Rebel Race Update

Wanted to make a quick post to update a couple of things concerning Rebel Race. First of all, I got my time on Tuesday--it was 44.02, which I was actually pretty happy with considering it was my first course like this. I finished 281st overall out of about 1,050 runners.

There's also a video for the event at this link. Hopefully it works, the site is kinda quirky sometimes.

I've also gotten a lot of questions about my legs. Thank you for your concern, first of all. They hurt--pretty bad--but I think I'll be ok. I did manage to run a couple of miles yesterday even though they look absolutely horrendous--covered with scabs and stuff. Thank you to Quinn for sharing the Silver Sulphide, brother.

There may or may not be pictures from the event, too. I'll post them as soon as RR makes them available.

Thank you all for your support!

Event Review--Rebel Race, Indiana

I decided to run the Rebel Race as a tune up for the Tough Mudder in November. This was a 5k race out near Greenfield, IN on Saturday September 24th and I was in the 10:30 start wave. I'm going to attempt and take you there, so to speak, and then I have some general observations and some intel that I gained that I will use at Tough Mudder. This will probably be a long post, so bear with me, please.

I got to the event an hour early, just as the RR people asked, parked and began walking to the registration tent. As with everything I do, I immediately start noticing the people and how they're behaving/dressed/etc. Most people are like me, wearing old workout clothes, dry-fit clothing underneath, etc, but there are a few people that have actually dressed up for the event in various costumes such as some dude in full red and gold body paint (no clue) and teams of people wearing similar shirts (Swelled and Purple!). There are also some people in full BDUs, which I decide is pretty cool, and then you have the weirdos. I see some guy with body panels on (think: leather armor panels, circa Camelot). For a second, I think that maybe he has them as part of a really bad costume...but then I realize that he's serious about trying to protect himself. Immediately, I think--what the hell have I gotten into? Are there lions on the course? .....but then, out of the blue, his woman walks up with her face painted in a glorious tiger pattern complete with whiskers and a little nose glued on, and I decide that they're both kooks.

As I check in at the tent and begin to mill around and examine the few obstacles I can see, I become acutely aware of a few more people. First, I notice that there are a set of guys that seem to think that this is the World Series of Mud Races. There's one guy in particular that is running half-speed wind sprints and downing a packet of Gu (energy gel) after every sprint. Dont get me wrong, the guy is in way better shape than I am, but damn, dude. We're still an hour away from our start wave! I also see several guys that are doing push ups or whatever to try and get their heart rate up. I also notice that there are entirely more females running this event than I would have ever imagined. Aaaand, they're in good shape, too. Sweet.

A few other observations as I wait for our start wave:

• RR is making a killing here. You can't buy beer, you have to buy tickets and use them to buy beer.
• Why the hell is the parking area so far away?
• They have a gear check (well, kinda--its not secure at all), and no one is guarding it. Everyone at the gear check is helping a customer at the table. So much for checking my ID for beer after the race. And so much for checking my camera, dammit.
• They have an emcee with a bullhorn that is cracking some great jokes on the competitors.

They make an announcement that our start wave is going in 15 minutes and we all start loading in the gates. It's really cold and I'm having a hard time getting loose, and I know that my muscles are going to seize when I hit the water the first time. C'mon, old muscles...stretch dammit.

We get the "one minute to start" announcement and they start playing 'Jump Around' by House of Pain. It's the most cliched song ever, but it kind of relaxes me to hear it, to be honest. Most of my start wave is jumping up and down (and yes, doing the hand motion) and I feel my heart rate rising. Now we're getting there. We count down the last 10 seconds together and then its 'BOOM!' from two fire cannons on each side of the starting line.

This map shows the route. I ran the blue route only, the red was a 15K that I didnt think I was ready for yet.

We leave the start gate and the pace feels pretty good. Not too fast, everyone seems to be feeling out the ground texture. It had rained the night before and the footing is questionable. Besides that, the starting section is in a field and they didnt cut it very short at all. Within the first 200 yards, my feet are already soaked.

The first obstacle we come to, just past the right turn, is 'Jump the Ditch, Bitch'. It's just 2 ditches that we have to jump over--about 4 feet wide each. No sweat. We complete that one and go down to make the U-turn back and I see people quitting already (wtf) before they even get to the Ditch. Whatever. Losers.

The second obstacle appears to just be a hill that they've built in the field but as I get closer I realize that it is a hill--but that they've dug a giant deep hole on the other side and filled it with water. So, its up the hill and slide down on your ass into waist deep water. I hit the water and it really wasnt that cold--but climbing out of the mud was more work than I thought it'd be. Some guy loses his shoe in the hole and has to fish for it until he finds it.

The next obstacle is called 'Blue River Madness'. We all jump in the river and are routed upstream in thigh-deep water. Some people are trying to run in the river, which seems like a huge waste of energy, but most people are splashing and just having fun. At this point, I'm taking stock of my leg muscles and protecting my ankles from the rocks on the bottom of the river. We go upriver, against the current, about 400 yards, I guess. As we climb out of the river, we find a series of pipes laying horizontally across a calm section of the river. We have to go over one pipe, under the next (which takes you under water), over, then under, etc until you finish the obstacle. Then its up a small hill and out into the field for a short run to the next obstacle. 

By this time, the reality of being here is starting to hit me. My adrenaline has calmed down enough to be able to think about what I'm doing, and so far...I'm having a great time. It's also at this point that the order of the obstacles begins to get a little fuzzy. I remember doing them all, dont get me wrong, but the order is a little off. I know the map is not accurate, though.

