Tough Mudder New England

Another check off the ole bucket list – complete a Touch Mudder in 2015. I spent an entire year training for this event.  Mixing up my workouts between Spin, TRX, Indoor Circuit, yoga, hiking and running.   A giant thank you to my instructors and peers at Sprockets Cycle Studio for helping me achieve this goal.

Our Crew... Minus 2

Tough Mudder New England is held at Mt. Snow which just happens to be a hop skip and a jump from my house.  It’s the mountain I grew up skiing on and have spent countless hours weaving my way around its terrain.  I have attended numerous festivals and events at the base of this mountain (including my brother’s wedding last year) but never in a million years had I considered hiking UP this monster. 

            

10+ miles with 20 obstacles is the reality of this challenge (with about ½ of those miles uphill).  When talking to previousMudder legionnaires’, the best training advice they could give me was to start hiking some mountains.  And when I think I’ve hiked enough… hike some more.  Lesson learned for next time–start climbing some friggin mountains.  What seemed like endless vertical climbing was, by far, the most challenging aspect of this course (for me anyway). 

And then there’s the obstacles.  Like most OCR’s you will find some of the same obstacles you find on any course.  But Tough Mudder is notoriously known for adding a “fear factor” to their obstacles.  Obstacles that aren’t necessarily physically challenging but scary as heck.  For me, the key to concurring these types of obstacles is to not over think them.  Just get up there and go… before you have a chance to realize what the hell your about to do. 

Favorite obstacle?  Walk the Plank.  You climb up a 20 or so foot wall, walk out on a wooden plank, jump into a pool of muddy water 15 ft deep and swim about 20 yards to get out.  Easy peasy for me considering jumping off the high dive at the town pool used to be one of my favorite past times. 

Least favorite?  Arctic Enema… 1000%!  Now, I like slides and I love water, but combining the two with about 50 gallons of ice is complete insanity.  You slide down a short slide, under a chain linked fence and get completely submerged into a pool of ice water.  Then you must climb over a wall, into another pool of ice water, before you can make your way out at the end.  Just to get some perspective, take the worst milk shake headache you’ve ever gotten, engulf it around your entire head, and x by 100%.  That might come close to the feeling I had when I reached dry land.  It literally felt like a vice was crushing my skull and I thought my body was going into shock.  Stupidest thing I’ve ever done (well, almost).

Other obstacles worth noting:  Cry Baby and Electroshock Therapy.  Cry Baby is a chamber of thick, “safe” teargas.  I could barely see my own hand in front of me, so I chose to crawl through it blindly rather than keep my eyes open and burn out my retinas.  At the exit of the camber I heard some people comparing it to breathing in a ton of Vic’s vapor rub.  But for me it felt more like I had smoked an entire pack of menthol cigarettes less than 5 minutes.  

Electroshock Therapy:  For those of you who aren’t aware, this is the one where you run through a gaggle of hanging live wires, while jumping over bales of hay.  Its right at the finish line so there are a gazillion spectators watching and oohing and aweing as people run through and get shocked.  This was the only obstacle I was seriously considering skipping (aside from the usual hanging and pulling obstacles that could jeopardize my already delicate shoulder).  I had read a lot of reviews about it.  About ½ of the people said they never even got shocked.  The other ½ said it felt like they got punched in the face or hit with a baseball bat.  No regrets, I had to do it.  Besides, it’s the last obstacle of the race. Worse case someone could drag me across the finish line.  

Did I successfully complete it?  Yes, but sure as heck not gracefully.  While jumping over a hay bale I got zapped in midair and the next thing I knew I was on the ground.  The crowd of random cheering quickly changed to one giant “Oooohh” followed by encouraging words of “get up! get up!” (Yea, no shit, I’m trying!)  Back on my feet and charging toward the finish I was zapped 3 more times.  Did it hurt?  A little, but it was my ego that hurt the worst on that one… kinda embarrassing.

