Warrior Dash Ohio 2: Carrollton

"The craziest freaking day of my life" turned into one of the most painful as well. Yesterday, I completed my second Warrior Dash in 4 months, and let me just tell you....This one was tough! I have done a lot of things in my life, but this was one of the hardest. Don't get me wrong, running 5k isn't that hard to do. Quite honestly, it is not hard at all. But running 5k, in all mud, up many many hills, over obstacles, more hills, more mud, more muddy hills, and a masses of muddy falling people, and you get the idea. Let me be clear, I didn't really train for this by doing anything other than bike and drink, but still this one kicked my ass much more than the last one. As a matter of fact, the overall fastest time was 9 full minutes slower than the last one I ran. Personally, my time was 17 minutes slower than the last. Mostly because of the mud and hills, but also because of start time. Instead of running with the faster runners, I was lumped with the masses and I spent half the time maneuvering around people who were struggling miserably in the mud and on the obstacles. I guess I should have seen that coming, since I also spent almost two hours in traffic just to go 2 miles. Note to self....if I run again, it will be back in early heat again! The course itself was similar to the last one, but it definitely had more hills! The start was on a downhill, followed by a half lap around the lake. A short chest high wade across the lake with floating logs (caught a couple logs to the chin) and out the other side for another uphill, muddy run. After a painful uphill, a sloppy muddy run through the woods, back up more hills, then started hitting the obstacles. A series of wooden hurdles followed by crawl under barbed wire, then off to another hill! More mud, and then a few more obstacles to complete. A cargo net climb, a wooden wall climb, balance beam, run through the tires , dumpster obstacle (medics were working on some woman here), horizontal rope crossing (too many people at one time on this), another wooden wall climb (especially hard for short people), a steep steep hill climb leading to fire crossing, then the mud crawl for the finish. All of this done while running through more freaking mud! Good Times! Click here for results

Indiana Mountain Biking.....Fast and Fun

The verdict is in....They know how to make mountain bike trails in Indiana!  If you live anywhere near Indiana, you need to try these trails out.  As Ohio residents, we don't get a lot of "flowy" trails.  We have some technical trails, and some hilly trails, but nothing like we experienced this weekend!

Our ride started out with  Versailles State Park, which was one of the best tracks I have ever ridden.  This trail provided 15+ miles of fast and "flowy" trails as well.  The only challenge with this trail system, was that it was extremely dry and dusty.  The corners were extremely loose due to the dryness; however it didn't slow us down too much!  We rode this trail in close to 100 degrees temperature and the humidity was nasty!  With that being said, this place was awesome and 15 miles didn't seem to bother us to bad, although we did push one rider to his limits.

From there we drove another hour west to our next stop and campsite!  Not knowing what to expect, we were pleasantly surprised to see we were sleeping here..Pizza, poker, and beer and oh, 6 hours of pounding rain took us through the night!

Believe it or not, there are actually some decent hills in Indiana; it is not as flat as I had previously thought.  We found this out on Saturday with our next ride at Brown State Park..  These trails are set up so well and flows so fast, that you never really feel like you are climbing.  At Brown County State Park you can easily ride 20 miles with very little pain of climbing, but lots of sweet jumps and fast flowy single track!  However, beware of "Schooner Trail" or Death Valley as I call it.  This bad boy is 4.5 miles of hell!  A double black diamond trail that includes boulders, off camber ridge riding with 50+ foot drops, ridiculous log crossings, boulders,  bridges, briars, sick climbs, sharp switchbacks, more boulders, eroding trails, and oh yeah, even more boulders!  I couldn't even get pictures of this trail because I was to busy cursing, sweating, walking, carrying my bike on back, dodging rocks, watching out for rattle snakes, cursing, and praying that someone would put me out of my misery!


 As tough as Schooner Trail was though, the rest of the the trail was the best I have ever ridden.  The rain Friday night made the trail tacky but still fast and we were able to fly.  We did however, take our fair share of breaks, it was 90+ degrees outside and humid as I have ever felt. 

 
 Even after the climbs, he was still smiling!

Another one with a smile after a climb!

Not sure about this guy.  No smile, just all business!

A tree falls down in the woods, what do they do with it..they just made a bridge out of it! 

