There were many things to separate this race from my previous races. The longest timed race to date, the furthest from home, and the first running with a team. The team aspect changed the logistics a bit, and rather than starting from the warm-up pen, my race started 2 steps out side of the port-o-john. “Crap, we’re going. GAME ON!!”

I became separated from the rest of the team almost immediately, and basically ran it as a solo race (or as close to one as I ever run, there is always the looking out for the racer next to you). I could give reasons for why I performed as I did for this race, but as reasons often morph into excuses I will leave them out. I decided early on, I think within the first mile, that I would walk most of the course and save the running for where it was most needed.

I failed 3 obstacles (monkey bars, water crossing and the rope climb) and was punished with a total of 60 burpees and a longer path around the water I was supposed to cross. That being said, there were a few obstacles that I freaking owned. This is different from last time, where there were just the obstacles that I didn’t suck at.

The tractor pull, where you drag a concrete block behind you, was one of the few places where I was passing most of those around me. We came to a bit of a bottleneck where two young ladies were having trouble dragging them up a steep incline. I did my best to encourage them (they were embraced and apologizing for slowing us down) and eventually had enough room to come alongside and help the weaker of the two with hers. She asked to do the last 5 yards on her own, so I dropped the chain and went on with mine. I have to give her credit, she was likely pulling 40% of her own body weight.

The wall clearing was probably my proudest moment of the race. There were steps (sort or, 2x material nailed to the face of the wall) on the sides of the 8′ wall, and lines forming at them to have an easier time getting over. I decided to skip the steps and jumped up at the middle of the walls. I got myself mostly to the top of the first one and someone below boosted me the rest of the way over. On the second someone stepped forward to boost but then saw that I was getting over on my own and stepped back.

The Hercules hoist was another one that many were struggling at and I freaking nailed. This was oddly a lot like Budo, use your body weight and the large muscle groups rather than trying to do it all with your arms.

The rope climb was after a long stretch of running (or fast power walking), and I knew I did not have the strength left so I just went straight to my burpees.

Overall the race was a great time and a serious challenge, and the team was a great group of people.

Things to learn from this race: While my strengths are getting stronger, many of my weaknesses are holding steady. I am going back to basics for a bit to see if I can strengthen up the foundation and make me an overall better athlete. I have downloaded the Mayo Clinic C25K program, and finally put in the $15 to buy Race Day Domination from Hybrid Athlete. You can look for reviews to come. I start that journey tonight.

I think the most fitting image I can give of this race was taken by our carpool’s driver (thanks again for the ride Pat!) about an hour after hitting the road. It appears I was not the only one who was pushed to the limit by this course.

I have had a few comments from people who have seen my events schedule, and while they were well-intended, I am finding it annoying that people think there is some magical reason why I can do all of this. Following is a list:

1) Dude, you must be making serious money to pull this off!

Dude, I made 46k last year. Not bad income, but nothing to brag over. I just don’t spend on things that don’t matter.

2) I’d love to do that, but I’m not in shape.

Neither am I. I have 25% body fat and run a 12 minute mile on a good day. But doing all of this helped, it used to be 28% and 14 minutes.

3) Yeah, but I have this injury…

My elbow has been getting continuously re-injured for a year now and I have trouble with my knees. Your body can do amazing things if your mind stops telling it that it can’t.

4) I wish I had that kind of time to train!

I work 2 jobs and 14-hour days in the busy season are common. You get the same 24 hours every day that I get. Use it.

5) I’d love to do that but I have the kids to look after….

True, I have no children and that does make things easier. But Dean Karnazes and Hobie Call are fathers who have pulled off way more impressive stuff than I have. Yet.

6) Well, you’re just awesome. (Yes, someone actually said this in regard to an upcoming race in England.)

We all have the awesomeness inside us. We were created with limitless potential, we just get confused on how to use it. We all need to go out, every day, and allow more of what we are capable of being show. I choose to do this through doing what I am not sure I can do today, and what I didn’t think I could do yesterday.

