Race Review - Survivor Mud Run 2014

2014 marked the 2nd year of the Survivor Mud Run for us. We had a lot of fun at this race in 2013 and were looking forward to doing it again. Dave had a group of friends from his Crossfit Box with him and I brought along my 14 year old son Kellan once again.

Pre race extreme haircuts.

This race was basically a repeat of last year's. The layout was exactly the same, as far as I could tell, which was a shame. It's never that much fun to run the exact same race, although you do know what to expect, I suppose. It was, obviously, at the same venue, a motocross track, so there were the nasty shot hills I've come to love and hate.

Although it's a shorter course, Dave's GPS came in at 2.88 miles, the up and down terrain make keeping a fast pace difficult. The obstacles are pretty standard. Mud pits, cargo net climbs, tunnels, and a good bit of crawling involved. All in all it's well laid out and managed and there were no significant pile ups, at least early in the day.

Post race flex shot.

The course wasn't as muddy as last year, which was probably the muddiest I've seen, but this was because we didn't get the severe ran leading up to the event like we did last year. I was OK with this, as clean up was a heck of a lot easier this time around.

They didn't have the free t-shirts this year, but had a headband instead. Also, the medal was so much smaller as to be almost laughable. I'm guessing this was a cost saving factor, although there appeared to be about the same number of racers as last year, so who knows. Event shirts were available in a couple different styles for $20, but I don't think they were as cool as last years free event shirt. My son liked one enough to buy, however.

2013 swag v. 2014 swag.

During the race, I was able to get out to an early 2nd place lead, distancing many people in the first water pit, but it wasn't long before my son passed me, followed shorty after by a handful of other racers, and finally Dave kicked in and beat me in the last 1/8th mile as well. Kellan won our heat and placed a tentative 11th overall. I say "tentative" because the timing chip system was awful, and many people, including Dave and myself. So it's anyone's goes who placed exactly where, all I know is Dave and Kellan both whooped me.

After party in the beer tent.

This is a fun race overall, well organized and a lively crowd. I would still recommend it to beginner-moderate obstacle racers, but more advanced racers might find more of a training tool than a competitive event, especially with the shoddy timing system.

11th place overall... maybe.

Race Review - Spartan Beast, Utah 2014

Stop number three, in our quest for the Spartan trifecta, was Soldier Hollow, the site of the 20xx Winter Olympic games in Midway, UT. We began planning our trifecta bid about mid-season the year prior. The 3 closest races to us being the Super in Vegas, the Military Sprint in our own Colorado backyard, and finally Utah, to finish with the Beast nice and early in the season.

Out of all the races I've done, Spartan or otherwise, this was the hardest yet. We weren't quite sure what to expect. We felt the Super was relatively tame, light on obstacles and long on running. We both ran the Super clean and aside from some cramps, had little trouble with the mid length course. But at a little over 12 miles in length and nearly 3,000 feet in elevation gain, the Beast was a 4 hour test of endurance.

In an effort to curb cramping, we planned ahead with some carb chews and brought our water bladders for the race. At our VRBO rental, in Park City, the night before the race, we did a little carb loading and had some more in the morning before heading out to the venue.

Pre race obligatory pic.

Our race time was late morning and it was shaping up to be a hot afternoon. We charged off a little after 11:00am and the race was on.

The race began heading downhill and quickly into a murky water pit. These water obstacles were spaced cunningly throughout the course to ensure wet feet the entire day. Shortly after the water, the course went straight up the mountain side, for something like 1300 feet. Being from CO, we didn't suffer the slightly higher elevation as much as some, and we were able to plow our way up without stopping. After the summit, and taking in the nice view from the top, the downhill trudge began. This is where my pain as well as some frustration with other participants began.

The course sort of wound down and up and down the mountain side. We spent a lot of time standing, waiting, on the single track path as the less confident racers crawled down the mountain. Occasionally we could break off to the side, but the brush was pretty thick, so it made for a slow descent. The pain came in my toes, as I consistently have a problem with going downhill and my toes smashing into the front of my shoes. I've tried different shoes, socks, boots, lacing techniques and haven't found a way to avoid the painfully bruised and blackened toenails that result. Maybe I have weird feet/toes, bad technique or terrible taste in footwear, I don't know. What I do know is that it sucks and makes for a long day.

Slick and slippery.

Back down in the valley, we start to get into the familiar Spartan obstacles. Our plan this year was to stick together at all the races, unties someone fails an obstacle, then the other can press on. We breezed through most of them, until the dreaded Monkey Crawl.

