27 December, 2012
Another Thursday Special
Priddis Music is planning to release a new music video each Thursday. That's pretty cool, seeing as I'm the one they've asked to post, annotate, edit, and keep track of stats for each video.
This is the latest from Priddis. :)
14 December, 2012
It's Taylor Swift and I Helped!
The recording studio where I work is producing music videos for promotion for local artists and their performance tracks. Here is one we just released! It's an acoustic cover of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble"
It features Maddie Wilson as the vocalist and VanLadyLove as the band backing her. Fun stuff!
It features Maddie Wilson as the vocalist and VanLadyLove as the band backing her. Fun stuff!
24 October, 2012
The Muddy Conclusion
Here's the video that Tough Mudder made. They make one for each event. Pause at 00:15 and you'll see me. :) (Upside down...)
15 October, 2012
When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Muddy! (pt 2)
For my avid followers (all 2 of you) you will know that this last weekend was the event of a lifetime. I participated in the TOUGH MUDDER! (Most of the pictures below are ones of random people that I borrowed from Tough Mudder on facebook. I will post some of me later.)
Tough Mudder markets their event as "10-12 miles of hell" and that's about what it was. This was the most awesome, fulfilling, difficult, unique thing I have ever done. And the most painful by far. Was it worth it? Words cannot express how "worth it" it was.
I will, below, give a review of the event overall, as well as a review of each obstacle. The first (ish) paragraph of each obstacle will be my personal feelings and thoughts. For those of you reading this for tips, pay attention to the second (ish) paragraph of each review.
Saturday morning I woke up at 4 AM and drove to my friend Nathanael's house for breakfast of eggs and toast. At 5, we met up with his Army buddies and took off for Tooele, UT. I, myself, am not military, which is obvious when you compare my level of fitness to that of my teammates. But, as you will see, they were very helpful and understanding through the entire ordeal.
We arrived at the course at roughly 7 AM. It was windy and a balmy 45 degrees. Needless to say, we were cold and shivering while we jumped and danced and stretched for an hour, trying to keep warm.
Our heat started at 8:20. By now, thankfully, the sun had come out and was warming us through our dry-fit clothes. I will explain later how the clothing was essential for my success.
Tips for clothing: I was wearing cross-trainer shoes with good grip, but also very light-weight and good for running. I would DEFINITELY suggest running shoes for this, but get some that are worn in and that you can thrash, but that have good traction.
I wore thin, acrylic "church" socks underneath a pair of cotton/poly Adidas ankle/compression socks. This helped protect from blisters, and helped my feet dry quickly, but also have some cushion.
I then wore a pair of compression boxer briefs (kept me warm and dried quickly) with a pair of running shorts.
My next genius idea was the neoprene wetsuit vest I wore. I purchased this for $40 on Amazon and it saved my life. Keep in mind, this was a cold event with cold water. The vest, coupled with a long-sleeve dry-fit shirt was what made this outfit work.
We all wore a white T-Shirt over the top with our team name and call-sign. (Never wear cotton for a cold event, btw. Bad idea)
I also wore cheap rubberized gloves that I had cut the tips off of. There is a lot of debate as to whether you should wear gloves or not. I vote for them, as you will see later on.
We all started with a cheer and a sprint out into the crisp, sunny morning. One half-mile later, we came to the first obstacle.
Kiss Of Mud #1:
This was, by far one of the hardest events for me. It seemed so easy... Army-crawl through mud under barbed wire. Simple, right? No Sir. This one was a gasser. By the time I got out on the other side, I was so tired that the next 2 miles were sheer torture to run.
I would recommend working your obliques and other core muscles for this one. Make sure you can easily army crawl for a good 50 feet without getting winded, or this one will hurt... As it did me.
After another 1/4 mile came the most dreaded event any of us could imagine...
The Arctic Enema:
I had prepared mentally for this one, but I was still scared out of my gourd. They take a large, industrial-sized dumpster (you know, the kind people use when some old guy dies in his house and they have to clear out all of his junk and newspapers he's kept since the 30's?) and they fill it up 3/4 of the way with water. The last 1/4 they fill with, ready? ICE. The website says they like to keep the water at a pleasant 34 degrees. Oh, they also put a bright coloring agent in there, just to make it fun! Yay!
I will be honest, just the thought of plunging into ice water when it was 45 degrees outside made me chill. But it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I ran up the ladder to my teammates cheering and Nathanael saying we'd do it together. We jumped in, I gasped and hyperventilated a bit, sucked it up, and pushed my head under the water (under a wooden beam you must swim under) and came out on the other side. My muscles were beginning to cramp a little, but the adrenaline was pumping so fiercely that I didn't even notice. Oh, don't get me wrong, it was COLD! But I was in an out so fast that it didn't do nearly the damage I thought it would. (Thank goodness I had that wetsuit on.) I warmed back up pretty quickly once I started jogging again, considering the sun was out.
I would definitely recommend a wetsuit if you are running this in the cold. Otherwise, just suck it up and jump in. If you can bring yourself to do it, it may be a good idea to "shallow dive" in, so that when you come up and start hyperventilating, you're already on the other side of the bar, and don't have to psych yourself up to go under again. That's an untested theory, so don't blame me if you die.
After another brutal run up and down the sides of various ravines, we were easily warmed back up. The majority of the running track was an ATV track, so it was fairly well-marked and packed down; however, it was also very hilly.
By this point, I was already pretty tired, and was still hurting from the Kiss of Mud. Then came the walls.
Berlin Walls #1:
Two 10 ft walls over which you must climb. This was fairly straightforward, but would have been impossible for me, had I not had such an awesome team. The boosted me, and I was up and over. On the second wall, I was a little careless as I straddled the top, and may have injured my... well, let's just say I was in pain for a few minutes after that.
These would be easy for anyone who can do multiple pull-ups. Make sure to let yourself down gently and then drop from a hanging position. Do not jump off or go too quickly. Many ankles have been bested on these walls.
A short run later, we came to the first aid station where there was water, and then another run to the next event.
Bale Bonds:
A stack of round hay bales that were loose and muddy. Not too difficult, just up and over.
Either take a running start and just go for it, or take it slowly and find sure footing. Either way is fine. Just don't "slide" down the other side. I did this, and was rewarded with a "crack-full" of hay. Not comfortable...
Hold Your Wood:
Grab some wood and run/walk a quarter mile. I was with my team, so we grabbed a long log and carried it together. This one was pretty rough for me, being that I was easily the tallest person on the team. This meant that I was either carrying most of the weight myself or I was walking on my "haunches" (squatted down a little... This is VERY tiring, very quickly) so, I did the best I could and I helped as people switched sides and whatnot.
My favorite part was a sign saying "Spartan Race ends here. But this is the Tough Mudder, and you have just begun!"
Pretty simple stuff. Make sure you can carry something heavy. If you're on your own, you'll be carrying a smaller section of log. Switch positions and carrying styles to work different muscles and reduce fatigue.
The next running section was different. This is where the trail ran off course. We began running through sagebrush and gopher holes. Also strewn about were various animal skeletons and other debris. The next event was:
Kiss Of Mud #2:
Again, same deal here. This was a gasser. The mud wasn't nearly as wet here though, and it was basically just cold, damp dirt. But the run to the next event was just as hard after completion.
There was another aid station here. They had water and bananas, which was a huge help. Next up:
King Of The Mountain:
I will admit, I was disappointed by this one. It was a 4-tiered "ziggurat" of square hay bales. Again, up and over. Not too hard or creative. I can't say I wasn't happy though, as I was pretty dang tired by this point. I had run myself to the point where my vision was swimming and I couldn't see straight. How far were we? Oh, about 4 miles. Not even close to being done yet.
Again, try not to slide down the other side. Hay in shorts=uncomfortable
After a run that almost did me in, came:
Trench Warfare:
This was actually kind of nice. We went down on hands and knees into trenches just big enough to crawl though. It was dark, cool, and quiet; this was different from everything so far, so it was a nice break.
A little scary if you're claustrophobic, but not bad for me. At one point, I did "wedge" myself in there with my butt on the ceiling and my knees in the dirt, but un-wedging was pretty easy.
Don't panic. If you can't stand small spaces, go around this one. It wasn't muddy, but it was cramped. Try to stay close to your team or the person in front of you, and ask if you can hold on to their ankles. There are some turns, so watch out.
