I like to start each year by signing up for a new, big, crazy, scary challenge later in the year. It pushes me to grow, to get better, and to find yet crazier challenges for next year. When I found a local 100 mile race, I knew I had found this year’s challenge. My friend and co-conspirator Schmitty signed up to do it with me, saying friends don’t let friends do stoopid sh*t…alone. A few more friends signed up for the 50 mile option.

Training went okay, but not as well as I had hoped. Race day came, we assembled at the start line in the dark, were given a short overview of trail conditions, and we were off.

We started with an out-and back up and down some steep switchbacks, then proceeded onto the main loop. The website had mentioned steep, hilly trails, but I was unprepared for exactly how steep it was. Due to recent snow melt, some areas were also exceptionally slick and muddy. (Most of the trails had descent footing, but there were a few hills where I literally slid 75 feet on my butt.)

I tried to keep a steady pace on flats and a hard march on uphills, and except for a few places with tricky footing I was able to. Somewhere around Mile 4 I caught up with Schmitty. He had rolled an ankle and was walking with a limp. I stopped and gave him some ibuprofen and continued on. About Mile 9, he caught back up with me.

“Yeah, I stopped at the aide station to decide if I should just walk back, or have them give me a ride out, and I heard a familiar voice in the back of my head telling me to get the f*ck up…”

“I can’t run anymore, but I can still march. Can’t do the 100, but I have all day to make it to 50.”

We finished the first lap right on pace to finish the 100 in 32 hours. I stopped in to take care of my feet and Schmitty saw the medic about his ankle. The volunteers/staff at this race were way beyond what I expected. All previous races that I have done, supplies were there and you had to go get them. Here, they would come to you and ask what they could do for you. Refill your pack, grab something for you while you are tending your feet, help you tape hot spots or blisters, whatever it took to get you back out there faster. Many of the volunteers were experienced ultra runners themselves, so there was a lot to be learned from their suggestions, from what blister-prevention techniques are best to what foods would be best to take and eat on the next leg of the trail.

By the end of the second lap, the hills were starting to wear me down, and Schmitty’s ankle had gone beyond what OTC meds can fix. I finished the lap about an hour behind schedule, and he dropped at Mile 25. (I told him that 21 miles on one working ankle was an impressive achievement regardless.)

I got a little too inside my head for the first part of the third lap, spent too much time walking and worrying about how far behind pace I was. I got my head back on straight by the last aide station, but by that time my knees were starting to go.

I was confused what was happening for awhile, as I had not had this type of knee pain before. My best guess is that, having not trained on hills anywhere near this steep, the angle between the ground and my upright body was more than my ankles could flex to, and my knees were stretching themselves apart trying to take up the slack.

I sat down for a bit at mile 37.5. I cannot tell you how much I did not want to go back out there. But one more lap gets a 50M medal, all the volunteers were encouraging me on, and I have 20 more hours to get it done in…

What one of the volunteers said sticks with me. “Is it just pain, or is it damage? If it is just pain, push through it, just think about getting to the next aide station. If it is damage, then we see how bad it is and go from there.”

By this time it was dark and the 50 milers were out on the course. Something about night running is always a bit surreal for me, the limited sight, the noises in the dark, deer flushing around me as I kept running. The view of the surrounding city skylines from the high points of the course were also quite beautiful.

My knees were in terrible shape, and I was having to stop for a few breaths during even moderate uphills. I grunted it through the last few miles, sharing encouragements with the 50 milers as they passed me, and made it back to the start point at somewhere between 23 and 24 hours. The staff encouraged me to push on, but at this point I knew I was rapidly approaching the point where pain crosses over to damage. They marked me down for a drop to 50, gave me the 50M medal, and encouraged me to make sure I got the full 100 miles worth of food.

So…

Not what I had wanted, but still more distance (and dear Lord more vertical distance) than I have ever done before. Much learned from volunteers and fellow racers that will help keep my feet and body going, and much learned from the trails about how I need to train differently.

A few days off, back to training, and this course will see me again.

I purchased and just started using training plans from Mountain Athlete in preparation for my first 100 miler. With the journey that this is bound to be, I have decided to record it journal-style. Many people are concerned with following a plan like this through to the end, it may provide a sort of case study example for anyone who wants to try it. Particularly those who don’t think they can juggle training for something like this with the responsibilities of family life.

The plans I am using are available here: http://strongswiftdurable.com/product-category/mountain-athlete-plans/ultra-running/

Since I know not everyone will want to read the full version, here is what I learned along the way:

Disregard what day of the week the plan thinks should be your rest day. The day with the most other stuff to do is your rest day. For me that is Saturday, but it took me almost the entire training time to figure that out.

When you plan something like this, build in a couple weeks of fluff time before your race. It is easy to fluff it out if you finish training before your race, but it sucks to try to shorten it if you run behind.

While I am not certain if I have trained hard enough to make it, I am better trained for this than I have ever been for any event. Stay tuned for the next post to see how it went.

Long version:

8/11/15. Start of the Pre-season Ultra Running plan.

The calisthenics portion of this plan is tough. I think I love it. Cut the base run short. I ran out of time, may have to start doing 2-a-days.

8/12/15. Six miles at Zone 1, otherwise known as a fast walk. 13 laps around the block as the sun rose. Excited to get into zones 2 and 3 on tomorrow’s run.

8/13/15 AM: Strength training in the morning, no time for the run, will have to get it in tonight. I got my ass kicked by an exercise called Jane Fonda… EOs suck a lot too.

PM: My stepson had basketball, so I got a guest pass from the gym it was to be held at and got started on the treadmill. About half an hour later he comes up to tell me that no one else has shown up. Someone somewhere misscheduled, get him home, go to my gym and complete the workout. Not falling behind plan this early.

8/14/15- Light duty day. Mowed the lawn, did some yoga.

8/15/15- 11 miles easy run in the AM, Electric Glow Run with the kids in the PM.

8/16- Slept through my scheduled 5 mile shuffle and couldn’t fit it in later in the day. Taking today as a rest day and do the 5 miles tomorrow (scheduled rest day).

8/17- 5.11 miles round trip to the grocery store, carrying about 10 pounds extra on the way back.