The next obstacle (I think) is the river rope crossing. It's also at this time that I begin to get pissed at the RR folks. The idea with this obstacle is to cross the river using nothing but a rope that has been strung across. Most people are hanging from the rope by their hands (with their legs wrapped around the rope), but a few are trying to hand-over-hand across to the other side. The reason I'm pissed is because there's a line--a long one--to even get to the obstacle. I decide, along with a couple of other guys, to just jump in the river and cross since the line is so long. We climb out on the other side and decide to try a different set of ropes back across to continue the race. I watch the female in front of me get all of 10 feet out on the rope before she decides to quit. Next--my turn. I grab the rope and turn around, swinging my feet up on the rope, and start pulling myself across the river. I'm booking, too. People underneath me are yelling encouragement at how fast I'm going across the river....and then I feel the pain. When I swung my legs up onto the rope, I laid my achilles' tendons on the rope and I'm moving so fast that I'm getting rope burns from hell. I make it just past half way and I start to see blood running down my leg, have instant visions of cutting my tendons in half, and decide to drop into the river. The frustrating thing here is that the Marine on the side of the river told me that only 2 people have made it all the way across because they're just too weak. I had this obstacle beat from a strength perspective--but my non-preparedness from a clothing perspective beat me. Anyway, I drop and slosh to the other side of the river, up the hill, and past the Marines that are kicking my ass for dropping off. I stop at the top of the hill for a second to survey the damage. Clearly, I've made a mistake in my attack of this obstacle. I have blood running down the backs of both legs and intense pain as well. I remember thinking 'open wounds and dropping into a river--thats probably a bad combination', but decide against seeking medical because the race just started, dammit.

I move on to the next obstacle, a tire run (think: football practice) and clear it pretty easily. My body is working pretty well now and I'm running well even with the leg injury.

The next obstacle is a double cargo net where you have to climb up one side, over a top rail, and down the next side. It was also pretty easy other than the top rail being very slippery due to the fact that we had all just come from the river...lol...

After the cargo net, we have a pretty long run, maybe a half mile, to the next set of obstacles, two mountains of hay bales piled up consecutively. I managed to get over these pretty easily. Comic relief: Just as I get to the first mountain, I find a lady standing there looking at it. She asks me, "what are we supposed to do?". You, ma'am, are an idiot.

As I come down off the second mountain, I fall in behind a girl who's running at about my same pace so I just decide to hang with her for a bit. We run for about a quarter mile to the next obstacle, which appears to just be a mudhole in a field. My running buddy hits it at full speed and instantly is sucked down to almost her waist. Whoa...that is some serious freakin mud. I offer her help but she declines as her shoe comes off. She doesnt even bother looking for it and continues to run after she gets out of the crap. It was tough but I manage to get through it without losing my shoes.

The next series of obstacles kinda blurs together, probably from pain, maybe from being tired, but I know I:

• Crawled through a long plastic culvert. Half way through it, I see fast-foot mayonnaise packets and plastic knives inside it. I wonder, who was eating a sammich in my culvert, and why aren't they serving now? Damn, I'm hungry.
• Climbed over 2 twelve foot walls and rolled under a log. These were slowing people down pretty seriously--I felt good that I got over them so easily. When I was sitting on top of one of the walls, there was a lady struggling to get to the top. I asked her if she needed help and she yelled at me. Whatever, idiot.
• Did 10 sit-ups, 10 push-ups, and 10 leg lifts. Rebel Race had Marines all over the course yelling at you for encouragement...but I wonder, why would you have the biggest geek in the world *asking* people to do these tasks? If you have Marines everywhere, wouldn't you have a DI screaming at people to knock out 10? Just asking...
• Crawled on my knees and elbows underneath a 50' cargo net.
• Climbed over a flatbed trailer covered with hay. This one seemed kinda lame to me--maybe added in after the fact.

The next obstacle that I remember without a doubt was the fire. I clear all the previous hurdles and I top a hill to see a Marine standing next to a line of fire. Luckily, I had watched a Rebel Race video and knew that the fire wasn't all that deep--I jumped it with no real hardship. Actually, the warmth felt pretty damn good.

Next I ran back up a hill and was yelled at to 'Stop, Drop, and Roll' by a Marine, which I did. Gotta admit, though--it wasnt easy to get back up.

I then had a couple of hundred yard run to The Great Wall of Rebel, a wood wall built with planks that stands about 25 feet high. I remember a bunch of spectators yelling at me here, so I assume that I must have been dragging pretty bad. It was good to hear the encouragement. I got over the wall pretty easily and ran on to the last obstacle...the Military Mud Pit.

The MMP was a mudhole that was about 40 feet long with about 12 strands of barbed wire hanging low over it. I have to be honest here--I laid down on the mud to go under the wire and I was tempted to just lay there. It felt so freaking good to lay down for a second that I didnt even care that I was laying in mud. Nevertheless, I got through the obstacle and on to the finish line.

I don't have my official time yet, but I think its something in the 48 minute range. Considering it was 3+ miles with obstacles and a silly wait at the river crossing, I'm pretty happy with that time. After the finish line, I grabbed a banana, a bottle of water, and headed to the medic station so they could look at my leg. The medic said that they'd seen several injuries from the ropes today and cleaned me up and bandaged me. Thanks to them for doing that.

I then tried to go to the beer tent for my complimentary beer and was told that I had to have ID, even though my age was on my bib. My ID, at this point, was a quarter mile away in my car. Forget it. I'm not going back for it. I limped to the car and left, happy to have been a part of the fun.

Intel gained from the race:

• DO NOT SLIDE ANY PART OF YOUR SKIN ON A ROPE. EVER.
• My legs are pretty beat up today, not even considering the rope burns. I need to investigate a leg covering that will not weigh me down when it gets wet.
• I really kicked ass at the obstacles that involved climbing. This tells me that my upper body strength is probably good to go. My cardio, however, was lacking towards the end of the race (which, I think, is why I can't remember the order of the obstacles). This is especially concerning given that Tough Mudder is 4 times longer than the Rebel.
• Shoes must be tied tight at all times to avoid losing them.
• I ran with compression material against my skin thinking it would help me stay dry. Good move. I learned this from running the Mini-Marathon a few years back and running under a shower station. Any part of my body that was touching my wet shirt was rubbed raw.
• The Rebel Race folks are extrememly disorganized when it comes to the actual race. And, having the parking area so far away from the beer tent/registration area is a HUGE MISS. I mean, it'd be different if I had any confidence in the gear check, but when I was there it was totally ignored. Walking an additional half mile AFTER running 3 to get a beer is just not acceptable. Based on the diagram above, I'm not even sure that I ran the correct route, in fact. The second half of the race was nothing like the diagram.
• The race itself, the obstacles specifically--were outstanding.

