Mission Peak Challenge

Mission Peak
Elevation 2517ft. above sea level

Challenge yourself!! Back in early June, we decided that we did not have the endurance that we wanted. When you suck, get your ass off the ground and make something go right.

The scoop: First person to the 3rd bench at Mission peak wins.

The stakes: Loser drives and buys beer for the winner at The Englander (a local gem in San Leandro).

The setting: September 11th, 2010.

The race: not only a physical but mental challenge. You need training, strategy and determination to win. The early morning was brisk, cool and blue skies ahead.

The details: Honor system, no shortcuts and no cheating. It takes a lot of guts to try and race this mountain. Mission peak is the highest point of the Fremont area with a very steep climb to the top.

The results: At the start line by the gate we were dead even until about 3 minutes where Daniel's speed came into play, he gained about 20 yards and I was eating his dust the entire way. He felt so close but miles away at the same time. Making up that measly distance on that incline was just to tough for me to overcome this time. I must have run about 30-40 seconds behind him at the finish. He fought a good fight and I give him all the glory on this one. I've tasted defeat, and it tastes bitter. Hopefully next year there will be a rematch.

The Winner "Dan the Man"

In it to win it

We're in it to win it folks, all I can say is that progress is being made every week. Seems every run we do is more challenging than the last. It's amazing how you can vary your workouts to make every run a new run. Challenge your muscles and your mind by creating new ways to increase your endurance.
Last week was another beach run over 5 miles. Another beautiful day for running and very hard on the muscles, yet soft on the joints. The beach runs take so much more muscle for you to be light on your feet and keep your speed.
Today we ran at Chabot college on the track doing a conditioning like exercise that is about 5 miles long, it consists of a run sprint technique used in most track conditioning programs. We were able to do the 5 miles in 38-39 minutes, amazing!
Another note, Anthony (Nicks brother) has signed up for Tough Mudders and has joined us the last few Saturdays. The Salazar genes are fast, super fast. Nickname TBD
These guys are like Seabiscuit, every time I start to run ahead of them they run right past me.
Keep up the good work folks.
Also, the Mission Peak Challenge in only 34 days away!! Barely a month left.

Deep Terrain

Deep Terrain

Being that we have a lot to catch up on, lets get down to some business, we have all been busy and hopefully keeping up with our routines. July is a busy month for vacations and it's easy to loose sight of your long term goals. I am happy to say every ones progress is going great. The trips to the gym are getting more frequent and our runs are getting longer.
Last Thursday Daniel and I decided to go on a semi-long run aiming towards 7-8 miles around Fremont. It was a huge success and we ended up running over 9 miles! The distances just keep increasing and it feels great. The last few miles we really hard and we did struggle having to walk a few times for a break. Regardless, it felt great to say that we ran that far.
The Half marathon keeps getting more and more into our reach.
At this point it is all about continuing the hard work and staying healthy. Keep building a little bit each time and you will see big results.

Sunday we ventured in Azusa in Southern California to do a little Bungee Jumping for Daniels birthday. Lucky for us there was a 5 mile hike up and back in some pretty tough terrain. We crossed rivers, climbed rocks, uphill climbs and some serious heat. We tried to run a bit on the way back on parts of the trail that were safe enough. Nothing will make you more tired than a 10 mile round trip hike in the sun; but, it was beautiful. The hike was very tough mudder for sure.
A few pictures for your enjoyment.

Kirk and I scaling down

Natures "Stairmaster 5000"

For those of you who are free on Saturday morning we are running at the beach again to do a little soft-sand training so bring your A-game.

Tough Cookies

How tough do you want to make your workouts?

Well, if you're doing the event Tough Mudders in October it should be pretty damn tough. Find any way you can to amp it up. When you go out for an average run around your area or hitting the trails hard you can make it more challenging if you do a few of my recommended challenges. Don't let your brain get used to any specific workout and do it different every time.

