THANK YOU to Dare2Tri for their continued support of my athletic endeavors!
I greatly appreciate their support, which will cover several Triathlon entries! I am also extremely grateful to those who provided the external funding for this grant!
(Photo courtesy of Jonathan)
Because it wouldn’t work to go to Florida for the first of the Para Qualifying Series races, I went looking for other Triathlons in April. I found two in North Carolina that were relatively close to each other. After Jonathan confirmed he could guide for me, I made plans.
Day 1 (Belew Lake):
After having to move transition around a few times and pre-race photos, we got in line for the swim start.
In the past few years, I’ve had issues with breathing in the wetsuit. It seems to cause problems with breathing at some times and then be fine at others. This race was unfortunately the former, and I had to stop several times to catch my breath.
Once out of the water, we went out on what I would consider a technical, lolipop course. I was a bit uncomfortable from the continual curves and hills. The run was almost all hills — but was still a solid run for all of that.
Day 2 (Cal Tri Charlotte):
In the past, I’ve had races where the RD has called off the swim an hour or more due to weather (making it a run/bike/run). But until this race, I’ve never had the swim called that close to the start…
As we were heading down to the beach (less than 5 minutes prior to start), we were all told the swim had been cancelled. So after a short run from swim start to and around T1, we headed out into the wind and rain for an extremely challenging bike.
The bike was about a 16 mile lolipop, during which there were heavy winds and rain. This meant I was holding on tighter than usual, which led to me going numb early. We did make it through safely after a couple of stops — but I did have a momentary thought of throwing in the towel at about 10 miles of this challenging bike course.
After a normal T2, we headed out on the most challenging run that I’ve had during a Sprint Tri. It wasn’t so much the hills (which I’d had the day before). It was the fact that the third “prong” of the run had us going on a dirt trail into woods, like you would for an OCR.
I’m extremely grateful to Jonathan for all of his guiding, help, and support throughout the weekend. I am also grateful to the RDs and staff of both races for all their help and support.
THANK YOU to Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) for their continued support of my athletic endeavors!
Their support this year will help me to get a new upgraded tandem. I will be working to raise the remainder needed for it, and hope to have the new tandem for the start of the 2027 season!
Going into 2026, I had been told that to qualify for Spartan Para World Championships (PWC), I had to complete a Spartan race in the Para bib (meaning rules in line with AG rules). When I put my 2026 planning calendar together, the mid-March races were what worked best. I had originally targeted Houston, but had to change to Atlanta because of how expensive airfare to Houston had become after January.
After changing from Houston to Atlanta, I found guides. Unfortunately, about ten days out, both of them had to bow out. Thankfully, Tom A. was able to step in. While I was initially concerned about having only one guide, as I found out throughout the races, Tom was able to do the work of more than one.
Before the races even began, there were issues. I have traveled by myself for athletic events for close to a decade. Prior to Atlanta, I have been able to check in and stay by myself without issue. However, when I arrived at the EconoLodge near the Atlanta airport, the co-owners gave me issues. What it boiled down to was that they wouldn’t allow me to stay there by myself unless I signed a waiver. IMO, what they were doing was discrimination, so I went elsewhere. I do have a police report regarding the issue and am still weighing my options after Choice Hotels has refused to address the issue properly.
After volunteering for the final day of the build, I met up with Tom on Saturday morning. I was extremely fortunate that someone found my cell phone after it fell off my pocket in the dark and returned it to me.
One point that I want to make in general before going into race details is this — Spartan races are more on dirt / grass. You may get a few “mud” features (in Rolling Mud or because of rain). With Tough Mudders, you expect the mud. From what I could tell, and the fact that Tom told me about needing to step over a water pipe several times, it seemed that this ATL Spartan weekend had become ATL Tough Mudder weekend…
This set of races was the most challenging set of Spartans that I’ve done. If you’ve read my 2024 Dallas Beast blog, you’ll realize that’s saying a lot…
Day 1 (Beast):
As mentioned above, there were a LOT of course challenges. Part seemed to be natural (i.e. creeks, up/downs, etc.), while some seemed to be man-made (from the water issues I mentioned earlier). Tom helped tremendously with keeping me safe throughout all of these.
