Forged in Mud

Selected as one of the NBA’s greatest photos, this 20-year old image of Dennis Rodman has always fascinated me.    

The single-mindedness on display here is simply staggering. There were no other players around him to throw the ball to even if he was somehow able to capture it. It was not game 7 of the NBA finals nor was it even a playoff game. It was early May and the 53-7 Bulls were playing a .500 Pacers club in a run-of-the-mill regular season game. 

Rodman clearly had not completed a risk/reward analysis and you could argue even that it was not a smart play, risking injury, for a single rebound this late in the season. He isn’t thinking about anything except getting the ball. 

There are certainly times when we need to engage our brains during our athletic endeavors (land navigation, for instance) but there is something beautiful and important to be learned when watching an athlete reduce themselves to a single-purpose machine that rebounds (or runs or carries or rucks). Being able to focus on the single task at hand is what allows us to block out pain, doubts, impending time hacks or whatever other horror is ahead. 

Originally published in the Forged in Mud blog September 2014.

The Spartan Race Hurricane Heatwave is an non-timed, team challenge that took place at the Vail Lake Resort in Temecula, California on September 20th, 2014. [Ed: Due to the excessive heat during the Saturday “Hellmecula” Beast race, Spartan Race canceled the Sunday Sprint. This free Hurricane “Heatwave” event took place the following weekend was one of the things Spartan did to help make-up for the canceled event.]

I have been competing in Spartan Race events for about a year now and I always try my best which, up until this point, has meant getting to the finish line as quickly as possible. It was not easy for me to shed my mentality that finishing faster is how we should judge our team’s success or failure. Fortunately, fate intervened and some amazing people taught each other lessons on teamwork, leadership and compassion which we would not have learned had we simply sprinted through the course.

Each team was formed from among those who happened to be standing next to us in the registration line. Twenty-five people, most of them strangers, were thrown together without any attempt to balance our strength, experience or gender. We were told to stick together under the threat of severe punishment by the Spartan Race officials.

An interesting thing about teams is that they are all alike in some important ways. No matter whether the team members are veterans or beginners, every team has a few people who are terrified that they might be the weakest person on the team. They are worried that they will be holding everyone back. They are worried they will let everyone down or even that some insensitive teammate will treat them badly.

Similarly, each team also has some people who are capable of operating at a level far exceeding most of their teammates. These team members are the ones who are giving up the most in terms of personal accomplishments in order to be on a team.

I learned quickly that success today had to be defined in a different way than I was used to. The race was not timed and therefore our success or failure could only be measured by our teamwork. I put my mind to trying to figure out what I could do to be the best teammate I could be.

Our most experienced team member, Albert, was assigned to be team leader. Albert asked for team name suggestions and one person timidly offered one. Albert walked closer to her so he could hear her better. He said loudly to the rest of us, “Let’s go with the team name “Crushers” since she was brave enough to suggest something”. I liked Albert immediately for this. After a short pre-dawn warm-up we were released from the starting area and onto the trails leading up into the hills above Vail Lake.

Early into the run we were already facing difficulties staying together. The trails were too narrow and winding to see more than a few feet ahead or behind, so we had no sense of how together we were as we climbed. I ran to the rear of our ranks to talk to Joel, an amputee and trauma nurse who took on the task of ensuring that nobody on our team fell behind him. Joel’s determination is amazing and I know we were all inspired watching him persevere throughout the day. Our team moved at Joel’s pace and it afforded us extra opportunities to get to know each other and really take in all that was happening.

Only minutes into the trail run, several members of the team were stung repeatedly by some yellow jackets we had somehow aggravated. The bees were stuck to our teammates and many people jumped in to help, pulling bees and equipment off of them until the threat was eliminated. We checked on the injuries and called the medics to make sure everyone was okay. The bee attack actually served to bond us together and for the remainder of the day anytime we took on a tough challenge someone would yell out, “It’s better than bees!” as a way to put things in perspective.

One of those stung repeatedly was Maria, a 35-year old mother of 5, who had bees stuck in her hair. About a year and a half ago, Maria was 70 lbs. overweight and completely out of shape. She now works out twice a day seven days per week and is extremely strong and fast. She, more than any other, suppressed her ability to achieve as an individual in order to participate in a team event.