LEG UPDATE:

They hurt like hell today. I put some antibiotic cream on them yesterday, and one of my neighbors brought me some Silver Sulfate last night to put on them. I am going to lay low for a couple of days, just working on upper body. The more concerning part is the swelling of my ankles...





All-in-all, it was a great time. I am definately hooked on these events and am actively looking for another one to try before Tough Mudder in November.





Obstacle Five: The Mud Mile

It's been awhile since I wrote in this series, so just to keep you updated:

The last thing we did was Chernobyl Jacuzzi. It's about 230 bags of ice dumped in a bin, colored some ferocious color, and constructed in a way that you have to go under an obstacle within the bin so that you stay under water for a second. See my post on it for clarification.

After we get out of that cold hell (remember its going to be cold at the event, too--more on that later), we then head to The Mud Mile. The Tough Mudder website describes this obstacle as 'energy zapping trademark Tough Mudder thick mud' and a maze of trenches. I'm a visual kinda guy so that description didn't mean a whole lot to me. So, as always, I YouTubed it...

So...observations:
1) The dude in the blue shirt is way too happy. He needs someone to kick him in the balls just to make him angry for being in this crap.
2) The chick in the pink tights and orange shirt is an idiot. Who wears crap like that to this? And get in the mud, lady. Quit walking around it. This isnt the Walk for Dogs 5K or whatever. You paid to get dirty--so do it.
3) I ain't running through this obstacle. If you watched this to the end, you can see that its long. It's next to some kind of drag strip, so using my trained investigator senses, I'm guessing it at a quarter mile. That much mud and water will KILL your quads. And this is just the 5th obstacle. So, I'm thinking that I need to do more quad work.

Oh, yea. Weather. I looked up the weather for last year on this date. The low was 26 degrees. The high was 42. If this year is the same as last year, I'm thinking that the 11am wave will see start temps around 36 degrees. That, my friends, is brutal--especially when you consider all of the ice that's already involved in completing this. I gotta figure out how to train for that--maybe one of my neighbors will spray me with ice water when I'm running by.

I'm crazy. Why did I decide to do this again?

Introducing Team Swelled and Purple

As I've said on here before, the probability that you'll hear the story behind the logo is pretty small. It would take a rare combination of Chris and I being in the same place at the same time and an amount of alcohol that you're probably not willing to purchase. Besides, when we've told the story in the past, people dont laugh as hard as we do, so its probably one of those 'ya hadda be there' kind of things. I will just tell you that it has nothing to do with what you think it does (perverts).

The logo, when its printed on the shirts, will be white on a purple shirt. Its important to note that if you plan on attending the Mudder with us (November 19th, Saturday, 11am start wave), you have to wear a logo shirt...and I'm ok with having it printed on other things as well (flags, underwear, etc). The site that I am using to have everything printed up is http://www.spreadshirt.com/ because they have an enormous selection and the prices are decent.

Major kudos for a second. This logo was created for us by Vertigo Graphic--look them up at http://www.vertigographic.com/ if you need any type of graphic or web design, especially in the ATL area. When I approached them about doing the logo and the ideas I had, they totally ran with it and gave me this beauty below. Jeremy and his team seemed more than eager to help, especially when I told them that it involved the Wounded Warrior Project. They're also on Facebook, so find them and take a look at their work!

Without further time--wasting...

Training Update: In Labor (Day)

Greetings, y'all...if anyone is even still reading this thing.

Today is Labor Day and I realized that I haven't posted anything in like 2 weeks. C'mon, I've been busy with...well, OK, I'll be honest. Football season started and Madden 2012 came out. That is enough to make any guy lose concentration from a silly blog.

My weight continues to hover between 212 and 218, depending on how much protein I've consumed in the past few days. The beginning of football season seriously set me back a few days as I slipped and fell into my favorite wing joint (Just Wingin' It in Franklin), downed some alcohol with the band last night, and also accidently ate some fried chicken last week (no, mom, it wasnt as good as yours).

However, I do have some pretty major training modifications to report and monitor. I've stopped doing the entire P90X workout. As the date for the Mudder gets closer, I've been talking to more and more people about the battle plan--and theres things that P90X doesnt address in that plan to the level that I need. For example, I dont think that P90X is concentrating enough on the major muscles that we're going to be using for the race (lats, shoulders, and traps). Dont get me wrong, it is an AMAZING workout that did a great job of taking me from a 265 pound blob o' fat to...well a 215 pound guy, but I need to turn the corner and start concentrating on race-specific training. In exchange for stopping Doc Horton's Hell on DVD, I've joined a local gym. I chose Anytime Fitness because they're in every city that I travel to and I can workout wherever I go. So far, so good--well other than a majorly pulled muscle in the base of my neck last week. It's almost healed, I think (thanks for saving my life, Darla, if you happen to read this).

As far as training runs, I'm consistently (2-3 times per week) running the Tracy Trail that goes from the Summerfield area to Smith Valley. It's a great run with some hills and scenery other than my neighborhood. Speaking purely from a viewpoint of cardio, I'm in the best shape of my life--even better than when I was in the police academy when we ran every day. I've been doing some reading on incorporating windsprints into my routine and am going to add that next week.

In addition to my injury, the whole team is ailing to some extent. One guy went down with a serious foot injury last week (involving stitches--he's on Injured Reserve for 3 weeks), and one guy had a serious infection that involved some kind of cocktail of anti-biotics. Hey, whatever--I told him to stay out of Thailand. None of our ailments are serious and I'm sure we'll be back on track soon.

I received the final copy of the Team Swelled and Purple logo and will post it on my next post. I'd like to thank the amazing staff at Vertigo Graphics for taking the time to it together.