8/18 AM- Starting week 2 on time. Getting used to the strength training sequences. Have to make it a 2-a-day, ran out of time for the run.

PM: Got the 4 mile treadmill shuffle in, appropriately enough watching Spartan Race on the gym TV.

8/19- Really hoping the weather improves soon, treadmill time sucks. Plan calls for 7 miles, I was able to get in 6.42. Within 10%, I’ll take it for now.

8/20- Noticed that the strength training session was longer than previous, and the 2-a-days are getting harder to fit in. I got up an hour before the gym opens and got as much as I could do without equipment done at home, then hit the gym for the rest, Had some foam rolling and Jane Fondas that did not get done, but they are easy enough to fit in later.

8/21- Rest day, or as I like to think of it, light duty day. Made up the foam rolling and Jane Fondas from yesterday, rested up, and had a dinner date with my wife.

8/22- Up at 5 on a Saturday morning. Plan called for 12 miles, ended up at 12.79 plus four sets of monkey bars. Belly not really cooperating, slowed down by multiple bathroom breaks. It was windy, but at least the rains have stopped for the moment.

8/23- Plan called for 5 miles and we were one ingredient short of what we needed for dinner. Up early and my stepson and I ran the 2-1/2 miles to the store and back.

8/24- Much needed rest day.

8/25- Got up at 4 a.m. to do calisthenics in the living room, bike to the gym when they opened, did the rest of the strength training sequence and 4 miles on the treadmill. Managed to avoid needing a 2-a-day.

8/26- Up at 4 again, 7 miles run. Home to do some yoga just as the sun was rising. Zone 1 runs are getting faster, which makes it much more enjoyable.

8/27- Up at 4, calisthenics in the living room until the gym opens, the rest of strength training session and treadmill time at the gym. Another mile and a half in at lunch. Really trying to avoid having to make time in the evenings.

Loving this training plan, feeling a lot stronger. Leg blasters are no freaking joke.

That being said, really looking forward to a rest day tomorrow.

8/28- Rest day.

8/29- Got to watch the sun rise again, 14.49 mile sheady shuffle (with a stop in the middle to pick up some items needed for the house). I like to fit random tasks that need done anyway into my runs, makes it feel like I am running somewhere, rather than just running a distance.

8/30- GPS failed me, giving me some extra distance in mile 5. I most certainly did not achieve the 45 mph it recorded…

In any case, best guess at distance is 5.25 miles.

8/31- Developing a love-hate relationship with the lower-body circuits in this plan. And my calves have become freaking ginormous.

9/1- Rest day.

9/2- Overslept and only got the strength portion of my workout in. Will do the run portion tomorrow, then rest up for the 12-hour SUCK this weekend.

9/3- Treadmill Zone 2-3 intervals. 5.25 miles in total.

9/4-9/5- Attempted the 12-hour at the Ultimate Suck and had to withdraw at 8 hours. To be covered in another post, but definitely covered the programed 12 miles for today.

9/6- Travelling to Indiana for my wedding reception. Got 4 miles on the hotel treadmill.

9/7- Travelling home. Rest day.

9/8- I got up with my early alarm and elected to go back to bed, worn out from this weekend. Shifting this week’s rest day and continuing on with the plan.

9/9- For reasons that will not be recorded here, I got no sleep and missed my workout.

9/10- Another night of rough sleep, did not get my usual morning workout in. Enough of this crap, taking a long lunch to get it in.

Got workout in starting about 2 in the afternoon. As the gym has 2 squat racks and 3 benches (both needed for today’s training) it was good to be in at off hours and not need to fight for the equipment.

9/11- Plan calls for an 8-mile run and a few exercises requiring gym equipment. Run to gym, work out there, back out the door and continue the run. Ran out of time, had to cut the run distance to 7 miles. Got a 6-mile bike ride in at lunch(packet pickup for tomorrow’s race), so I think that evens it out.

9/12- Ran to and from the Muddy Vike Mud Run, and managed to run a PR at it. Total mileage for today was lower than scheduled, and I missed a workout entirely this week, but with recovery time after the Suck, I’ll take it. Moving on.

9/13- Got 6 miles in right before bed, Zone 2. Zone 2 is getting noticeably faster and more steady. Feeling good about this.

9/14- Got to bed late last night, didn’t get up early to hit the gym. Needed to be home for the kids until about 8:30, so I did what I could at home, then closed down the gym. Get it in any way you can.

9/15- Slept in a bit (and by that I mean until 4:45). 7 miles before work, another 3 and some core work at lunch.

Standing Russian barbell twists. Are. The. Devil.

9/16- Got up at 4, got as much as I could done in the living room before heading to the gym. Got the run and everything requiring equipment done there, and ended up finishing the last of the calisthenics with my stepson, who quickly decided that leg blasters. Are. The. Devil.

917-9/18- Off with my wife for our honeymoon.

9/19- Spartan Beast Vermont. More than 9 hours on the course, steep slopes, rough trails. And an epic finishing photo.

9/20- Did a zip line course, enjoyed the last day in New England, flew back to St. Paul and drove home, arriving around 3:30 in the morning.

9/21- I had intended to do a recovery run today. I was too sleep-deprived in the morning and couldn’t fit it in among family responsibilities in the evening. Take the rest day today, skip rest day on Friday, and we are back on schedule.

9/22- 6.5 miles in zone 2 early in the morning. Faster than I have been in zone 2, loving the improvement. Still a little sore from Vermont. Lower body strength session tomorrow should be fun…

9/23- Up at 4, kettlebell work at home then to the gym for weight work. I hit my limit on how many rounds of clapping pushups I can do EMOTM, so did the rest of the rounds on a 2-minute cycle rather than 1 minute. 2 mile Zone 1 run at the end.

9/24- Weather was terrible, so I slept in and got the workout in in the evening. Run 1.5 miles, short strength session at the gym, run 7.5 more miles, bed.

9/25- Light duty day.

9/26- Slept in in the morning and only had time for half the strength session in the evening. Still got the 6 mile run in.