7 ways to make your workout tougher and challenge yourself

1. Run with ankle weights - this mimics the amount of weight your feet carry when you run through mud.
2. Drop and give me twenty - push ups are great for your upper body and core
3. Sprint intervals - sprint for 30-60 seconds at random times while your out jogging, this will increase your endurance.
4. Hill Interval - see a hill and get to the top. Try to run at least once a week in places with hill climbing involved to prepare your legs for the heavy climbing you will be doing.
5. Lunges - stop running, start doing lunges, twenty on each leg at least and keep running once your done, this will kill your legs.
6. Rock or log carries - see a big rock or log, pick it up and run with it for 1-2 minutes, this is a great one for mental toughness because it's always a very random way to surprise you.
7. Bear Crawls - get on all fours and crawl like a bear with keeping your knees off the ground, do this uphill, downhill and on every surface known to man. Doing this for just 50-100 yards can be very difficult.

All of these are only a taste of what you can do to change your style when you go out and run. We have been integrating these into our workouts on Saturdays. It takes longer to get through the run but you end up doing a whole body workout with these variations.

The group is improving every week, Coyote hills today was a great run with perfect weather. Another 6 mile run for all of us and we keep improving every week. Be sure that you are working out during the week as well as your long run on the weekend.

Go out there and get tough

Under the lights

"I run on the road, long before I dance under the lights."
- Muhammed Ali

We train and practice to be ready for events. We suffer and sacrifice so that the "other guy" across from you will know that you are the better of the two. Competition can drive us to new possibilities and motivate us to go farther than we thought. Competition is good, even if it is just with yourself. When you do something that someone said was impossible or that you thought was impossible, there is no better feeling than overcoming that, raising up your hands in victory and saying "I did it."

Over the weekend, I ran 8 miles, the farthest I have ever ran in my entire life. It felt great to really do something out of my comfort zone and now possibilities seem endless. Although, with this achievement I also was reminded of how sore you get from running this kind of distance. It can be a rollercoaster, one day your up and the next day your down. Just keep going!!!

Remember to get out there and run on the streets so that you will have the opportunity to dance under those lights and "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee."

Son of a Beach (Important Message for Tough Mudders)

This last Saturday we had a beach run in Alameda on a beautiful July 3rd morning getting there just early enough before the sun created a very warm day. With the smooth driving through empty freeways, beautiful weather and a bounty of parking, it would have been a shame to miss it. A light stretch and on to the sand we went. The pace on the soft sand gives you a much slower pace and your muscles work twice as hard when your feet sink with every step. The stretch of beach in Alameda is just under 2 miles; so, to keep up the distance we have been working for we ran the park trail for another mile before we decided to run back. The only drawback to running early in the morning was the low tide. The smell low tide creates with Alameda (who is known for their bird estuaries) is distinct and can make it difficult to breath. But, along this park trail was some beautiful apartments next to the beach with water views and a boat dock. It was a mesmerizing run.

On an impromptu tough mudder moment, we found a large log on the beach where Nick and I carried it together while running for about 2 minutes, after that, I filled two bags with sand and we ran the remaining distance in the sand while each of us carried a bag. It was a tiring run but we made it.

I have not been bringing my camera with me, it's hard carrying everything unless you have a backpack, I used my phone for two photos which came out ok.

This is Nick while running on the beach

This was a halfway point where Nick and I found a stretch of boulders and rocks with many sharp and pointy objects to avoid(another tough mudder moment).

Everyone who is running the Half Marathon in November, be sure you are running at least 3-4 days a week and cross training at least 1 day a week. Make sure to mix up your terrain, muscle memory is your enemy, be prepared for every type of surface.

Everyone who is running Tough Mudder, it's time to start getting tough. There are less than 100 days until this event and there WILL be a high elevation climb. Bear Valley Mountain has a base elevation of 6,600 feet above sea level and a summit elevation of 8,495 feet above sea level. Do not underestimate how hard this will be. Running and climbing uphill at a high elevation is extremely difficult. Make sure that uphill climbs are part of your training regime or you will have a very difficult tough mudder race.

Be sure you are doing planks, squats, push ups, and mountain climber exercises to mimic hill climbing.

Push through the pain

Do you ever want to give up? Is your body telling you you're done?

There is a difference between being tired and being injured.

