New Year and a Crazy Idea

It's not every day that you decide to do something beyond the ordinary.  Rarely will anyone decide for themselves to do something that the majority of people would deem as crazy.  Let alone find another person crazy enough to do it with them.  It's easy to get wrapped up in the day to day grind of life and ignore making a change for yourself.  Well late last year, that stagnation in my life came to and end when I decided I would qualify and then compete in the World's Toughest Mudder 2013.

In January 2012, I decided I wanted to try something different.  I had seen the ads for Tough Mudder in my area of northwest Indiana and decided to give it a shot.  I found a wonderful group of guys to do the event with and set about making the rest happen.  The training was fairly easy.  I was already in good shape from taekwondo but I ran very little.  I started running, gradually building up my mileage before the Indiana Tough Mudder.  I tried doing some of the recommended workouts on the TM website as well as running and maintaining my taekwondo regime.  After several long months, it was go time and I couldn't have been more excited!  I felt like a kid again getting ready to hit the playground.

All Done and Shot

Team Oldfarts, Not the best description by far.

The pace was easy but we soon got bogged down.  I couldn't run full out since I was waiting for some of our slower team members.  It was a run and wait mentality for about 8 miles.  Then it started raining.  The staff canceled out a lot of the obstacles and just told us to get to the finish line.  I made it through but sadly, no shocking since it was turned off.  I felt cheated but I couldn't feel too bad.  The Sunday event was canceled since the whole place flooded out.




I finally had my first taste of true competitive mud racing in my own town of Valparaiso, IN, the Mudathlon. A team with my company had formed and I decided to join up.  It looked like a fun venue.  Only 5k and the course was only a few miles down the road from me.  I slacked a little in my training since the Tough Mudder but since I was the only one with any obstacle racing experience, I was thrown into the forefront.  I have never had a real competitive nature until I ran this race.  Luckily, another coworker, Jake, ran it all out will me.  I finished 9th overall and our team placed 3rd.  It was great venue and the staff was amazing.

The Mudathlon also hooked a fellow friend of mine, Mike Durkin.  I was wanting to race more and so did he.  That's when we started training together on the weekends and decided to do a few mud runs together.  Our paces were similar and it added a competition in our training that we both sorely needed.  Both of us were too stubborn to let the other outdo him.  Our team mud run was at the
Muddy Patriot near Kalamazoo, IN.

Final Sprint

Jake and I at the Finish Line

Team Mud and Guts 

The Muddy Patriot was set up at the Timber Ridge Ski Resort.  I'll avoid the bad parts about the race and focus on the good ones.  The course was crazy in that it went up and down the slopes several times.  They also crammed the majority of the obstacles at the beginning of the race.  I didn't train well enough for the slopes and I payed for it.  I posted a dismal time compared to what I wanted to do.  Timing issues were present as well due to the setup of the course.  Lots of frustration over one race but a lesson well learned.  Pacing is key to these races regardless of the length.

I did my second TM in Wisconsin later in the year.  An entirely different group of guys, but I still had fun.  Team Bosak was a widely mixed group.  I wasn't the youngest but close enough.  Again it was the run to wait issue but I had a blast since the weather held out all day.  Blasted through all of the obstacles except for Hanging Tough.  Last ring slipped beyond my reach and I fell.  I was angry but overall I couldn't complain.  I had just as much fun as my Tough Mudder.  But I was craving something more challenging.  That's when Mike and I decided to do a Spartan Race.


We both signed up for the Midwest Super Spartan in Marseilles, IL.  The weather was abnormally cold for October.  Some of the earlier heats started when the temperature was below 32 degrees.  The setup was comparable to the other mud races I had been to already with vendors, bag check, contests, etc.  This venue stood out since it had some permanent obstacles that were significantly harder than most.  Particularly an over-the-log obstacle that required a partner to pass or to climb the poles on the edges to get over.  We got some pointers on the course on how to slip over with a friend and keep moving.  Saved us a lot of time.  The end of the course got bogged down a bit since we were catching up with the earlier heats on the obstacles.  My only heavy snag was at the tire flip.  The tire I picked was stuck solid to the ground and I couldn't pry it up.  I had to stand on the inside and pull on the rim, subsequently flipping my self with the tire.  Not a pretty sight but it worked.  I have a more detailed comparison that I put together for the guys on Team Bosak.  I'll post it later.

All in all, I was hooked.  Mike and I talked constantly about what we wanted to do next.  Eventually, it kept building until we decided to aim high and go for the WTM in 2013.  We set the goal of 7 laps for the event.  This is completely new territory for both of us.  Neither of us know what this year has in store for us but it'll be fun.  I plan on keeping my training logs here as well as any gear reviews prior to the race.  I'm going from a non-runner to a full ultra-marathoner within a 2 year time-span (started running in 2012).  Hopefully it works.  If not, it will be here for all to see.

Remember...

Nothing is impossible.  It just takes longer.





2012 Races Completed

• Tough Mudder Indiana
• Mudathlon
• Tough Mudder Wisconsin
• Muddy Patriot
• Midwest Super Spartan
• Valparaiso Turkey Trot

2013 Planned Races

• Resolution Run 5k - January 1
• Ringing in the Spring 10k - April 6
• County Line Orchard 10 mile run - April 21
• 500 Festival 1/2 Marathon - May 4
• Tough Mudder Chicago - May 18
• Tough Mudder Michigan - June 29
• Mudathlon - July 20
• Midwest Super Spartan - July 21
• Chicago Mini-Marathon - September 8
• Chicago Marathon - October 13
• Manda's Race 5k - October 26
• World's Toughest Mudder - November 16-17
• Huff 30 mile Trail Run - December 28