9/27- Plan called for an 18-mile run. I ran out of training time at 15.53 miles. Since I had broken open a blister at 15.2 miles, I was okay with stopping early. Note: Start taking a break for foot care every 12-13 miles. I’m getting into distances that my feet can’t take without re-applying lubricants.

9/28- Got up to try to work out, my body said no, and I went back to bed. Adjust training dates and drive on.

9/29- Tweaked something in my back. Got the run and some core work in this morning, hoping it calms down enough to do the strength session tonight.

9/30- Did not get strength session in last night. Back is feeling better, so I got today’s scheduled workout in and added in about half of the missed session. Add in the other half tomorrow.

10/1- 6 miles run, short core circuit at the gym, and the rest of the skipped strength session from earlier this week. I know this is not following the plan as closely as I would like, but it seems better than skipping it entirely.

10/2- Long strength session and a 4-mile run. Mixed in stair climber for some of the mileage. Feeling stronger.

10/3- Up early for a 13+ mile Zone 2 run. Made it to the falls and back, and found ways to improvise some hills. The trails that I run on often pass under bridges, with stairs or paths that lead to the street above. Up the stairs, across the bridge, back down, run a bit on the other side of the river, do it again at the next bridge.

Later in the day we went to a corn maze (GPS tracked the distance at 1.01 miles) and the kids requested that I propel them into the air on the bouncy pillow. Bonus plyometric workout, right?

10/4- Slept in this morning. Got the kids dinner and then slipped out for a 4 mile recovery run. PR for Zone 2/ 4 miles (i.e. I have run faster than this for this distance, but have never done so while restricting my heart rate). Assessment day tomorrow, to establish a more accurate set of heart rate zones. Done with the preseason plan, starting the 8-week 100 mile plan.

10/5- Quick warmup and 7 mile assessment run. Pulled off the 7 miles in 1:20. Average heart rate for the last 4 miles was 174. Now I need to look up what my new training zones are.

New zones are a little faster than previous.

Zone 1= Under 148 bpm

Zone 2= under 156

Zone 3= under 165

Zone 4= under 172

Zone 5= under 184.

Looks like we are speeding up. Good, because the old zone 1 was freaking boring.

10/6- Up early to do calisthenics in the living room, bike to gym for a strength session. Worked up to the front squat max that I will be referencing for awhile (150#, a little disappointed in that), full body strength workout, and a rather sore bike ride home.

10/7- Plan called for an 8-mile training run, part at zone 1-2, cycles of 15 minutes in zone 3/ 5 minutes zone 1, and the rest in zone 1-2. Zone 1 run to the gym, cycles on the treadmill (having time, distance and heart rate on the display makes it easier for me than having to bounce between the phone and the watch) then a zone 1 run home, 8.4 miles total.

10/8- Overslept just a little. Got the strength session in, but only got 2 of the scheduled 7 miles in. Failed to find time for them in the evening

10/9- Rest day

10/10- Evening run. 16.26 miles in just under 4-1/2 hours. Longest run to date with no blisters. (Foot care break at mile 9.)

10/11- 13-mile evening run. There are some lonely sections of trail that get seriously dark. Add in strong winds and falling leaves to create lots of random noises, and you have a legit Halloween experience.

One section of the trails is crossed by a railroad. I took this as a valid reason to rest for a few moments:

10/12- My run last night may have gone a little too late. I felt like crap and decided to take a rest day. Leaving the keyboard now to do some yoga. Back to the grind tomorrow.

10/13- Overslept and missed my morning workout, and it looks like family and work commitments will prevent it happening this evening. Dammit. Nothing stopping me tomorrow, even if I have to do it on no sleep. This shit ends now.

10/14- Hit it hard today. Finished all of the workout intended for yesterday and about half of the one intended for today.

Goal tomorrow is to complete the rest of today’s (speed work) and the strength portion of tomorrow’s scheduled workout in the morning. Tomorrow’s scheduled run is 7 miles, and I need to pick up a rental car tomorrow evening 7.2 miles from my house. The universe wants me to sneak in a 2-a-day.

10/15- The treadmill speed work was the opposite of pretty, but it got done. Strength session went well.

10/16- Long drive to Ohio for OCRWC.

10/17- OCRWC, 10 miles of hilly terrain with epic obstacles.

10/18- Travel day, no workout.

10/19- I had intended to get a run in today, but sore from the weekend and short on sleep. Not happening today, adjust dates and move on.

10/20- Planning a 2-a-day run/ruck today. Up at dawn, running to grocery and rucking foods home.

PM- Felt like crap, didn’t get PM run in. Not moving long runs off the weekend ever again, this sucks.

10/21- Rucked back and forth to the laundromat this morning, a little over 8 miles. Let’s see if I can get out there for 5-10 more tonight. Wish me luck, 2-a-days have been hard to get done.

10/22- Fail. That is all. No PM run last night, no workout this morning.

10/23- Had to leave at 6:30 for a long drive, but was able to get a full strength session in.

10/24- Had to get my runs in in pieces to fit around work/family time, but got a total of 26.32 miles in. Hurting seriously those last couple miles.

10/25- Last nights run ended after midnight, and my Achilles tendons are feeling really tight. I skipped the scheduled run and put 11 miles on the bike. Not the best, but its something.

10/26- Body is asking for a rest day, so I am giving it one.

10/27- 7 mile run. Made decent time.

10/28- I am having some trouble getting my heart rate high enough on the treadmill, so I decided to do my zone intervals on this guy:

Legs are just a tad sore.

10/29- Front squat-dominant strength session. I can feel myself getting stronger.

10/30- Various mobility work and more stair climber intervals. Spent 90 minutes on the stair climber.

10/31- Schedule called for 11 miles, and there was a local trail 20k. 1.4 miles over, close enough. Great hills, muddy trails, good times.

11/1-11/2– Everything went to hell. Professional and family issues came up, I got no training in, and I feel like I am losing my mind. Honestly debated deleting this post entirely because I had lost hope that I would get back to it.

11/3- Much better day. Got up early to bike to the gym, killed the strength workout (increased my front squat max 55 pounds over last time, although that is largely due to better form), got the base run done on the treadmill, and as I type this I am stepping out the door to ruck groceries home from HyVee.