Nick and I decided to tackle Lake Chabot this morning after work, we ran between 6.2 and 6.5 miles in rough terrain. It seemed like the hills just wouldn't stop. I was to say the least...exhausted and felt like I couldn't keep up. Nick did great and was doing his best to keep me motivated. During the entire run I felt tired and heavy.

My body was telling me, "you're injured, stop, you are too tired." I knew that I had to keep going and my brain was saying "suck it up."

It was a constant struggle going back and forth but after all is said and done, you must put one foot in front of the other and keep going until you are finished. I may have been tired but definitely not injured. It was like my body was trying to trick my brain.

What's the lesson here, just because you are hurting, doesn't mean you are injured.

Running an event or race requires a certain mental toughness, the more you have, the more you can push yourself to go the distance.

Olympic Style

I have been on a writing hiatus the last 2 weeks. Lacking the energy to write but still have been getting out there to run.
We ran Lake Chabot 2 weeks ago and are now running faster, longer and farther down the trail. Even after working all night, I love getting out on the trail and getting a good sweat on. We are running almost seven miles in tough terrain. Its easy to say the summer is off to a great start.
Last week we were down to two people, Daniel and I were the only ones who made it out for the group run. We decided to take on the Beast, the Green Monster, the King Kong of Fremont...Mission Peak.
With my excitement and amature attitude, I thought we might have a chance of running up the whole thing. We barley got 1/4th up the mountain, gasping and wheezing with no air in our lungs. We made a strong effort and hiked/ran up the mountain the best we could with no stopping or breaks. Getting to the top, we took in the view and ran full speed the whole way down, literally taking us only 12-15 minutes to decend. This was the biggest endorphin rush I have ever had. With my ipod playing and running as fast as I could, it felt amazing.
When you come to something that is bigger than you, puts you in your place and humbles you... take on that challenge and set a goal.
And set a goal we did.
On September 11th, we will again be running Mission peak, fastest time to the 3rd bench wins. Loser drives and buys drinks at the Englander that same night, not to mention a victory run down the hill Olympic style for the winner. We'll see you on the 11th.

We are on our way!

Lets Go!!

With each run you must be strong, have courage to push through pain and know that you WILL get through it. You may be tired, sick, can't breath, sore and in excruciating pain; but, each workout is one step closer to your goal and success of crossing the finish line.

This week was challenging, many of us are running more, going to the gym and getting up early to make sure we squeeze in that extra workout in order to meet our goals. That snooze button sure looks good at 5am in the morning but you still get up anyway, this is where we are now picking up our routines, making sure we do what we need in order to get where we need to go.

Progress is what you make each time you go out, even if you feel like you had a bad workout, be proud of yourself for trying. We all have off days or even off weeks where our workouts don't go as well as we would like. Try to stay positive and set a new goal if you have a bad workout. For example you can say "on my next run I will try to go 0.2 miles father, run 1 minute faster or go 10 minutes without stopping." Staying optomistic will get you inspired for your next workout instead of bringing your motivation to a hault.

We ran as a group at Coyote Hills on Saturday and everyone had a great workout. I was very impressed with all the hard work everyone is putting in. It was so hot running on the assfault and the sun was beaming down hard. Nick, Dan and I were keeping a faster pace than normal since the terrain at Coyote Hills has less incline on the perimeter than Lake Chabot.

The ladies ran great as well. Marisa, who only started last week, ran 6 miles in just over an hour, lets just say here legs were a little sore.

Kim joined us also, running over 5 miles!! We are all on our way to running the half marathon in November and hopefully a full marathon sometime next year. If we all keep up this pace, it IS an attainable goal.

If you want to talk motivation, lets talk about Nick "Running Wolf" who is always leading the pack and setting a faster pace. It is very difficult keeping up with him but somehow I was able to muster up enough oxygen to my muscles to stay within a 30 yard radious behind him. However, just when I think I can catch up, he runs faster. I strive to get on his level.

Start running 4 days a week and your endurance will increase a great deal. Great week everyone, lets keep running, lifting and training.

