Monday, October 28, 2013

#200 - Ducks Review - October 27, 2013

Cool thing: Directed the church choir for a large audience.  They were awesome.  We did "Jesus, Once of Humble Birth".  It's a beautiful arrangement, and the choir was really wonderful in delivering the message.

It's been a nice few weeks since my last entry.  A couple highlights: the U of O Ducks (my alma mater) are now 8-0, ranked #2, and as long as we beat #5 Stanford next week, we'll be in the national championship game for the 2nd time in 4 years.  The Ducks delivered a beat-down on #12 UCLA this weekend, scoring 28 unanswered points in the 2nd half for another lopsided win.

I spent a couple days in Boston this week for work at a Japanese Intercultural Awareness class.  I saw the class announcement pop up a few weeks ago, sent our HR person a note asking if I could assist, and she set me up with the consultants who were coming in to deliver the material.  I went, learned some things, and tried to contribute a reasonable amount of things to the class.  It was a great opportunity for several reasons.  First, I got to do something a little different, and that is usually fun.  Second, I was able to interact with and assist people at 2 sister companies, which might be useful in the future.  Third, I realized that I could totally do the consultant thing someday.  Maybe, when the kids are all gone, I'll try to get in somewhere like that.  Who knows?  It could be with these people.

We all (plus one of Aria's friends) got in the van and went to assist on an Eagle Scout project on Saturday morning.  There was a cemetery that was completely overgrown, and we cleared it out.  We found out that even local residents who had lived there for 30 years had not known it was there.  Now it's very obviously a cemetery, and the first step is done.  It will need another round in the spring.  Here are Aria and Libby, heading back in after delivering a load of sticks to the chipper.






We all went to my brother's house for our own football civil war on Saturday.  The Ducks' mascot does pushups every time the team scores.  He does the new score amount, so when the score went to 28, he did 28.  After the next score, he did 35.  Christian decided to follow suit (he's actually doing a lot of fitness stuff, which is totally cool), and got my brother and Jake to do it with him.  Great evening.



Monday, October 14, 2013

#199 - Tough Mudder report - October 14, 2013

Cool thing from the last 52 hours: okay, 52 is semi-arbitrary.  But that's about when we finished the Tough Mudder.

I started training for the Warrior Dash in May, knowing it was in July.  By June, my Tough Brudder (TB) had asked if I was interested in the Tough Mudder, which I had never heard of.  It sounded challenging, and who knew if I could actually do it, but I'd try.  This is the entire culmination of nearly 5 months of training.

Some quick stats:
Lbs lost: 21
Fastest mile: 6:41
Fastest 5k: 23:01
Incline bench: 40 reps, 150 lbs
Chin ups: still 0
Pull downs: 40 reps, 150 lbs

I started from scratch - lots of experience biking, but none running and not much with weights.  The Tough Mudder was a blast.

The concept is that the course is the kind of thing that Navy SEALs do.  Although I'd guess they do it a couple times a week until it's just not a big deal.  So it's a big deal for mere mortals like me and my TB.  This course was 10.8 miles long, mostly flat, at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ.  We left early, expecting to have an hour to register, take our stuff back to the car, etc.  No such luck.  Parking was atrocious - it took nearly 2 hours from the last turn on the road until we got our parking spot.  We left our bags in the car, carrying our IDs and paperwork, and walked into the starting area.  Registration was quick, we decided to not leave our stuff at the bag check because we didn't have any bags with us, and went to the starting mob.

I will come back later to the post and add pictures.  We did not have any cameras with us on the course.  So if you need to see pics right away, go to flicker.com and search for "tri state tough mudder 2013".  There aren't many there as of this writing, but I'm sure there will be soon.  There was a 7ft wall to climb over to get to the starting gate, where a very enthusiastic guy talked to use for 15 minutes about a very random set of cliched ideas.  We listened to the national anthem, and then we got to go.

The course is deceptive.  We ran slowly (10-12 min pace) for half a mile, then went through a hazard called "Are You Tired Yet?", which was a bunch of tires laid out on the ground.  Then we climbed/jumped over some concrete tubes 5' high with broken cars around us in an obstacle called
"Zombie Apocalypse".  In another half mile, we had to get boosts up 7' high walls that were inclined backwards, so the lip was toward you.  We ran through the forest, waded through hip-high mud, traded doing wheelbarrow carries in the mud, ran some more.  Then there was a 10' high mud hill and nobody got up alone.  You jumped/climbed as far as you could, and somebody at the top helped you the rest of the way.  When you got to the top, you helped someone else up.

More running through the mud in the woods.  Then a long pool of water and chicken wire 6" above the water surface.  I got on my back and pulled myself along.  It was meant to be problematic for claustrophobes, but it was just relaxing for me despite a slight tendency that way.  Some more running through the woods.  A shallow pool of water with electric wire hanging just above it.  It's energized.  We crawl through the pool and get shocked a couple times.  Unpleasant, but meh.