Also, if you start getting tired of crawling, turn onto your back. You can then use your legs to push yourself through and use your hands to grip the sides and ceiling. This was a nice change for me about halfway through. Again, works your core muscles. Wear knee-pads if you're concerned about rocks. Tooele is just dust though, so it wasn't bad.
Dirty Ballerina:
This one is described as being 4-ft wide trenches filled with mud, over which you must jump. What it ended up being was actually 6-ft trenches filled with muddy water, into which you must jump, then slog to the other side and pull yourself out onto a muddy platform. This process was repeated about 8 times, I think.
By this point, I was ready to keel over. About halfway through this obstacle, I wobbled and almost fell down or passed out, or whatever. But I just kept on going. After what I had paid for this and how long I had trained, I wasn't going to quit or whine just because I was tired. Just keep on pushing...
Again, a very helpful event to have team members for. You'll be grateful when they are there to pull you out of each trench. Also, return the favor. Turn around the help the guy behind you. You'll get some extra energy and good karma. :)
This was about the halfway point. However, the
second half was not nearly as easy as the first.
After another aid station (water and "Sharkies" electrolyte gummies) and another mile of jog/walking, came:
Lumberjacked:
This one wasn't too bad. They had 4 logs (looooong ones) set up on stilts. You had to jump and grab on, then swing your body over. Each one was progressively higher than the one before it. Roughly 4 ft high, then 5, then 6, etc. I'm guessing here, I don't know how high they were, but I made it through without too much trouble, and was onto the next event.
Just be careful coming down. Don't want any busted ankles or anything.
After Mile 7 was the next obstacle.
Electric Eel:
This is the first of two obstacles involving live wires which hang down and randomly zap you at arbitrary intervals. I was so scared and excited and exhausted by this point, that I knew I wouldn't make it through unless I just went for it. I threw myself under the barbed wire. There was a "slip-n-slide"-like barrier of plastic and the second half was filled with water. This made moving along actually quite easy and didn't kill my core nearly as much. I think I got zapped on my calf, but if I did, I didn't feel it. I was moving so fast and so pumped full of adrenaline that I made it to the other end, not even knowing whether I'd been shocked or not.
These wires carried up to 10,000 volts, but that honestly doesn't mean anything unless you take Amps into account as well. I have no idea, but I'm told it was like a heavy shock from a wall outlet.
The water felt great at this point, as I was quite hot from the sun and the wetsuit. But then, it clouded over. "Cue the shivering cold!"
Balls To The Wall:
This was a new, "mystery" event. Each Mudder course has one or two obstacles which they just throw on you as a surprise. Yay! I love surprises!
This was a 30 ft wall, which tapered at the top, and had a few 1X4's nailed to it for grip. There were ropes with knots hanging down, draped across the top. You had to time yourself so that you went up as the other person went down, or you'd end up falling a bit as they let go on the other side. This was tiring, and a bit scary, as it was fairly high up, but I made it through without any real hitches.
This was one of a few events where the gloves came in very handy. The ropes were coarse and the wood was rough. Even with the gloves, when I got down, my hands were on fire and throbbing from the ropes and gripping the wood and whatnot. My hands were pretty cold at this point, so they would have been hurting anyway, but the gloves GREATLY reduced the pain. I ended up taking them off from time to time though, to let my hands dry and warm up.
Mud Mile:
This obstacle was one of my favorites. Though I was winded, dead, sore, and exhausted, this obstacle was the best show of teamwork and camaraderie I had seen up to this point. There were-- maybe 10?-- mud hills, separated by trenches full of, you guessed it, freezing, muddy water. The ONLY way to complete this event was with teamwork. I jumped in, and slogged over to the first hill. The only way to do this was to jump as high as you could and hope the person at the top of the hill could grab your slick, muddy hand and hold on long enough for you to pull yourself onto the hill. Then between the two, or three, or four, of you, pull yourself to the top, and back down into the next trench. What seemed like an eternity later, we pulled ourselves out of the last muddy trench and moved onward.
PLEASE clip your fingernails prior to this event. Okay, having said that, the best way to grip a muddy hand is NOT the "man handshake" way that most would think. Grip the person you are helping or that is helping you, like you're about to have a thumb-war. This was the only way we could get a firm grip with all the slippery mud and water. Gloves helped little here, because everything was caked in mud anyway. Also, make sure to tie your shoes TIGHT before this obstacle.
Just after mile 8 was the dreaded...
Boa Constricter:
I was scared to death of this one... until I got there. By the time I got here, I was too exhausted to be scared. Ready? Throw yourself into a 30 ft tube, just big enough to "slither" into. Then pull yourself down into cold water, and out of the pipe. I was now floating in ice-cold water on my stomach. I pulled myself over to the next pipe, forced myself down and into it, the water coming up to my neck. Then, hyperventilating, up through the pipe and out. Doesn't sound too bad, but it was harder than it looked.
You can employ the same tactic here as in "trench warfare." If you like, flip onto your back to use your legs to push you along the pipe. You won't need to do this on the way down, because you basically slide into the water. However, it is slick on the way up, so it becomes difficult to maneuver your way out.
Here again was another water and banana stop, sorely needed at this point. Granted, my water had almost as much mud in it as the tranches, but I drank it down anyway. Then another mile of run/walking. At this point, it was getting pretty chilly as the sun had disappeared behind the cloud cover. One of our teammates became a casualty as he had to leave for the First Aid tent where they took his temperature at 90 degrees. He was shaking uncontrollably and was given an IV and a blanket. He was a trooper though, and we totally count him among the Tough Mudders. He was leading our team almost the whole time.
After another long run was:
Berlin Walls #2:
The second installment of this obstacle was no second-cousin.. We're talking the 12 ft Grand-daddy. On this one, there was a small "ledge" (probably an inch or less) on which you could try and stand while your teammates boosted you up until I could pull myself over. We then had to straddle the wall and reach down to help the next person up. This was not as easily done either, as we were all shivering and cold by this point.
After dropping down on the other side, which killed our feet, we repeated the process on another wall.
Again, gloves made this so much easier on my already throbbing hands. Also at this point, I was thanking my lucky stars I had on my vest, as everyone else was shivering like crazy.
We had very little time to warm up by jogging before we came to something very demotivating...
Cliffhanger:
This is a steep, MUDDY hill where the only way to make it up is to form chains of people and slowly inch your way up. Also, at the bottom is a HUGE, neck-high trench of water. Just to make sure you're extra good and muddy and cold. We waited in line for this one for a bit and noticed that the bottom 10 feet of the hill had been eroded so far, that there was NO grip at all. The line was beginning to back up and we were left the shivering, cold, tired, and demotivated. This is when they gave us a ray of light. The dropped a cargo net about 15 feet or so down the hill. Now all we had to do was get high enough to grab on and we could pull ourselves up. Also, they began blasting "Eye Of The Tiger". This was enough to motivate and pump up anyone! We all splashed into the water and just pushed ourselves up the hill. Good stuff. That was fun.
When you use a cargo net, pull yourself up by your hand, then place your feet int the net where your hands were. This will prevent you from tripping yourself and will ensure your feet have something to hold onto.
After mile 10, another water and banana station, and many tired, shivering people, we came to the next obstacle.
Funky Monkey:
This obstacle apparently has an 80-90% fail rate. It is a set of monkey bars suspended above, yep, freezing cold water. The bars incline and then decline like an upside-down "v". Also,they do us the favor of buttering (literally) and greasing them up. Also, some of the bars spin freely. Also, this event is toward the end when everyone's already shot. Can you blame me for just jumping into the water and swimming across? A couple other people on my team did before me, so I knew if they couldn't do it, I couldn't. That doesn't mean the water was any less inviting or easy to cross.
If you do attempt this one, I have heard that keeping your arms at a 90 degree angle and bicycle-kicking your way through is a good way to get across. Keep a firm, tight grip. Some people also try to do it sideways or they use the wood instead of the bars. However you choose, good luck!
Just the Tip:
The name of this one is obviously meant to be sarcastic. I walked up to it, knowing it would end with me in the water. You must "sidle" along a wall, with only an inch or so for your toes to grip (covered in mud, of course.) and only 2 inches of a ledge for your fingers to hold onto. Halfway in, this little walkway reduces to about a half inch or so. Rendering crossing next to impossible. Most people, including me, just fall in at this point. BTW, the water was more than 6 feet deep here. I fell in and had nothing to push off of, and just had to tread water to the edge. This was the perfect moment for my left thigh to begin cramping. I pulled myself out and stretched it and continued running.