A question to think about: What is on your exercise bucket list? Is it marathons, triathalons, swimming, hiking or biking... and is it something specific? New York or Boston Marathon, Hike Half Dome, Swim from Alcatraz, SF to LA Bike tour, Iron Man Triathalon...

Post your comment of what it is; then, see how you can make it happen!

Don't Stop!!

We are doing this!

This last Saturday at Lake Chabot we doubled our attendance and had 6 people running together. Joining Drew, Daniel and myself was Marisa, Nick and Bell, a nurse I work with in the ER. It was a beautiful morning with the sun shining and a cool breeze to our backs. With all of the rain we have been having lately, all of the plants, trees and shrubs are a vibrant green with a soft trail to run on - it was perfect.

The second week can be hard to make it through, a little sore and the pressure of improving your performance can leave you out of breath and exhausted just as you begin. You MUST push through this pain, the first 5-10 minutes are the hardest. Try to get yourself "in the groove" when you run, where it feels like clockwork and you can keep a pace that is comfortable for you.

All of the rolling hills at Lake Chabot are kicking our butts; but, each time we are able to run a little bit longer and faster. Our total mileage was 6.3 miles in an hour on Saturday and we are slowly approaching the halfway mark to the 13.4 miles we will have to run in November - which is very exciting.

May is just about over which gives us about 4 months until the mud run and 5 months until the half marathon, the progress a person can make in 4-5 months with consistent training can be amazing. Look at your goal and do not loose sight of it.

This is Nick and Bell running up the first part of the unpaved trail

Nick was literally 50 yards ahead of us the entire time, we decided from now on he will be known as Nick "Running Wolf" Salazar

I really feel like this picture puts these hills into perspective. When you are running over 6 miles, these make you so tired but are great for your endurance.




Keep up the great work everyone, push through the pain, go get out there and exercise!

Training

Training has officially begun!!!

We decided this week to go for a sure thing: Lake Chabot
We ran 5-6 miles this time, a huge step up from when we started back in early February. Running the unpaved section is very difficult with a huge uphill climb and many rolling hills which made 2 miles feel like 10. All I know is that in just a few short months we will be tackling that uphill climb like the scene in Rocky where he climbs the stairs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

This is Daniel at the start of this massive hill, we couldn't keep up.

Trying to run up this monster of a hill used many of my reserves and I felt exhausted the rest of the time; but, with determination and the motivation from Drew and Dan I made it. I'll be sure to bring water the next time.
Lake Chabot is about a 12.4 mile loop around the lake which will be a great place to train for the half marathon. Running long distances are easier when you have more to look at and changing scenery.
Hopefully a few more people will join us next week for our Saturday run. Get out there and run everyone!!

Drew and Daniel after running up one of the rolling hills

At the finish line, where water never tasted so good

Just Getting Started

With some new motivation over the last few weeks, a few of us finally decided to finally get out and run as a group; but, it never happened...
Saturday was an an epic fail due to a flea market and a track meet at Chabot college. So, we decided to get breakfast at Mimi's Cafe instead. Nick had just finished his last day of training the previous night; so, we decided to celebrate. Next week we are definitely changing the location.
On the other hand, Drew and I ran 6 miles through Fremont/Newark the other day. The trail was calm and went through the historic Ardenwood Farm.
We took a walk break on one of the busy streets and a huge Bud Light truck stopped in front of us. I instantly imagined we were in a commercial, all we needed was the truck driver to run out, pop open the sliding door and pull out a couple of ice cold bud lights. This would have made an amazing instant street party; and of coarse; Thin Lizzy's The boys are back in town would be blasting with many of us dancing in the street.
Hopefully, this Saturday will not be a bust and we will get the exercise we have all been craving to do on these perfect Saturday mornings.

My 12 Favorite Things: Exercise

This idea was taken from a Magazine called Outdoor where they reviewed 51 of their favorite things about the outdoors. I'm doing a more simplified version of that and trying to gear it towards exercise. Please feel free to comment on your favorite things you may have.