                   

4 ½ hours later I crossed the finish line (we started as a team and ended as a team).  Every muscle in my body was tired and achy, but my smile was as big as it gets.  Such a euphoric feeling of accomplishment. And then there was beer.... 

I often hear people say that they could never do something like that.  Their wrong.  Yes you need physical strength and endurance, but just as equally you need mental focus.  The human body is extremely resilient.  It’s our minds that will make us quit long before our bodies will.  If you can get through the mental challenges and push yourself, you can get through pretty much anything.   

San Diego 2015

Well I'm just back from another fun trip to San Diego.  It's been 4 years now since I've called this city home, and the longer I'm away, the more things seem to change. I've spent the last two weeks visiting with friends, frequenting my favorite stomping grounds and pondering all the things I miss and don't miss about living in "Americas Finest City".

Things I don't miss:

Traffic and Congestion = its Southern California, no explanation needed

Cookie Cutter Houses = B O R I N G... give that home some personality already.

Planes = living over the flight pattern and constantly having to turn the volume up and down while watching TV. Or the ever famous phrase of "pause please" while having to put your conversation on hole until that roaring jet airliner makes its way over the beach.
Bad manners = you can forget about greeting people with hellos and good mornings. If you like to avoid eye contact and walk around with your face in your phone all day, you'll fit in just fine.
Excessive Nip/Tucks =  I understand the need to want to reverse the affects of aging, but it's inevitable.   Please don't tell me you actually paid thousands of dollars to look like that... hideous.   

Things I miss:

The Weather = 70 and sunny 80% of the year.

The Food = not just "real" Mexican food, but the option to oink out on any ethnic food you could possibly desire (Q'ero for Peruvian anyone???? ~Buen provecho!)

Cheap Drinks = happy hours and pitchers of beer (both of which are illegal in VT) 

Events = weekly festivals/fairs and a surplus of big name entertainers available at your disposal year round. 

Nail Spa's = with one on every corner and competitive pricing, I can cut my regular mani/pedi bill in half. 

Pet Friendly = Almost every restaurant has a patio and every patio has a dog.  You can bring         Ripken or Rover to the beach, the mall, or pick a park, any park, and watch these smiling canines frolic.  

The Mighty Pacific = the sand, the sea, the salty air and my personal playground for over 12 years... I miss that the most.

So there you have it. And even though my misses outweigh the don't misses, I have no desire to move back to San Diego any time soon.  Maybe its because I'm getting older and I don't have as much patience or tolerance for things I didn't care about in the past.  (Dare I say I'm maturing?  Finally??)  In any event, I had a good run and loved living there when I did. But for now I'm perfectly content where I'm at, and honestly feel I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be at this moment in my life.

  

Shale Hill Adventure

Holy cow are the first G-rated words that come to mind when reflecting on this past weekend.  Shale Hill Adventure (http://www.shalehilladventure.com ) is an obstacle course training facility located in Benson, VT.  It’s opened year round, and people come from all over the map to visit this tiny, rural, Vermont town and practice for OCR’s such as Mudder, Spartan, Warrior, etc. 

 

It’s a 10k course with over 51 grueling obstacles.  The first time you go you are escorted by a guide.  And by guide I mean Rob, the owner.  He’s insanely fit and designed/built the entire thing himself. He walks you through the course, giving you pointers and helpful hints to successfully concur each obstacle.  Helpful hints or no helpful hints, I could only complete about ½ of them.  The other ½ I either attempted and was unsuccessful, or simply skipped all together, knowing full well that my lack of wing span and/or upper body strength wasn’t gonna cut it. 