Now, I seem to have a bit of trouble with hanging obstacles. My left wrist has some damage and I've been known to slip off relatively easy things like monkey bars. The Monkey Crawl is a webbing net that tents up, then back down to a bell you have to ring to complete the obstacle. My first encounter with the Monkey Crawl was at the CO Military Sprint the month prior, where a failed just a few rungs in and did my only penalty burpees for that race. Well, I didn't fair much better at the beast, and let's just say Dave got to continue on alone while I played around in the dirt for a few minutes.

The next big challenge, for me, was the Hercules Hoist. usually I excel at this one, but it was particularly heavy and I made the mistake of grabbing a rope so slick with mud I couldn't hold it. Knowing there was no way I was getting this on my own and not wanting to do more burpees, I noticed the guy next to me having the same issue. The staff guy said we could double up on a rope, but we'd have to hoist it twice. So we did, and even with 2 of us, the slick rope took some effort to hang on to.

The Beast spike on my training watch.

After the hoist was a new one to me, a bridge with ropes attached at the top, and large tires hanging off the side. You had to pull the tire up and lower it slowly back down. At this point we had down several arm smoking obstacles in a row, and right around the corner the reason why appeared: the Spear Toss was next. Probably the most hated obstacle in Spartan history, but one I've come to embrace. I nailed my throw, putting my 5 for 5 on the obstacle. Here a shouted encouragement to Dave, as he did his burpees and I pulled ahead.

Here the course began to work towards another mountain. Starting off with the bucket carry, which a plowed through without stopping. Once you put that thing down, you're in for trouble. For me, it's much easier to just bear it and move as fast as you can. This one was steep, but significantly shorter than the one at the Super. Somewhere along to shorter ascent of this mountain, Dave caught up to me and we began tackling obstacles together again.

My advice: Keep moving.

We kept a descent pace until the traverse wall, where I fell. I'm usually pretty good at this one, only failing it once before, and that was before I started rock climbing, but I think the race was getting to me on a mental level at this point and I was starting to make mistakes and second guess my abilities. Dave breezed through the wall and was ahead of me again. I was surprised to catch Dave soon after the wall at the tire flip, when cramps again struck Dave hard.

I was still doing pretty good, but just like in vegas, once I had to slow down or stop, I would start to cramp a bit as well. We pushed on pretty slowly from this point, walking a lot of the hills and trying to run the flats and downs as much as possible. With Dave's severe cramping and my toes screaming at me, the race turned into a real grind. Again it climbed up the steeper mountain with some wall obstacles and mud pits thrown in for good measure. It seemed forever before we began to descend back towards the valley where the finish awaited us.

Longest. Wire crawl. Ever.

Near the end, there was another nasty surprise. Another rope climb. This rope was a little thinner and and I slid down from about halfway rope, giving myself some nice burns on the shins before deciding to give up and grind out a last 30 burpees, putting me at 90 for the day and giving Dave a lead to finish first. Pretty disappointed in this failure as well. Haven't failed a rope climb since my first race 2 years ago. I was physically and mentally smoked by this point and these burpees took a long time to bang out.

The final major obstacle was a super long wire crawl through some really thick mud. Perhaps the longest crawl I've done, with maybe the inaugural CO Military Sprint being a bit longer. Mercifully this one went down a gentle slope, so it wasn't too clogged and everyone seemed to be getting through in a timely manner. But it made for a seriously mud covered finish.

Trifecta Tribe at last!

I've never been so happy to finish a race as I was this day. Getting that final piece of the trifecta puzzle was the icing on the cake and made the accomplishment all that much sweeter. I would like to try the Beast again, but I feel I need to prepare a little more, physically as well as mentally, before tackling it again. I also think shelling out the extra bucks for an elite heat entry would shave an enormous amount of time off my finish, by avoiding the crowds and the mucked up ropes, etc.

I'm much younger than I realized.

Flipping the Switch - Living life to it's fullest

Prologue

Carpe diem. Live life to its fullest. Little risk brings little reward. Grab the bull by the horns. YOLO.

We've all heard these sayings and we all have a pretty good idea of their meaning. You only go around once in this life, so make it count. Do the things others only dream of doing. Adventure. Risk. Acquire all those amazing, romantic stories to pass down for generations, type stuff.