1. Sleep: your body needs at least 6-9 hours of sleep every night to maintain itself. In a recent issue of National Geographic, a study was done where mice were kept awake 24/7 and they all died within days. Sleep is essential for good workouts. People who have good sleeping habits are correlated to living longer, feeling happier and healthier. Regular exercise should give you better sleep patterns and sleep/wake cycles. "Having sleep problems? Go hike 20 miles, I bet you won't have a problem sleeping after that."
2. Runners or Exercise High: don't burn a fatty - go burn some calories! There are no pain killers like natural pain killers. People who exercise often and for long periods of time can get what is known as a "runners high" or "exercise high" where your body releases natural pain killers and gives you certain feelings of euphoria. I wouldn't suggest only exercising for this reason alone; but hey, its just an added bonus.
3. Post-Workout meal: There is nothing like working your ass off at the gym, track or trail and getting some much needed calories back into your body afterwards. Omelets, pancakes and hash browns...bring it on. By all means this is not the best post-workout meal, but it's damn good. Men's health says that chocolate or regular milk is a perfect post workout meal. Peanut butter and jelly is also a good post workout meal as well. Don't forget the water!! Hey, speaking of water....
4. H2O: "Gatoraaaade!" No way Jose, water should be the only drink of choice before, during and after your workout; in fact, drink this stuff all day. I don't need to tell you how much of our body is made up of water if you made it past the 3rd grade. An easy way to know how much water to drink is your body weight in ounces divided by two - give or take. Example: weight =130lbs then 130 ounces divided by 2 = 75 ounces/day When you are really working hard outside in the heat, nothing tastes better than an ice cold glass of water.
5. I-Pod/MP3: music has come such a long way the last 10 years. Music can make someone feel stronger and more motivated. Nothing feels better than hearing your new favorite song while working up a sweat. I'm so glad we have a world of digital music now because I was so tired of hearing my portable CD player skip every time I took a running step. Plus, the batteries were so expensive.
6. Progress Progress Progress: the more you do something, the better you will get. Practice makes perfect. You may think you suck at first, you may think you suck now, even after working out for a long time. Be optimistic, look at where you started from and see how far you've come. Every workout is progress to try and make yourself better. Try writing down everything you did each time you exercise and in 2 months look at how you progress. As long as you stick with it you will see PROGRESS.
7. Sweat: sorry ladies but your wrong, sweat IS sexy! We sweat to keep our bodies cool and at a proper temperature. Sweating is part of exercising. If you're not sweating, your not exercising! Embrace the sweat, but guys, please do not embrace the B.O. Wear deodorant.
8. Body transformation: lets face it, many people diet and exercise to try and look a little better and more importantly feel better about their physical appearance. There are so many commercials out there making us feel bad about the way we look now. Exercising will give you better muscle tone and burn fat making you look more lean. Seeing your stomach get flatter, biceps get bigger or whatever your looking for is always a good feeling when you wake up and look in the mirror. Changing your physical appearance is fun but it is important not to be obsessive about it. You know those girls on the commercials? They really DON'T eat Carl's Jr. and they probably throw it up after the video shoot anyway, so don't take it seriously.
9. Ice: the most under appreciated therapy in the exercise world. Do you have an injury, aches, or pains? Ice it, with lots of ice! 15 minutes with a cloth barrier in between you and your skin every hour to two hours. It works better than any anti-inflammatory or pain killer you can take. Give it time and give it a chance. Want to be really tough? Take an ice bath, this is what those pro athletes do when they have injuries. Not to mention, ice feels great in the summertime on your face or in your water when you need a break.
10. Sore Muscles: having soreness in your muscles makes you feel accomplished that you really pushed yourself. When you exercise, your muscles tear and rebuild making you feel sore. You may even feel the peak of sore muscles 24 hours after working out. When you first start working out, the sore muscles may make you feel miserable making it hard to walk, lift your arms or even sit on the John. If you are really sore, you had a really good workout.
11. Be Fit Lifestyle: it's hard not to become addicted. Exercising daily and eating healthy will help you live longer. Remember, it's ok if you fall off the horse, the most important thing is to GET BACK ON and DONT GIVE UP. Having an active and fit lifestyle will do so many positive things for your body, mind and soul.
12. Celebration: life is too short, make sure you celebrate all of your accomplishments with friends and family. What you do IS a big deal and don't let any one else tell you otherwise. Be proud of what you do and make sure to live it up. This also gives you time to reflect on everything you have done to get to that point. Just like exercise, life is hard work. So make sure to take the time to kick back, relax and celebrate.