Back on Track

I sat down about the middle of the week and tried to figure out where my mojo had gone. Why did I not feel like training anymore all of the sudden? What happened that I went from wanting to destroy the TM course to ....well, feeling like a girl, to be honest?

I veered off my training course. I was talking to a friend of mine recently about strength training and how I was upset that my strength wasn't going up as exponentially as I thought it would. He (correctly) suggested that I add more lean protein to my diet to fix this. I did not mention that I wanted to gain strength without raising mass...so his recommendation was correct. I went out and bought some protein drinks and have been averaging about 170g of protein a day for the last two weeks. I figured that HAD to be the problem since I've been a little sluggish lately.

I've gained mass quite a bit over the last few weeks--especially in my arms and chest. Don't get me wrong, protein is essential but not in the doses that I've been having, I think. I've scaled back the protein and regained my energy level. As an example, I ran 4 miles today--by far the longest training run I've had since I started training for TM. I know that there are a lot of people that read this that know a helluva lot more than me about training nutrition. Am I off base?

I also found something else that helps with motivation:

Dog Days of Summer Training Update

August is here, which means that the Dog Days have arrived, and it actually cooled down quite a bit here last week. So when I post about the Dog Days, I'm more posting about the fact that I'm struggling with training for the last week or so. I spent early last week in Evansville for a few days and I hurt my left ankle during a 2 mile run. Not a twist or a pop, just kind of a dull aching pain that stayed for a few days. I guess I'm lucky, its the first real injury I've felt, but it still sucked. I did not run again until last night, so I was lazy for a few days other than staying on the P90X workout program. It doesnt help that football has started back--I freaking love watching football on TV...even if it is exhibition season. I did manage to take my daughter swimming for a few hours on Saturday, so that was a pretty good workout.

I'm also considering joining a gym. Don't get me wrong, P90X is a wonderful workout system but there's a couple of areas that I'm not satisfied with. For one, I dont feel like I'm getting a decent back workout with P90, and that's a big deal considering all the walls and crap that we'll be climbing over for the mudder. Also, even though I've bought the biggest bands I can find (100 lbs), I'm not impressed with the bicep workout. So, if you have a gym that you want to recommend in the Greenwood area, I'm down for listening.

My weight is still around 215, but I feel like my muscle content has gone up considerably. I really loaded the protein last week, hitting the 200g per day mark a couple of times. I can see the difference in my triceps and chest especially. I'm in serious need of new clothes, I know that. My pants are ridiculously loose. Hey, I'm saggin! Yeaaah boyeeee!!

Anyway, sorry to be so blah. I gotta get out of this doldrum and get back to kickin some ass!

Motivational Quotes

OK, hear me out.


I've always been into motivational quotes. Not stuff like 'the early bird gets the worm' or crap like that. More like...'if you were leading soldiers into battle, and knew that half of them were not going to live to see their families because they were defending the altar of freedom, what would you say to them' kinda quotes. Quotes that were taken at a very dire time, that people drew inspiration from to go out and take care of whatever the task at hand was. You know, truly motivational quotes. Thought I'd share a few of my favorites on here...


"I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory!"
-General Dwight D. Eisenhower in his address to troops just before the D-Day invasion


"There are some who are alive at this moment who will not be alive shortly. Those who do not wish to go on that journey, we will not send. As for the others I expect you to rock their world. Wipe them out if that is what they choose. But if you are ferocious in battle remember to be magnanimous in victory."
-Colonel Tim Collins, British Army, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, 2003
(I highly recommend reading this full speech; it gives me chills every time I read it)


'I don't want to get any messages saying, "I am holding my position." We are not holding a Goddamned thing. Let the Germans do that. We are advancing constantly and we are not interested in holding onto anything, except the enemy's balls.'
-General George Patton, June 5, 1944


"I'll tell you this: in any fight it is the guy who is willing to die who is going to win that inch. And I know if I am going to have any life anymore it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch because that is what LIVING is. The six inches in front of your face."
-Al Pacino from Any Given Sunday

"We have awakened a sleeping giant and have instilled in him a terrible resolve" (OK, its not a motivational quote but its still pretty badass)
-Admiral Yamamoto, Japanese Navy, December 8, 1941


"Those who cannot bravely face danger are the slaves of their attackers"
-Aristotle


"Nobody ever drowned in sweat"
-USMC

"Americans play to win at all times. I wouldn't give a hoot and hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor ever lose a war."
-General George Patton (again)

Hell, maybe I should just rename this post as the General Patton post. I never knew that the guy had so many great things to say until I started researching him for this post. What a fricking great man.


Sometimes I draw on these when I'm dragging ass and don't feel like working out today. I know its a little hokey, but it works, at least for me.


Feel free to comment with your favorite below.

Obstacle Four: Chernobyl Jacuzzi

For those of us that remember the Chernobyl disaster, this one is pretty scary. My first thought was, 'oh boy, I get an extra arm growing out of my neck for the rest of the race.' Actually, this is worse.

This is a great video to show how cold this frickin this really is. Tough Mudder builds this thing and then adds over 200 bags of ice at the beginning of the day, and then adds more as it starts to melt. In the last several events, they've also added a ton of coloring (or tritium, not sure which) to give it an actual nuclear color. So that way, when you get out of this tub, you're not only cold but also green (or red or whatever color).

To me, this obstacle is the first to start testing your mental strength. Up until this point, they've been physical challenges (running up and down hills), but this one is different. Clearly, this event is more of a mental challenge than a physical one and I think TM really throws down the gauntlet by having this big of a mental challenge this early in the event. Plus, dont forget...we'll be doing this in mid-November, so its gonna be damn near impossible to get warm after this ice bath.

Holy shit...what was I thinking?!

Training Update: Hitting the Wall Really Hurts and Site Update

I've been a little unhappy with the rate that I'm dropping belly fat, so I decided this week to step up my cardio level along with the intesity of my core workouts. I ran about 12 miles this week, but on Thursday, I found my wall.