After the uphill barbed wire crawl, a challenging rope ladder climb up a hill, and a lot of obstacles in between the start and there, we made it back to the festival area. After making it through the Festival obstacles (and another missed Spear Throw), we made the turn into the Super/Beast area. And that was where the “swamp” appeared…
This was at least half a mile through submerged rocks and trees. There was one part where I slipped and fell into a small tree. Thankfully, it went into my thigh and just hurt for a minute, which was better than it going a little to the left…
After making it through the swamp and a few other obstacles, we went into the “trees”. This was several miles of up and downs with an obstacle every 1 – 1.5 miles. By about six hours in, these were taking a mental toll on me. So when I heard one of the volunteers say that we were only at mile 9 when we should have been at 11 – 11.5, I was ready to give up. But we kept going.
In my mental frustration, I made a huge mistake. Throughout the race, I had been refilling my camelbak at each water station. However, at the last one, I forgot to ask Tom to help with that. This meant that with about 1 – 1.5 miles left, I ran out of water. It was a struggle back, and I could feel dehydration towards the end, but we made it through.
Day 2 (Super)
While there may have been some rain overnight, Tom made the comment that some of the drops were more severe than the day before. I don’t know if this was because of water or staff digging them out further, but it made things more challenging.
At some point in these increased drops, one of my friends from the Farm Experience found us on course. That was a nice “boost” in these extra challenges.
I trusted Tom’s evaluation of the course and went with his suggestions on safety. After the swamp area, the toll of more than twenty miles in the mud and drops in roughly 24 hours took its toll. It was a very slow and painful march to the finish, but we made it through.
After Tom left for his drive back north, I was able to connect with friends. Because of weather, my flight back was delayed to the next day. This meant I got to spend more time with them before heading to the airport for an early AM flight.
I am extremely grateful to Tom A. for guiding and all his help and support throughout the races. Thanks also to so many within the Spartan staff for their help and support throughout the weekend.
(Photo courtesy of Scott)
Foreshadowing: “When a Yeti tracks you down as you exit the bathroom.”
Wait, that’s not the proper dictionary definition… Or is it?
After last year’s fun on the Abominable Snow Race, I decided to “upgrade” to the 10K distance for this year. Scott was on board with that, so we showed up ready for twice as much fun.
Last year, the majority of the snow had melted before we started; this year, the trails were full of snow. This made the footing much harder in places — not just from the snow, but also from the melted parts on hills where so many had already gone through.
Close to the halfway point, we made it to an obstacle that’s given me issues across OCR regardless of its iteration. On the ASR side, it’s the 45 degree climbing piece into a horizontal rope bridge into a climb down. Because of my vision, I can never tell where the transition from the top of the 45 degree part to the flat part is. This means, I almost always end up falling off the first part — which happened at least twice before both Scott and a couple others were able to help me get up and over the first piece.
Shortly after, we made it to the largest climbing hill. While Scott said we had done this last year, I definitely did not remember it. But it’s possible in the minimal snow last year that it really wasn’t an issue. But between the snow and the melted areas / ruts from other racers, it was a real bear this year. And after the second attempt failed, Scott found an “alternate” path so that we could make it to the top with more support.
After making it to the top, I threw in the towel on the 10K; the Yeti had caught me. The multiple falls on the big hill rope climb had taken too much out of me.
So we went towards the 5K finish when the 5K/10K split occurred. One big plus of this was we got to the intertube obstacle more quickly. While it was fun last year on frozen grass, it was far more fun on snow this year!
Even with all the challenges (and losing BibBoards and race belt clips in the falls), it was still a fun day. Thanks to Scott for guiding and all his help/support throughout. And thanks to Bill and everyone else from Abominable Racing for all their help and support! I’m planning to be back in 2027!
(Photo courtesy of Experience Triathlon)
I was able to race the January ET event becuase the timing between Houston and this race worked out this year.
