For those of you who have been following along throughout the year, you have a good idea of what the year looked like. For those of you that haven’t been, there were both successes and failures.
In the success column — 8 Triathlons (including 4 Podiums and being part of the first-ever all Adaptive Tri), 4 OCRs (including a Holy Grail), 5 different Athletic camps (including scoring my 2nd TD at Notre Dame), and being recognized by the Tough Mudder community for my accomplishments during the season.
In the failure column — having to scratch a total of 6 OCRs (2 due to safety, 4 due to school / injury) and failing to complete the season without injury. And for those of you who might be worried, the injury at WTM was minor and I’m able to run. I was just worried I might injure it further in Florida so soon after WTM.
While there were speed bumps, hiccups, and struggles, the successes far outweighed the failures. I am truly grateful to everyone who supported me through both the successes and failures, along with all of those who provided me with so many opportunities. THANK YOU to all of you!
As I look forward to 2025, I am mindful that 10 years ago, none of this was planned. Ten years ago, Terri and I were focused on which Triathlon was going to be the “one and done”. I knew nothing about Dare2Tri or any of the other organizations that I’m part of at this point.
But because I said yes to those opportunities, I’ve been able to do so much. Yes, some of it has been scary at times; yes, I’ve second-guessed myself a couple of times (AKA WTF am I doing?). There have also been a couple of times that have come close to breaking me. See the 2019 Pleasant Prairie and 2022 Leon’s blogs for more details. But the support of so many has helped me to work through those challenges.
As I prepare for another 46-week season that will include a long list of Triathlon, running, OCR, and other events, I’ll leave you all with this piece of advice. Even if it scares you, say yes to the opportunity. Even if it isn’t perfect, trying and failing (safely) is 5000 times better than just saying no and sitting on the couch.
To that point, my first OCR of the year will be in the snow. It also includes an obstacle that will definitely be a mind game. But I’m up for the opportunity. If you want to join me, the Abominable Snow Race (ASR) is on January 25th in Lake Geneva, WI!
“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” ― Jack Kerouac The simple words are “Thank you”.
After Chicago and Pittsburgh, I thought I was ready for Tampa (WTM). While I was right in some regards, I was wrong in others.
Going in, I believed that I had a solid plan to hit both an initial goal (30 miles) and a stetch goal (50 miles). This included having access to a Pit crew, guides, and support crew. It also included having what I thought was the proper nutrition in place for 24 hours on course.
After going through registration, talking through the Adaptive Athlete parts with Evert, and getting everything set up, we were ready to go. Sean did his normal and amazing pump up intro, and then we were off.
Because of my vision, I relied on my guides for footing on the terrain. As I learned during the first lap, this was not a course that I would be able to run. This was because of multiple roots and holes, along with sand and other pitfalls. So before we even finished the first 5 mile loop, I knew the stretch goal of 50 most likely would not happen.
While most of the obstacles were closed on the first loop, I did have to tackle Mudderhorn. With the help of the Men of Mudderhorn, I made it up onto the cargo part of the net and then over.
After about 15 minutes in the Pits, we headed out for the second lap. By this point, it had become overcast, which made it harder for me to see. Also during this lap, a lot more obstacles had opened. Prior to it, we had agreed to do the lap without the harness and see how it went. While it wasn’t always “comfortable”, I made it over all of them with help from the team and others. Pyramid Squeeze was probably the hardest of these, as the cargo net kept you low (instead of being able to get leverage from standing). And getting my shorts caught in the knot anchor at the top was a lot concerning — thankfully one of the team was able to get me disconnected.
While it was definitely the most scary obstacle for me, Shawshanked was also one of the most fun obstacles of the lap. As a brief description, you’re crawling under barbed wire and then into a tube, from which you dive out of into water. Being a bigger guy, I wasn’t able to get the right positioning within the tube to jump out forward. So having to trust that I would clear the tube and hit the water properly was a lot. The night platform diving from 5 years ago when I couldn’t see the water helped with the fear though, and I made it through.
The sun set during this lap, which made some of the later obstacles (including the second trip on Mudderhorn) more difficult. But after 20-30 minutes in the Pit, we haded out for the 3rd lap.
By this point, all of the obstacles were open. There were some that I was able to do (like the longer Kiss of Mud, the improved Cry Baby, Cage Crawl, Arctic Enema, Sand Jacked, and others). But there were a few I had to bypass or take the penalty at for safety reasons. It was during this lap that “Energizer Bunny 2.0” (aka Kali) started to emerge. That will come into play later.
After finishing the third lap, we made a substantial pit for real food. This was where I made a mistake with nutrition. I thought that Raumen would be great on several levels. However, as I found out on Kiss of Mud, it was not. I spent most of the obstacle burping up the meal. Once I made it through and was OK, the rest of the lap was similar to lap 3. The main differences were that the gator didn’t check in on us (I guess 1 AM was after its bedtime), Energizer Bunny 2.0 did work, my left knee became very painful, and Ian dumped between one and two full pallates of ice into Arctic Enema. As in Pittsburgh, I slipped at the exit and fell back in because of all the ice. But a big difference between 75 to 80 in the sun during the day (Pittsburgh) and 69 in the dark (Tampa).