 This was an awesome two day ride.  Although every single one of us is in some major pain (cramping, chaffing, bruises, scrapes, and slight dehydration, we all would do it again in a heartbeat.  (except for death valley).  I cannot overstate how sweet these trails are to ride.  If you get the chance,take it, you will not regret it!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It's that time of year again, time to grow another year older! Yesterday was my turn, and I celebrated in style. We generally don't have parties for my birthday, but yesterday my wife put together a little last minute gathering for all of the neighbors to celebrate the big 41! Let me just say, the neighbor peeps are awesome. Although I may piss them off every now and then with my futile attempt at wit, they still came over to celebrate with me! Wifey put together a nice Thai dinner, neighbors brought me over some Cold Miller Lites, kids played in the pool, watched Lebron get his ass kicked and we had a good time! IT WAS A GOOD DAY!

Warrior Dash- Ohio

All I can say is wow! What a freaking unbelievable day! My first Warrior Dash is now complete! Believe it or not, I didn't actually do to bad. Although I didn't set any records for time, I did finish in what appears to be the top 10% of all participants. There are still people on the course today with heats running until 4, but it probably safe to assume time rank will stay consistent!

Me and the boy

The race it self was 3.1 miles long. Not long for most runners, but the real difficulty was the obstacles and the hills. Right out of the gate, tings got difficult. A brutal hill basically separated people quickly and there were many walkers. After what seemed like a mile climb through the woods, there was a slight downhill to our first obstacle, dangling tires. After dodging the swinging tires, we ran some more level ground than another brutal hill. A couple hurdles were up next, followed by some crawl unders. Ran some more, than had to cross a waist high body of water and navigate across floating logs. Out of the water and then on to the junk cars and tire. Up and over the first car, and ride down into the tire maze. This wasn't too bad, bud it did slow people down a bit.

Me and Man Mountain

Balance beam that almost got me!

This guy refused to get hosed down

Scaring little kids!

Cargo Net Climb

The next obstacle was the dark tunnel, crawling on hands and knees in total darkness. Not bad, I made up a lot of time here. Another obstacle we faced was to walk/run/crawl through a series of bungee bands stretched across the trail at various heights and angles. Not difficult, but caused us to slow down. I chose to roll under these a bit, it seemed to go quicker. Next hand to climb a wall with a rope then down other side (easiest obstacle) then crawl over a crossover made by netted rope. This was tough for me to do, I just wasn't sure of the best method. Next big obstacle to climb over was a high cargo net wall (tough and high), followed by balance beam. Almost fell of the balance beam, but regained balance and soldiered on. We ran some more than had to run down a stream about thigh high. Not to bad, but had to watch out for hidden rocks in the water. Out of the creek and a hew hundred feet, then we had to jump over two fire hurdles. The bark was definitely worse than the bite on this one.

I better get down

Got a little tough

At the finish

After all of this, including 3.1 miles of actual running, the big finish presented itself in the form of a mud pit about 75 feet long, and about 2 feet deep! Oh, by the way they had barbed wire strung across so you had to make sure you stayed down in the crawl. Not only was it disgusting, but it was tough. After getting out of the mud, there was a brief sprint to the finish, basically holding up my mud soaked pants. A nice glass of water and a banana were waiting for me at the finish, along with a medal for completing the race! Many beers followed, by an awesome turkey leg!

Little Turkey Leg for the misses

The people were awesome and there were some great costumes! Can't wait for the next one! Who is going to join me?

One Friggin Crazy day- Warrior Dash Ohio

The big day has finally arrived. I am now within 12 hours of my start time for my heat tomorrow morning for this race. I have been training for months since I saw this advertised last winter and decided it was a good thing to. In case you were wondering, my training workout consists of some very aggressive routines.

• -Drink beer. Over and over again. 
• -Occasional bike ride, followed by more beer 
• -I ran 2 miles once, followed by a couple beers 
• -I ran the steps one night, you guessed it, more beer 
• -Chased my son through mud puddles,most likely I was drinking beer 
•  -I fell down my steps once, probably because of too much beer
I have to tell you, I could be the best conditioned beer drinker there tomorrow!