Because I chose to move up to an earlier wave last minute, the swim start was not as smooth as usual. Usually, I’m in the pool about 10 minutes early warming up. This time, I wasn’t in the pool until the wave had been going for about a minute. Even with this time loss, I was only one length off of my normal swim.
The bike and run were the same as all past ET Indoor Tris — a strong indoor bike, and a struggle on the treadmill. This time, the treadmill was a bit harder because I felt the bike much more.
As always, a great event and a good starting point for the 2026 season. Thanks to Scott for all his help throughout it! And thanks to Coach Joe and so many others who help make these events possible.
Watch their web site and socials (@exptri) for the 2027 Indoor Tri schedule announcements!
As with the last several years, my athletic season began in Houston again this year.
After doing more offseason work, I was looking forward to beating last year’s times.
After the group photo Saturday morning, Doug and I headed to the start corrals. This year, the AWDs weren’t all at the frount. So we had about 20-30 minutes to wait.
When we got started, it seemed a little fast, so I slowed down. In 2022 or 2023, what really messed me up was flem not clearing. Last year, I didn’t really have an issue. However, this year, it kept occurring. To a point where I lost at least 90 – 120 seconds having to walk to clear it. With that, I was actually 25 seconds slower than last year. 🙁
After having time to relax and seeing the felines play, we had food and crashed out early.
Sunday started off early, and we were in the corrals before sunrise. In past years, while we’ve started in the dark, it’s been full sunlight before mile 1.25. However, this year, it was dark / cloudy for most of the race. I think it finally became “clear” at about mile 9.5.
But before we got to that point, two bad things happened. One was the arch of my right foot seized; the other was that I dropped one of my nice running gloves (which I didn’t realize until that point. :() While I was in pain from about 3.5 on, Gabe and Doug helped me through it. The Liquid IV that Gabe had brought helped immensely.
What helped me keep going was knowing the work I had put in prior to the race weekend. Even though it hadn’t gone as hoped, I refused to give up and just walk it out. And when it got the worst, having someone say ‘I’ve been trying to catch you for two and a half hours; you’re crushing it’ was a great boost.
As with last year, the crowds helped immensely. Especially in that last mile — not so much for the encouragement, but more for the “accountability”. Even when you’re in pain, it’s much harder to walk (although I had to in places) when a lot of people are watching. 🙂 You find the little extra to run through the pain for a little longer.
I am extremely grateful to Doug and Gabe for guiding and all their support during the weekend, to Catapult for all their support, and friends who helped throughout the weekend (including being feline referees :P)
As I know new people continually find the blog, I wanted to share a little bit of background and context before going forward. If you’ve been following the blog for years, you probably already know parts of this story, as I’ve referenced it several times. 🙂
In early 2014, after Rutgers joined the Big10, I started to receive emails from the Alumni Association about the BTN race in Chicago. While I hadn’t run in years, I decided to give it a try. When that first 5K didn’t “kill” me (although there were some very interesting training sessions early on), I tried a couple of other 5Ks before the end of 2014. I must have seen ads for the 2014 Chicago Triathlon that summer, since one of my running guides was also a triathlete
helped guide me for my first Tri in 2015. Like the BTN race, a triathlon looked like fun from the ads (very nicely done by their marketing department :)).
After settling on the Naperville Sprint Triathlon, Terri (Jacob) helped with finding a local store that would let us borrow a tandem for practice and for the race (Oswego Cyclery — now The Bike Rack Oswego), we started practicing. At the time, the plan was that the Naperville Sprint Triathlon would be a “one and done” race. And then the Shamrock Shuffle happened…
After the first few 5Ks in 2014, I had learned to reach out to the Race Directors (RDs) about being a Visually Impaired (VI) athlete, needing guides, and finding out what was needed. Prior to the Shamrock Shuffle, I was told to find the Athletes With Disabilities (AWD) coordinator in a specific place and was given her name (Keri Serota). During the roughly hour that we were in the tent pre-race, my mom (who was one of my guides) first found out that Keri was the Executive Director for a local ParaTriathlon organization (Dare2Tri), and then told Keri that I was doing my first Triathlon in August 2015.