After completing lap 4, I was cold and disheartened. The crew helped me to get to the fire and I also put on my jacket. It still took a good 30 – 40 minutes to get the core temperature back. My left leg was hurting so badly that I didn’t know how I would get lap #5 in. It was at that point someone from the Orphan Tent (sorry that I’ve forgotten their name) offered a massage. They said ‘this is going to hurt, but it will help’, and they were right. Also, one of the team helped to fix the insole, which was slightly bunched up (and may have contributed).
Shortly after sunrise, we headed out for lap 5. It was extremely painful, especially as both legs started hurting by mile 23. I know that lap 5 would not have been completed without EB 2.0. 🙂 When I crossed the finish line, Sean was there to greet me. Brittany, who was one of my guides at Pittsburgh, was also there. You can see the finish video here.
While it wasn’t perfect or even as intended, I did complete 25 miles. I am extremely grateful to everyone who helped me to make it to that point. Thank you.
The next day at the awards brunch, I was presented with the Accomplishment Community Award. I am grateful to those who nominated me and supported me for it. You can see the full awards ceremony on The OCR Report’s YouTube channel.
While there were challenges throughout it, I believe I had a successful year. Between 2 hour crab walks, an extra loop, and on course struggles, there was a lot that went “wrong”. But there was also a lot that went right.
Throughout the course of these races, I went from needing to have the harness to even try a climbing obstacle to being relatively OK doing them without it. And I know that I’ll continue to get more comfortable the more obstacles I do. I also found a way to work through the mental challenges of the courses. These races may start as physical, but they turn mental the further you get into them. As I mentioned above, 18+ hours in (around mile 23) became a mental game.
Because Pittsburgh has been scratched, and WTM is in the UK, Chicago will be my only Tough Mudder weekend in 2025. But I hope to see a lot of you out there! If you want to save on your race entry as you join me in Chicago, or you do any other 2025 race, check my IG bio for the current discount code!
Last year, I had planned to do my first Spartan race in Dallas (Granbury). But the Welcome2Running camp was that same weekend, which was the priority. With the camp earlier this year, the Spartan Trifecta Weekend (21K Beast, 10K Super, and 5K Sprint) worked. With guides (Jaime and Cheyenne) and support crew from More Hearts Than Scars in place, we headed out onto the course for the Beast race.
For this race, almost all obstacles that you failed had a penalty loop (usually about 1/4 mile). This was different from the Tough Mudder races, and both good and bad in its own rights.
While I won’t go into all of the obstacles, there were some early successes on some of the smaller walls (both with and without the harness). and failures on the grip obstacles, we made it through the first few miles at a decent pace. Then we headed into a long stetch of hills and rocks.
I slipped on one of these and tore myself up in a couple of places. Thankfully, the support crew had the liquid bandage stuff, which helped a lot. Once we had it out of that part and to an aid station, I ran into a sauna.
For those of you who have used port-a-poties during a race, you know they can be hot from the sun. Having one in the 90+ degree heat for 4-5 hours was like sitting in a sauna. But it was the only option… Once that was done, we moved on to the first of the heavy carry obstacles — and once through, onto more stable path. At least, that was what I thought…
Instead, we ended up in a gravel quarry followed by 1.5 miles of the remains of the quarry and hills. To say it was rough terrain would be an understatement. And to illustrate the point, it took us 93 minutes to go a single mile in it.
At some point within this area and rejoining “solid” ground, we came to a wall obstacle. At this point, I was mentally drained and wasn’t fully thinking about the initial plan. So instead of usin the harness for the nine foot wall, I went up without it. The group was able to help me get up, and was on the other side to help me down. But it took me a good five minutes on top of the wall to “settle” as I felt it moving and knew I didn’t have any support. (harness).
By the time we made it back to the more “stable” ground, we had been out for longer than I had planned. We still had three miles to go at this point. So after a grueling, long barbed wire crawl, we headed to the finish.
Even though the terrain was “better” than the rock quarry area, it was still a challenging 3 mile trek. This was topped off by a final climbing obstacle that you had to go over to finish. It took everything I had and help from the group to get over it.
While it wasn’t pretty or as intended, I did cross the finish line. I am extremely grateful to everyone for sticking it out with me. It was an extremely long day of course.
As I sat on stage post-race, all sorts of emotions went through me. The largest one being disappointment over how the race had gone. It took time, but I was able to work through all of that and finally enjoy dinner (lesson learned about buying food at the site…)
While my mind wanted to do the remaining two races the next day, my body did not. We decided as a group that it wasn’t safe to try and push it. While I didn’t complete the Trifecta here, I will try again before year’s end.
Five years prior, Catapult had hosted their first Tri camp at Camp Olympia (Trinity, TX). As I mentioned in that blog, platform diving was so much fun — and opened doors to more fun things. So when Catapult announced that the 2024 Welcome2Running camp would be back at Camp Olympia, I was really excited to see that!
Having spent a fair amount of time working on running in 2024, I was excited to continue pushing at camp. Unfortunately, an unexpected session derailed that.