I was with a group of about 12 people (our Sprockets/Tenacious Tigers team) and it took forever to complete.  To give you some perspective, the average person can complete entire course in about 2 hrs.  The fastest time, achieved by a professional OCR, completed it in 1 hr 08min.  And our group??  Over 5 hours.  But that’s because we started and finished as a team, helping each other out along the way.  And we even stopped for a popsicle break half way through... Thanks Rob :) 

And this little adventure is not for the faint of heart.  There’s 100% chance you’ll walk away with minor cuts, bruises, rope burn, splinters, and as someone so eloquently put it “looking like a mange victim” from repeatedly climbing over giant bales of hay.  And I’m pretty sure my pudgy tummy was finally a god sent, when I went barellassing into a board at full speed and bruised a couple ribs.  But as long as you don’t mind getting a little banged up, I would highly recommend giving it a whirl..  It’s a ton of fun and a great opportunity to test your mental grit and push yourself to your physical limits.  And at the bargain price of $25, why not?  Besides, there’s a killer taco cart across the street.  Heck, I’d go back just for the tacos :)

Pics taken by Sandy Sherman

Fun-Run Season Begins

I think it’s finally safe to say that I have surpassed the cold doldrums of winter.  And what a long one it was (even with a 1+ week stint in the Caribbean).  But now spring has arrived and everything is anew.  The sun is finally shinning, trees are budding and flowers are starting to bloom… just waiting for the damn temperature to rise.

And since brighter days are here, there’s no better way to celebrate than getting out and enjoying the fresh (not frozen) air.  This past weekend was the kickoff to my “fun-run season”.  Fun-runs are wacky themed 5k's, 10k’s, and of course the ever exciting OCR’s (Obstacle Course Races).  I am officially registered for at least one of these races each month from April through October.  

First up… Color Me Rad www.colormerad.com  Sunday morning I met up with some girlfriends from Sprockets Cycle Studio to run through the streets of Manchester, NH.  Color runs are pretty popular these days and extremely family/kid friendly, I even saw a few dogs of a different color meandering around the park.

Color Me Rad is only a 5k, which is a plus in my book since running is my least favorite form of exercise.  As you run the course, you will periodically run through a dye station.  Volunteers are eagerly waiting your arrival armed with dye packs and paint guns.  They take great pleasure in ambushing you as you run on by. Each station has its own color and some volunteers are a little more aggressive than others.  The last station, purple, was so intense I couldn’t even see a foot in front of me, and I came out looking like Barney :)

Once the race is over, everyone gathers for the post-race party, which includes free water (no complementary brews here) and dye packs.  The music is bumping and the MC coordinates a dye-toss where everyone in the audience throws their color packs in the air.  Even if you didn’t want to be in the middle of the ciaos, it’s pretty cool to just step back and watch. 

Top photo taken by Shannon Sterrett

I came out of it a hot colored mess and I’m pretty sure I will be blowing rainbows out my nose for the next couple of days, but it’s all good.  The clothes will wash clean, and to the best of my knowledge the dye isn’t toxic.   And since I haven’t ran since the Boston Ugly Christmas Sweater Run last December, it felt great to finally get my legs hitting the pavement and ease myself into much more challenging races on the horizon.

St. Croix Continued... Beer Drinking Pigs and Rum Punch Sail

Beer Drinking Pigs:  Nestled up in the rainforest, on the west side of the island, lies this rustic jungle bar called the Mt. Pellier Domino Club. (Not be confused with Montpelier, the capital of VT.)  One of the most intriguing aspects of this place is they have beer drinking pigs.  And by beer drinking, it’s more like beer guzzling/can crushing.  And by pigs I mean giant, ugly, smelly boars… like the ones that used to chase people through the jungle on LOST.

Now, for all you animal lovers who think this is absolutely horrible, not to worry.  The PETA people had a field day with this place.  You can no longer buy them your beer of choice, and they can’t just chug-a-lug all day, every day.  For the bargain price of $3 you can buy an ice cold O’dules from the bar, and every 20 minutes they will lead you to this locked “barn” where you can have the opportunity to share a pint with a pig.

Oh how the times have changed for these beer swigging swine’s. Do you think they got confused or disappointed when they stopped getting a good day buzz?  Or if they went through detox/withdrawals when they abruptly went dry?  Clearly it’s a much healthier situation for them, but a drastically different lifestyle for sure.… this little piggy went to AA :(

Big Beards Adventure:  What do you get when you pile 2 VT’ers, 8 Bostonians, 5 Minnesota’ers, and couple Canadians on a boat for a day - in the Caribbean, in the dead of winter? A hell of a good time, that’s what!  