I later saw some people climb up onto the top of this one. They used the "handrail" for their feet and just held on to the top of the wall. Watch for nails though!
Wounded Warrior Carry:
Luckily, for me, not him, there was a small guy on our team. You have to pick up a fellow team member and carry him about 100 yards, then you switch and he carries you. I got the small guy, but he was Army Tough and carried me first. Like a champ. No issues here, just had to push through it.
They recommend a "fireman carry" here, but piggy back was easier for me...
Walk The Plank:
This one was fun. Hard, but fun. Much like "Balls to the wall", I had to climb up a wall with very little grip. No ropes this time, but it was angled a little. After some teammate help and much grunting and straining, I pulled myself onto a platform looking down on a pool of water... 20 feet down. Doesn't sound that far? You get up there in the cold wind with mud in every orifice of your body and every muscle screaming in protest, and you tell me it doesn't look far. Well, all that was left to do... was jump... So I did. Plunging into the freezing water below, struggling to get back up, take a gasping breath, and pull yourself to shore. :)
My only advice here is don't be a jerk. Help the people behind you and then turn off your brain. Just jump. Don't think. Just jump.
Everest:
Don't you dare judge me. I skipped this one. Honestly? As if the sight of a 15ft high quarter pipe that has been muddied, greased, buttered, and wetted doesn't sound daunting enough... The line was WAY too long. there people making 5th and 6th attempts at this. Not even my Army Tough teammates thought this one looked like a good idea. Probably just an injury waiting to happen.
Don't let my weakness keep you back. They say to make a chain of mudders up the pipe to get the top person there, then everyone runs up and grabs for your hands... Good luck is all I can say.
The running is pretty much over. The finish line is in sight... We're at 11.5 miles and ready to collapse in a pile of blankets and protein shakes... when you see it...
Electroshock Therapy:
Dun Dun DUN! Okay, this one gets a lot of publicity. Again, 10,000 Volts means nothing unless you know the amperage. But I will tell you this. Hearing the "arc"ing of the shocks and seeing my friend Nathanael go down at the very beginning of this obstacle was enough to make me have serious doubts... (He practically ate a bale of hay and blacked out for a good 2 seconds before he got back up and finished.)
This obstacles consists of a stretch of mud with two rows of hay bales. Blocking your view of the finish line here are hundreds of yellow, live wires hanging down and waving, ever so innocently, in the breeze.
I made a dire mistake here. I hesitated... Every obstacle up to this point, I kept telling myself there was no way I could or would do it, but by the time I got to it, I just turned off my brain, didn't think about it, and dove in. Then, by the time I realized what I was doing, I was already halfway through it, so I had to finish.
For this one? Not so, Electro...
I finally steeled myself and took a running start. I hopped the first bale of hay and felt something sting my shoulder. It hurt. A lot. But I kept running. Or so I thought. Within 2 seconds of the sting, my legs had buckled and my body convulsed as I crumpled into the mud. I laid there for a second, knowing if I got back up, there would be more to follow. I tried to pull myself up onto my hands and knees, but another smack of charged electrons sent me back down into the mud. That one hurt even more. (I have a welt! How cool is that?!) So, I decided that army crawling my way out was the best course of action. I pulled myself over the lip of mud and slid down into a pile of more mud. I laid there groaning and turned onto my back and, for a good 5 seconds... just wallowed. It felt so good to lie there in the mud.... But I couldn't for long, because the finish line was just feet away. I got up and crossed to a cheering team and a volunteer donning me with my own bright orange headband.
It was over.
My first advice is just run as fast as you can. Electricity affects everyone differently and some people barely feel anything, while others black out. If you're not tough enough, then don't do it. But remember, you payed a lot of money and trained a long time for this. Don't let your fears overcome your ability to push yourself. The reward is great.
Try to take long strides. The more your feet are in the air, the less the electricity will want to "ground" to you. Also, do not open your mouth... I saw a guy get shocked in the teeth... That can't have been fun.
This was awesome. There were people standing everywhere, running to our aid as we crossed. There was a flash of emergency blankets, protein shakes, free goodies, and showers as I made my way, slowly and tenderly, back to the truck.
I can't thank my team enough for sticking it out with me and letting me keep up. They cheered me, they boosted me, and they didn't give up on me. They are the reason this was such a blast. It was NOT easy and it was very painful. But this experience taught me something about myself, which I knew it would. I can push through anything if I just have the mindset to do so.
I would do this event again and again. I'm definitely signing up for next year. This time, it'll be in June though. That'll be nice.
Tough Mudder markets their event as "10-12 miles of hell" and that's about what it was. This was the most awesome, fulfilling, difficult, unique thing I have ever done. And the most painful by far. Was it worth it? Words cannot express how "worth it" it was.
I will, below, give a review of the event overall, as well as a review of each obstacle. The first (ish) paragraph of each obstacle will be my personal feelings and thoughts. For those of you reading this for tips, pay attention to the second (ish) paragraph of each review.
Saturday morning I woke up at 4 AM and drove to my friend Nathanael's house for breakfast of eggs and toast. At 5, we met up with his Army buddies and took off for Tooele, UT. I, myself, am not military, which is obvious when you compare my level of fitness to that of my teammates. But, as you will see, they were very helpful and understanding through the entire ordeal.
We arrived at the course at roughly 7 AM. It was windy and a balmy 45 degrees. Needless to say, we were cold and shivering while we jumped and danced and stretched for an hour, trying to keep warm.
 |
| My Team! From left to right: Shaun "Grizzly" Adams, Myself ("Argonaut"), Duke "Nukem", Nathanel "Nith-Animal" Hall, and Brady "Bean Pole" Ludden in front. |
Tips for clothing: I was wearing cross-trainer shoes with good grip, but also very light-weight and good for running. I would DEFINITELY suggest running shoes for this, but get some that are worn in and that you can thrash, but that have good traction.
I wore thin, acrylic "church" socks underneath a pair of cotton/poly Adidas ankle/compression socks. This helped protect from blisters, and helped my feet dry quickly, but also have some cushion.
I then wore a pair of compression boxer briefs (kept me warm and dried quickly) with a pair of running shorts.
My next genius idea was the neoprene wetsuit vest I wore. I purchased this for $40 on Amazon and it saved my life. Keep in mind, this was a cold event with cold water. The vest, coupled with a long-sleeve dry-fit shirt was what made this outfit work.
We all wore a white T-Shirt over the top with our team name and call-sign. (Never wear cotton for a cold event, btw. Bad idea)
I also wore cheap rubberized gloves that I had cut the tips off of. There is a lot of debate as to whether you should wear gloves or not. I vote for them, as you will see later on.
We all started with a cheer and a sprint out into the crisp, sunny morning. One half-mile later, we came to the first obstacle.
 |
| I'm behind Duke and Nathanael is somewhere up front. |
Kiss Of Mud #1:
This was, by far one of the hardest events for me. It seemed so easy... Army-crawl through mud under barbed wire. Simple, right? No Sir. This one was a gasser. By the time I got out on the other side, I was so tired that the next 2 miles were sheer torture to run.
I would recommend working your obliques and other core muscles for this one. Make sure you can easily army crawl for a good 50 feet without getting winded, or this one will hurt... As it did me.
After another 1/4 mile came the most dreaded event any of us could imagine...
The Arctic Enema:
I had prepared mentally for this one, but I was still scared out of my gourd. They take a large, industrial-sized dumpster (you know, the kind people use when some old guy dies in his house and they have to clear out all of his junk and newspapers he's kept since the 30's?) and they fill it up 3/4 of the way with water. The last 1/4 they fill with, ready? ICE. The website says they like to keep the water at a pleasant 34 degrees. Oh, they also put a bright coloring agent in there, just to make it fun! Yay!
I will be honest, just the thought of plunging into ice water when it was 45 degrees outside made me chill. But it was not as bad as I thought it would be. I ran up the ladder to my teammates cheering and Nathanael saying we'd do it together. We jumped in, I gasped and hyperventilated a bit, sucked it up, and pushed my head under the water (under a wooden beam you must swim under) and came out on the other side. My muscles were beginning to cramp a little, but the adrenaline was pumping so fiercely that I didn't even notice. Oh, don't get me wrong, it was COLD! But I was in an out so fast that it didn't do nearly the damage I thought it would. (Thank goodness I had that wetsuit on.) I warmed back up pretty quickly once I started jogging again, considering the sun was out.
