I Conquered The Beast

My muscles are screaming and I'm still reeling from exhaustion, but I did it. I finished the Spartan Beast yesterday.

This was without a doubt the single hardest thing I've ever done physically. The race itself was approximately 14.1 miles long and it took place in the rocky, unforgiving hills on the outskirts of Glen Rose, TX. 

The race was interspersed with obstacles and challenges designed by sadistic people- things like 200 foot army mud crawls under barbed wire, climbing wet, muddy ropes 50 feet high, dragging heavy blocks of cement through forested creek beds, and carrying 100 lb buckets of wet gravel up and down +100 foot hills with deathly steep inclines.

It transcended brutality.

The experience was also very emotionally draining for me, and it's hard to pinpoint exactly how I feel right now. I'm happy I stuck to my word and I'm proud of my achievement, but I'm a little razzle-dazzled right now, & my brain fuses are still trying to make sense of everything that I went through.

I know I'll look back on this experience with more fondness, but for now, I just want to get things back to a state of normalcy...then maybe start preparing for next year's Dallas Spartan Beast. Who knows....


Thanks to JD & Lisa Thompson for supporting me early, and thanks to Carol Harney for making a BIG donation to the mudrun literally the day before I did it. Thank you so much!

Here are my actual results- out of 3668 contestants, I got 569th overall, finishing in the top 15.5% of participants. Not too shabby, but I can do better. ^_^

 I was also wearing a GoPro HD headmounted camera during the race, and I'm going to be editing together a nice little video for you guys to see soon!

Once again, thank you all for following this stupid-yet-passionate pursuit of mine! I may try to do it again, albeit a little differently next time around.

Take CARE

Derek

The Mudrun Is Happening Even Though the Sponsorships Didn't!

Hey y'all!

It's been a while since we last saw each other! There have been fall festivals & cat-stuff galore between posts, boy let me tell ya.

I got onto the front page of the Wise County Messenger which is some pretty sweet publicity & I've increased my social media followers to over 30,000 people!

Holy balloons!

Even with all that heat, the project didn't really take root like I had hoped or planned. Throughout the whole ordeal, I recieved ONE sponsorship and even THAT came from our senior volunteers, J.D. & Lisa Thompson, after I told them that I didn't have any sponsorships & they felt bad for me. Ooof.

I think all the stuff with sponsorships & t-shirts was too complicated & also times are tight. Let's not forget the fact that if people want to donate to CARE, they'll just donate to CARE. Either way, I'm doing the mudrun & I'm going to represent CARE, & if people want to donate to the facility because they heard of me doing ice-plunges & box jumps then so be it! I changed up the sponsorship section to a plain-jane donate section & that's that!

Speaking of box jumps, by the way, I slammed my opposite leg on the SAME concrete culvert during workouts the other day (not parkour!) I didn't need stitches, but my initial thought was, "Not again!!!"

I'm doing the mudrun in two weeks, I'm scared as hell, but I said I was going to do it, and I'm going to do it.

Woot.

Noticing a change - quick update

Hey all you's folks!

I've got a few moments right now in between work & working out so this is going to be shorter than normal.

Last night was one of the first times I've noticed a really significant change in my body's athletic ability since starting this whole thing. We were feeding, & during big cat feeding (especially with CARE's holistic whole-carcass feeding method) you're generally getting really dirty & lugging around some pretty hefty stuff. It's an arduous ordeal but it gives you a good chace to work out your CARE Muscles.

Basically, we have our tractor with a front-end bucket lift, we fill that bucket with meaty goodness, then we lift the bucket to the level of the enclosures, & we toss din-dins hither and thither to the hungry lions and tigers who run around like crazed lunatics below.

Fun!

I've fed countless times & I've always been able to get the job done. It's at least a two person job- one to drive the tractor, one up top to toss. Sometimes, when we're short-staffed, I have to fill both positions which involves driving, placement, climbing, tossing, descending, driving to the next one, & repeat. It takes a bit longer to perform, but again, I can git-r'-dun (oof).

Last night I had to do just that for the first time in probably a month & a half- only this time I noticed a fluidity like I've never experienced before. I was scaling & descending faster & with significantly less effort, and I was gripping & tossing the heavy food with greater ease.