11/4- Got 6 miles in last night. Had to argue with myself a lot to get out of bed, but when I eventually did I got another stair climber zone interval workout in.

I am a bit behind schedule on the plan and I have a procedure tomorrow that will prevent training for 24-48 hours. I am breaking the rule about doing all workouts in order (keeping it as much as I can, but modifying to try to get as much as I can done). Core work tonight, get a strength session before the procedure, take a day off, back at it Saturday.

11/5- Tore it the hell up at the gym today before going to the dentist. They tell me I can get back to training tomorrow. SCORE!!

11/6- Evening bike ride, just under 9 miles.

11/7- 5 miles on the bike to get groceries, 16 mile AM run. Life got in the way and the hoped-for 8-mile evening run did not happen.

11/8- Utter failure. Hope for better days tomorrow remains.

11/9- Slept in during my normal morning workout time, but got some quality time with the stair climber in later in the day. Crushed the workout, feeling much better about myself.

11/10- Again slept in and moved my workout to late afternoon. 1-mile intervals at Zone 5 suck hard core, but I knocked them out. Biking home after was a mild form of torture with the steep hill near the gym.

Rest up, squat workout in the morning.

Note: I made the mistake of scheduling this training plan right up to the week before the race. Due to missing various workouts, I am a bit behind schedule. I have decided that I will do what I can to catch up until November 20th, then skip whatever I have to to do the last few weeks per the original plan. Next time, I will build in some wiggle room in the training schedule.

11/11- Crushed the morning weight session, got 4 out of the scheduled 5 miles in before I ran out of time. Pushed off the core circuits until evening, and didn’t have enough left when I got there.

11/12- Knocked out 210 floors on the stair climber this morning. I got in just over half of the total scheduled distance in before running out of time. While I was thinking about slipping out of the office to get the rest of the workout in, my body is giving me clear signals that it needs rest. Take half for today, see how I feel in the morning. Better going in under-trained than beaten-down.

11/13- Still feeling like crap, rest day.

11/14- Goal for today was 28 miles. My feet blistered badly before 10 miles and at 22 miles I decided to quit rather than risking later workouts.

11/15- A little time on the bike and letting feet heal.

11/16- Stairmaster lactate threshold intervals. Feeling better, absolutely crushed it.

11/17- Strength session. Sometimes I wonder if the weights I crush will go to heaven…

Ran out of time, had to cut the core session short.

11/18- Rest day.

11/19- 5 mile easy run in the AM, then went heavy-duty on the stair climber after dinner. 14.39 miles total.

11/20- We got 16″ of snow. I live on a corner lot, meaning lots of sidewalk to clear. The schedules 7 miles got replaced with a 2-hour snow slog.

11/21- Next time I do this, I need to figure out another time for long runs than Saturdays. With family commitments, it just doesn’t work. Managed 2.4 miles and some snow removal today.

11/22- Long run scheduled for this was 31 miles. I managed 20. Finding time for runs over 20 miles is tough. Hoping it gets easier as I get faster.

11/23- Not feeling it. Barely got 1.5 miles in. Rest up today, hit it hard in the morning.

This marks the end of the crazy long runs and the start of the taper. And I could not be happier about this.

11/24- Today was supposed to be a stair-climber lactate threshold interval workout. I got to the gym and found I had forgotten my heart rate monitor, so I switched to tomorrow’s scheduled workout. Lots of front squats, core work, etc. Got a little under 2 miles in, then had to run to get the kids to school. Should be able to get 3 more miles in tonight.

PM- Got 3.25 miles in after dinner.

11/25- Lactate threshold intervals on the stair climber today. Warm up went fine, first interval was the fastest stair mile I have ever done, second interval was also good pace, then I seemed to run out of gas. My legs couldn’t produce enough horsepower to get my heartrate into zone. After half a mile of this, I decided that this was all I could do and did a zone 1 treadmill run for the remainder of my workout time.

One of my biggest training problems is that most of my training runs are, out of convenience, done on relatively flat ground. A friend told me about a local trail race. My scheduled training run for that day was 11 miles, so I figured I could stretch that to 20K and get running conditions more like my upcoming 100M.

Showed up and checked in as the sun was rising, short speech from the race director and we were off. I was using this as a slow, easy training run, so I was at the back of the pack almost immediately. Rolling hills, wooded trails, a few trails that I almost went off the marked course to explore:

Looped back past the start point at about the 3k mark, then down a muddy road…

…to the much hillier and muddier equestrian trails. Not OCR type mud, but enough mud to make it feel like the hills had been greased.

Around 7k there was a volunteer to encourage us up a particularly steep hill and make sure we understood the course markings (misunderstanding at this point would have cut about a mile off of our distance). We passed him again at the other side of the loop, and he informed us that the start point was one mile away, almost all down hill. Best news of the day!

Back to start point, grab a donut, back out on the trails for the second lap. By this time I had set into my pace and just kept it going. I stepped it up for the last half mile or so, and finished in just under 3:32. Not my best 20K, but almost exactly the pace I need for the 100, so that gives me hope that I am on the right track.

Final point of win from this race: I have a bad habit of stopping to catch my breath on uphills. Even with some impressive uphills on this course, I was able to make it through without stopping. The time spent on the stair climber appears to be doing its job.

I struggled with how to write this post, as I absolutely loved this race, but there are some points surrounding it that dearly need adjustment, that no one else seems to be mentioning. So I have divided this post into three sections: The good for the race itself, the bad for some customer service failures that need fixed in future years, and the ugly for the actions of some proponents of the race.

The Good: Race day!

Much time on site with friends new and old, seeing off friends in the age group starts, and finally stepping into the starting corral. Motivational pep talk from Coach Pain, and we were off. Wooded trails, steep hills, up a wooden ramp, over some short walls and log barriers, to the first “real” obstacle at the monkey bars.

Monkey bars have always been tough for me, and I surprised myself here. I didn’t just complete it, I annihilated it. Stopping at all the playgrounds along my runs is paying off.

More hilly trails to the Wreck Bag carry. Carry the bag up hills, over, under and through obstacles, if it touches the ground you have to do it again. Wreck bags carry nicely, completed without problems.