I introduce you to Capt’n Big Beards Adventure Tours. The full day tour sail’s you to two different beaches on Buck Island.  Considered a National Monument both above and below the surface, it’s a great place for beach combing and snorkeling.  They even have underwater plaques with pictures and descriptions of various marine life for people to identify the fish as they swim by.

And once everyone’s done snorkeling, and back on the boat, the rum punches start flowing.  And flowing, and flowing. We sail back over to the mainland for a private beach bbq.  Burgers/dogs and freshly grilled Mahi, YUM!  And did I mention rum punch?  

The rest of the afternoon was spend frolicking on the beach with a gallon of rum punch and my 18 new best friends (Capt’-n-crew included).  Do I care that after X amount of rum punches (they were tiny cups) I kept forgetting to reapply sunscreen and got completely fried?  Do I care that I woke up the next day with a giant hangover and “sea lice” from snorkeling through insect laden seaweed?  Hell no!  I’d take a mild case of “mystery bumps” over another day shoveling in a heartbeat.  It was totally worth it!

St. Croix, Pt 1.

The one good thing about moving back to a climate that has boarder line "uninhabitable winters", is it forces me to get away and travel to warmer climates.  This year’s winter hiatus was to the island of St. Croix.  St. Croix, commonly known as STX, is the largest of the US Virgin Islands at 28 miles long and 7 miles wide, with a population of about 50k.

The topography is like the island of Achilles meets the great state of Vermont.  Lush green mountains in the middle, surrounded by sandy white beaches and tropical turquoise waters.  The best of both worlds as far as I’m concerned.  So much in fact, that it’s inspired me to update my resume and start researching jobs and housing.  I’m not saying I’m going to drop everything and buy a one way ticket to the Caribbean, but at this point, I’m pretty damn close.

Highlights of the first part of the trip include:

1.    Scuba Diving:  I chartered 3 days of diving with SCUBA (St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures).  Molly, Ed and the entire SCUBA staff come highly recommended.  They were super friendly, took me to great dive sights, and the diving conditions were impeccable.  They even provide complementary post dive beers… not a bad way to kick off my traditionally “purchased” post dive beers.

As part of the #3 largest living reef in the world, the marine life was thriving.  On top of all the beautiful fishies you’d expect to see, we saw threshers and black tip reef sharks,  giant moray eels, spotted eagle rays, and an abundance of lion fish (all lion fish we speared and fed back to nature… my dive buddies will appreciate this).  

I got to do a number of dives in Salt River, which is where Christopher Columbus landed on his 2^nd visit to the new world… until he was run off by the natives.  Not only did it feel great to be playing in the underwater tropics, I have officially dove the three largest barrier reef’s in the world.  Bucket list, check!!!

2.       Jump Up:  Jump Up is a cultural party held 4 times a year.  I was lucky to be in town while Jump Up occurred, and even luckier that it just happened to fall on Friday the 13^th - the night of my 40^th birthday!  Yes, that’s right, the entire island of St. Croix was celebrating this milestone right along with me. :)

They shut down the streets along the boardwalk and waterfront of Christiansted, and from 6pm to
10pm a giant “carnival” like party ensues.  Vendors from all over the island line the streets selling local food, drink and artisans galore.  Steel drum bands set up on street corners boasting traditional sounds of the Caribbean and the Mocko Jumbies are dancing in the streets.

Traditionally from West Africa, Mocko Jumbies are said to be “God like” creatures, protecting villagers and warding off evil.  Now a Caribbean staple, Mocko Jumbies are stilt walkers in colorful costumes, standing up to 20 feet tall, who dance around and make appearances at parties and festivals… they’re great!

I have many more adventures to highlight, but in order to spare you from a long drawn out blog, I will stop right here and break it up a bit.  Up next, details on hermit crab races, catamaran day sail, and beer drinking pigs... stay tuned