When I got up, I did my normal P90X routine which was Yoga X (grrr). After that, I threw in an extra rotation of Ab Ripper X, the 16 minute ab workout that is the equivalent of 334 sit ups. This was all before 8am--I was working from home this week. After work, I cut my barren wasteland of a yard in the 93 degree heat and then went for a run. I got about a quarter mile into the run and my legs just stopped. Dead. Nothing. Felt like lead weights hanging from my torso. I've never felt that before, but I assume that this was my body's way of telling me that it had enough. I guess I can see why, I mean Yoga X is an hour and a half long--and then the Ab workout and cutting the grass just put me over the edge, I reckon. I was so tired that I took Friday off from working out.

My weight is still hovering around 215, which is pretty good considering that I ate Ritter's one day this week as a celebration for losing 50 pounds. Oh, and I had a piece of pizza. Oh, and I drank a few beers at the Journey concert last night. Oh, and I....man, ate like shit this week.

As far as the site is concerned, this thing has turned into an adventure in itself. We managed to hit the 500 hit mark this week and are averaging about 20 hits a day (hell, I thought it wouldn't get 20 hits overall). There are people following the site in Australia and the Ukraine now, and we have hits from all around the world. I've made a couple of new friends because of the site, and that's pretty damn cool. I guess after raising money for the WWP, making new friends from this train wreck is the second best thing that could come of it. So, thank you for making this into whatever it becomes. I'm very thankful for your following along.

Another good side effect of the site:
Found an awesome band that I'd never heard of (Volbeat). Their music is on this video:

To take it to the next level, feel free to comment about any of the randomness that shows up on here. It's ok, you won't offend me (unless you talk crap about Georgia Tech football, then its on). Give the site address to other people. Share your bookmark for the site, its ok. Hell, you never know, you might even end up doing this one day--it has been a great ride so far.

Obstacle Three: Cliff Hanger

When I was researching this obstacle, I found a couple of different videos for it that kinda show different things, so I'm not 100% sure what this one will be like. However, one thing for sure: this one is designed to test the cardio. The idea is that you run up a steep hill that is covered with mud (and possibly take a fire hose to the face), and then slide down the back side of the hill on your ass.

Check out the first one from Georgia this year, taken near my hometown in Cedartown...

My first thought is: I freaking love the Benny Hill music. Other than that, the fire hose is a killer. My gut feeling is that they use the fire hose if its a smaller hill, which I can definately see here in Indiana since its so flat. Coming on the heels of the Killa Gorilla, this will be an ass-kicker.

Another video, this one from Tri-State, somewhere in New England. Notice that this Cliff Hanger was at mile marker 9. I think I'm lucky that Indiana will have it so early on the course. I cant imagine having to do this at MM9...that would be a killer.

So, to recap, so far in the race...

• I've charged down the hill (to a bottle of Maker's awaiting, apparently) while trying to not trip over the 15 jackasses that are going to fall in front of me
• Ran up and down a hill about 15 times on the Killa Gorilla
• Possibly took a fire hose to the face while running up Mount Killamanjaro only to slide down it on the other side and get rocks embedded in my hamstrings

Nice.

Training Updates: Half a Hundred and TM Team Name

Woke up to great news this morning as my weigh-in showed me at 215 pounds! This is a pretty big milestone for me as it marks 50 pounds lost since I decided to get myself healthy less than a year ago. I still have a ways to go to get to the 185ish mark, but I can at least see it from here. I dropped a couple of pounds this week in spite of the band getting back together on Saturday night (cooking out and drinking are not your friend) and spending Sunday in a hospitality tent at the Brickyard, so that makes it even sweeter for me!

Speaking of the Brickyard, I ran into a guy in Gasoline Alley that had on a Tough Mudder shirt. I stopped him and asked him about it and he had just finished the Wisconsin event; he said it was amazingly hard but it was the most fun he'd ever had in his life, so that was great to hear. Not to be judgemental, but he was about 5'10" tall and weighed every bit of 250...he also said that he didn't train for the race at all.

This friggin heat is killing my running. I'm still hanging in with P90X phase 2, but its too damn hot to run for any length of time. We are working on our 17th day in a row of 90 degree days here in Central Indiana and I'm getting tired of it. I think I'd rather it be 10 below than this hot. Its just miserable.

I'm going to be doing Tough Mudder with a few friends of mine that I'll go into detail about later, but we did decide on a team name last week: Team Swelled and Purple. The team name a hilarious story that I probably won't go into on this blog, but it's not exactly what it sounds like. Anyway, I have a good friend that is a professional graphic artist that is working up a logo for our team shirts (and flags, NASCAR sponsor logo, etc). I saw the preliminary proof last week and it is OUTSTANDING! I'm pumped about it!! I know that he reads the blog, too, so THANK YOU for your creativity and willingness to help, J. It means a TON.

Thanks again to everyone for all your support and for reading the blog. Don't forget to click over and donate to the Wounded Warrior Project if you can. The link is over to the right.

Profiles in Courage: Josh Fruen

My next installment in the PIC series features Josh Fruen who was injured in Iraq and drowned in a river. Notice that I didn't say that he almost drowned. He was revived by a Captain (what? an officer did something? ...kidding) and suffered severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of his accident.

Information from the WWP site:

Josh is currently enrolled in the WWP's TRACK program, which offers wounded warriors an integrated approach to address long-term needs for education and training, advocacy, and secondary rehabilitative care for the MIND, BODY and SPIRIT. This unique program offers participants a range of college classes and services customized to their needs, helping them build career skills, train in veterans’ advocacy, and continue recovery toward a more independent life. The warriors attend college classes as a group, with the ability to draw from their shared experiences. Each TRACK facility has three state-of-the art classrooms, as well as a gym, and individual workspaces for the warriors and instructors.

Days after Josh Fruen’s family had heard he was injured in an accident that killed one of his comrades; they finally got the call they were waiting for. It was Josh providing reassurance that he would be okay.

But their joy of hearing Josh’s voice turned to shock when he revealed there was a time during the mission when he was indeed dead.