Getting Started

Starting a workout regime is often both a daunting and overwhelming task. Compare it to that first day of school, when the teacher gives you a syllabus and shows you all the work that will be expected the entire semester/year. With so many different workouts and diets out there, it is hard to know which one is best.
Especially for a beginner, its hard to know which workout is most effective. In fact, some may not even know where to start. Especially in place like gym where someone who has no experience using the machines and/or free weights. It's easy to feel more embarrassed rather than actually accomplished with your workout when you don't know what you are doing.

"The hardest part is walking through the door" is a phrase I have heard over and over again about exercising. I do agree that walking through the door is part of the challenge with exercising; but, for the newbie at the gym the hardest part is what to be done and how to do it correctly. A person who is new to the gym may be motivated to walk through the door; but, may feel intimidated about using some of the equipment. If you do exercises efficiently and correctly you will see results quicker, you will work out safer and be more productive. Going to the gym and getting a good workout will make you want to go more often. Anyone can walk through a gym door, but what you actually do in the gym is what's going to give you results.

A personal trainer, an experienced friend or books are great ways to know what workout will work best for you. It all depends on why you are training. Are you doing it for health, loosing weight, cardiovascular fitness, muscle toning, muscle gaining, competitive events or do you just want to adjust your physical appearance? When you narrow these down it narrows the broad spectrum of workouts that are out there.

A good piece of advice I can give you is to break a sweat a least 4 days a week. You don't have to feel exhausted after a workout; in fact, you should be energized. 20-30 minutes should give you enough of a workout to break a sweat. This is idea will help to maintain your body weight and prevent health problems such as Diabetes and Cardiovascular disease.

Today I was inspired and ran almost 4 miles before I went to work. I knew I just needed to get out in the fresh air and run. What is great about running is it's free, all you need is the motivation and some decent running shoes. Start slow and work your way up, start with walking if you have to. The main thing to keep in mind about all exercise is safety, so that you prevent injury and your workouts will continue.

The half marathon is coming up fast and for all of us who need to start, START! It doesn't matter how fast or far but that you are getting out there. Your body needs time to adjust to running 4-5 days a week. All of your ligaments, tendons and bones will adjust over time. Don't feel embarrassed if you are not sure how to start, just ask and we'll tell you all about it.

Big Sur Mud Run 2010

The Big Sur Mud Run!

This is where it all began, where the few of us took on a challenge that we knew nothing about. All we knew is that we wanted something different, something new and this seemed to be just what the doctor ordered. The website looked promising, with many pictures and a great description of what the race offered...MUD!! The race was sponsored by the Army which meant there would be a drill Sergeant every quarter mile to "motivate you." We knew that inexperienced civilians like ourselves would have no chance at finishing this race if it weren't taken seriously.

I've always been a big fan of mud, even as a kid I remember making gigantic mud pies in the backyard after a fresh week of rain. Taking an old aluminum pie pan and sopping up huge amounts of mud and smoothing over the tops as if they were ready to be displayed in a glass window for sale.

The idea of the mud run made us motivated, it lit a spark, to get in shape and have fun doing it. Daniel and I started going to the gym 4 days a week and running every Saturday. When I decided to sign up for the run, I made a pact with myself to exercise every Saturday whether it be running, hiking or cross-training.

We met as group that first Saturday at Lake Chabot, 9am. A cold and breezy February morning we stretched and decided to run just over a 3 mile loop as a practice run, a starting point, a place we could go back in 2 months and say "wow, this is so easy now." We all finished the run, tired, sore and some of us...injured. Lets just say that some of us couldn't make the second day of training. Week by week we slowly increased our pace and speed with our endurance getting better.

