so and it wasn't even that hot out. I would recommend to anyone to make a half marathon training program in terrain similar to your event course priority one and add the rest only if you have time for it. Anyone with average upper body strength and healthy joints can make the obstacles and they can make them by themselves if they are tall enough.<br />
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As for future events? I am pretty much hooked. I have a way to go to get to where I want to be as far as my fitness level goes but I am looking forward to more multi-hour, extremely boring training runs just so I can do it again. It is SO worth it! I am already signed up for the event in MN in May and plan on doing the Dallas event next year as well. Frankly, I wish I had the money to travel to one of these every couple of months. In fact. Mom, Dad, Cammie, whoever…a perfect Christmas present would be a plane ticket, a tent, a sleeping bag, and an entry fee to the January Phoenix event! Hint hint!<br />
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Here are a few photos from the event.<br />
And here is a <a href="http://toughmudder.com/event-photos/texas-central-2011/">link</a> to some additional photos.<br />
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