As he shared his ordeal – the convoy to secure the perimeter around a supposed Saddam sighting, and his Humvee plunging into the river after an embankment collapsed – they were speechless at the details of Josh trapped in the water-filled vehicle.

“I remembered my training – find an air pocket. But there was none. As I’m drowning, my heart said, God, I’m in your hands. I’ve got a baby on the way back home. You do with me as you see fit.”

 

It immediately seemed like Josh would be a casualty of war.

“I remember seeing a white light at the end of a tunnel. I saw my grandmother and a few other dead relatives. I remember people, their arms around me, and I remember this beautiful being.”

The being had a message for Josh:  It’s not your time yet; it’s time to go back.

Josh continues, “I remember coughing and looking up, and there’s a guy in my face. I asked, ‘Are you God?’ He said no. He was a captain who had just resuscitated me right there in the water.”

Josh was alive. But the event triggered a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that led Josh to a moment after his medical discharge where he wished he were dead.

“I couldn’t sleep. And when I did, I dreamed of drowning in the submerged Humvee. I was hyper-sensitive to everything. I was having a lot of flashbacks. There were times when I would just space out, and other times when I would take my aggressions out on everyone.”

Although Josh returned home to Texas in August 2004, it wasn’t until three years later that he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury from the time spent unconscious underwater. Today, he still struggles with short-term memory loss.

“Things got so bad after we moved to Jacksonville in 2007, that I often considered jumping off the Dames Point Bridge. But it was around that time when I first came into contact with the Wounded Warrior Project. TRACK turned me around, big time.”

Josh says his attitude has changed, along with his outlook on life and the future.

“Being around the other guys helps. Many of them have different forms of PTSD. We can lean on each other. It helps to have that peer understanding.”

He’s doing well in school, and his future career plans include getting a degree in psychology.

“I want to be a counselor, so I can help people. And I want to be a good dad. I’ve seen death, and I’ve come back. Now I want to live life for my family.”

 

Josh, I doubt you'll ever see this, but just in case...thank you for your service and for sharing your story. Your courage is amazing.

Obstacle Two: The Killa Gorilla

So, the idea here looks to be to destroy your quadriceps. It's a hill that has partitions on it so that you have to run up and down the hill repeatedly in order to get through it. At first glance, this doesn't bother me so much; however, I do worry about the degree of mudness. In this video clip, it looks to be pretty messy--which will def mess with the legs. I also have to keep in mind that my race is November 19th--and in northern Indiana it could be snowing by then...

So to recap...to this point in the race I've charged down a hill screaming my lungs out while trying to avoid all the Type A personalities, followed by running up and down a hill covered with mud that appears to rival anything from Band of Brothers, the Currahee! episode. So far, I think I'm good :)

Training Update: Holy S*$t, I Ate What?

I came back from an awesome vacation last night to find that I had gained 4 pounds in 5 days. It's amazing how much eating bad shit can make you gain weight when you're used to eating healthily. I seriously ate the worst crap I could find when I was gone. My mother's homemade brownies, measured in at 591 calories apiece, made an appearance the first night of vacation. I think I ate 12 of them. Someone brought those little vanilla cookies and I ate a whole pack of those. I drank bourbon. I ate bread. I ate butter deep fried in a flour batter, dipped in chocolate. And....I gained 4 pounds in 5 days.

I did try to run when I was gone. We were staying just outside of Pigeon Forge, so I thought it would be a great opportunity to get to do some mountain running since its so flat here in Indiana. My 14 year old nephew runs cross country, so I thought, 'hey, here's some competition' as well as mountain running. I mean, surely I can run 7 minute miles just like he can, right?

We ran to the bottom of the mountain and I actually stayed with him. He was running, I was more like rolling down the hills, but at least I stayed up with him. We touched the bottom of the hill and turned around to run back up the mountain. The next time I saw him, he was walking out of our cabin with a vanilla cookie in his hand. At least I think it was a vanilla cookie. I had so much damn salt in my eyes from sweating in the 98 degree temps that it could have been my mom with a cookie in her hand for all I know.

Anyway, I ran two miles when I got home last night and re-started week 5 of P90X tonight. I'll be back on track soon. Weight as of this morning: 222 lbs.

Training Update: My Muscles Are Confused and Need a Vacation

Week 5 of P90X introduced me to muscle confusion, the basis of the whole plan. Everything I'd done up until this point is now out the window and I'm doing such wacky things as one armed push ups and push ups with a jump at the end. Its weird to think that 4 weeks go, struggled to hammer out 10 push ups.....I guess this crap really works after all.

Anywho--I'll be off the grid for a few days. My daughter and I are heading to Tennessee to celebrate my parents' 50th wedding anniversary! I'm really proud of them and excited for a few days with my family!

Thanks again for the donations, amazing words of encouragement, and blessings. See you in a few days!

Obstacle One: The Braveheart Charge

I want to take some time and delve into each obstacle on this blog. Not because I want to over think them and be woman-ly about it, but because...well, I have four months to get ready for it and I want to be prepared, dammit. Tough Mudder has the decency to pre-post the course map for each location and almost all of them have the Braveheart Dash as the first obstacle. I don't personally consider this an obstacle, I think its more of a balls to the wall beginning, but whatever. It looks fun.

Oh, wait. That must be the TM in NorCal because the people all have chain mail and are carrying swords and staffs (staves?).

I love how you basically have 3 groups of people running down the hill. The first group are the people that actually think they are filming the movie Braveheart again. These are your type A to the max people that will probably not finish because they blew out a hammy at the bottom of the hill or they carb loaded so much the night before that they blow out a colon about a quarter mile in. This group includes Rucksack Guy (bout the :20 mark) with his extra water, extra shoes, extra socks, extra gloves, a tent, an M9, wood for a campfire, signal flares, green smoke nades, nuclear fision flashlights, CPR mask, and a case of MREs.

The next group of people are the 'this is badass and I'm going to have fun today' group. I think I'll be in that group.