Memorial Day Fun Extravaganza

I apologize for my lack of posts lately, but the last 5 days have kept me quite busy with my family.  Just a little run down of our awesome Memorial Day Holiday weekend!

Friday-  Day off work, pack up family and hit a picnic for the adoption agency in Cleveland!  Awesome time for the kids -bounce house, games, pizza, animals, and great families!

Saturday- Visited the Christmas Story House, then Cleveland Zoo with EAC adoption agency.  Awesome day at the Zoo, beautiful weather, great food, international parade, cool animals, and talented Russian musicians (Moscow Nights); capped off by a nice family dinner out and an evening at the pool.

Sunday- Back in Columbus, sweet day at the pool, followed by spontaneous backyard picnic and beers!  Life is good!

Monday- 8am ride at Dillon State Park, 90 degrees and pain.  Ride was tough, came home battle scarred and beaten.  Not sure who got it worse, me or the bike!  Spent afternoon in the backyard baby pool with my son and his buddies!  Neighbors came over for another cookout!  Cold  beer, steaks, grilled veggies,  corn on the cob, and watermelon!

Tuesday- Another day off!  Woot!  Zoombezi Bay Water park with family.  Unbelievable weather, insane water slides, cool pools, lazy river, cold beer, tasty Pizza and awesome wave pool!  Exhausted 4 year old, and wore out old man!  

Time to rest from mini vacation!

Games and Beers! Awesome!

Legal Drinking and Driving at its Best!

Includes:

• Kegerator
• Two taps
• Leather adjustable seats
• Full force feedback steering wheel
• HD Projector
• Integrated gaming PC
• and a cup holder!

EXTREME AWESOMENOUS!

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/04/16/gamers-delight-beer-fueled-arcade-machine/#ixzz1JjhBAMNb

Alum Creek P2 First lap 2011

Today I was able to finish off my weekend season opener with a 6 mile trip around Alum Creek (p2).  This little jaunt should normally take about 40 minutes, but I had some friends go with me today and it was their first time out for the year, so it took quite a bit longer.  That being said, things were pretty decent.  My legs held up, even though I did 9 miles on Friday morning followed by 24 yesterday.  I can't say the same for my friends, as they did struggle a bit.  Regardless we all had a good time and got some exercise in as well. We had a few crashes, we actually completed a few obstacles previously not attempted, and probably had the laugh of the year.  About 4 miles in, while waiting for friends to catch up, I found a ridge over looking the lake where some Kayaks were hanging out.  From my perch up high, I was able to see they were drinking some beer.  As I sat there, they drank some more, and finally my friends caught up.  Apparently they didn't know we were perched up there, or just didn't care because the blond in the Kayak paddled out to an island, and preceded to drop her drawers.  Although we may have seen the "super moon" last night, I think it is safe to say we saw a better moon today!  Of course, knowing me, I did get pictures, just trying to decide if I should share!    Oh the joys of mountain biking!

Wow, it's gonna be a long day

Back Coves

Rest, one of many

should have saved the energy

conquered first hill

no comment necessary

this bridge curves

Men and their Beer

I like to fish.....

The Big Race...Warrior Dash

So many of you know about my recent decision to run the great "Warrior Dash" coming up this summer. If you don't know what it is, please check the link in this post, or the link below to check it out. Basically, it is a 3 mile run, with a twist. During the run, the warriors will be challenged with a series of obstacles to test our manhood, stamina, strength, agility, stupidity, and alcohol tolerance! I can't wait. I am especially looking forward to the barb wire crawl, the mud swim and the fire jump. Ok, I lied a little. I am really looking forward to the beer drinking that we will be doing after words. The race is in June, so I have some time to train. I thought I would start first with a six pack a day every other day, then up to daily. Then I realized, I would probably be cutting back, so I decided not to train, and just be me!(gulp) (makers mark) Ok, back o the post....


 If you happen to be near Columbus Ohio in early June, stop on by and see us run. I am sure you will have the "best freakin' day of your life" or so they claim. To be honest, I don't know what the hell I am doing this for, but why not. It will be something different. Since we are in the 8 am time slot, I think we may go throw down 15 miles loop at Lake Hope afterwards, then come back and throw a few beers down with the rest of our warrior buddies. Anyone looking for double the pleasure, let us know!