I would definitely recommend a wetsuit if you are running this in the cold. Otherwise, just suck it up and jump in. If you can bring yourself to do it, it may be a good idea to "shallow dive" in, so that when you come up and start hyperventilating, you're already on the other side of the bar, and don't have to psych yourself up to go under again. That's an untested theory, so don't blame me if you die.
After another brutal run up and down the sides of various ravines, we were easily warmed back up. The majority of the running track was an ATV track, so it was fairly well-marked and packed down; however, it was also very hilly.
By this point, I was already pretty tired, and was still hurting from the Kiss of Mud. Then came the walls.
Berlin Walls #1:
Two 10 ft walls over which you must climb. This was fairly straightforward, but would have been impossible for me, had I not had such an awesome team. The boosted me, and I was up and over. On the second wall, I was a little careless as I straddled the top, and may have injured my... well, let's just say I was in pain for a few minutes after that.
These would be easy for anyone who can do multiple pull-ups. Make sure to let yourself down gently and then drop from a hanging position. Do not jump off or go too quickly. Many ankles have been bested on these walls.
A short run later, we came to the first aid station where there was water, and then another run to the next event.
Bale Bonds:
A stack of round hay bales that were loose and muddy. Not too difficult, just up and over.
Either take a running start and just go for it, or take it slowly and find sure footing. Either way is fine. Just don't "slide" down the other side. I did this, and was rewarded with a "crack-full" of hay. Not comfortable...
Hold Your Wood:
Grab some wood and run/walk a quarter mile. I was with my team, so we grabbed a long log and carried it together. This one was pretty rough for me, being that I was easily the tallest person on the team. This meant that I was either carrying most of the weight myself or I was walking on my "haunches" (squatted down a little... This is VERY tiring, very quickly) so, I did the best I could and I helped as people switched sides and whatnot.
My favorite part was a sign saying "Spartan Race ends here. But this is the Tough Mudder, and you have just begun!"
Pretty simple stuff. Make sure you can carry something heavy. If you're on your own, you'll be carrying a smaller section of log. Switch positions and carrying styles to work different muscles and reduce fatigue.
The next running section was different. This is where the trail ran off course. We began running through sagebrush and gopher holes. Also strewn about were various animal skeletons and other debris. The next event was:
Kiss Of Mud #2:
Again, same deal here. This was a gasser. The mud wasn't nearly as wet here though, and it was basically just cold, damp dirt. But the run to the next event was just as hard after completion.
There was another aid station here. They had water and bananas, which was a huge help. Next up:
King Of The Mountain:
I will admit, I was disappointed by this one. It was a 4-tiered "ziggurat" of square hay bales. Again, up and over. Not too hard or creative. I can't say I wasn't happy though, as I was pretty dang tired by this point. I had run myself to the point where my vision was swimming and I couldn't see straight. How far were we? Oh, about 4 miles. Not even close to being done yet.
Again, try not to slide down the other side. Hay in shorts=uncomfortable
After a run that almost did me in, came:
Trench Warfare:
This was actually kind of nice. We went down on hands and knees into trenches just big enough to crawl though. It was dark, cool, and quiet; this was different from everything so far, so it was a nice break.
A little scary if you're claustrophobic, but not bad for me. At one point, I did "wedge" myself in there with my butt on the ceiling and my knees in the dirt, but un-wedging was pretty easy.
Don't panic. If you can't stand small spaces, go around this one. It wasn't muddy, but it was cramped. Try to stay close to your team or the person in front of you, and ask if you can hold on to their ankles. There are some turns, so watch out.
Also, if you start getting tired of crawling, turn onto your back. You can then use your legs to push yourself through and use your hands to grip the sides and ceiling. This was a nice change for me about halfway through. Again, works your core muscles. Wear knee-pads if you're concerned about rocks. Tooele is just dust though, so it wasn't bad.
Dirty Ballerina:
This one is described as being 4-ft wide trenches filled with mud, over which you must jump. What it ended up being was actually 6-ft trenches filled with muddy water, into which you must jump, then slog to the other side and pull yourself out onto a muddy platform. This process was repeated about 8 times, I think.
By this point, I was ready to keel over. About halfway through this obstacle, I wobbled and almost fell down or passed out, or whatever. But I just kept on going. After what I had paid for this and how long I had trained, I wasn't going to quit or whine just because I was tired. Just keep on pushing...
Again, a very helpful event to have team members for. You'll be grateful when they are there to pull you out of each trench. Also, return the favor. Turn around the help the guy behind you. You'll get some extra energy and good karma. :)
This was about the halfway point. However, the
second half was not nearly as easy as the first.
After another aid station (water and "Sharkies" electrolyte gummies) and another mile of jog/walking, came:
Lumberjacked:
This one wasn't too bad. They had 4 logs (looooong ones) set up on stilts. You had to jump and grab on, then swing your body over. Each one was progressively higher than the one before it. Roughly 4 ft high, then 5, then 6, etc. I'm guessing here, I don't know how high they were, but I made it through without too much trouble, and was onto the next event.
Just be careful coming down. Don't want any busted ankles or anything.
After Mile 7 was the next obstacle.
Electric Eel:
This is the first of two obstacles involving live wires which hang down and randomly zap you at arbitrary intervals. I was so scared and excited and exhausted by this point, that I knew I wouldn't make it through unless I just went for it. I threw myself under the barbed wire. There was a "slip-n-slide"-like barrier of plastic and the second half was filled with water. This made moving along actually quite easy and didn't kill my core nearly as much. I think I got zapped on my calf, but if I did, I didn't feel it. I was moving so fast and so pumped full of adrenaline that I made it to the other end, not even knowing whether I'd been shocked or not.
These wires carried up to 10,000 volts, but that honestly doesn't mean anything unless you take Amps into account as well. I have no idea, but I'm told it was like a heavy shock from a wall outlet.
The water felt great at this point, as I was quite hot from the sun and the wetsuit. But then, it clouded over. "Cue the shivering cold!"
Balls To The Wall:
This was a new, "mystery" event. Each Mudder course has one or two obstacles which they just throw on you as a surprise. Yay! I love surprises!
This was a 30 ft wall, which tapered at the top, and had a few 1X4's nailed to it for grip. There were ropes with knots hanging down, draped across the top. You had to time yourself so that you went up as the other person went down, or you'd end up falling a bit as they let go on the other side. This was tiring, and a bit scary, as it was fairly high up, but I made it through without any real hitches.
This was one of a few events where the gloves came in very handy. The ropes were coarse and the wood was rough. Even with the gloves, when I got down, my hands were on fire and throbbing from the ropes and gripping the wood and whatnot. My hands were pretty cold at this point, so they would have been hurting anyway, but the gloves GREATLY reduced the pain. I ended up taking them off from time to time though, to let my hands dry and warm up.
Mud Mile:
This obstacle was one of my favorites. Though I was winded, dead, sore, and exhausted, this obstacle was the best show of teamwork and camaraderie I had seen up to this point. There were-- maybe 10?-- mud hills, separated by trenches full of, you guessed it, freezing, muddy water. The ONLY way to complete this event was with teamwork. I jumped in, and slogged over to the first hill. The only way to do this was to jump as high as you could and hope the person at the top of the hill could grab your slick, muddy hand and hold on long enough for you to pull yourself onto the hill. Then between the two, or three, or four, of you, pull yourself to the top, and back down into the next trench. What seemed like an eternity later, we pulled ourselves out of the last muddy trench and moved onward.
 | |
| See? Like This! |
Just after mile 8 was the dreaded...
Boa Constricter:
I was scared to death of this one... until I got there. By the time I got here, I was too exhausted to be scared. Ready? Throw yourself into a 30 ft tube, just big enough to "slither" into. Then pull yourself down into cold water, and out of the pipe. I was now floating in ice-cold water on my stomach. I pulled myself over to the next pipe, forced myself down and into it, the water coming up to my neck. Then, hyperventilating, up through the pipe and out. Doesn't sound too bad, but it was harder than it looked.
You can employ the same tactic here as in "trench warfare." If you like, flip onto your back to use your legs to push you along the pipe. You won't need to do this on the way down, because you basically slide into the water. However, it is slick on the way up, so it becomes difficult to maneuver your way out.Here again was another water and banana stop, sorely needed at this point. Granted, my water had almost as much mud in it as the tranches, but I drank it down anyway. Then another mile of run/walking. At this point, it was getting pretty chilly as the sun had disappeared behind the cloud cover. One of our teammates became a casualty as he had to leave for the First Aid tent where they took his temperature at 90 degrees. He was shaking uncontrollably and was given an IV and a blanket. He was a trooper though, and we totally count him among the Tough Mudders. He was leading our team almost the whole time.