It was neat!

I guess the workouts are starting to pay off. Maybe soon I'll have to get new pants.

Anyway, I've gotta go run!

Take care,

Derek

Ice Plunge Video From Yesterday

Here's the video of my icy adventure. I stayed in for over ten minutes. I started to ramble pretty intensely about my inspirations about 2/3rds of the way through. I was trying to elaborate on what originally drew me to the facility & how I learned life-changing lessons in humility by being around the cats & their power- the idea that the cats and the facility was something bigger than myself. I tried to explain to the viewers how the cats made me realize how there are certain things in life that are stronger than you and cannot be forced or controled, but with time, patience, & dedication those things can be persuaded & managed. I was trying to illustrate how the cats helped me to grow, develop, & become an overall better & stronger person and how I feel as if I am forever indebted to them for the gifts they gave to me, but what came out was a bunch of jumbled babbling. Cold on the brain I guess.

Hope you enjoy!

-Derek

So I did this today...

That is a picture of me sitting in a tank full of ice water. I decided it was a good idea to do something big, somewhat stunty, and rather dumb in order to get some extra heat for the project- so I invited some of the local news guys out, & we had ourselves a nice press event.

I sat in the tank of water (easily in the low 40s, upper 30s Fahrenheit) for over ten minutes- I was experiencing some interesting physiological effects after a while (couldn't feel extremities, brain stopped working at a desirable efficiency, etc.), but overall (& after a nice hot shower), I came out of the ordeal pretty well.

To pass the time & keep my wits while in the tank, I lifted weights, talked a lot, did crosswords, Vined my ordeal, & wrote a letter to my Aunt Sharon. It was painful, but I'm glad I did it because I think I achieved my three goals-

1) Use this event as a training event of sorts. Frigid water is a staple of the mudrun experience & I would be a fool to think that I won't be encountering it during the race. Best get it out of way now.

2) Show people that I mean business. I'm serious about this whole thing, & I want people to know that I'm willing to sacrifice & persevere in the face of adversity. I want potential sponsors to know that I'm a good bet.

3) Get attention for the cause. Drive eyeballs to the screen. Simple.

Anywho, I need to consume some warm liquids & rest up- it was a big day! I'm uploading the video of the fun & it'll be here on the blog soon.

Take care

Derek

Back from Raleigh & a BCMR Revamp

Hello to you out there in the internet!

I got back from Raleigh, NC earlier this week, after attending the first ever Big Cat Sanctuary Workshop hosted by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS).

There were representatives from 22 different big cat sanctuaries across the United States, and I gotta tell ya, it was a pretty neato experience.



I am the glowing bald orb in the center of the top tier.

 We got to do a lot of meeting & greeting, networking, putting faces to names, and hearing a ton about different aspects & experiences regarding the management of big cat facilities. I went with our Development Director & Board President, Jamie Reed and I didn't embarass her too much during the whole ordeal. Success!

It was pretty eye-opening because I was able to hear from others' experiences & what was so remarkable to me was how much in common we all had with each other.

It's an odd existence, being one of CARE's managers, and it can sometimes be an isolated one. We have an awesome volunteer & intern staff, but at the end of it all, those members get to rotate in and out. They can come and go at their leisure, while there are a few of us who always stay behind- the few who have tied their fates to that of the organization. With that, it was very refreshing to be in the company of those likeminded individuals- people who have sacrificed so much for the sake of the animals in their care.

We learned a lot, and we hope to apply a lot of what we learned to CARE to hopefully elevate it to higher levels. We at CARE have a tremendous facility and we truly do take EXCEPTIONAL care of our cats, now we just need to pump some more funds into the facility so that we can keep doing well what we do (providing world class care to big cats in need) and not stress and strain and spend undue amounts of energy worrying over things like the next months bills. I'm tired of it- and that's one of the reasons why I'm doing this mud run.

Which takes me to my next point. We're entering into November, my training regimen is still going strong, and I haven't recieved a SINGLE DONATION for this project. I will not, however, let that stop me. That means, I just haven't found the right angle yet. I think I need to rethink the monetary aspect of the fundraiser- still keep the bare bones elements- donations in exchange for advertising, but I think I need to simplify the process a lot more. I've got boxes and decals & squared inches & a lot of confusing elements, & I think that's off-putting to a lot of people.

