Hey guys. I hope your weekend was as eventful and thrilling as mine. With that said, let’s get started.
So, as you already know, I competed in the Tough Mudder in Wintergreen, Virginia this past weekend. Overall, I had a great time. I got to hang with a Marine buddy, Donnell (of whom I have had the honor of serving with over three tours) and my step dad, Dave. I will try to not make this entry so much a review of the event, but more an update on where I stand with the Death Race. That is, in fact, the point of this fancy blog.
I hate to say it but the word “compete,” in retrospect, is a verb that I would not use to elaborate on what I did this past weekend during the Tough Mudder. Granted, TM headquarters will be the first to tell you that they are not concerned with what your elapsed time was on the course but that you just finish. So when I say I didn’t compete, it’s not that it wasn’t challenging because it certainly was to a degree, I just didn’t feel the need to metaphorically smoke-check the “mudders” around me. And I hated that. I want my efforts, both of preparation and during execution, to be measured and held accountable for during an event such as this. The most challenging facet of this race was the repetitive ascending and descending through the mountain slopes. For those of you who do not know, Wintergreen is a ski resort. And I’ll be honest; my legs were pretty tired at the end. There were a lot of mudders walking the entire course because of all of the hills and this included the finish. I remember looking back down a half-mile hill (of which had an ascending angle of about 130 degrees) and thinking that the entire pool of mudders behind me looked like the walking dead. So when I finished the race… I felt no degree of satisfaction. And that pissed me off. I did a lot of thinking and asked myself repeatedly, “why didn’t I feel anything?” I think the main reason why I didn’t feel that satisfaction was the fact that the race’s difficulty was completely indicative of the hills that were there. Without them, the race is just hot air. Let me try and convey to you what I mean. Let’s say that you have a buddy that wants to do this “awesome workout” and to do this work out, you guys plan on meeting at the gym in a few hours. You get there and ask him what the workout is and he simply replies, “a thousand pushups.” Two things are for certain; one is that you will feel fatigue because you are working, and only working, your chest and triceps. Secondly, you’re going to get bored really quick. That’s how I felt at the end; fatigued and bored. To top it off (and this is something of preference) but all you get at the finish line is a stupid fucking headband. What is this, the fuckin 80’s? Don’t tell me that I collectively paid over FIVE HUNDRED dollars to “noncompetitively compete” in an event and you guys can’t put forth effort to give me a medal instead of a headband? Really? Come on, guys.
Anyways, after giving a couple of days to let my legs rest, I decided to hit the gym this morning. I am pretty excited because I decided to change my routine up a bit. It’ll be a two week routine where the first week is nothing but heavy lifting, stretching, and abdominal workouts and the second week will be nothing but intense running and circuit workouts. The main reason why I am excited is because I get to look forward to two weeks a month of relaxing at the gym with my weight lifting routine. After my workout this morning, I had almost forgotten how relaxing it could be to just go to the gym and throw some weights around. I actually felt guilty about it and ended up finishing my work out with some dynamic stretching and calisthenics. Mehhh… C’est la vie. I had promised you guys that I would tell you something funny that happened during one of my workouts a couple of weeks ago. To set the scene, one of the workouts that I do is that I jog with a 40lb. weighted vest and a very large rock (between 10-20 lbs). The idea is to throw the rock, walk to the rock, pick up the rock, and throw it again. This is done for just over three miles. And just for an added bonus, I make sure to drop and do thirty burpees, thirty squats, and thirty static lunges every half mile. FUN! So I was doing this and jamming out to some AWOLnation on my iPhone and walking through the soccer field that is about a quarter of a mile from my house. I am almost finished when I suddenly notice flashing blue lights around me. I turn and look and get blasted in the face with a very bright light from what appears to be a police car. Sweet. In this dialogue, our policeman will be referred to as John Law; not only because he’s a cop but because he had one of the biggest noses I had ever seen and reminded me of John Law himself, the famous Scottish economists from the 18th century who was also one of the most famous gamblers of his time (some say he invented the counting-card technique). What…? Don’t judge me. Get a freakin book and read.
Me: Can I help you, sir?
John Law: You can start by dropping that rock for me son.
Me: <drops rock>
John Law: Can I ask you what the hell you’re doing out here.
Me: Just workin out, sir.
John Law: Workin out, huh? Step closer for me. You can just be walkin around a neighborhood at 4:30 in the morning with a flak jacket on and tossin’ a huge rock around. That dog don’t hunt ‘cause then I get a call and have to drive out here. It’s a waste of my time and that is somethin’, young man, that I do not take too kindly to.
Me: It’s a weighted vest, sir.
John Law: Don’t argue with me.
Me: Yes, sir.
Before you guys get your panties in a twist, the officer recanted his attitude once I told him that I was a home owner in the neighborhood. I guess thought I was just some joker doing whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted.
As far as my up-and-coming challenges go, I still plan on running in the TM event in December. Jessica had bravely signed up for it and I couldn’t be more excited or proud of her because this, my friends, is not her bag. But as a caveat, this will be the last event in where I do it with anyone. I need to become more competitive and that is not going to happen with me treating these events like they’re one step above a friendly activity. Now, remember what I wrote on my last blog about the challenge that I set for myself? Well, I will now elaborate on that challenge.
With the three Spartan events that are coming up next year in my area, the Carolina Spartan Sprint, the Mid-Atlantic Super Spartan, and the Carolina Beast, I plan on doing all three events on both days that they are available. And it doesn’t stop there. I also plan on competing in these events multiple times throughout each day. I will run the Spartan Sprint four times each day for a total of eight runs. With for the Mid-Atlantic Super Spartan, I plan on competing twice each day for a total four runs. And for the Beast, it will just be a single run each day. Unfortunately, the average time to complete a single Beast is just over 6.5 hours so I pretty much guarantee that I will not make it back for the last heat in time to run it twice. But still, that’s over 80 miles of mud trudging and Spartan obstacles! So I am very, very excited to do this and I am looking forward to the prep-work that will go into all of this. Of course, walking away with fourteen Spartan Race medals will be pretty sweet too! Again, these are just small milestones that I want to put in front of me in order to step up my competitiveness. If I really want to do the Death Race, I have to build quite a resume. Spartan HQ only accepts 200 applicants a year to compete and if I want them to take my application seriously, I have to set and complete challenges for myself such as the ones stated above. I hope you guys stay interested and keep up.
Thanks for reading guys. Have a great week!
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