It’s been long enough since last weekend’s disaster that I no longer feel the need to put my fist through a wall every time the subject gets brought up again, and I know I owe my friends, family, and the OCR community a long overdue explanation of what actually happened at World’s Toughest Mudder. So I hope this explains everything and perhaps some of you will learn from my mistakes and hopefully not make them yourselves. In a nutshell, I was too cheap to buy the equipment I really needed/wanted (a well-fitted 3/2 mm full wetsuit) and grossly underestimated how cold the conditions were going to get. The result: I got hypothermia/ill with no warmer outfits to change into. In reality it was much more complex than that but then again, not really. With the experience of having done this 3 times before I should have known better than to assume that a 99% level of commitment would be enough to win this year. I brought two 3/2 mm short sleeve wetsuits, one of which is a half size too large, the other a full size. I have a 5/4 mm full wetsuit (which would have saved the day) but left that at home because I wasn’t sure it would fit into my already overloaded luggage and quite frankly did not think I would need it. Who knew that such a seemingly benign decision would make such an enormous change of circumstances? As for injuries, I jacked up my ankle jumping through the mud mile very early on which was supremely annoying but aside from that I did not sustain any show-stoppers. I should have been more in tune with my body. In the months and months of training leading up, I worked off nearly every last ounce of unused fat and transformed myself into the most efficient running machine that I could possibly be. I had executed numerous quick marathon-distance training runs without the need for supplementation with any food or water, but as a result I noticed that I was also needing to eat less and generating a lot less body heat all the while feeling considerably colder than in previous years in my unheated house. The fallout from this adaptation made itself sharply known on race day as I was surprisingly not at all warm in the sweltering 75 degree desert sun after only the second lap. I found myself changing into my first wetsuit after only my 3rd lap and adding or changing layers almost every lap thereafter until I was in the warmest configuration of clothes I had brought by the 6th lap (and still light out)… and it was only getting darker, colder, windier. Right up until the cold blew the top off my game, everything else was going perfectly. My fitness was kicking in, fueling and hydration was actually ahead of schedule, feet and body were in great shape and I was banging on all cylinders... but my core body temperature was running away and I had reached the end of the line with my outfits. Halfway into lap 8 my temperature crossed over into the red and my body started to shut down associated by the rapid onset of an ill feeling. Not sure if the big mouthful of water that I ingested earlier at Swingers had anything to do with it but I started to become quite sick and in a matter of a few short moments went from being completely healthy… straight into a double-threat state of being unable to take any food or move with the speed required to generate the heat that I desperately needed. I managed to finish out that lap and out of desperation I changed into my other wetsuit which was basically the exact same thing only with full length legs, but my fate had already been sealed. My 9th and final lap I became the walking dead as I spiraled into an even worse state of degeneration and barely managed to finish out. As I sat there in the pit, out of my wetsuit, completely stunned by the series of events and my dire situation, I contemplated my options and the ONLY viable solution for continuing on competitively was to ask around to borrow a full wetsuit. After some serious deliberation I dismissed the idea because as much as I wanted to win it just didn’t feel right to ask that of someone else, with his/her own aspirations on the line, on account of my under-preparedness. Even as I know without a shred of doubt in my mind one of my fellow Mudders would have stepped up. This was on me. So I took my medicine, packed up and left. I really am truly sorry that I didn’t have it in me to hang tight and wait it out til the morning to do a few more laps for posterity, even in defeat. Though that would have been in many ways the right thing to do and many will probably criticize me for this, you have to understand that I came to contend and I could not bring myself to watch what I could no longer do for myself, nor drag those around me down in that stew of misery. For similar reasons I couldnt stomach returning for the awards ceremony. I’d like to send out a massive (and much-belated) congrats to Ryan Atkins, Amelia Boone, and the Spartan Wolf Pack for their super impressive victories (e.g. did you know that Amelia had undergone knee surgery only 8 weeks prior?). But I also have an extra special one reserved for anyone who showed up and endured those brutal conditions all through the night without the acclaim, fanfare and prizes that some of us others get. I know you guys will all say otherwise but my disappointment is not going to wane any time soon so you don’t need to bother trying to tell me how it is, even as much as I appreciate you trying. This was my end game and I royally screwed it up. I’m not going to make any unwarranted claims to say that I would have won if my fortune were slightly better, but I can say with certainty that it would have been an incredible battle to the finish, one for the books that I would have been proud to say I won or lost. I’m sorry for letting everyone who believed in me down, most notably my girlfriend who did everything she possibly could short of running the damn thing for me and believed with 1000% certainty that I could do it... right up until I didn’t. A huge thanks to everyone I met along the course who gave me their support, helped me on the obstacles, and offered up their positions at long lines. It truly reaffirmed my belief that the OCR community is the best and tightest in the world.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 21:45:46 +0000
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