Drop off the bag and go on to Pipe dream, a hand-over-hand single-pipe monkey bar obstacle. I again surprised myself by powering through it.

Back on the trails, across the river, cargo net, back across the river, up and over Castle:

And came to the Destroyer.

I had my doubts about being able to get over this one, but it was not nearly as hard as I feared to get up and over. Finding a nice way to get down is another story…

Next was the much-anticipated Dragon’s Back.

It looks much taller from the top. Several guys were stalled, working up their nerve to go, and suggested I go first.

red light, Yellow Light, GREEN LIGHT, GO!

I nailed the landing, caught the bar and was able to shimmy under it to the platform, then do it all again for the next jump.

I lost my band at the Irish table, simply a bar that was a few inches too tall for me to get over unassisted. I then looked at the height of the down-and-up monkeybars and my remaining grip strength and decided to skip the obstacle.

Over-unders through the water:

Crawling under a monster truck (where else do you get to do that?) and back to the trails. Over a cargo net, nailed the balance beams and failed the first sternum checker. Stopped with a teammate to help look after a hypothermic competitor, penguin-huddled to try to keep her warm, and eventually just sat her down and wrapped as many space blankets around her as we could find.

Trails lead us back to the festival area for the Platinum rig, which I failed. Over-unders in deeper water, which I could do up until the last one which was just a bit too high over water that was just a touch too deep.

Failed the Weaver and second rig, made myself into a human ladder to get some fellow competitors up a steep series of hills, easily knocked out the bucket carry, and crawled under the longest set of nets that I have ever thought about (again situated on steep hills).

The volunteers gave me some advice and assistance getting over the tall (8-12′) walls. Knocked out the hoist without too much difficulty, although the ropes were of a particularly nasty material that tore my hands. More water under-overs, crawl through a tent (?), more steep hills to a long 2-rope traverse. Seemed like it took forever to get across that thing, but I made it. (Slow and steady, I guess.)

Polish Traverse was a long horizontal pole that most of us chose to butt-scoot across. About this time, someone pointed out a view of Pinnacle Hill, which we would have to go up in a few miles.

That was weighing on my mind as the sun got lower and my grip strength started to wear out. I made an attempt at the rope traverse, but decided to drop and save energy for the hill. When I finally got there, I was happy to see it didn’t look quite as steep up close, and while I was not fast getting up it, I made it without incident.

Next the water slide back into the festival area:

“Okay, this doesn’t seem too bad…

Crap, its getting fast…

Engaging warp 7, sire, giving it all she’s got!

Oh, hell, brace for impact…”

Hit the water, somehow found where up was, and was greeted by cheers from some friends on the platform overlooking the splash pool.

Next obstacle was a ramp wall with ropes at the top:

First try, no dice. Second try, just touched the rope. Third try pulled the rope a little lower, and fourth try gave me a good enough grip on it to make it over.

The last stretch of obstacles, with advice and encouragement from friends and teammates at the sidelines, I pushed like hell and made multiple attempts, but I just didn’t have enough left. Gathered what I had left and charged the finish line, to be welcomed with, “This is YOUR World Championship. You have earned it!”

I got my medal and went back on the course to check on a teammate and encourage him through the last few obstacles. Worn out, joints failing, hypothermic, and he just kept pushing.

We helped him across the finish line, then the entire team came together to get him warmed up. The brotherhood formed on the course is a real thing.

The Bad: Learning Curve

This is a new race, and there are some logistical and customer service problems cropping up. I was not given everything I should have been at check in, when I got that fixed some of what I was given was wrong, some friends arrived to check in 10 minutes before closing to find that it was already closed, and we were required at a 30-minute briefing that should have been an email. A lot of this sounds petty, but it does make things more difficult for racers from distant locations to make it to the start line.

It also strikes me as odd that, on a race with awesome obstacles that most of us have never seen before, they would not station a photographer anywhere near those obstacles? (Most of the photos used here were taken by friends and teammates, a few taken from the OCRWC Facebook page.)

The Ugly: Be Polite, People

While I want to make it clear that everyone on the course was absolutely awesome, the behavior of some people promoting this race needs to be addressed. I have lost count of the number of times I have seen discussions of legitimate gripes (from pricing structures, to qualification cutoffs, to how the Journeyman waves are handled, to on-site procedures) met with “Its the World Championships. If you don’t like (whatever your problem is), then this is not the place for you.” While this is mostly coming from random commenters, I have also seen it from those who should know better. This is how you drive away the common racers who could and should be your biggest promoters.

There have also been way too many comments from the peanut gallery that the Journeyman wave does not deserve to be there. To those saying this, I would politely remind you that the people in the journeyman wave are the reason you have a sport. Now let’s all be nice, get along, and make this sport the pinnacle of awesomeness that we all know it can be.

Post script:

After seeing some responses to this post, I feel the need to reiterate that this was a great event. This is only its second year, and I would expect a few issues to crop up. I included these points in the review for two reasons, to spark a conversation about what can be done to make it better, and to help those who may attend in the future know what issues may be at hand.

“For those of us in later waves, how long before our wave do we need to show up?”

My question seemed to stun the race director. He replied, “Well, we thought you would all want to be here first thing in the morning to watch the elites. There are going to be some very close, exciting finishes…”

I smiled and nodded and let it go at that. Here is what I did not say:

“Of course I want to see the elites dominate the course. But I have been in a car for 14 hours straight, after only getting 4 hours of sleep. Everything I have gotten to eat today was selected primarily because I could eat it behind the wheel. It is 9:30 at night and I still need to locate my hotel and scrounge up dinner. While I want to watch the elites, I also want to enter the starting corral properly rested and fed. At this point, logistics dictate that I need to choose between the two.”

Many of us common racers have many races similar to this. We put in extra hours to get everything that needs done before Monday done, drive as far as we have to to get to the start line, and do our best to grab a bite to eat and a little sleep when and wherever we can. Work and family responsibilities take priority, and we are often able to get to the starting line by the slimmest of margins.

In this light, we ask a few things to make our lives easier:

Only have night-before mandatory packet pick up if absolutely necessary.