After another long run was:
Berlin Walls #2:
The second installment of this obstacle was no second-cousin.. We're talking the 12 ft Grand-daddy. On this one, there was a small "ledge" (probably an inch or less) on which you could try and stand while your teammates boosted you up until I could pull myself over. We then had to straddle the wall and reach down to help the next person up. This was not as easily done either, as we were all shivering and cold by this point.
After dropping down on the other side, which killed our feet, we repeated the process on another wall.
Again, gloves made this so much easier on my already throbbing hands. Also at this point, I was thanking my lucky stars I had on my vest, as everyone else was shivering like crazy.
We had very little time to warm up by jogging before we came to something very demotivating...
Cliffhanger:
This is a steep, MUDDY hill where the only way to make it up is to form chains of people and slowly inch your way up. Also, at the bottom is a HUGE, neck-high trench of water. Just to make sure you're extra good and muddy and cold. We waited in line for this one for a bit and noticed that the bottom 10 feet of the hill had been eroded so far, that there was NO grip at all. The line was beginning to back up and we were left the shivering, cold, tired, and demotivated. This is when they gave us a ray of light. The dropped a cargo net about 15 feet or so down the hill. Now all we had to do was get high enough to grab on and we could pull ourselves up. Also, they began blasting "Eye Of The Tiger". This was enough to motivate and pump up anyone! We all splashed into the water and just pushed ourselves up the hill. Good stuff. That was fun.
When you use a cargo net, pull yourself up by your hand, then place your feet int the net where your hands were. This will prevent you from tripping yourself and will ensure your feet have something to hold onto.
After mile 10, another water and banana station, and many tired, shivering people, we came to the next obstacle.
Funky Monkey:
This obstacle apparently has an 80-90% fail rate. It is a set of monkey bars suspended above, yep, freezing cold water. The bars incline and then decline like an upside-down "v". Also,they do us the favor of buttering (literally) and greasing them up. Also, some of the bars spin freely. Also, this event is toward the end when everyone's already shot. Can you blame me for just jumping into the water and swimming across? A couple other people on my team did before me, so I knew if they couldn't do it, I couldn't. That doesn't mean the water was any less inviting or easy to cross.
If you do attempt this one, I have heard that keeping your arms at a 90 degree angle and bicycle-kicking your way through is a good way to get across. Keep a firm, tight grip. Some people also try to do it sideways or they use the wood instead of the bars. However you choose, good luck!
Just the Tip:
The name of this one is obviously meant to be sarcastic. I walked up to it, knowing it would end with me in the water. You must "sidle" along a wall, with only an inch or so for your toes to grip (covered in mud, of course.) and only 2 inches of a ledge for your fingers to hold onto. Halfway in, this little walkway reduces to about a half inch or so. Rendering crossing next to impossible. Most people, including me, just fall in at this point. BTW, the water was more than 6 feet deep here. I fell in and had nothing to push off of, and just had to tread water to the edge. This was the perfect moment for my left thigh to begin cramping. I pulled myself out and stretched it and continued running.
I later saw some people climb up onto the top of this one. They used the "handrail" for their feet and just held on to the top of the wall. Watch for nails though!
Wounded Warrior Carry:
Luckily, for me, not him, there was a small guy on our team. You have to pick up a fellow team member and carry him about 100 yards, then you switch and he carries you. I got the small guy, but he was Army Tough and carried me first. Like a champ. No issues here, just had to push through it.
They recommend a "fireman carry" here, but piggy back was easier for me...
Walk The Plank:
This one was fun. Hard, but fun. Much like "Balls to the wall", I had to climb up a wall with very little grip. No ropes this time, but it was angled a little. After some teammate help and much grunting and straining, I pulled myself onto a platform looking down on a pool of water... 20 feet down. Doesn't sound that far? You get up there in the cold wind with mud in every orifice of your body and every muscle screaming in protest, and you tell me it doesn't look far. Well, all that was left to do... was jump... So I did. Plunging into the freezing water below, struggling to get back up, take a gasping breath, and pull yourself to shore. :)
My only advice here is don't be a jerk. Help the people behind you and then turn off your brain. Just jump. Don't think. Just jump.
Everest:
Don't you dare judge me. I skipped this one. Honestly? As if the sight of a 15ft high quarter pipe that has been muddied, greased, buttered, and wetted doesn't sound daunting enough... The line was WAY too long. there people making 5th and 6th attempts at this. Not even my Army Tough teammates thought this one looked like a good idea. Probably just an injury waiting to happen.
Don't let my weakness keep you back. They say to make a chain of mudders up the pipe to get the top person there, then everyone runs up and grabs for your hands... Good luck is all I can say.
The running is pretty much over. The finish line is in sight... We're at 11.5 miles and ready to collapse in a pile of blankets and protein shakes... when you see it...
Dun Dun DUN! Okay, this one gets a lot of publicity. Again, 10,000 Volts means nothing unless you know the amperage. But I will tell you this. Hearing the "arc"ing of the shocks and seeing my friend Nathanael go down at the very beginning of this obstacle was enough to make me have serious doubts... (He practically ate a bale of hay and blacked out for a good 2 seconds before he got back up and finished.)
This obstacles consists of a stretch of mud with two rows of hay bales. Blocking your view of the finish line here are hundreds of yellow, live wires hanging down and waving, ever so innocently, in the breeze.
I made a dire mistake here. I hesitated... Every obstacle up to this point, I kept telling myself there was no way I could or would do it, but by the time I got to it, I just turned off my brain, didn't think about it, and dove in. Then, by the time I realized what I was doing, I was already halfway through it, so I had to finish.
For this one? Not so, Electro...
I finally steeled myself and took a running start. I hopped the first bale of hay and felt something sting my shoulder. It hurt. A lot. But I kept running. Or so I thought. Within 2 seconds of the sting, my legs had buckled and my body convulsed as I crumpled into the mud. I laid there for a second, knowing if I got back up, there would be more to follow. I tried to pull myself up onto my hands and knees, but another smack of charged electrons sent me back down into the mud. That one hurt even more. (I have a welt! How cool is that?!) So, I decided that army crawling my way out was the best course of action. I pulled myself over the lip of mud and slid down into a pile of more mud. I laid there groaning and turned onto my back and, for a good 5 seconds... just wallowed. It felt so good to lie there in the mud.... But I couldn't for long, because the finish line was just feet away. I got up and crossed to a cheering team and a volunteer donning me with my own bright orange headband.
It was over.
My first advice is just run as fast as you can. Electricity affects everyone differently and some people barely feel anything, while others black out. If you're not tough enough, then don't do it. But remember, you payed a lot of money and trained a long time for this. Don't let your fears overcome your ability to push yourself. The reward is great.
Try to take long strides. The more your feet are in the air, the less the electricity will want to "ground" to you. Also, do not open your mouth... I saw a guy get shocked in the teeth... That can't have been fun.
This was awesome. There were people standing everywhere, running to our aid as we crossed. There was a flash of emergency blankets, protein shakes, free goodies, and showers as I made my way, slowly and tenderly, back to the truck.
I can't thank my team enough for sticking it out with me and letting me keep up. They cheered me, they boosted me, and they didn't give up on me. They are the reason this was such a blast. It was NOT easy and it was very painful. But this experience taught me something about myself, which I knew it would. I can push through anything if I just have the mindset to do so.
I would do this event again and again. I'm definitely signing up for next year. This time, it'll be in June though. That'll be nice.
03 July, 2012
Workin' For The Man...
In the audio industry, it's all about who you know and who you are.
If people like you, they'll work with you. If they see that you are
dedicated and can work smart and work your tail off to accomplish a
task, then they will ask you to participate in their projects.
My professor, Mike Wisland (Wiz), is one such person. He is very well connected and he knows pretty much everyone in the industry. From the head of Skywalker Sound, to the men who helped engineer the Beatles, to every owner of every recording studio from here to LA. Trust me, this is a man you want to know. He is constantly getting calls from these people with job offerings and pleas for help. This is an easy industry to get blacklisted from. One stupid mistake or one foul attitude, and nobody will work with you again. So Wiz only refers his most trusted students to these professionals.
As of three weeks ago, I was referred to the owner of Priddis music. Priddis is a company that, if you have ever sung Karaoke or used a minus track in a performance, you've probably used their products. Rick Priddis is the founder of one of the nation's largest performance track recording studios. They have thousands of songs in their catalog, that have been recorded over the last few decades.