Lesson learned. Now it's time to move forward. I'm going to scrap most of the 'How to Donate' section, & I'm going to come out with a new, much more simple way for the BCMR to make money.

This project has to work, the cats deserve it, and I'm determined.

-Derek

Big Cat Mud Run Promotional Video

Here's something I made for y'all. Hope you like it!

Working out vs. working outside

There are a lot of long days out here at CARE. There are a lot of sweaty brows & scuffed up knuckles. There are a lot of sore backs, & a lot of aching feet. A facility like this requires a lot of backbone to operate and there are days where there is simply not enough ibuprofin & epsom salt in world to take away the wear & tear.

People who work outside know what I'm talking about. There are a lot of oilfields, construction sites, rock quarrys, & farms/ranches out in this region, and they are filled to the brim with gritty, callused hands & worn out steel toed boots.

Working outside in this way has it's fringe benefits- I can open jars really easily, I don't mind touching spiders, & I find canvas to be very stylish. On the other hand, working outside can have its downfalls as well- I sometimes shake hands too hard, I often smell like a grubby dog, & I have the aforementioned aches and pains on the regular.

Now I've introduced the Mud Run training regimen into my world & that's been interesting to say the least. Some people might ask, "Derek, if you do such physical work with the cats, why are you training for this mudrun? Is it necessary?"

Yes it is. There is a HUGE difference between manual labor-functional muscle type stuff, & doing real cardiovascular-muscular endurance type stuff.

Huge difference, guys.

Huge.

Since I started this thing, there have been mornings where I wake up & feel as if I've been thrown from the back of a truck, but I'm happy to say that my recovery rate seems to be getting better. Things were really rough early on, but my body has been adapting to the training regimen and, while I still often feel like I've recently gotten an asphalt body wash, I'm able to bounce back into the next day workouts easier now.

Take today for instance- after a full day of work outside, butchering & feeding, I improvised a solid workout which utilized big logs & a sledgehammer. Not gonna lie, I feel pretty banged up right now, and I can barely fathom how I'm going to feel first thing in the morning, but I know I wasn't able to go this hard when I first started training, so that's good.

It's not that this stuff has gotten any easier, it's that I've actually gotten better, and that's pretty cool.

Time to go lay on the floor and look at the ceiling for a while.

-Derek

CARE Muscles

If an intern is struggling to pull a 300lb carcass into our storage freezer, or they're wheezing for breath as they empty a pool of water with a shovel, or they're stacking bales of hay for winter housing, I have a battle cry I let loose- 

"CARE MUSCLES!!!

Ahh yes- CARE Muscles. I love yelling that out when they're struggling to do something. I do it to motivate people, and I realize that, to some of you, having some big doofus yelling out "CARE MUSCLES!" and intentionally not helping when you're clearly having a frustrating time is NOT motivating...


...at first.


I've seen a lot of people come and go, and I've trained a good number of young interns over the years. Our interns are generally young, studious, & the majority of them have never done any significant form of outdoor manual labor such as you find at CARE. Almost all of our applicants are female, so that comprises the vast majority of my personal experience with interns.

It can make for a funny contrast with the more 'bubbly' applicants because I can be sort of a lumbering monster sometimes. That contrast, however, becomes less and less apparent over the duration of their stay. Without going too deep into gender roles & perception (it's 2013 y'all, let's get with the times), I gotta say, I've seen hardcore beasts unchained inside the hearts of many young women who were pegged into more traditional feminine roles prior to their arrival at CARE.

These girls get here, (some a little princess-y thanks to their fathers) and we throw knives and power tools into their hands and we get to work. These interns go into it with all their being, and they give literal blood, sweat, and tears to their internship at CARE- it's pretty intense.

For four months they're lifting livestock pieces as heavy as they are, they're dragging fences, they're digging holes, they're stacking lumber, & they're driving tractors- real deal stuff. They work some days from sunup til sundown in the oppressive heat, & in the frigid wet winter wind, and I am so proud of the women they become in that short time.