More running through the mud.  A set of monkey bars that follows the contour of a roof line up and then down.  Your hands are muddy, the people who went before you had muddy hands.  You try it, but you fall before you even get one hand over to the next rung.  The water you fall into is kinda nice, actually.  More running through mud, this time up and down small hills of a BMX track.

You carry your buddy 50 yards.  Then you switch and he carries you 50 yards.  More running.  More BMX track.  You crawl inside a plastic drainage tube that leads into a pool of dirty water.  The way down is easy.  The way up is very difficult.  You scratch your knees and elbows some more.  More running through mud.  A patch of mud with barbed wire slung 8" above the ground.  More skinned knees and elbows.  Running through the mud.  By this time, you're a little more than half way through, making good time, and thinking to yourself, "I'm a pretty tough mudder!"

There's a plywood wall with 2 x 4s attached to it and dirty water below.  You are supposed to hang on the 2 x 4s and shimmy your way over the pit.  It doesn't work.  More running after you climb out.  You climb a 15' high platform and jump into a deep pool of dirty water.  If you hesitate, the volunteer at the top is going to harass you to get moving.  More running through the mud, a mile of muddy up and down BMX track.  You reach the Arctic Enema, a plastic-lined dumpster filled with icewater.  There is ice floating on top, and refrigerator trucks running next to it.  You jump in, have to submerge yourself to swim under a board across the top, and climb out.

More running through mud, but you're only about 3 miles out.  A shielded scaffolding looms ahead of you.  You scoot under it, and find a propane-fueled perma-fire with flames 3' high in front of you.  You assume there is a pool of water on the other side.  So you run, jump the flames, feel the heat as you are airborne, and land in the water.  You climb out, and start to run. Then you see the Mud Mile.  It's only about 0.15 mile, but it is a 4' deep mud pit, 4' long, followed by a 4' high mud wall.  Over and over and over again.  You are glad you are tall - you can get a foothold and hurdle most of these with no problem.  Your TB gets a massive calf cramp, and gets out of the obstacle.  You finish it, and wait for him.  You are ecstatic to see him come over the last mud wall a couple minutes later.

You are now battered, bruised, sore, and maybe slightly injured.  This is fun enough to do again sometime.  You see the Berlin Walls.  They are 12' high, straight up.  Nobody gets up there alone.  You get a boost up, pull yourself the rest of the way, and it's 12' down, but what are you going to do?  You drop, but the 1.75" wide top is not comfortable for your tender parts as you transition from climb to descent.  Then there's another one to climb.

You are genuinely tired.  And you realize that all those simply fun obstacles were just an exercise to psyche you out so you wouldn't be ready for the last ones.  They were designed to make you fail.  But you won't.

You see Everest, and 12' half of a half-pipe.  You get eye contact with some stranger, run as fast as you can, climb as far as you can, grab the hands they offer you.  They realize, belatedly, that you're over 200 lbs, and they can't pull you up.  You realize, belatedly, that you can't pull you up, either.  Then a genius shouts, "Give us a leg!"  You swing a leg up, and 3 guys pull you up over the lip.  You are grateful and feel awesome.  You try to help the next guy in line, but he jumps high enough to grab the lip and does the whole thing without any help at all.  Less awesome, but okay.  You're a first-timer.

Your TB attempts the jump, but his cramped legs won't let him get any air.  You almost get him anyway.  you meet up for the last obstacle, a crazy run through high voltage (but low amperage) wire.  After some thoughts of "should I or shouldn't I?", you realize that you're going to do it anyway, so what are you waiting for?  You run, you get shocked hard twice, but you make it through.  You turn to see your TB, but he isn't there.  And the announcer is talking to some guy to get up, he can finish it!

The guy, your TB, has been knocked on his butt by 10,000V of electricity.  You were lucky to not get hit like that.  He gets out, and you and your TB finish the course by not-walking the last quarter mile to the finish.  That was the goal at the beginning: to not walk the thing.  Because your TB's friend had said that it wasn't that hard, but that she walked it, mostly.  So we made sure to not-walk the end, although we'd be hard-pressed to call it a run.

You not-walk through the finish, get your headband and t-shirt.  You get your picture taken.  You are both filthy and in pain, and smiling like silly 7 year-olds.  You wander to the shower area, a mad pen of 300 people waiting for a chance at one of 50 garden hoses to wash some mud off.  You get clean (kinda), and on your way out a new guy bruhed you, and your chest is filthy again.  Who cares?  You get your stuff, make it to the car, change into your travel clothes, and call your wife.  She is glad you're in one piece.

Once you and your TB have changed into some dry, not-dirty clothes, you drive to a diner, with your bib number still written on your forehead, 94258.  The waitress doesn't blink.  She's seen people like this all day.  Your Reuben is yummy, your mother in Oregon is also glad you're in one piece.  Your TB has a dirt clod in his left ear.  It makes you chuckle.

He starts to call you by your number instead of your name for the next 6 hours, as you drive to his place together and watch college football with your wife and kids.  Your team wins (ranked #2 right now, and nobody in the way), and you drive him.  You sleep.

You are a tough mudder.