While I don’t remember the entire conversation that ensued after Keri found that out, I do remember two very specific things — the first being her graciously inviting me to their ParaTriathlon camp in May 2015 (Pleasant Prairie, WI) and the second being that she would not take no for an answer about me showing up. 🙂
So I showed up in Pleasant Prairie, and the rest is history… Ten years later, the Holiday Classic Triathlon was my 100th Triathlon. That number includes both sanctioned and unsanctioned races and indoor, outdoor, and hybrid (pool swim, bike trainer, outdoor run OR pool sim, outdoor bike, outdoor run) races. While there have been some bumps along the way (see the blogs for Leaning Tower, the near drowning at Pleasant Prairie, the 2022 Leon’s T1 breakdown, and the The Woodlands crash blogs for a few examples), there have also been a lot of successes. And ten years in, I’m still learning; I’m still working to improve; and I’m still refusing to give up. But I would not have gotten to 100 races without a LOT of help and support from so many. While I have tried to remember everyone who’s been a part of this journey since 2015, I apologize if I’ve forgotten someone. It is not intentional — I have a good memory, but it’s not photographic. 😀 Also this is solely on the Triathlon side. There are many others that have helped me in other athletic endeavors; I’m just focusing on the Triathlon side (overall or in its core parts as swim, bike, and run — without obstacles :))
-> Dare2Tri: For so many things too numerous to list. But a few include the initial opportunity that helped to change my life, all the different training and race opportunities, and a long list of ways they’ve supported me over the years (including helping with a grant for my tandem).
-> Naperville Noon Lions Club – For providing continual support of my athletic endeavors. They helped to support the very first Dare2Tri camp, and have helped immensely since that point.
-> Oswego Cyclery (now The Bike Rack Oswego) – For providing the tandem so that we could practice and I could race during the firs two years.
-> Coach Joe LoPresto (Experience Triathlon) – For being willing to say yes when Terri asked him about guiding me for that first race, for continuing to help in so many other ways, for helping with swim training, and for keeping the ET Indoor Tri Series going (watch for the 2026 race announcements) while other RDs were still uncertain about what they’d do in 2021.
-> Terri Jacob (Artistic Creations Salon) – For embracing my “crazy” and saying yes when I asked her to be my first triathlon guide, sticking with me during some of the early hard times on the tandem (including the session where in roughly 2 hours I couldn’t get a mount and was ready to just give up), all of the guiding help, and other support.
-> Naperville Running Company – For providing support in so many ways and so many different running opportunities over the years.
-> Team Red, White, and Blue (Team RWB) Chicago – For providing training opportunities in so many different training opportunities. Also on the Triathlon side (Team RWB Triathlon) providing help at the beginning when I was so uncertain about guides, rules as a VI, and other items.
-> Achilles Chicago – For providing many different run training opportunities and standalone running race support.
-> The Bike Rack – For helping to get the CoMotion bike fits done, building the tandem (Erik) and for continually being there as I’ve needed help with the tandem over the years.
-> Hammer Nutrition – For being my first nutrition sponsor, and surprisingly saying yes so early on in my Triathlon career. The support they provided truly helped in those early years.
-> Challenged Athletes Foundation (CAF) – For providing travel grants for so many years. Not being able to drive, this support has helped immensely with all the traveling I do / need to do — for practices, camps, training opportunities, and races. Also for providing the underlying support that has allowed other organizations to support me.
-> Amy Dixon USA (Amy Dixon) – For providing the camps and training opportunities in the San Diego area and an opportunity to be at the USOPTC there (I believe it’s been renamed at this point).
-> USA Triathlon – For providing the opportunities in and around the USOPTC in Colorado Springs and all of the support in general over the years. Also from the Foundation side, providing funding support for a VI-friendly treadmill so that I can train.
-> Catapult – For providing so many training and racing opportunities, continued grants to support swim training, for continually providing opportunities to push the “comfortably uncomfortable” boundary, and so many other things. As I’ve said in prior blogs, the TIR experience (running down a two-lane country road in the dark in “Nowhere”, Texas) and the literal “blind platform diving” (when I couldn’t see the water in the dark) were just two of the key moments related to pushing that boundary.