So many times we find ourselves at some juncture where an intern is trying mightily to perform some physical task, and she's having a rough go of it- All I have to do is walk up and easily push/pull/adjust whatever thing they're struggling with (I've been working on my CARE Muscles for years) & we can all move on, but what good does that do? It's a temporary fix, and she didn't earn it. I tell all the interns that come to CARE that you're muscles are no longer yours, they belong to CARE, and CARE wants its muscles strong.

If I do their tasks, how does CARE get the strong muscles it so needs? It doesn't THAT's how.

So we wait, and we watch as she struggles, like a baby bird fighting through it's shell, and I say,

"CARE MUSCLES!!!"

And over time, and through so many stuggles, and hearing my dumb voice yelling it again and again, it becomes a mantra, it becomes a genesis of strength. It becomes a point of pride.

"CARE MUSCLES!!!"

These ladies arrive to CARE limited in their physical abilities, but when they leave, they can crush boulders with their hands- and it's awesome.

Well, It's tiger feed time, & we gotta go get our CARE Muscles in gear. See you later.

-Derek

Today's Workout 10-15-2013 & a little waxing at the end

I'm going to start posting some of my workouts to give you an idea of what I've been doing to prepare for the upcoming Spartan Race.

Today I'm going to be doing Sets of Pullups (ladder sequence) starting with ten & working down to one. In between each set of pullups, I'm going to do 10 pistol squats with each leg & 20 box jumps. Pistol squats are where you stand one-legged on the edge of a box, then you do a slow one-legged squat until your free leg touches the ground next to the box & you bounce back up to a one-legged standing position. Box jumps are as the name implies, I have to jump onto a box as tall as my middle thigh.

Here's how the workout breaks down-

10 pullups, 10 pistol squats (each leg), 20 box jumps
9 pullups, to pistol squats (each leg), 20 box jumps
8 pullups, etc. etc.

 After that's all done, I have to do 50 jackknife (of 'V') situps, where I lay on my back with legs straight & my arms extended upward. I bring my hands & feet together from their opposing sides (while keeping my arms & legs straight) above my midsection (making my body look like a jackknife, or a 'V').

After that, I have to run three miles.

You know, maybe I shouldn't type out my workouts. It's actually sort upsetting.

So far, I've recieved little feedback for the mudrun, but I'm not going to let that dissuade me. I set out to do this thing, and I'm going to see it all the way through. I have the mindset of Kevin Costner in Field of Dreams. He kept on converting his cornfield into a baseball diamond even though everyone thought he was crazy for it, and in the end his determination was rewarded.

"If you mudrun, they will come..."

I believe in this project. I know that I can get people to support it- it just needs to get traction. I work outside with the cats, & I see the things that CARE needs. I'm hungry to make this thing work.

Either way, I have to go and inflict pain on myself.

-Derek

The Worst Injury I've Gotten at CARE (did not involve cats or machines)

Huh boy, where do I start?

I guess I should let people know some of my 'dimensions' so to speak. I'm 6'2" and I weigh about 245lbs. I was a starting defensive linemen on my high school football team and on my base football team, the Yokota Warriors, when I was stationed in Japan. For the last seven years, I've been working at CARE & building functional 'farm muscles' out in the compound.

I'm a decently sized fellow. My wife thinks of me as her polar bear- A solid-mass, boorish animal with a squishy outer layer & a love of cold temperatures. She's so sweet.

When one thinks of polar bears, images of a large, angry animal smashing through ice sheets to eat unsuspecting seals comes to mind.

I can hear a Scandinavian metal band playing in my head right now.

What DOESN'T come to mind, are images of great acrobatic skill & nimbleness. Above water, polar bears probably have as much grace as a drunk ballerina named Fred who actually isn't a ballerina.

FFFRRRRREEEEEEEEEED!!!!!!!!

That being said, I can lift things, I can smash things, and I can even run & jump around pretty decently if I've been training, but if I haven't been training specifically for the running and jumping thing, then I'm not exactly naturally cut out for a sport like parkour.




That's so parkour...

 A few years back, my polar bear frame was slipping into more squishy mode & less solid mass mode, so I decided that I needed to get outside & do some more exercisin', but I didn't want to do some dumb ol' running & pushups regimen! That's too boring!