But when do we go from thinking about that awesomeness, to living the lifestyle of it, to really understanding it?
That point of understanding is when the switch is flipped. The lightbulb comes on, you awaken and the meaning is there without you even being conscious of it. You've gone from dreamer to doer. From thinking about these things, making active decisions to get them done.

For some, this comes easy. You were born to do it. You grew up with it. You've never not been a serious go getter. For the rest of us, we usually need an event or an epiphany, or both, maybe even several of them, for the switches to flip. Below, I outline my continuing journey to live the life that deep down I believe I've always longed for. I have thought long and hard about this and I think I can identify when my particular switches were flipped.


Open Heart Surgery

I was born with an undiagnosed faulty heart valve. It wasn't discovered until I was in my mid 30s and soon after I had open heart surgery to repair it. Prior to this event, my switches were in the off position. Sure I took risks and sought out "adventures", but they were often of the reckless and idiotic sort, with copious amounts of alcohol involved. I was just a guy sitting around, working, and getting fatter every year.

This is an old story, perhaps even a tired one these days. One you've likely heard before. A guy has a heart attack, realizes life is short and runs a marathon, or the like. But trite as it is, that was when my first switch flipped on.

Now, little did I know, stick switches into the off position too. A friend of my mom's said when her husband had the exact same surgery as me (aortic valve replacement) he went the opposite direction. He became so scared of death that he became afraid of life. He mitigates all risk and does nothing to jeopardize his "fragile" life. The Dr. said that's not uncommon. I never would've guessed, but then again, who wants to hear about the guy who cheated death, only to hide in his home and watch TV for the next 40 years?

But I took the route most are familiar with. I should be dead, so now it's time to live. This led me to seek help, for the first time in my life. Namely, to get fit, so I could enjoy this new lease on life and do something great and wonderful before the reaper comes to usher me off to the great unknown for good.

A couple days after getting out of the hospital.

Jonathan Flips a Switch

Recovery from having your chest sawn in half takes a log time. I also decided to through in some knee surgery shortly after just for fun, so it was a while before I felt good enough to progress.

I kept walking by this gritty little gym called Ultimate Fitness Lab near my work. At the time I was trying to workout on my own and failing miserably. Finally I called and spoke to Jonathan, the owner, and scheduled a visit. 3 years later, I still go to UFL 4-5 days a week and have found a great trainer, mentor and friend who continues to help me push my limits and be a better athlete.

That flipped switch lit the fire. I needed a challenge. Working out just to look good wasn't going to be enough. I needed to test myself.

About 2 years in at UFL.

Spartan Race

Sometime around the winter of 2011, I stumbled upon the Spartan Race. I had never done a race of any sort before. It was to be the first, of what soon became, the iconic Colorado Military Sprint of the Spartan Race series. It sounded difficult. Just what I needed.

I avoided reading to much about it. I wanted it to be a surprise. I got down to the Ft. Carson Army base not knowing what to expect. I couldn't get any of my friends to join me, so I went it alone. Looking back, I'm glad of this. It really made it that much more personal and life changing being on my own.

The race was tough. The hardest thing I had done up to that point. But felt so good to finish that race. I compete as often as I can now, even going so far as to run 4 races in a single day. The Spartan Race fanned that spark into a fire that still burns to this day.

At my first Spartan Race.

Brett's Death 

Around Labor Day, 2013, my oldest brother Brett developed a persistent cough. He was quickly diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and given a grim prognosis. By New Year's his doctor essentially told him to "get his bucket list" together. We talked about getting all 4 of us brothers together and doing a fishing trip in Costa Rica.

By the end of January, Brett was checked into hospice. He died 2 days later on February 2nd, 2014, surrounded by his brothers and mom and just a day after having all his closest friends come visit him one last time. It was his 48th birthday.

I can't explain what it's like to watch someone you love die right in front of you. It definitely changed my life and flipped a major switch inside me. I realized I had taken my brother for granted. He lived only about 45 minutes from me, my closest relative in fact, but we rarely saw each other. I knew that I couldn't put off the things I wanted to do anymore, because there might not be a later. We never got to take that fishing trip.

Miss you brother.

Epilogue

I still struggle with motivation and weighing risk v. reward at times. But when I do, I think back to these times when my switches were flipped. Although some are very traumatic times and memories, they help clear the clouds in my head and make me focus on what's really important. People and our experiences together. When a challenge seems particularly risky, I try not to shy away from it. Because I know the experience will by worth it, perhaps even life changing. I also truly understand now, that there are worse ways to die.