If the race starts at 5 in the morning, we get it, we need to get packets the night before. But if we are racing in the afternoon, there is no reason for that. Giving us another 12 hours to get there can mean the difference between dragging ourselves through the course and being well-rested enough to crush it.

Make sure all mandatory meetings are useful and needed.

If your athlete briefing can be replaced by an email or facebook post, do it electronically. The people that wouldn’t have read the email were not paying attention at the meeting either.

Make sure your volunteers can keep time.

When you tell us that packet pick up is open until 8, it is demoralizing to show up at 7:45 to find that the volunteers have already packed up and left.

Give benefit of the doubt as far as what it took to get us here.

When you look at a racer, they may have just driven across town to be there, or they may have driven halfway across the continent. Think of what you would want to help you compete on your worst possible day, and give us as close to that as you can.

This was my third year taking on Mount Killington. I was placed in a later wave than I had been in previous years, so I knew from the start that I had to PR or be pulled from the course, no other option.

Assemble at the start line, receive a rousing pep talk from the MC (including a Mighty Ducks speech- how often do you get THAT?), and we were off. First obstacle was a log gut checker. I saw people struggling and I positioned myself in front of the log to provide them with a step. Four or five people went over, then I got up to go over myself.

The moment clearing that first obstacle sticks in my head. I was stunned at how easily I had cleared it, at how much stronger I was from last year. New training programs appear to be working.

Breezed through a few familiar obstacles, short walls, over-under-through walls, hay bale barricades, Caught up with people I had helped over the gut checker and helped them over the reverse wall.

The next obstacle to kick in was the mountain itself, the endless steep inclines and declines. At one point, a first-time racer asked if I had done this before and what to expect from the rest of the course. I replied, “That brutal, crappy soul-sucking uphill we just did? We will do that four more times, maybe five.” And if memory serves, I was pretty close to correct.

The first spear throw had hay bales that were so damaged that no one could ever stick a spear in it, so the volunteers told us we only had to make contact. Bounce the spear off the hay, and I’m on my way.

Next was the lighter of the two sandbag carries. One thing is constant with the heavy carry obstacles in Vermont: Downhill no problem, uphill sucks with an unending suck. Keep pushing, get through it.

Next was the tire drag obstacle. Somehow, in pulling and regripping the rope, I wrapped it around the post, and it tangled when I tried to pull the tire back down the hill. I ran back up to untangle it, just as a volunteer was coming up to assist. I stammered something like, “I screwed it up, I’ll fix it.” The volunteer smiled and replied, “Your the first one all day to own it. Good on you.”

Next were a series of steep downhills that slowed down the pace considerably. Wile Tarzan-swinging from trees to slow our descent, various conversations started up among racers. Where are you from? First race? First Beast? What do you want to eat when we are done with this? Cheeseburgers, pancakes, a deep-fried Shetland pony…

Second sandbag carry was a ball-breaker. I still have not determined if it is the heavier bag or the stupidly steep slope that does it, but this is the nastiest, grittiest carry I have ever come across. I have no idea how many times I had to stop and put down the bag on the way up, but I managed to make the trip down in one go.

Tall walls that I had needed help over in past years, I made it over unassisted this time. Got to the first rig obstacle, and made it 2 ropes in before failing.

More hilly trails, Hercules hoist, more walls, barbed wire crawl.

I came to the balance beam and randomly chose what I learned shortly after was among the most wobbly beams. I was able to jump to the end just as I was losing my balance and complete the obstacle.

Next was the bucket carry, which is still one of the most evil things ever invented. I had carried all my gear except my water bladder in a fanny pack this year, both so I can keep moving while accessing it and so I can turn it around to set the bucket on. It kinda worked. Having it set on the pack reduced the load on my hands, but carrying the weight up the hill still sucks.

The farmer carry was unique, replacing the normal buckets or ammo cans with logs fitted with log-chain handles. I surprised myself by completing it without needing to stop midway (although I noticed here that I swear during exertion much more than I used to).

The highlight of my race came at the first rope climb. The racer in front of me had fallen and banged up his ribs, and pulling himself up the rope was exacerbating the pain. Several of us gathered around him and pushed up on whatever we could, he rang the bell, and we all helped him down.

Next was an oddly long series of walls. I have never seen that many strung in a row like that. Timing worked out such that I would help a group over the wall, go over myself, and catch up with them just in time to help them over the next wall.

Gut checkers, log carry, another rig/rope swing obstacle that I failed, Atlas carry that I dominated, and the chance to be called “wicked smaht” for carrying a bigger camelback than most racers.

About this time, people started saying that we had “about 2 more miles.” A few miles later, around the water crossing, we got actual info from race staff that there was a little over 2 miles left. I could tell that some of those around me were rattled by this. Don’t think about it, just go till you’re done.

The sun went down about the time I got to the second log carry. I don’t know what it is, but something about this race after dark, the loss of depth perception, the lines of headlamps moving up and down the mountain, just seems absolutely surreal to me.

Second barbed wire crawl, uphill in the dark, with my legs starting to cramp up. I cannot express how badly I wanted to slip out the side and walk past (as a good many people appeared to be doing), but I kept pushing through.

I’m not sure if obstacles here were actually closer together or if the dark messed with my perception of distance, but they seemed to be coming rapidly. Second rope climb, traverse wall, Atlas carry with logs instead of stones. When we came to the last and longest barbed wire crawl, there were more than a few comments of “What the crap, Norm? Did you run out of ideas and just keep doing this one?”

Finish the crawl, two or three more gut checkers, the second spear throw, and over the fire to the finish line.

It is hard to gauge overall improvement on a course that constantly changes. I seemed a little faster and steadier on the course and much stronger on the obstacles, and my overall time was a PR by more than an hour. Not nearly where I want to be yet, but much, much closer than I was last year.

Farewell for now, Killington. We will meet again. Count on it.

When I moved to Sioux Falls, several friends pointed out that there is a local 5k mud run. While I usually don’t write up the smaller events I attend, this one was fun enough to warrant at least a brief report.