Enter the impulsive side of Derek's brain that he lets out to wander whenever he's not around the cats- kind of like taking your dog to the beach. Parkour is exciting and sexy! Cool French people do parkour & it's in a bunch of movies as the new age ninja moves! Parkour guys have 14-pack abs and never need to be reminded to take the garbage out! Perfect! I'm going to go outside, RIGHT NOW, VERY OUT OF SHAPE & WITHOUT RESEARCHING HOW TO DO IT PROPERLY, & parkour the snot out of some concrete culverts we have sitting out in one of CARE's back-40 fields! What could possibly go wrong???


To give people an idea of what I'm talking about, here is what one of the culverts in question looks like
We use them for housing units for sleepy tigers to lay on and be all cute and photogenic

There where three laying next to each other in a row. Two were spaced apart by only about 3-4 feet & the last one is A.) Taller than the other two, and B.) about 7-8 feet away from its neighbor (I'm doing this from memory, so my numbers might be a little off- either way, it was a bigger jump than what a novice parkourer should have been attempting)

It looked like this:

Who needs photoshop when there's MS Paint?

I got into my workout clothes & went out into the field where the culverts were located. I did a little bit of stretching, & hopped onto the furthest, lowest culvert & envisioned myself leaping & hopping into into parkour legend. Oh yeah. This was going to be so epic.

This was going to be my VERY FIRST foray into the majestic world of parkour (or freerunning as some call it) & my VERY FIRST attempt at the sport obviously needed to be something a bit flashy. I was going to run on the first culvert & do a quick hop to the second where I would build momentum and then make a fiery Spartan leap from the second to a masculinely stuck landing on the third. Sweeeeet.

It was supposed to look like this:

PAAAARRRRRRKOOOUUUUURRRRRRRR!!!!!

 What happened was not that. I ran atop the first & made the easy bound to the second. "Piece of cake." I thought to myself as I neared the third, higher, and significantly more distant, third culvert. I built my speed over those precious few steps & I thrust into the air with all of my squishy might, landing on the third culvert with my left foot.

....as my right one didn't.



Yeah, that happened. Also, I have hairy legs.

You know that feeling you get as a kid when you bash your shin on something? Suprisingly enough, it was a lot like that. It smarted, a LOT, but it didn't feel any worse than what I felt as a kid ramming around and banging into stuff at parks & the woods & my grandpappy's farm & what have you. I limped around for about 10-15 seconds & did the Peter Griffin inward "Schhhheeeee!" interspersed with colorful swears, and then I looked down.

Seriously, I'm not going to post the picture of it. Here's a fluffy bunny rabbit instead.

I let out a very audible 'Gaahh!!' at what saw. The concrete culvert's uncurved corner (alliteration ftw!) did a number to my shin. Without going into too much detail, let's just say I got a really good lesson in human anatomy that day. It was that bad.

I took off my shirt & tied it around my leg, then hobbled my way up to my house in a slightly distressed state. I told my lovely daughter who has ice running in her veins not to worry & that I had to go to the emergency room. She replied without a hint of concern, "Okay, I'm not worried."

Parenthood! But I digress...

I drove myself to the ER in town & had to get multilayered stitches to bring all of the 'substrata' together. The doc did these big wide looping stitches, so the number (about 12) really betrays how large the wound actually was. She seemed to know what she was doing, so I didn't question it.

I got home & my wife gave me the "I'm really glad you're okay but at the same time I swear I could kill you with the some of the shh--stuff you pull" - type face. She worries about me. It's cute.

After all was good, I was promptly and justifiably mocked for being stupid- of course I told everyone the truth about what happened. I could have made up a story about fighting a gargoyle or thrashing my nonexistent chopper, but I decided to take the more self-deprecating route instead.

I suppose I could wax all poetic about the moral of the tale & how I grew as a person & found deep inner meaning behind my experience, but I've been sitting here for a long time & I need to get to the gym.

So I will leave you with a fitting quote that I just looked up on the Google-

You will do foolish things, but do them with enthusiasm. -Collette

Thanks for making it this far!

-Derek

Avoiding Injury

I work with a whole bunch of the most brutally lethal animals on the planet. Sure, most of the time they act like absolute sweethearts, & I love when people comment on CARE's cats with surprise at how seemingly nice and personable they are, but make no mistake- they are, at their core, instinctually-driven killers- dangerous and cold.