We ended up having a group of 5 running the race together when the time came. 9am on race day we were ready to go, the first group to run, when you arrived you could hear the count of the drill Sergeant getting everyone warmed up, we were there, we made it and training was over, now the real test. We were off and ready to go, excited to start the run, we felt the race would be tolerable at this point, we even thought it might be easy. "We can run 5 miles no problem now, this should be a piece of cake." We were wrong. The race started fine, running on asphalt and slightly uphill, nothing we haven't done before. 1 mile done, 4 more to go. The first mud pit comes ahead, it ends up being a hug hole in the ground filled with water with 3 foot barriers we have to jump over. This obstacle was pretty easy, but it added 5-10 pounds of water and mud for us to carry for the rest of the race. What was even worse was now came the hard part: running on a trail, in the sand, uphill, for the next 3 miles. This doesn't seem like much on paper; but, it ended up being a real challenge especially since none of our training consisted of running uphill, in sand, with an extra 10 pounds of weight.

The second mud pit had us jump over a 6 foot wall and crawl in a mud hole on our elbows and knees. I ran so hard to that 6 foot wall and cleared it no problem, dove into the mud and crawled my way out as if my life depended on it.We kept running and reached the beer and water station. The last thing I wanted at this point was a beer, so I grabbed a cup of water, took a few sips and splashed the rest on Drew's head and we kept running.
The third mud pit was the most intense, away from all the spectators so the drill sergeants could yell as much as they wanted. We were running down a really steep hill with the sergeants screaming at us, the obstacle started with walking on balance beam with mud 5 feet below on each side, continued with jumping over another 6 foot wall, crawling through another mud pit and doing 10 push ups.


When I jumped the second 6 foot wall at the 3rd station, I swung my leg too wide and hit someone next to me, I got yelled at and was surprised they didn't make me do push ups as punishment. We knew we were almost done and when we saw the last mud pit with everyone cheering we had a boost of energy. This mud pit had a covering over it which forced you crawl and you only had about1 1/2 feet of space on top of you. This pit was long, about 25 feet. The mud was so heavy that it pulled down my shorts and as I got out of the pit I had to pull them back up letting everyone see my underwear.

As you can see we were all in tie dye shirts, this made us a target at every single military checkpoint screaming:

"Lets go! Why don't you go brighten up someone else's day"


"Hey Tie Dye, pick up the pace"


"Uh OHH, looks like we've got some grateful dead fans here"


After a while we even started singing Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco (Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair)" and throwing up peace signs as we ran by during the taunting. It was all in good fun and it looked as if though they were not going to stop the tie dye jokes so we were firing right back.

Crossing that finish line was such an achievement for all of us, after the last mud pit we were exhausted physically but we pushed through and crossed the finish line strong. We were covered in mud, from head to toe and it felt great.

A new start

Its May!!

Since the start of the new year, myself and a few friends have been very ambitious in our journey of getting in shape and experiencing a whole new world of compitition not only against each other, but also in the form of half marathons, mud runs, 5k's and the dreaded full marathon. I am no psychic; but, I have a feeling... that the upcoming summer will be very active. This blog is aimed at capturing upcoming summer activities so we may see our progress, struggles and fun that we have this year.

Many of us are signed up for the upcoming half marathon in Big Sur, November 19th. I can honestly say that I have never tackled such a large quantity of running before, but I am excited to start the training for this new experience as well as crossing the finish line. To many of us this race seems attainable and also impossible. What seems to be keeping me so motivated to do it is all the people I am doing it with. "We're doing this together and together we can do anything!"
I have just signed up for an event in October called "Tough Mudders" where it is a 7 mile course with 17 different challenging obstacles. When I look at the website for this race and read all the different challenges, I have to hold my breath to keep myself from screaming with excitement. Lets just say it brings me back to the old football days of grit, muscle and hard work. The kind of race where every weakness poccessed is right in front of you, staring you in the face. This is more than a challenge, it's scary as hell and makes me want to loose my lunch...and breakfast. How can anyone get through a race like this? I will tell you, It takes commitment, drive and perserverance, this is what I hope to capture this summer as we all train for these two events because it's going to be hard and something we may look back on later in life and say "how the hell did we do that?"
Well, this is how...