They passed my first test: making sure that you get wet within the first quarter mile:

Obstacles were fun, if a little basic. Incline wall:

Tarzan swing that I ended up in the water on:

The basic short walls and balance beams:

Whatever the tire mud pit is called:

A few obstacles that I did not find photos for (2-rope traverse, monkey bars, several water obstacles) and ending with a water slide:

I finished with a PR for a 5K with obstacles, somewhere under 42 minutes. While not a terribly demanding course, it was difficult enough to be fun, and would be a great course for anyone new to OCR.

For various reasons I have not posted write-ups of any of my events over the past few months, so here is an overview of what I failed to post about. Photos from these events were harder to find than normal, likely helping me to put off writing about them, so this post will be much shorter on both details and photos than my standard. Trust that this will be corrected with my next post.

Warrior Dash Nebraska

I had not done a Warrior Dash since my first year of racing, and it was good to get a fun, relatively easy event in. A friend who had intended to race with me had to drop out, but gave me her bib to do a second lap.

Terrain was good, obstacles were fun (if a little repetitive with so many being up-and-over climbing structures) and a few obstacles were awesome. The cargo net monkey bars over the balance rope:

And Goliath, an incline wall leading to a balance beam (with hand ropes) and a water slide.

The water slide lead into the final mud crawl. The exit from the mud was treacherously slick, so I ended up making myself an anchor point for those behind me.

Wedding

On the 20th of June I was married to my lovely wife Stephanie.

Minnesota Spartan

I was excited to run a Spartan course again, and also excited that it would be the kids’ first race.

The course was brutal, steep terrain. Obstacles were tough, but mostly fun, although a few had been set up in a way that made them little more than glorified burpee stations. Lots of new racers helped along the way, good times.

Rucking Disneyland

We flew out the next day to take the kids to California for a family honeymoon. Rucking all our gear around Disneyland, playing in the waves at the beach, and all around having a good time.

Creston Q125 Rambler Challenge

As soon as we got back from Cali, I left for Creston Nebraska to help friends set up and run a small-town home-grown OCR (brainchild of the illustrious Schmitty Modello Smitty).

I helped with setup and signage, then ran after the main wave had finished. Very clever use of what we had, stilt-walk obstacle, dunk tank, bucket carries. We tied strings between guardrails to make high-knees, and the most ingenious bit was this contraption made from shipping crates:

The race was well-received, everyone had a good time, and with any luck we will get to do it again.

DWD Devil’s Lake 50M 50K

This was my first attempt at a 50 miler. Extremely tough terrain slowed me down and I had to drop to the 50K. Two major items of note: The views from the top of the bluff are worth the entry fee all by themselves, and this is the first time I have finished a 50K and felt like I could have continued on if I had had the time. Next year, try it again.

Tough Mudder Twin Cities

My previous experience with Tough Mudder made me wonder if they knew how to put on an event. This time, they redeemed themselves and more. A storm had damaged many of the obstacles on Friday, and they still managed to put on a great event on Sunday. Great terrain (much of it on a paintball course that I now need to play on), obstacles that were tough but doable and enjoyable, and having lockers as an alternative to bag drop is a GREAT idea.

There are races every so often that let you see the kind of racer you are. For me, getting lines of people out of mud pits, over walls, and spending 20 minutes pulling people over the top of Everest, these things were the highlight of my race. I love seeing what we can do together more than testing what I can do alone.

The Ultimate SUCK 12 hour (DNF)

I trained for this assuming that it would be like the 2014 Midwest SUCK that I made it through. Two things I had neglected to consider: Each SUCK event is different, and the Ultimate is intentionally the toughest.

The start was familiar, calisthenics warmup, run down the road to a river, carry buckets of water back. Then I was told to drop off the buckets, grab a sandbag, and return for more instructions. I made the mistake at this point of not topping off my hydration bladder, assuming what was still in it would be enough to get me through the 2-3 hours that the next movement would take. I am slower than most, so this would take me much longer than the suggested 2-3 hours.

Take the sandbag, down the road until you find a river. When I reached the river, burpees in the water, then take the sandbag up the river until you find someone to give you more instructions.

A long way in the dark, falling down in the mud and having trouble getting back up, often wondering if I had somehow gone the wrong way, until we finally found the bridge that would be our focal point for the next several hours.

Do 100 of whatever calisthenic they tell you on the bridge, popover pushups, sandbag situps, hand release pushups, etc. Run a half mile down the road and back, to be assigned another set of exercises.

Next I was sent further up the river, swam across two ponds, and came to the gas chamber. I went in, pepper spray was sprayed into the room, 10 burpees (calling out the count so the volunteers outside could open the door when I was done) and out to recover in a kiddie pool of pond water.

Next was a series of ropes to climb, each failure to reach the top to be punished by 25 cinder block burpees. I failed all the rope climbs and ended up with 100 block burpees.

Log flip challenge, then back across the ponds and down the river. I had run out of water at the gas chamber. The volunteers were nice enough to give me water to keep going, but water was all they had to offer, and I was out of food and electrolytes. I made it back to the bridge and through a few more exercise-run-exercise cycles. Somewhere in the set of Navy Seal burpees, I started fighting a wicked headache. I rested a bit then tried to knock out a few more. The headache spiked and my balance went wonky, sending me to my knees. At this point I asked the volunteer who was there to call for medical.

They brought me something to eat, helped me back to base camp, made sure I was okay and I dropped out of the event.

Going forward:

My less than stellar performance at the Iron, DWD and the SUCK have convinced me I need to take some time off of the big, pushing-my-limits events and focus in on training. For 2016, I am keeping my event schedule limited to the types of events that I have finished well, nothing much beyond a GRC or Tough Mudder. I have my training plans lined up, and will be back at the crazy events in 2017.

Middle of the night. 8 miles in to a 12-mile training run that wasn’t going well. Foot sore, out of breath, well behind pace, and angry at my inability to hit my goals.

Funny how the brain works: I had spent some time watching TV with my family before I went out to run, and my brain decided to bring up a quote from the show.

I realized that this was exactly what I was doing, lighting the fire to forge who I want to become. I broke a slight smile and picked up the pace for the rest of my run.

None of us are born in the final form we want to become. It doesn’t mean we can’t get there. It just means that there is a process that we must go through, much like the process of making iron ore into a fine sword.