Next, I work with a lot of heavy duty equipment and tools at CARE. Tractors that can tip over on uneven terrain, engines that can mangle fingers, sharp knives that can cut through skin like paper, welders that can blind you & start fires, & power tools that can do all sorts of mayhem.

We have a very rigorous and specific training program for our skilled workers, and it involves a LOT of task repetition & building a mindset of continuous risk management. Recognize danger, report it, and remedy it. I am proud of our skilled interns and senior volunteer staff- they do a hell of a job keeping CARE's cats happy, healthy, & comfortable and being safe while they do it.

So, I gots to try REAL hard to not get myself injured over the course of the next few months. It sure would stink to go through this whole thing & then be forced to sidline myself from the mudrun because of a work-related mishap, so I can't let that happen. No way, no how!

Luckily I've got years worth of great memories of getting mildly banged up from my own stupidity to give me a healthy sense of humbleness and the experience-based skill of looking before I leap.

That being said, my next blog post is going to be the story of the worst injury I ever recieved out here at CARE. It has nothing to do with tools, equipment, or cats and everything to do with my lunkheadedness. Oh boy. I can't wait.

For now, I gotta get back to the kitties!

-Derek

Dragging myself to daily workouts

Before this mudrun business, I tried to maintain a relatively fit body through routine workouts, but I wouldn't really push it on a regular basis. I've been in sports and I have military experience, so I know what 'pushing it' feels like & how to do it, but I guess you could say that I've sort of been coasting these past few years. I would go to the gym & go through the normal motions, but I would only just be there- nothing too special or spectacular.

Now, with my self-imposed daily dose of brutality, I think I can say that I've been hitting the 'push it' category fairly regularly for the past month or so, and with that comes the daily struggle.

It's an exhausting & painful ordeal to do these mud-run prep workouts, and I'm not one of those fit-guru psychos who get off on torturing themselves. Keep in mind I'm not talking about people who really push themselves to be better & make strong efforts to lead a healthy lifestyle while staying positive and motivated, no, I'm talking about the intense, alpha-swag, P90X-is-for-pansies type psycho- whooping and hollering during their workouts while wearing a shirt that says "PAIN IS JUST WEAKNESS LEAVING THE BODY"

I'm all for confidence and being tough, but I think that quote is just stupid. If someone threw a glass jar full of angry bees at your head, that would more than likely result in a lot of pain which I doubt would have anything to do with weakness points magically leaving your body like we're playing a weird version of D&D or something.

Sorry, that one always bugged me.

What I was getting at, though, was the idea that it.... is.... haaaaarrrrrrrrd for me to muster the fortitude every day to do these workouts justice. My brain be all like, "Hey body, remember that really unpleasant thing we did yesterday?"

To which my body goes, "Unnngggggghhhhh......."

To which my brain replies, "Yeah! That one! We're going to do another one JUST like it in 10 minutes!! Yaaaaayyyyy!!!! AND we're going to do ANOTHER one TOMORROW!!! You're so lucky!!"

So far, I'm staying the course, & the thought of giving the cats the support they need to live safely and comfortably is what drives me in this project. Next to that inspiration, there's the whole idea that I already decided to tell a whole bunch of people (all yous guys) about this project, and that's that. I can't just go back and break my word, I would look like a buffoon!

I've been typing this blog and postponing my daily hurtin' for long enough, so with that, I leave you with a more reasonable and sensible workout motivation quote-thingy which isn't so aggressive and intense, and I'm off to run!

-Derek

The Spartan Beast

I suppose it would be a good idea to talk a little bit about the race that I'm going to be doing, and I gotta be honest- I'm a little scared. Hopeful, but scared nonetheless!

It's the Texas Spartan Beast in Glen Rose, Texas, which is a little less than 80 miles south of CARE. As I write these things, I'm constantly opening up new windows & fact checking my statements on the Google, & I just found out that the Glen Rose High school Mascot is a tiger, which is awesomely fitting.

The Texas Spartan Beast race is an extreme mud run designed by sadists who enjoy inflicinting pain and misery on dopes who need to constantly prove their hardcoredness to the world (like me!). It's a 10-12 miles long trail run over some rivers and through some woods and it includes 25+ obstacles of all shapes and sizes! Yay!