The last herd is the 'WTF am I doing out here, I hate you Steve for asking me to do this' group. They will finish because they will walk around all of the obstacles, declaring that they didnt come out here to get dirty. One thing's fo sho--they aint runnin down that hill...unless there's a box of Munchkins waiting.

But I digress. I think the key to this 'obstacle' is just to survive and hope you don't get ran over by any Type A jackasses while not tripping over the last group of people. Get to the bottom of the hill and get some room to stretch out the legs some so that you can start trotting along to the next obstacle, The Killa Gorilla!

Week 4 Training Update; Progress is a Painful Thing and Music Soothes

This week sees me making it to week 4 of the training regimen, which means 'Halle-frickin-lujah' in P90X terms. Week 4 is the week of Yoga, Stretching, and general laziness. No push-ups, no Pam the Blam jumping through the roof, or Heavy Pants til your shoulders detach. I have definately seen progress, even if my weight hasnt dropped. I weighed in at 221 this morning, but I've seen noticeable difference in my shoulders, triceps, and calves. Mostly, I've seen a huge difference in my waistline. I'm officially to my last notch on my belt and I noticed that even it was baggy on the golf course on Sunday. Running through the neighborhood has gotten noticeably easier, too. I'm doing 2 miles with relative ease now. Six months ago, I got winded driving 2 miles. Good stuff right there...

One day last week, I decided to run with my headphones on. Its amazing the difference it makes when you run with them on. Without them, I get so frickin bored listening to my feet slapping against the pavement that I just want to listen to something different. I made a Workout playlist several years ago when I went to the Y a lot and I just started running to that. A few songs that make me want to just keep running farther:

'Guerilla Radio' by Rage
'Lit Up' by Buckcherry (something about that dude screamin 'I love the cocaine' in my ear makes me want to run faster...no idea why)
'Are You Ready' by Creed
'Shout at the Devil' Crue...check out the circa 1983 video below

I also have several CDs that I got when I was in the guard that are recording of military cadences. The best ones are Airborne, IMO.

Look for more posts as the week goes on. I want to start delving into the obstacles that we'll be attacking during the race. Also, Tough Mudder will be selling spectator tickets to the race if anyone wants to come along. There's a band (maybe 2) playing at the finish line and I know they'll have beer for sale. It would prolly be fun to camp out at one of the rougher obstacles and get pics. The spectator tix are $15 apiece.

Also want to thank Tina (Lane) Bullard for being the first to donate and to comment on the site! Thanks, Tina--the money goes to an amazing cause and I really appreciate someone having the balls to donate! HA!

Thanks for reading, y'all. Have a great night...

Training Update: July 4th Edition

I realize that this post is a couple of days late, but I've been a little busy with work, my daughter at the fair, and every guy's focus this time of year: baseball. I'm smack dab in the middle of week 3 of P90X and am definately seeing results. My shoulders and arms are starting to bulk, which is not a good thing. I need to gain strength without gaining bulk. Bulk=weight and weight is not your friend on a 10 mile obstacle course. I've upped my running (yes, running and P90X) to about a mile and a half per night and my endurance is definately improving.

My weight is around 224 now---I know that I didnt lose as much as I could have last week because of the 4th holiday. There was a lot of stuff at our neighborhood partay that I shouldn't have eaten, but I ate it anyway (chocolate pie, chocolate cookies, chocolate ribs, etc), plus I took my daughter to the Indianapolis Indians game on the 4th (hot dogs, peanuts, nachos). I got through the holiday without losing my exercise mojo at least...but I'm thinking my calorie intake was well over 3,000/day for most of the weekend.

I've picked up 2 people to run the race with me, a guy I work with and my next door neighbor. I have a couple of other people that are interested, so maybe they'll come along, too. The more, the better, I say.

I've learned that more people are reading this than I originally thought. Thank you all for your positive emails and words of encouragement. Dont forget the donation link to the right (hint hint). Also, spectator tickets are available for the event for $15. Come on out and make fun of us!

Profiles In Courage: Nancy Schiliro

From time to time, I want to highlight some of the success stories of the Wounded Warrior Project so that you understand how great this organization is. I mean, if I'm going to ask you to donate money to them, its important that you understand where it goes, right? All of these people are heroes, but I wanted the first one to be extra special. For my first PIC, I chose Nancy Schiliro from the Marine Corps. Why? Because people generally think of people that are helped by the WWP to be these salty grunts that get shot or hurt in some kind of glorious battle. Not Nancy--she was injured while assigned as an embarkation specialist (I assume thats Corps jargon for a transport officer/logistics?) working near Al-Asad, Iraq.

Her story, from the WWP webpage:

Nancy clearly remembers the February day near the end of her deployment when she was injured. She and a partner were just chatting near one of the base’s large diesel fuel bladders when a mortar round went off. 

“I blacked out and don’t really remember much after that. I woke up and my hand was cut up. My face was cut up, but I didn’t feel anything. My partner looked at me and said ‘are you all right?’ I’m like yeah, I am, I feel fine.”

At the time, what upset Nancy most was the black smoke billowing from the ruptured fuel bladder. She was afraid the enemies would think they accomplished something. 

It wasn’t until Nancy returned home in March that she began having headaches and developed problems with her eye. A sonogram indicated her retina had been shattered in her right eye and was overcome with infection. 

After four surgeries couldn’t stop the infection from spreading to her left eye, doctors were forced to remove her right eyeball. The emotional pain of having a prosthetic eye was worse than losing her sight. She went into isolation. 

“I stayed by myself. I didn’t want anyone to look at me. I wanted my eye back and I was mad at the world.”

A counselor and friend of Nancy’s coerced her into attending Project Odyssey, a Wounded Warrior Project program to help injured service members deal with combat stress. She had no interest in going, but agreed to go only because her counselor accompanied her.

As soon as Nancy began to meet other female warriors with similar experiences, her walls began to come down and confidence was building. 

“I have to say it saved my life. It really did. Instead of being what I thought was a disappointment to my family, I ended up being their inspiration,” says Nancy. 