The problem is that these songs have all been archived using different conventions, different numbering systems, and different media formats. In the back room, there is a huge, 50 ft long shelf, filled with everything from CD's, DVD's, cassettes, ADAT tape, DAT, and so on. These songs need to be re-archived and digitized onto their servers. This is where I come in.
I was hired on to help tackle this huge project. My job is to go through each song and find the vocal tracks, the instrument tracks, and the backup tracks. All of which are in different places. This is my list from which I am working:
There are over 3,000 track sheets in here, all of which are out of order and mislabeled. Fun stuff! Well, for me it is. you see, I've always enjoyed data entry, and I don't mind the experience. When most interns are hired at a recording studio, I'm not kidding when I say they are hired to scrub toilets. Most new hires work for at least a year running for coffee and licking boots, before they are even allowed in the studio! However, I am currently allowed to work, not only in the studio, but even use the mixing board and the computers to do my job. This is AWESOME!!!
This is the greatest thing to ever happen to my career. I actually work at a recording studio! Not only that, but Rick is having us TRAIN to use the board and to do actual recording sessions! This is unheard of! Anyway, needless to say, it's an incredible boost to my resume, and I just can't believe how lucky I am to be here doing this job. Yes, it's tedious and time-consuming, but it's still a real job in my career path. And they're paying me more than an intern would make too. Rick is a very laid back kind of guy, who really knows business. He is an understanding, level-headed man, who seems to be truly happy to have me there... This is something I couldn't have even asked for. To make matters even better, the studio at which I work is the coolest studio I've ever seen.
People underestimate the value of a COOL place to record. The artists need to feel comfortable and relaxed, if they are expected to "gel" and really perform their best. Well, this studio is ALL about "gelling". Check this place out! they call it The Castle:
http://bit.ly/N6p2qG
http://bit.ly/O0bRoM
I just love walking into this place, sitting down at the board, and playing for hours on end, and getting paid to do it! They say if you find what you like to do, you'll never work a day in your life... Well, if I can keep this gig, then that will be more of a prophecy than a cliche.
My professor, Mike Wisland (Wiz), is one such person. He is very well connected and he knows pretty much everyone in the industry. From the head of Skywalker Sound, to the men who helped engineer the Beatles, to every owner of every recording studio from here to LA. Trust me, this is a man you want to know. He is constantly getting calls from these people with job offerings and pleas for help. This is an easy industry to get blacklisted from. One stupid mistake or one foul attitude, and nobody will work with you again. So Wiz only refers his most trusted students to these professionals.
As of three weeks ago, I was referred to the owner of Priddis music. Priddis is a company that, if you have ever sung Karaoke or used a minus track in a performance, you've probably used their products. Rick Priddis is the founder of one of the nation's largest performance track recording studios. They have thousands of songs in their catalog, that have been recorded over the last few decades.
The problem is that these songs have all been archived using different conventions, different numbering systems, and different media formats. In the back room, there is a huge, 50 ft long shelf, filled with everything from CD's, DVD's, cassettes, ADAT tape, DAT, and so on. These songs need to be re-archived and digitized onto their servers. This is where I come in.
I was hired on to help tackle this huge project. My job is to go through each song and find the vocal tracks, the instrument tracks, and the backup tracks. All of which are in different places. This is my list from which I am working:
There are over 3,000 track sheets in here, all of which are out of order and mislabeled. Fun stuff! Well, for me it is. you see, I've always enjoyed data entry, and I don't mind the experience. When most interns are hired at a recording studio, I'm not kidding when I say they are hired to scrub toilets. Most new hires work for at least a year running for coffee and licking boots, before they are even allowed in the studio! However, I am currently allowed to work, not only in the studio, but even use the mixing board and the computers to do my job. This is AWESOME!!!
This is the greatest thing to ever happen to my career. I actually work at a recording studio! Not only that, but Rick is having us TRAIN to use the board and to do actual recording sessions! This is unheard of! Anyway, needless to say, it's an incredible boost to my resume, and I just can't believe how lucky I am to be here doing this job. Yes, it's tedious and time-consuming, but it's still a real job in my career path. And they're paying me more than an intern would make too. Rick is a very laid back kind of guy, who really knows business. He is an understanding, level-headed man, who seems to be truly happy to have me there... This is something I couldn't have even asked for. To make matters even better, the studio at which I work is the coolest studio I've ever seen.
People underestimate the value of a COOL place to record. The artists need to feel comfortable and relaxed, if they are expected to "gel" and really perform their best. Well, this studio is ALL about "gelling". Check this place out! they call it The Castle:
http://bit.ly/N6p2qG
http://bit.ly/O0bRoM
I just love walking into this place, sitting down at the board, and playing for hours on end, and getting paid to do it! They say if you find what you like to do, you'll never work a day in your life... Well, if I can keep this gig, then that will be more of a prophecy than a cliche.
29 May, 2012
When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Muddy!
Well, since Katie posted about her goals and mentioned my goals, I
figured I'd finally tell everyone why I'm working out this summer.
I really do miss the days of swim team where I could run around the block without even getting winded. I never had a six-pack or anything (I had the physique of a pencil.) but I was fit. Now, I get winded getting up to change the channel on the TV... Yes, I'm out of shape, I know.
Well, I've been in and out of the habit of working out every week and I wanted to make a permanent habit change. I want to be in shape again.
Nathanael and Court and I have been wanting to train together and go on a giant hike (see post from last year) But we decided this just wasn't enough to get us all going. So, we upped the ante. We all decided to participate in the Tough Mudder.
Now, say what you will about marathon runners, dirty dashers, even spartan racers... NOTHING can compare to the challenge that is the Tough Mudder. Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
The Tough Mudder is usually between 10-12 miles long. (this is just less than a half marathon.) However, it is filled with, on average, 27-30 military-style obstacles, all of which were designed by the British Special Forces. We're talking intense stuff here. No room for kidding around.
My "event", as it's called, is 10.1 miles with 28 obstacles. Here are some summaries: (All summaries taken from toughmudder.com)
Berlin Walls:
"Scale three 12′ wooden walls with the help of your teammates, strategically placed for when you are at your weakest during the event. While some Mudders have worked up the strength to ascend the walls alone, most need a boost from a fellow Mudder — they got your back, literally."
Boa Constrictor:
Crawl through a series of pipes that also force you into some freezing mud. Your legs will be useless in the narrow confines of the Boa, so use your arms to pull you down and out. There really is light at the end of the tunnel.
Electroshock Therapy:
Sprint through a field of live wires — some carrying as much as 10,000 volts of electric shock. Watch out for a hay bale or two or you will face-plant into some electrifying mud.
Fire Walker:
As the name implies, you’ll be running through a trench of blazing, kerosene soaked straw. You can expect about 4’ high flames. Build your lung capacity up before the event or you’ll be forced to inhale some nasty carcinogens.
Everest:
A quarter-pipe that you’ll have to sprint up and enlist the help of other Mudders to hurl you over this beastly mountain. Everest is coated in mud and grease, a combination which will likely send you right back from where you came. Call upon other Mudders to catch you as you run up the quarter-pipe or work together to form a human chain so that you can scale someone’s shoulders to finally summit Everest.
Arctic Enema:
Many athletes use ice baths for recovery, but you’ll have a difficult time relaxing your muscles in this frigid dumpster. First you must bravely jump into Big Mudder’s floating iceberg abyss. Once submerged, find the mental and physical strength to swim through the ice, under a wooden plank and pull yourself out on the other end before you become hypothermic."
Keep in mind that this is a very abbreviated list. There's 21 other unspeakable torture devices left on my course alone. (My "favorite" of which involves belly crawling through ice and mud under electroshock tendrils: The Electric Eel... *shudder*)
There are no showers on the course either, if you want to clean off, they meet you at the end of the course with a fire-hose. Yes, a real fire-hose, held by firefighters, hooked to a fire hydrant. Fun, eh?
Why am I doing this? He's crazy!! Why would anyone want to do that to themselves? Right? Right? Well, the TM website sums it up pretty well:
Tough Mudder has already challenged half a million inspiring participants worldwide and raised more than $3 million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project. But Tough Mudder is more than an event, it’s a way of thinking. By running a Tough Mudder challenge, you’ll unlock a true sense of accomplishment, have a great time, and discover a camaraderie with your fellow participants that’s experienced all too rarely these days.
So that's why! (Kudos if you read all of that.)