Beast! So Intense! Are YOUUUUUU Spartan enough???

What type of obstacles? Well, if you decide to peruse the Spartan Race FAQ Page like I have, you will find the following statements:


Aaaaaaaaand I'm hosed. Please make sure my wife gets the hat box containing what's left of me.  

   
When I was mapping this whole idea out, I chose the Spartan Race because I had heard about it more often than other mud runs & it seemed to have a very widespread following which would lend itself well to the cause of supporting CARE's kitties. I've done mud runs & extreme races before, so I thought I knew what I was getting into. However, the more I read as I planned, the more I realized that this race is not going to be like others. I started to realize that this experience is going to be awesome and terrible, in that olde-time Pax Romana sense of those words.

As I learned more about what the Spartan Beast was all about, that doubting inner-voice we all have inside of us started rearing it's stupid head & saying things like, "You can't do that!", "This is difficult, so you should turn around, don't be a fool!", and "Seriously, I miss cheeseburgers, let's stop this nonsense." I call the doubting inner voice a 'brain-hater'.

It's a good thing I can be aggravatingly stubborn when it comes to people telling me I can't do stuff- ESPECIALLY physical tough-guy stuff (Sometimes I think I'm a 12-year-old deep inside). My wife, Heidi, knows this all too well and often tricks me into doing things by saying, "I bet you can't *insert difficult task here*" to which I reply like a puffed-up dummy, "Oh YEAH?!?" and then I do the thing she said I couldn't do with a lot of grunting and snorting.

"Oh you showed ME, honey!" is what she usually says smugly.

I'm aware of her tricks, yet get roped into them ALL THE TIME.

Ahem, anyway, back to task- when the brain-haters begin their shenanigans, the other, more obscene & proud part of my brain flips both birds to the self-doubting part and turns into a Russian gymnastics coach, yelling and cursing at my body to push harder and show all those brain-haters what is up.

That being said, this is going to be difficult, and it requires a tremendous amount of preparation & training, & I'm going to be fighting my brain haters pretty intensely for the next few months with the help of my inner Russian gymnastics coach. Wish me luck!

Da, comerades!

-Derek

Lately

I have a weird relationship with music. It's mostly healthy, but sometimes if I find a particular song I REALLY like, I will listen to it literally about a hundred times over the period of a few weeks.

Some may call this a 'quirky' trait, but it's a little obsessive really, & it certainly bothered my wife when I listened to Carl Sagan's narrations from the documentary series, 'Cosmos' autotuned & mashed up into song form over and over and over, so I have to be very careful to not bring others into my endless jam loops.

I liken my random music loops to dust devils actually. They whirl up out of nowhere, spin around and muss up the sheets hanging on the clothesline, but are ultimately harmless & dissipate without much of a to do.

Lately, because of all this mud run business, I've found myself listening to John Cafferty's song 'Hearts on Fire' at LEAST seven to nine times a day for the last week. For those of you who don't know, or are too young to know, this is the song which played during Rocky's training montage in the awesomely cartoonish & hilariously over-the-top yet still strangely inspiring movie, Rocky IV ("If I can change, and YOU can change..." classic). 

I listen to this song and I envision myself on an isolated Russian farm chopping wood & throwing rocks around much like the bearded Stallion once did, albeit my version is significantly less cool & significantly more bald than Sylvester Stallone's version was.

And with that, here it is for your viewing pleasure-

-Derek

Going Live!

Okay, as far as this blog is concerned, I've been tweaking this and adjusting that & it's time to get this thing off the ground.

I've been training already for three weeks using the Rugged Regimen & my body/will hasn't given out yet, so I think it's safe to assume that I can handle this project. Boy, how embarassing would that be to plan this whole thing out & get it public, only to tell everyone who has already invested time, money, and energy into this thing that you bit off more than you could chew & that you couldn't hack it?!

Ugh, what a nightmare. Anywho. I've been living in a state of perpetual soreness, eating mass quantities of vegetables & lean proteins, & consuming a LOT of water for the last few weeks, and I'm here to tell you that I'm willing to do more.

I want to do well. Let's see how this goes, eh?

-Derek