After introductions, Day 1 began with us running loops (first small and then increasing to larger ones with a hill). Eric helped with the pacing, and the session seemed to go well — especially as I was able to go beyond the initial walk / run interval schedule.
Between lunch and the second run session, we had pilates and strength. Even though I’ve never done pilates before, I could tell that the instructor was pushing at an advanced level. I know that I pulled something during the session, which impacted my run for the rest of the camp. I was able to work through it during the strength session and most of the second run, but then it hit hard.
The second run session of Day 1 started with metronome run sessions (to work on speed and turnover), followed by terrain training. As I mentioned, my body was hurting so much from pilates that I couldn’t get much effort during the terrain part.
I had hoped to get platform diving in when we gathered at the pool later that night. However, they had set up the lighting for the night on top of it. So instead, I swam laps and tried to stretch out the legs. Unfortunately, that just made things worse.
Day 2 started with a long run. My legs were still hurting so much that I had to walk it. After a stretch session (bands) and a TRX session, we had the second run session of the day. This included the tire pull and then running laps. As with the morning, my legs were still not in a place where I could do much, so we walked it out. Once the session was over, I found ice and remembered passing out for a bit. When I came to, the pain was a bit better.
Day 3 was the community run. By that point, my legs were a bit better. While it was still painful, I was able to run it.
While camp didn’t go as I had hoped, I still learned a lot during it. I am grateful to Catapult for the opportunities and to Eric for guiding me.
Earlier this year, I was made aware of the first-ever all Adaptive Triathlon and Camp. At the time, it was scheduled for April and I already had commitments. But then it was rescheduled to September, which meant I could attend!
After the introductions and check in at the hotel, we headed to a local pool. While it was great to be in cool water, the pool went very heavy-handed on the chlorine. It was so bad that I had to stop evry 50 yards to clear out my mouth. While this created some interesting challenges, Paul helped me through them. We also had the opportunity and privilege to learn from two-time Paralympian Kyle Coon.
After about ninety minutes in the pool, we transitioned to a run session along the paths around the pool. After doing some drills and short runs in the heat, we broke for the day.
After a very long dinner (due to slow service times) and sleep, Day 2 started out with a run session in the Texas heat. From what I was told, it was 101 degrees with 80%+ humidity. So it was like running in a sheet of water. Really not the most fun — especially when the run workout included tempo work. While it definitely wasn’t ‘fun’, I made it through. And the experience would pay off later on…
After a break, we transitioned to being on the bike. I’m extremely grateful that House of Tandems came up from Houston to provide bikes and support for the camp. I would not have been able to participate without their support!
We started out with some basic riding and drills, eventually transitioning into turns. Even though it’s been more than two years, I still have some residual issues from the crash in May 2022. So when we went into a turn too sharply, I felt anxiety creep in. After a brief stop and talking through things with Paul, we headed back out with the group. I was comfortable enough to do a ‘tandem Grey Poupon’ later in the session.
After lunch and a break, we headed into the lake for the first of the open water swims. This was the first time using the new tether that Andrew had made for me after someone walked off with my old one at PT Nationals. This first session gave Paul and me an opportunity to refine the tether while also working on communication and stroke.
Day 3 was a shorter one, which started with another open water swim followed by transition practice. Things seemed to go better with the second swim, and the transitions seemed good. After a long break in the hotel, we headed to a pre-race banquet / presentation.
As part of the camp welcome bag, there was a personal letter from the Mayor of Pflugerville. This was very nice, and something that I had not seen at the multitude of camps / races I had been at before. During the dinner, members of the City Council joined us. It was very nice to see the entire city behind Scott’s efforts!
Going into race morning, I was prepared to finish the season strong. This was my last outdoor Triathlon for the year, and my last Tri until the indoor ones in early 2025.
The race start was done with each of us starting 5-10 seconds after one another. I ended up being the first in the water, and the swim went well. Even with the time from swim out to the T1 line, I was on target with where I wanted to be.
After a T1 that was roughly half of most of my 2024 times, we headed out on the tandem. The season had started with hills in TN, so it was only fitting that it ended with hills in TX… While we were aware of ‘two large hills’ going in, they didn’t mention the other 10-15 that were out there… But even with all those hills, we still managed a respectable 17 mph. So all the frustration in the Knoxville hills (including when we were at 1.9 mph on a 9%+ grade) paid off!
After a solid T2 that was in line with most of my other 2024 T2s, we headed out for a run in the Texas heat. Up until that point, there had been some cloud cover, so it hadn’t been that bad. While I don’t remember the first 2 miles, I can tell you about the last mile. At that point, I was hurting and wanting to just give in. But Paul helped to continually push me. Having water bottles at the second aid station was also crucial, as it allowed us to have a steady water source for that last part.
While there were a couple of bumps, I felt it was the most solid race I’ve had in a while. The icing on the cake was having Kyle put the race medal around my neck. Hopefully I’ll be able to find that photo.
Thank you to Scott for the opportunity and all of the volunteers and support people that helped to make it possible. Thanks again to House of Tandems for ensuring that we all had tandems. And thanks to Paul for guiding and Para Guide for all their support!