Life often provides the spark to get us going, but too many let the spark go out before it can catch. You have to tend the fire and keep it burning, however that works for you. Finding friends who push you to be better, vowing to never miss Monday training, writing your experiences along the way, whatever. As long as it keeps the fire inside you going and eager to burn hotter, do it!

With the fire of determination burning hot, hammer away at your training. Every lap, every rep is another blow shaping who you are becoming. Don’t get bogged down on the fact that you are not what you want to be yet. Keep hammering, keep shaping yourself. It takes dedication, and it takes time.

Keep grinding through your workouts and polishing your skills. Keep honing, testing, if needed reshaping yourself to be better-suited to what you want to do.

You will likely never consider yourself completely done, and that is good. If you’re done you stop, and nothing new happens. When you stop working on being better, it is all too easy to fall into rust and disrepair.

If keeping going requires starting a new fire and re-forging yourself entirely, go for it. It is the greatest privilege in the world to light the flame and forge your future.

Post script: I had another epiphany on a run that I realized deserves to be here.

My current training plan calls for a lot of long slow miles, which can get tedious as all hell. But it is not about how powerful the hammer blows or how quickly you can knock them out. What matters is the quality of what you are building. I am putting out rather pathetically slow miles, but along the way I am building a body that can go further and faster, and a spirit that can push through the difficulties.

There seems to be a niche market of failed journalists who have nothing better to do than to bash those working harder than them. Huffington Post has published a blog post entitled “Don’t Ask Me To Sponsor Your Tough Mudder Race.” I felt the need to respond. While the author is clearly entrenched in his self-limiting way of life, there is hope that his readers are not.

The picture above is of a guy LITERALLY running through fire. That’s not a photoshop. It isn’t CGI. It’s dry brush (probably from Texas. Texas has the good brush) set on FIRE. His life, apparently, is so bad that he is running through burning bushes and basically immolating himself. I need to know. Does he have like a classroom of kids at home or are his in-laws living in that pseudo-illegal apartment above the garage?

Umm, no. While I do not know this man in particular, I am betting that he is running through fire as part of a race built to test your courage as much as your strength and speed. Some of us want to see what we are made of. It does not mean that we are trying to escape some horrible condition at home. All that would be needed in that case is a trip to the local bar.

No?

Is he training for special forces? No? Are you sure? Okay, but he has a number on his chest, so this must be something important enough that it warrants a permanent record of this grand event.

No. Nothing important.

While it may not be important to you, many of us do keep full records of where we have been and what we have accomplished. It is important to us.

We’re approaching Memorial Day, and though it’s widely adopted as the unofficial start of the summer season, it’s also the unofficial start to your asshole co-worker asking you if you want to do this year’s Tough Mudder with him–or Spartan Race, or Gladiator Walk, or WARRIOR DASH, OR WHATEVER THE FUCK YOU’RE CALLING YOUR DUMB RACE.

Here’s a scenario that I just thought up but is probably close to one-hundred percent accurate:

[Typical office conversation between a guy doing one of these races and myself if I had an office job.]

Bro: Bro… you want to do Tough Mudder with me this year? It’s a crazy course, bro.

Me: (Doesn’t reply. Just walks away.)

Dude, are you okay? Need a hug? Want a cookie? Trouble at home? A normal person would simply respond with, “No thanks, not my thing, but you go have fun.” Or even with, “That sounds interesting, what do I need to be able to do?”

One of my coworkers that did her first Spartan alongside me:

Contrary to their names, this adult playpen that you’re going to has literally nothing to do with or is in no way associated with and should never be confused with ancient Rome or gladiators. Or high school football players for that matter.

Look at the picture below. I mean holy shit!!! POP QUIZ: One of these guys is doing a Tough Mudder, and the other was in THE MOVIE, Apocalypto.

I think the Tough Mudder could outrun Mr. Apopcalypto. Total non sequitur, but that doesn’t seem to bother you.

These races are a lot of things — mainly they just fall into the descriptive adjectives column like ridiculous and fucking ridiculous– but what they are not are races designed around methods used by Russel Crowe when he was bulking up for the role of Maximus. Don’t let Don from Accounts Receivable fool you. He’s no more of a man than you because he climbed up a mud wall with oiled up ropes studded with cactus thorns (Cacti thorns?). You still drive a Dodge Dart, Don. And I doubt that the Spartans who fought in the Battle of Thermopylae had toe fungus.

The idea of what makes one a man is debated throughout the centuries. But if Don from Accounts Receivable has trained properly, he can handle himself better in an emergency than you can, likely is stronger and in better health. Oh, and you realize that military forces throughout history have used assault courses to train their troops, right?

Your void of innate masculinity is really astounding, Mr. Endurance Guy, so I understand this desire of yours to “challenge yourself.” Actually, I don’t. But it makes perfect sense that these glorified obstacle courses would be created by Ivy leaguers– two Havard Business School grads, in fact. Because really, what evokes toughness, gladiator biceps, and human growth hormone inundation like a couple of twenty-six year old hardos named Seth and Dougie…

First off, do you understand what the word projection means?

Oh, Ivy Leaguers could never be tough? Ever hear of these guys?

BUT I GOT A MEDAL AND A RIBBON, GOD DAMMIT!!!!!

Congratulations. You just rewound your life to 4th grade. Has that 5K mud race certificate of authenticity gotten you laid by chance– by a human, I mean?

Might have happened.

What ever happened to snuggling up on a banquet seat with a ginger tea and Jonathan Franzen novel on a Saturday? What? I’m not a man you say? Excuse me, but real men vacuum. I don’t need to pound my chest like an ape and prove my testosterone count to anyone…

Neither do we. Dude, I’m not here to prove myself to you, I don’t beat my chest and I enjoy a good cup of tea. I also like seeing what my mind and body are capable of, and pushing them to do more. Enjoy your tea and vacuum up your cheetos crumbs.

Except you, girl.

I wouldn’t mind washing that mud off of you if you know what I mean (wink emoji).

Down, boy. Pretty sure her response is going to be something like:

Chris Peak is a freelance writer from Boston.

Chris Peak is a blogger who appears to have nothing legitimate to write about and is wasting his time with this.

Oh, by the way, did you even mention sponsorship anywhere but the title?