-> U.S. Association of Blind Athletes (USABA) – For providing support and so many training opportunities — namely, what is officially called the USABA Cycling Camp (which was led by Pam at USOC Colorado Springs) 😉
-> Skratch Labs – For providing support and product to help when I switched over.
-> ParaGuide (Paul Harrold) for guiding and providing training and other support.
-> Chicago Tri Club (CTC) for providing so many different training opportunities over the years.
-> Foreseeable Future Foundation – For providing individual grants and also providing general support for all VIs at different camps and races.
-> HOKA – For partnering with Catapult and generously providing gear at the Welcome2Running camps. I made the switch to HOKAs after that camp for all my shoes and have been tremendously happy that I did. 🙂
-> EliptiGO – For providing equipment that’s helped with my training.
-> All of the coaches – Not just my personal coach (Stacee), but all the different coaches that have helped me to improve, have taught me new things, and have been with me throughout the journey. Even when that journey included doing transition practice in a hail storm… 😀
-> All of the guides – I am truly grateful to a long list of people who have not only shared their time and talents, but have also given up their individual race to be part of helping me. And for being with me during the good, the bad, and the ugly, regardless of what that looked like.
-> My parents – For all of their support over the years in so many ways (including numerous airport runs).
-> A long, long, long list of RDs – For essentially saying “yes, we’d love to have you there. Tell us what you need.” when I did my initial reachout.
-> A long list of fellow athletes – For their support, knowledge, and ideas that have helped me grow both athletically and personally.
-> All of the sponsors behind the camps and races – Triathlon is an expensive sport. None of the camps, races, or training opportunities would have been possible without these companies and organizations providing their support to the events.
-> The volunteers – It truly takes a village to make any of these events happen. Like the sponsors, none of these opportunities would have been possible without so many generously giving their time and volunteering. So PLEASE, as you race, as you’re at a training, as you’re at a camp, say thank you to the volunteers. I know it’s sometimes hard while you’re focused on racing, but even doing it post-race can make a difference to them. Some are helping to keep you going, others are helping to keep you safe, and so many others are behind the scenes.
As one final point on the volunteers, I do want to specifically recognize Ryan Jarvis, who is a Law Enforcement Officer (LEO) somewhere in eastern Indiana. He was part of the “sweeper” crew that kept us safe when the thunderstorms rolled in at Muncie 70.3. I’m truly grateful to him and the rest of the “sweeper” crew, as things could have gone dramatically worse without it. (I was told there was thunder and lightning — I felt the winds and torrential rain).
As the first race was Ten years later, the goal is still to race until a USAT official has to physically pull me off the course in my 80s… That point was inspired by seeing one of the AG Nationals broadcasts where the 80 – 85 AG guys were still crushing it. We’ll see if I make it to 500 before that point does occur. 🙂
As mentioned in August, #100 had been put on hold by Mother Nature. But Tetris pieces fell into place for it to occur in Anthem, AZ.
After a quick bike fit and standard inking (although I had run out of Skratch), we called it an early night.
After getting transition set up, we checked in with Jeremy. As this was a snake swim, he allowed us to start five minutes early to minimize issues with congestion. That worked out really well, and my biggest issue in the pool was the chlorine level…
After a longer than normal T1 (as I had to put on layers since it was < 50), we headed out on the bike. It was a three loop “square” with a pigtail that had lots of hills. They weren’t steep like some of the hills from 2024, but they were long, gradual ones. As I found out later, one of those gradual hills was a full mile…
As we got further into the loops, I became more comfortable and it got “easier”. A sign of that confidence was a full tuck to Paul’s back for a portion of the downhill.
After coming off the bike, T2 took a little longer as I shed some layers in addition to changing (it had warmed up to about 60).
The run was an out-and-back that began in the park and then went along the first mile of the bike course. So this mean hills, lots and lots of hills. I will admit to pushing it too hard when we were a few hundred meters from the turnaround, which led to issues on the way back. But being almost completely downhill on the way back, I made it work.