I received a facebook message to have a worldwide farewell toast to Chris Kyle at 8 pm last night. In trying to find ways to send additional good juju his way, I decided to do a tribute workout.

Chris is universally known for 160 sniper kills, so I decided to do 160 of each exercise and to chose an intensity that would push the limits of what I can handle.

8 o’clock came in the middle of a set. I put down my medicine ball, picked up my drink, and stepped over to where I could see the large American flag above the gym’s entrance. Paid my respects, then got back to the task at hand.

The full workout:

4×40 single hand kettlebell swings

4×40 kettlebell rows

160 tire flips (sets started getting choppy right around this point)

160 gball iron crosses

160 toy soldiers

swim 4×40 meters

That was the end of my workout at the gym, added 160 situps after I got home.

Fair-well to a good man. Walk peacefully in Heaven’s streets.

I have found a new fire in my training, or more precisely I have a clearer picture of where I am going and how to get there. Its time to raise the bar, train harder than ever before, and tear it the fuck up.

I have spent too much time being superior in an inferior realm, what a friend calls being a gold medalist in the Special Olympics. I rose a little bit above that when I started obstacle racing. I can best describe where my goals have been this past year as being mediocre in a mediocre realm. 

I have seen what people who train harder than I do are capable of, and it is absolutely beyond the realm I have been living in lately. It is time I step up and struggle to be adequate in a superior realm. I have let go of some of my notions of what I cannot do, and done several of them in my workouts since GORUCK last week.

I find it a little amusing and absolutely fitting that I have had this revelation just as we are entering the year of the snake in the Chinese calendar. Like a snake shedding its old skin so it can grow, I am shedding my old limitations so I can develop.

I participate in the sort of challenges I do in order to force myself to become more of the type of person I want to be. It is rare that I find a case study of what humans are capable of at their best. GORUCK Challenge Class 388, Columbus Ohio, was one such case study.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Challenge, you are part of a team being instructed by a Special Forces veteran. He will give you various tasks, places to get to, PT exercises to be done, etc. Your team all work together to accomplish your task, and are either rewarded or punished with more PT based on how well you do. All of this is done wearing a 30-50 pound rucksack.

I came into this physically under-prepared and somewhat under-confident. When we hit the first PT exercise that I physically couldn’t do, I panicked and nearly dropped out. The man next to me talked me through it, told me just to do what I could but to not stop. I admit that some of the exercises I ended up doing were pathetic imitations of what they should have been, but I kept doing them.

We were given our first task, simply a place to get to and a time limit. This is where I found out I was also the slowest member of the team. The team was awesome, always encouraging, offering to take my pack for a while to give me a rest, doing everything possible to get all of us through it.

Our next task involved carrying a 20′ log through the downtown area, which happened to be just as bars were closing and all the drunken locals were (understandably) asking what we were doing. One of the team simply replied, “We were out drinking and lost a bet.”

We carried the log more distance than I want to calculate, stopped to do PT in the water (it was about 35 degrees out), and picked it back up to go to another location farther away.

We finally got rid of the log and began a movement drill based on methods of breaking contact, all of us holding pushup position while the rest of the team completed the drill (that’s the picture at the top of this post).

This was an awesome physical and mental challenge, but I was overwhelmed by the warmth and encouragement that the team expressed to its weakest member, me. There was never any animosity for me being unable to keep up, even though it was costing us extra PT. The overall attitude was something like, We expect you to give every last ounce of effort you’ve got, but if that’s not enough, we’ll provide the rest.

I am happy to say that every member of this team passed and received our GORUCK Tough patches. I am definitely doing another one, but I need to change my training before I’m ready to go again. Things to change:

All PT exercises done in sets of 25 or more. Doing more total in addition.

Eliminating walking breaks from my training runs. Any training run needs to be done at at least a shuffle. My run-walk style works fine for individual races, but not moving in formation.

Above all, I will strive to be the sort of teammate that the rest of 388 was to me.