OCR Week # 2 - Tough Mudder Long Island
Approximate Distance: 25 miles
Second week accomplished and I’m still going strong!
This week started out with me leaving Minnesota trying to get to New York a day earlier than planned. I decided to only stop a couple of times. I stopped just outside of Chicago in Joliet and stayed with an old co-worker from my Sac State Aquatic Center days. Thank you Tark for letting me crash with you and your family! Did I mention I also went through a town called Sandwich! I looked for a sticker but I’m assuming all of the stores with them were closed. Believe it or a not Sandwich is a small town! The following night I decided to camp in my truck. I found a really nice campsite called Maumee Campground. Showers were nice and the place was quiet. If I go back through and stay there I will be staying in site 242. More shade and less light at night. The next day I decided to make it to Philadelphia. Out of all my rowing connections Cass was the one that came through for me! Thanks Cass! While I was there I also dropped into Requisite Fitness, home of Crossfit 215. They were awesome! Huge space! They had just moved in and are still putting the place together. That being said, I am going to be interested to see what it looks like when they are done!
At this point I wasn’t really in a hurry. Phily is only a couple hours from NYC. My reason for pushing my schedule was for an awesome reason. I had the privilege of visiting Tough Mudder Head Quarters in Brooklyn. What a great experience! Thank you to Eric Botsford aka: E Rock for giving me the opportunity to experience Tough Mudder from the inside. I got to check out where all of the creativity stems from. I also got to check out the Tough Mudder Boot Camp gym! It’s awesome! Nice work and it will be fun to see how that progresses. I even got the opportunity to meet the man himself, Will Dean! From the short conversation we had I could tell he is a committed person with everyone’s best interests in mind. I got to meet so many people and see how everything is created! Thanks TMHQ for the opportunity to visit!
That night I also got to catch up with an old friend from our high school rowing days. Jason has been living in NYC for many years. He’s a great guy and let me crash on his couch for the night! We got to catch up on a whole lot of things. He’s doing well living the New York life. Jason, thank you very much for all of your hospitality.
I decided to drop-in to Crossfit NYC, The Black Box, for the 6am class. The WOD was a little gem called “Airforce”. To sum it up, it is 5 burpees every minute and in between the burpees you have 20 reps of 5 different movements with a 95lb bar. You’re not done until your done with all of the movements. The burpees are just a bonus. I figured it’s all good training. Looking back, I probably should of scaled it a little bit considering what I had planned for the weekend but where’s the fun in that?!
Jason and I grabbed breakfast and at this point I figured it was Friday and I didn’t have a real schedule set I would do touristy things. Mainly I just wanted to see One World Tower and the 9-11 memorial fountains. I did the basic trip to the observation area and learned what I could from that. Did you know that the tower with the spire is 1776 feet tall? That doesn’t make it the tallest building in the world but as it was explained, the building was built in remembrance for our country and was built for the American people. Even the elevator ride to the top was cool. The elevators have screens on all sides and as you go up they take you through the evolution of New York from before anything until now. It only takes a few seconds to get to the top and then you’re funneled into another waiting area before they let you out to the observation deck. The waiting area is not what you expect. It’s a darkened room and you face one side. They show a short video about NYC and at the very end the wall lifts revealing New York. It’s a great view and you only get it for a split second. If you go have your camera ready! It’s not that you won’t have another chance at great views but this one is a good one. I spent some time here. Not really taking pictures but more just soaking up the experience. I need to take more pictures. I guess that’s something I need to work on. I really enjoy watching others enjoy their experiences. I’m an avid people watcher. It may sound creepy but we all do it. After I spent a good time looking at NY from above I decided that I needed to come out of the clouds and see everything from the ground. The fountains were next. If you don’t know, there are two fountains on each of the sites where the World Trade Center once stood. It’s very moving. I’ve been to New York before the towers fell, not shortly after they fell and now. To see the evolution from greatness to loss and then to rebuild is very moving. I remember standing and just staring at the hole in the ground that used to be the World Trade Center. Words cannot explain that feeling. Loss, pain, sadness, and just pure sorrow were all around. There were memorials written on the security gate that surrounded the site. I didn’t take pictures then out of a respect for all that lost their lives. As I walked around the fountains there is a feeling of rebirth and pride. The names of those that were lost are all around the fountains. There are flowers and there is a huge amount of respect by the people visiting. The fountains are in the park that surrounds One World Tower. There is also a memorial museum that holds pieces from the original tower and just an education experience. I didn’t go in because I unfortunately had some computer work to do. That was my time at the new tower. I would highly recommend it.