I don't know why I'm doing it. But I really feel I need to. I'm not out to prove anything to anyone except myself. I can do this, and I know once I do, I'll be able to do anything. I just feel like I need to do this. So, needless to say... There will be a LOT of training... Yeah, a lot...
Wanna see someone who is beyond serious about training? Nobody expects us to be this fit, but honestly... Check this guy out. (And keep watching, it gets better) www.youtube.com/watch?v=YErZ5GjOyas
That's why I've been up three times a week weight lifting, running, swimming, and running stairs. Am I excited? Very much so. Am I nervous and scared out of my skull? See previous answer.
Wish me... not death...!
I really do miss the days of swim team where I could run around the block without even getting winded. I never had a six-pack or anything (I had the physique of a pencil.) but I was fit. Now, I get winded getting up to change the channel on the TV... Yes, I'm out of shape, I know.
Well, I've been in and out of the habit of working out every week and I wanted to make a permanent habit change. I want to be in shape again.
Nathanael and Court and I have been wanting to train together and go on a giant hike (see post from last year) But we decided this just wasn't enough to get us all going. So, we upped the ante. We all decided to participate in the Tough Mudder.
Now, say what you will about marathon runners, dirty dashers, even spartan racers... NOTHING can compare to the challenge that is the Tough Mudder. Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.
The Tough Mudder is usually between 10-12 miles long. (this is just less than a half marathon.) However, it is filled with, on average, 27-30 military-style obstacles, all of which were designed by the British Special Forces. We're talking intense stuff here. No room for kidding around.
My "event", as it's called, is 10.1 miles with 28 obstacles. Here are some summaries: (All summaries taken from toughmudder.com)
Berlin Walls:
"Scale three 12′ wooden walls with the help of your teammates, strategically placed for when you are at your weakest during the event. While some Mudders have worked up the strength to ascend the walls alone, most need a boost from a fellow Mudder — they got your back, literally."
Boa Constrictor:
Crawl through a series of pipes that also force you into some freezing mud. Your legs will be useless in the narrow confines of the Boa, so use your arms to pull you down and out. There really is light at the end of the tunnel.
Electroshock Therapy:
Sprint through a field of live wires — some carrying as much as 10,000 volts of electric shock. Watch out for a hay bale or two or you will face-plant into some electrifying mud.
Fire Walker:
As the name implies, you’ll be running through a trench of blazing, kerosene soaked straw. You can expect about 4’ high flames. Build your lung capacity up before the event or you’ll be forced to inhale some nasty carcinogens.
Everest:
A quarter-pipe that you’ll have to sprint up and enlist the help of other Mudders to hurl you over this beastly mountain. Everest is coated in mud and grease, a combination which will likely send you right back from where you came. Call upon other Mudders to catch you as you run up the quarter-pipe or work together to form a human chain so that you can scale someone’s shoulders to finally summit Everest.
Arctic Enema:
Many athletes use ice baths for recovery, but you’ll have a difficult time relaxing your muscles in this frigid dumpster. First you must bravely jump into Big Mudder’s floating iceberg abyss. Once submerged, find the mental and physical strength to swim through the ice, under a wooden plank and pull yourself out on the other end before you become hypothermic."
Keep in mind that this is a very abbreviated list. There's 21 other unspeakable torture devices left on my course alone. (My "favorite" of which involves belly crawling through ice and mud under electroshock tendrils: The Electric Eel... *shudder*)
There are no showers on the course either, if you want to clean off, they meet you at the end of the course with a fire-hose. Yes, a real fire-hose, held by firefighters, hooked to a fire hydrant. Fun, eh?
Why am I doing this? He's crazy!! Why would anyone want to do that to themselves? Right? Right? Well, the TM website sums it up pretty well:
Tough Mudder has already challenged half a million inspiring participants worldwide and raised more than $3 million dollars for the Wounded Warrior Project. But Tough Mudder is more than an event, it’s a way of thinking. By running a Tough Mudder challenge, you’ll unlock a true sense of accomplishment, have a great time, and discover a camaraderie with your fellow participants that’s experienced all too rarely these days.
FACT #1 – Marathon running is boring.
And the only thing more boring than doing a marathon is watching a marathon. Road-running may give you a healthy set of lungs, but will leave you with as much upper body strength as Keira Knightley. At Tough Mudder, we want to test your all-around mettle, not just your ability to run in a straight line, on your own, for hours on end, getting bored out of your mind. Our obstacle courses are designed to test you in every way and are meant only for truly exceptional all-around people, not for people who have enough time and money to train their knees to run 26 miles.FACT #2 – Mudders do not take themselves too seriously.
Triathlons, marathons, and other lame mud runs are more stressful than fun. Not Tough Mudder. As hardcore as our courses are, we meet you at the finish line with a beer (won't be partaking of that one, obviously), a laugh, and a rockin’ live band. It’s pretty hard to take yourself seriously when you’re covered in mud, so please don’t show up at a Tough Mudder without a sense of humor.FACT #3 – You cannot complete a Tough Mudder course alone.
To get through mud, fire, ice-water, and 10,000 volts of electricity you’ll need teammates to pick you up when your spirits dip. To get over 12 foot walls and through underground mud tunnels, you’ll need teammates to give you a boost and a push. Tough Mudders are team players who make sure no one gets left behind. To that end, all Mudders are expected to uphold our ideals and exhibit teamwork and camaraderie both on the course and off it. (This is one of my favorite things about it. They will not let you call it a "race". It is NOT. it is a challenge. Everyone is there to help each other and they don't even time you! It's all about EVERYONE finishing. Not about who can torture themselves the fastest.)So that's why! (Kudos if you read all of that.)
I don't know why I'm doing it. But I really feel I need to. I'm not out to prove anything to anyone except myself. I can do this, and I know once I do, I'll be able to do anything. I just feel like I need to do this. So, needless to say... There will be a LOT of training... Yeah, a lot...
Wanna see someone who is beyond serious about training? Nobody expects us to be this fit, but honestly... Check this guy out. (And keep watching, it gets better) www.youtube.com/watch?v=YErZ5GjOyas
That's why I've been up three times a week weight lifting, running, swimming, and running stairs. Am I excited? Very much so. Am I nervous and scared out of my skull? See previous answer.
Wish me... not death...!
18 May, 2012
Home Improvement... Continued!
Okay, so I just wanted to re-post and add some pictures of our
upcoming projects. I'm excited to get them started, but some may be a
while off yet.
Nonetheless, here are a few pictures of what's to come!
More to follow. :D
Nonetheless, here are a few pictures of what's to come!
 |
| This is our Berry Patch. Therein you may find raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and some mystery berry. We're not sure what it is yet. :) We'll be lining the edge with river rocks to make it more visually appealing. |
 |
| Apparently there used to be a "not-to-code" little room here that was later torn down. I'll be planting grass here and leveling out the dirt. |
 |
| This is our shed. In the coming months, this may be demolished and you will see a nice, new shed in the background in the back corner of our yard. |
 |
| This, along with our back fence, will have a single walk-through gate installed. It has been a real pain to have to walk all the way around our house to get to the other side of this fence. After this summer, no more! |
More to follow. :D
Home Improvement... Where's Tim?
We
really do love our cute little home, but we knew when we bought it that
there were lots of little changes we wanted to make to it. (That's one
of the reasons we bought it.)
We've
steadily been working on things and we thought we'd give you all an
update, especially for those of you who don't live near by and haven't
been able to see our progress. We're sorry for not taking better
"before" pictures or sometimes completely forgetting to take pictures at
all. And these might not be in chronological order. And even with the
missing pictures, this will still be a long post! Fair warning!
Gutters:
One
of the very first projects we did last year was to add some gutters to
the back of the house. They were sorely needed. Even though this winter
wasn't too wet compared to most, we already saw how helpful they were.
The ground around the house slopes toward the foundation (that's bad,
FYI) because of the erosion.
(This
picture was taken about 6 months after the actual installation. Don't
mind the open blinds and curtains...Whisper likes to peek out and watch
the great outdoors.)
The Tree:
Here's what our house looked like when we moved in.
No
one would know that behind that beast of a tree, there's a great little
porch, with porch planters and flowers, another window, and some roses.
We really liked the actual tree itself, it was quite nice, but man was
it placed terribly... It had to go.
In October, Katie's cousin Shawn assisted us in removing the tree.
Funny story... as Shawn was swinging away with his chainsaw... he buzzed directly through this:
Yep.