I am extremely grateful to Paul for guiding, Jeremy for all the support, and so many others for helping to make it a successful weekend! I’ll have a more formal “100 thank you” as the next blug…
If you’re in the Phoenix or Tuscon area, please check out 4Peaks Racing’s events! Can’t say enough good things about my expereince here! 🙂
In the fall of 2022, Spartan offered the just-released Unbreakable Pass to Para athletes. This new pass was an opportunity for athletes to race any Spartan-branded event for just the cost of insurance, bag drop, and parking. The initial term was three years, but it could be renewed for up to a total of nine years.
I had seen the Spartan races over the years, but had never done any prior. But I was interested enough that I accepted the opportunity. And three years later, I’m glad that I did! 🙂
One of the main renewal options is the annual Unbrekable events. For this cycle (2023 – 25), this is the short version of what happened: In 2023 (Granbury), things went sideways with my guide less than thirty days out, and I couldn’t find another one. In 2024 (Florida), school commitments made me have to cancel plans last minute. And in 2025 (Finland), I couldn’t afford the trip or find a sponsor.
During the lead up to Finland, it looked to me like the Finland event covered the full cycle renewal since it was an international event. But as I found out after realizing it wouldn’t work, I clearly misread things. In the end, it was probably for the best that Finland didn’t work out — I’d be in a much worse position if it had…
Once I found out from Jake (Unbreakable Concierge) that I had to do a total of twelve full day shifts to renew the Pass, multiple games of Tetris began…
Fortunately, I had a lot of flexibility this summer, and some this fall. So the math became six at Tough Mudder Chicago (Rockford), four at Spartan Midwest (Attica), and two at Spartan Dallas (Granbury). But as you’ll see below, that plan didn’t fully work out…
As friends and family found out about my “interesting” plans, a few suggested that I either just pay the $1,500 or let the Unbreakable Pass lapse and pay full price in 2026 on. As a starving college student, the first wasn’t logistically possible. Out of respect for Joe, Dan, and so many others within Spartan who have helped me since 2022, the second wasn’t even a thought. In my mind, if I let it lapse, I would have to leave OCR. I wouldn’t be able to face any of them and say ‘you gave me this incredible opportunity and I let it slip away…’
So this is what the journey was:
I am fortunate to have family in the Rockford area. Going in, the plan was to volunteer Tuesday – Friday, race Infinity Saturday, and then volunteer again Sunday and Monday. But when I lost two guides in less than an hour on race week (both due to foot) and couldn’t find another guide, I ended up volunteering Saturday as well.
When I showed up on Tuesday, I could tell that a few people were uncertain about what I could and couldn’t do. But that changed quickly, and we got a lot done that first day.
While the build went smoothly, unfortunately the Paratransit did not. I could understand them having an issue finding base camp Tuesday, or even Wednesday morning. But by the fourth time, they should have known… Thankfully Joseuah (sp?) helped to get that straightened out.
The overall specifics of the build are a blur. I remember being handed a sledgehammer (hey, I didn’t cut my foot when someone handed me an axe last June in VT, so that was safe ;)) to drive rebar, putting up the stage, and putting up umpteen amounts of fence and tents. As a side note, while Spartan merch tents are put up by an external company, the Tough Mudder one was not. That was an interesting experience putting up a tent that large.
On Saturday and Sunday, I was at the finish line handing out medals. So, so, so many medals (I heard the total count was 12K people total). I also talked one of my cousins into volunteering with me on Sunday. In addition to all of the fun of seeing people finish and handing them their medals was getting to hear 15 – 16 hours of Clinton’s continual banter around EST.
One of the other interesting notes from Saturday and Sunday was rediscovering Reign. When I had had it on course, I believed it was horrible. But from the can, it was great — and how I survived (both those days and the rest of the volunteer shifts).
On Monday, two interesting things happened — one good and one bad. The good was that one of the other volunteers offered me a ride home, which saved me about four hours in transit. The bad was that I ended up getting sick after Chicago (with the famous line of ‘I hope I didn’t get you sick’… I’ve already had a few good laughs over that :D)
After Chicago, I had a tight, but solid run of Washington State to West Virginia for TWC. But things got to a point with the illness that I was delirious the Tuesday after Labor Day and had to pull out of TWC. It took me about three weeks to get better, which also meant scratching Attica.