The transformation that began at Project Odyssey led Nancy to a career with WWP as a benefits liaison in 2009. “Now I work strictly with Odyssey to make sure I give other men and women the same experience I had by participating in Odyssey,” says Nancy.

 

“The only regret I have in my life is that I wasted almost three years in depression,” Nancy laments. “If I can give any veterans out there advice, I try to get them help as early as possible, because I don’t want them to suffer the way I suffered, and waste the time I wasted.”

 

It truly is an inspiring story. Thank you, Nancy, for your service.

Training Update; Tony Horton is the anti-Christ

As of today, I am one week into prepping for this event. My first week of training actually went really well. I am doing Tony Horton's P90X (again) and a combination of running/swimming. Basically, running when I am at home and swimming when I travel. I did have a bit of a training hiccup this weekend when an unexpected partay sprung up on Saturday night on Sunburst Lane. Amazing how good neighbors, a good bottle of scotch, and a couple of cornhole boards throw you off track. I do know this: Tony Horton is the anti-Christ and Yoga X sucks. Tell it, Romie:

He nailed it. I cannot express how hard fricking Yoga X is. Its the longest workout, and Rome is right by saying that 90 minutes feels like 8 hours.

Regardless, week one produced a 4 pound weight loss to 226 and what appears to be a pretty good fat loss from around my waist. Maybe at the one month period, I'll post some before and after pictures....maybe. I'm traveling again this week so that usually makes it harder for me to eat right--we'll see how the weight loss goes this week.

Tough Mudder ran their race in Colorado this week. Looks like everyone had a great time--when the post the official video from it, I'll link it. Also, look for posts about the obstacles soon. Some of these are crazy nuts.

Motivation, Part Two

My last post dealt with my personal motivation for doing this: basically, lose weight and get back into shape. Truth is, there's a much deeper reason that I want to do this...

One out of five veterans returning from Iraq/Afghanistan suffer from PTSD or major depression.

There are more than 40,000 service members that have been injured in current conflicts.

I've always felt a strong pull towards veterans, especially those that are wounded. On the fortunate occasion that I meet one somewhere, I'm that guy that shakes their hand and thanks them for their service. I remember when I was a cop in Athens, I met this guy that was a Vietnam vet working security at the UGA HPER building. When I shook his hand and told him thanks, he started crying and said that no one thanked him much for doing what he did. When I walked away from him, he never knew I started crying myself.

The Wounded Warrior Project is an amazing charity that was founded in 2003 by a group of veterans and friends that felt strongly about this generation's veterans. One of their visions is to have the most prepared group of veterans to re-enter society upon returning from their duty stations. Imagine if we'd had something this organized after the Vietnam conflict. Our nation might be a little different right now, but I can guarantee that the security guard that I mentioned above would be a different man.

Previously, I mentioned that I was on the fence about doing Tough Mudder until I found out about their support of the WWP. To date, participants in Tough Mudder have donated over $1 million to the WWP. I'm not usually the kind of person that asks for donations or support for anything, but I think this is a pretty good reason to donate. Sometime over the next few days (ok, when I figure out how to write the code *UPDATE LINK IS FUNCTIONAL!*), I'm going to have a link here to donate to the WWP. If you're able, please donate a couple of bucks to the cause. They're pretty proud of the fact that 82 cents of every dollar that's donated to their cause goes directly to a Wounded Warrior. I'm just proud that most of my entry fee for the event goes to the cause.

PS: I promise this will be the only depressing post on the blog :)

Thanks for reading...

Motivation, Part One

By now, most everyone I know is aware that I'm doing this. So far, people's responses can be grouped into one of two categories:
1) Dude, that looks awesome--where do I sign up and how much does it cost? or,
2) What in the (insert random cuss word here) are you thinking? Why would you ever want to go 12 miles and go over 20something obstacles?

In this and the next couple of posts, I'll try to explain my motivation for doing this.

First, but not most importantly, there's the selfish reason. When I was in high school, my nickname was Slim. If you are reading this and you've only known me the last few years, you're laughing your ass off right now. When I graduated high school, I *maybe* weighed 160 pounds. My weight when graduating from the police academy was somewhere around 170. My weight as of about 6 months ago was 265. I won't go into detail about how I got there, but I did. I was in constant pain through my knees and hips. Through some semi-dedication, I've managed to drop about 30 pounds in the last few months, but I'm still not where I need to be. I believe that through training for this 'run' and completing it, it will force me to put my weight back into the 180-190 range. Not only will it end the physical pain, but I'm sure that it'll let me stay on the planet a few more years....and be a Daddy to the best little girl in the world that much longer. For purposes of tracking my weight, I'm officially at 230 as of this morning. Let's see where it ends up.

I plan on posting more about motivation in my next post, and more about my work out plan later, but I will say that I started training today by completing P90X Chest and Back and swimming in my hotel pool. It was rough, but not as rough as what our wounded vets have been through. I will continue to draw my inspiration from them...

Training Runs

In addition to starting a training regimen in a few days, I've also decided that I'm going to do a couple of training runs to prep me for the 12 miler. I'm planning on doing the Rebel Run here in Indy in August and the Warrior Dash in September. Those are about 3 miles apiece. I figure I should get a read for how the 12 miler will be from the training events. I just hope I dont hurt myself in the meantime. I mean, it'd be great if I could get a tib/fib break in August, right?

I'm just going to go ahead and call this the Axis of Evil. Just sub the race names for the country names.

Explanation and Such

Today when I logged into LinkedIn to see if I had any random job offers, someone in the Indiana network had posted a notice that something called 'Tough Mudder' was coming to Indiana. I of course had to click on it to see what it was. I proceeded to the website and was amazed at what I saw. I was perusing the site, thinking how cool it would be to try this, and then I saw the tidbit that made me decide to throw my hat in the ring:  This race (company, corporation, whatever) donates X amount of its profits to the Wounded Warrior Foundation, a cause that is very dear to me.

So, I've decided that I am going to partake. I've set up this blog to track my training, donations, and random idiotness about this. I'm pumped, though...