A wasp hive. They were NOT happy. Wasps everywhere. We're lucky no one
got stung. He just kept sawing while I sprayed bug killer everywhere
(probably not the smartest, but we got lucky.) It was kind of gross,
hundreds of larvae fell out along with the queen...we killed them as
quick as we could. And eventually we ended up with this:
Whoah, there IS a house back there!
Sod:
We
were satisfied with that for a few months. But as you can maybe see
from the pictures, the area around the juniper was kind of gross. The
juniper droppings were fairly acidic and killed off the grass below it
years ago. So basically we were left with a large circle full of pine
needles, blah soil, and a fairly large stump.
We
didn't want to pay to rent a stump grinder, so we took Katie's Dad's
advice instead. I dug around the stump so the stump was exposed a few
inches. Then I chopped it down with an ax and made it much, much
shorter; then I buried it. What's left of the stump will rot off
eventually, but the surface was level and you'd never know the stump was
still there. We then found someone giving away free sod (KSL just
rocks) and laid it down on top. SO much better. It took root and now, a
few weeks later, you can't even tell it's new sod, it blends in
flawlessly.
We
ended up having enough sod left over to lay some in our patch back
yard. If you look closely at the left side of this picture, you can see
the holes and patches that were present in our back yard before.
We
still have some more areas to sod and possibly seed, but it's a huge
improvement from last summer when we were tromping through dirt.
The Log:
Katie
saw a log on pinterest that someone had turned into a flower planter.
We thought it was a really cool idea and figured we'd do it eventually.
She mentioned it to her coworker and the next time he was over at BYU's
motion picture lot, he used the tow truck to grab a log. He then used a
fork lift to put it in one of their trucks and Katie brought it home on a
lunch break. I spent literally at least 10 hours with a hammer and a
chisel hollowing it out. There may have been other faster, easier ways
to hollow it, but this gave me the most control. And honestly, even
though it was exhausting, it was very satisfying and kind of fun. This
is one we're really bummed we forgot to take a before picture.
We
planted seeds for a variety of flowers, but we also put pansies in for
now so people know what it is while the other seeds grow.
The Garden:
Speaking
of grass seeding...that's another thing we did! The previous owners of
our home had a dog. Part of the reason why our back yard was so patchy
near the driveway is because that used to be in the dog-run section. The
yard used to be split into 3 sections--to the very left, a garden on
the left, in the back, the middle right section was the dog run, and the
very right was a drive way with a patch of grass behind it. After
removing the dog run, we didn't like where the garden was. Katie's Mom
suggested we move it from the left side of the shed to the right side of
the shed. We thought about it and realized that made much more sense.
The grass areas would be more continuous and there'd be one big stretch
of grass for the kids to play in rather then two smaller, broken up
pieces.
Previous garden to the left of the shed:
When
we did this at the end of last summer/early last fall, we didn't have
the cash to lay sod (not sure if we thought to check KSL for free stuff,
but at that time of year there probably wouldn't have been anything
anyway) so we laid grass seed. It was a TON of work. It had to be
watered 3 or 4 times a day for a few weeks, almost a few months... but
what came in came up well!
That same stretch of grass this year:
Sorry
it's kind of blurry...we forgot to take it with the real camera so we
just used a cell phone. It looks greener in real life. We'll still need
to add seed to fill in the patches, but overall it came in great.
And the NEW garden plot:
I
tilled it and planted it about a month ago. We like it on the right
side of the shed much better. For one thing, it's easier to get a tiller
to it because the driveway leads right to it. For another, this soil is
really rich and hasn't been used before for a garden. As I tilled it,
it came up quite dark and rich and "fluffy". Of course, as I mentioned,
this flows much better.
The
edging came later. We found some free river rocks on KSL (another plug
for them!) and they make it look much nicer. We nearly killed our shocks
transporting them...we may have put more in our little Corolla then it
could handle (as we went over bumps, the tires rubbed against the wheel
wells...) but we're done now. Well, except for the berry patch...we'll
probably get another 20 or so rocks to line that.
We also made ourselves a little herb garden. Katie found another pin on Pinterest (yes, we BOTH love Pinterest. There are so many fantastic ideas on there, get over it!) to make an herb garden using a rain gutter. It's super cheap and really effective. We had a gutter piece left over so I made some drain holes in the bottom of it and then attached it to our shed.
Flower Beds:
We've
put a lot of work into fixing up the flower beds. We're not sure if the
last owners don't have a green thumb or if they didn't work on it last
year since they knew they were moving anyway, but it was kind of a
wreck. There's some pretty, flowering ivy planted in there that spreads
really quickly if you don't keep it under control, so we had to remove a
bit of that. So we did a lot of thinning and weeding. We also moved a
few tulip bulbs. We have a lot of tulips (most had already reached their
peak by the time we took this picture) which we love. We might move
them again more strategically next year... we're not sure if some of
them are taller varieties or if they only got taller because they had
more water, but for some reason all the tall ones are clumped together.
We also added more mulch. And our BIG project was the funny hose. We
wrapped it around where the plants were growing and then we buried it.
The hose will still water everything nicely, but you can't see anything
but the few inches that hook up to the faucet.
Windows:
We
replaced the majority of our windows a few months ago. Almost all of
them had an outer window pane and then an interior window pane, but they
were still old and some of them had cracks in the outer pane. Oh, and
one of the windows was an original-- wood frame and single pane of
glass--...from the 40s...and really, really drafty. So we got new ones.
We figured if we were spending that much money on utilities during
a comparatively warm, dry winter, we didn't want to know how much a
cold, wet winter would cost us. We've already seen a difference in our
bills and they look really good. Plus that's a great re-sale value to
the house. We're being careful to not go over board on fixing and
changing things. There's only so much added value you can put on a 2
bedroom house before it'll end up costing you more then what you can
make up when you sell it. But new windows will definitely help when
we're ready to sell.
We
still need to paint the frames, but if you look at the second picture
in this post, you can see the old windows. This is MUCH nicer. :)
Miscellaneous:
I
chopped down 3 small trees. One in the front yard that was too close to
our neighbors fence, one in the back yard that was so close to the
fence that it ended up weaving in and out of the fence as it grew.
We moved a few flowers from the backyard to the flower beds in front. I also moved a small tree and a lilac bush.
I built screens for our crawl space vents, so now there's air flow but stray animals can't come in.
I trimmed and shaped our bushes out front.
We're not done yet! We have a list of things we plan on doing either this summer or in the next few years. Hopefully we'll be better at documenting and sharing them so they won't be in one ginormous post again! Here are the big projects coming up in the near future:
- Adding a chain link fence to the back of our yard. The left and right side of our yard is lined with fences (they technically belong to neighbors, but it gets the job done!) but the back is just barb wire and wood posts. Not good enough for when we have kids. Katie's Dad happens to have about 100 ft of chain link fencing he doesn't need anymore and he generously offered it to us. I have a friend who's going to install it for us. Hopefully that'll be in the next month or so.
- Planting privacy bushes. Once the fence is installed, we're going to add lilacs and some other plants that will hide our yard from the park in the back. Hardly anyone goes to that park since it's not well known, but when there ARE people there, it's kind of awkward... Plus maybe bushes will keep them from hopping our fence to retrieve their frisbees and balls...the barbed wire isn't keeping them out, as my poor smashed cucumbers can testify to :( (Really made me angry...)
- Removing the bushes out front. We don't like them but we don't have a way to remove them on our own. My friend who'll be installing our fence also offered to use his truck to rip out the bushes.
- Demolishing our chicken coop/shed. Our shed is half chicken coop (original to the house, from the 40's) and half shed. The shed side is decent and had recently been re-roofed, but the chicken coop side is a disaster, lots of water damage from the leaky roof and part of it is rotting away. We originally thought about just removing the chicken coop part and leaving the shed, but the same friend who's installing the fence and taking out the bushes builds sheds and offered to build us one pretty much for cost. He would also tear down the current one. He's a great guy with lots of skill. :) It's working out nicely for us. We still may wait to do the shed, but since we're saving a lot of money by not having to buy the fencing materials like we originally thought, we might have enough to do that this summer too.
- Painting the kitchen, living room, and hallway. Oh, and the notorious pink room. Probably not til we're pregnant and know if we want it pink or not. But even if we DO have a girl, Katie doubts she'll want a pink nursery. She's thinking gray and yellow or maybe avocado and black. She wanted you to know.
So that's what we've been up to! And what we will be up to...volunteers for any projects are more than welcome ;)
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