The next couple hours were spent in a Starbucks because I needed some internet time. I don’t think you need to hear about that. The only thing I’ll say is that coming from Texas and sitting in that much AC for that long is not fun. I have never shivered in a coffee shop before. First time experience for everything I guess.
Following my Starbucks/Icebox experience I decided that a true New York experience was complete until I ate a hotdog in Times Square. That was exactly what I did. I took the subway. I love the subway. So much fun to watch people. I’m sure if I lived here it wouldn’t be as fun, but I don’t, so it is. Walked around Times Square long enough to soak it in and eat my overpriced hotdog. Was it worth it? Sure was!
Saturday! Let’s get to the Tough Mudder! I signed up for the Tougher Mudder on Saturday. The Tougher is plain and simple a timed version of a regular Tough Mudder. I really enjoyed it! I met some new friends from the Worlds Toughest Mudder Facebook page and ran with them for portions of the race. I’m not sure how I did in placing but to me that doesn’t matter. It’s all about experience and my experience was a good one. There are benefits to running the Tougher. Mainly, there are no real lines on any of the obstacles. Second, you get a Tougher Mudder headband! Following my first time through the course I decided, for training purposes, to do a second lap. I wanted to do this last weekend but that wasn’t going to happen. So, I got a snack and headed out with some new-found friends on the course. Starting with others that have already done a lap and are planning on three for the day is fun. There is no real immediate hurry and everyone understands the obstacles. It’s also a chance to learn from experienced people on how to approach each event. The second lap was going well right up until about lap 5ish. Then my right knee decided to try and tighten up. I took it easy while trying to keep up with some WTM people. I will say that Arctic Enema was a welcome obstacle when it came to cooling off and icing down some sore legs. I wanted to stay in for a little bit but they wouldn’t let me. I got through the course for the second time. For my first time going through the course twice in one day I will have to say it was a learning experience. I learned more about fueling my system and what is going to work. I also learned about some weaknesses that I need to work on in between events. Stretching is always a thing and it’s something I’ve been doing. Apparently I need to do more. I spent that night eating, a lot, and stretching. I’ve discovered that a good go to meal for me between days is chicken, rice, and avocado. I add soy sauce to replenish salt. I will also eat some fruits and vegetables for more hydration and natural sugars. Over-all it may seem like a lot but remember how big I am and how much I did for the day.
Sunday!! Sunday was definitely a fun day. Tough Mudder was only able to offer a half. I joined the WTM group again for the first wave of the day. Running a half is fun. It’s a bit of a different mindset than the full. Not bad, just different. Tough Mudder takes out some of the harder obstacles and since it’s a half it’s obviously only half the distance. As a group, we decided it would be a good idea to each help 100 mudders over obstacles if they needed it. This made the day that much better. To help people overcome fears and challenge themselves was very fulfilling. It reminded me much of my coaching days. The only difference was you have a very short time to impact someone’s day. I’m hoping I did that for the people I spoke with or helped. I only ran one lap but that one was fun. My knee wasn’t happy with me but I survived. Hung out with my new friends following our time on the course. We enjoyed our beer and all of the samples that were around. Talked about past events, our upcoming future events, and experiences we’ve had. When it was time a good group of us walked out together. I got hugs (I love hugs) from new friends and we went on our way. I will see some of them again in the not too distant future at the Tough Mudder in Western NY.
Excited to move on to the next event. Next stop. Asheville!