As a result, yet another game of Tetris began…
As I played Tetris, Nashville was one of the closest (#3 being the closest). Having never been to Nashville before, and with the race being in a different county than the airport, this created some logistical issues with Paratransit services.
Also, not knowing the area well enough, I didn’t end up at the best hotels. As an example, I said the words “you’ve got a figurative gun pointed at my head” to the first one, and the second one let their smoke alarm beep for hours. After these experiences, I was willing to just work out for 15 hours (legimate training for a 48 hour race in Feb.) rather than deal with another nightmare. Thankfully, I found a better place for the final night when my body gave out after 3.5 hours on the treadmill…
In regards to the actual volunteering, it was a lot of fun. When I arrived Saturday morning, I met someone who said ‘my name is Steve, but I go by Stove because there are so many Steves’. Without saying anything, I had an idea that that was Steve McDonald — as doing something like that (making life easier for others) is a easy McDonald trait to spot. 🙂 I spent the rest of the day handing out a lot of medals (and shirt tokens) with a large group of people.
While Sunday started out similar to Saturday, a second McDonald found me in the dark. Sadly, I did not recognize it was Don in the dark. 🙁 Although, he shouldn’t feel too bad, as I also didn’t recognize Joe in the light, so… 😀 Sunday was an interesting day on the volunteer side — for most of the first four or five hours, I was on my own at the finish line. And then the “invasion” occurred — about eight or ten JROTC kids showed up, which helped. 🙂
In Chicago, about eighty percent of the festival still needed to be taken down (I know we did tables, chairs, and a few other things) after Sunday. But by the end of Sunday in Nashville, almost everything was down because of all the JROTC kids. I was honestly concerned that there would be nothing to do on Monday and I’d have to play Tetris yet again (San Antonio).
Thankfully, there was still a fair amount of final tear down and packing to do. That Monday was a blur, and all I truly remember was shotgunning Reigns to stay awaks. 😀
With Para World Championships (PWC) being in Orlando, this was the best way to get the final two full-day shifts in.
As in Chicago, ParaTransit had issues finding base camp in Orlando. By the time I finally got there on Monday, the people I had been with in Chicago and Nashville were already out doing the tear down. So I ended up helping out at base camp for Orlando.
It was very touching (and also funny) to see [Person A] say ‘Can I have James?’ and then look forlorne when [Person B] said ‘NO. He’s mine.’ 😀
As I was waiting for my Uber to the hotel, I thought someone from the build team was walking by. I found out a few minutes later that it had actually been Joe. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to walk back to base camp, apologize for not recognizing him (I had seen him for about 60 seconds in VT before he left for Abu Dhabi) and thank him for everything.
After a long day, I had hoped for a restful night. That was not to be, as noise once again interrupted sleep. This time from people partying until 4 AM. But who needs sleep when there’s Reign? 😀 😀
The absolute best part of the volunteer weekend was being invited to be part of the Veteran’s Day video that was done right after lunch on Tuesday. It’s something that I’ll always remember. I also expect “outtake hijinks” to occur on 4/1/26… 😛 😀
While it was not an easy process to renew the Unbreakable Pass, it was well worth doing. I got to meet a lot of great people and make new friends.
Also, if I hadn’t done it, my 2026 OCR season wouldn’t have happened. Not just from the part about having to leave OCR as I mentioned earlier, but out of sheer cost. Right now, I have about twenty Spartan branded events (Spartan, Tough Mudder & DEKA FIT) on the planning calendar.
Without the Unbreakable Pass, with the resources I’ll have for 2026, I would not be able to afford the costs to do these races and continue to challenge myself. So I’m glad I’ll have the Pass for cycle #2 (2026 – 28)!
Words cannot properly express my gratitude to everyone within Spartan who’s helped me to this point. So I will just simply say Thank You.
Here’s to three more years of mutual stalk… um, I mean OCR racing! 😀 😀