A steep hill on the course slowed us down and gave us many opportunities to check in with struggling team members. For some, it was clear, that this was one of the most difficult physical challenges they had ever faced. Others provided as much encouragement as possible and often just walked next to people to keep them company.

The next two obstacles provided some interesting challenges. At the 8 foot wall several of the guys put our backs against the wall and let team members step on our knees, shoulders and even our heads to get everyone over the top. A short distance away was the Spear Throw obstacle. Most of us missed the target and the team pitched in together to knock out the hundreds of burpees Spartan Race demanded as a penalty. As each team member finished their assigned burpees they asked if anyone else needed extra help with theirs.

Offering physical help to teammates was the easy part for me but offering other, more subtle forms of help is where the team shined and what I learned the most from.

For example, Maria pointed out a teammate, Julie, who was participating in her first Spartan event. Maria and my wife, Jill, saw to it that Julie had food and water whenever the team rested. Maria was also seen crawling with Joel’s prosthetic leg during an incredibly long bear crawl at the end of the day.

I also saw that team leader, Albert, did not just lead the way and stay at the front of the line during the trail run. Instead, he walked back down the line to check on everyone. During the grueling crab walks he went back out onto the course after he finished and shouted encouragement and even dropped to the ground to walk with Jay.

One of Joel’s kids found some rusty barbed wire on the trail and he and Jay worked to remove it before anyone else tripped or got scraped up. Jay, by the way, was someone who moved more slowly after surgeries on both knees but he had no quit in him.

There were lots of little shows of concern for each other. Whenever someone had a cut, scrape, or blister there were multiple people surrounding them to see what help could be offered. Electrolytes, and snacks were offered and shared and nobody got up off the ground or went over a wall without a helping hand being offered. Cheers and encouragement flowed freely and we clapped and congratulated each other after every successful obstacle.

Of course there were plenty of moments of physical teamwork required as well. One that sticks with me especially is that I watched Duncan, another bee attack target, jumping in to help save us when our tractor tire tilted precariously and threatened to drop from above team members’ outstretched arms. While waiting in the registration line earlier in the day we learned that Duncan joined the Navy for a very specialized job but a broken back got him discharged. Post-surgery he will never be the same but he still has a great attitude. It took some guts to throw himself under that tire.

We spent the last hour of the day tied together by a 50 foot cord but by the time we bear crawled across the finish line the cord was completely unnecessary—no way we were leaving anybody behind. Thoughts of our finishing time or comparing ourselves to other teams had long vanished and there were high fives and hugs shared among 25 strangers who were there for each other throughout the challenge.

A big thank you to Spartan Race and to Team Crushers for such a fantastic experience that I will not soon forget.

Originally published in "Cookie’s” Spartan Endurance blog on 8/31/2017

https://medium.com/@SpartanCookie/heavy-burdens-and-what-it-teaches-you-c67044bb1e07

The individual portion of the Los Angeles HH12HR had only just begun. Class HH12HR-026 ran to the banks of Lake Castaic with our weighted rucks and filled our buckets with water. We then added a sandbag to our shoulders, navigated to a checkpoint overlooking the venue, and returned to home base to recover and await our next challenge.

While I rested, I watched Krypteia, Steffen “Cookie” Cook approach a group arriving back at base camp. I could not hear what he said but I saw their reactions. People were being cut for missing the first time hack! These early cuts worried me and the pressure to complete future challenges began to fill my thoughts.

The second challenge was upon us and my heart raced as the directions were given. We were to take two sandbags, our rucks, and a 2” x 4” board up the hills to a distant checkpoint. My first instinct was to create a yoke, tying each sandbag to an end of a rope and then sling them over my shoulders. I tried this but struggled to pick up the sandbags and the rope cut deeply into my flesh. I needed a different solution. I looked around and saw nearly everyone else was using duct tape to affix their sandbags to each end of their board. Cookie yelled at the lot of us, telling us we were running out of time and had to get moving. My anxiety skyrocketed and I tried to copy the setup others were using with the couple of minutes I had remaining. In my peripheral vision I saw more and more people leaving base camp and I was still fumbling around on the ground. This added to my nerves and I felt like the whole event was slipping away from me.

When I finally got to my feet, the weight of the board with its attached sandbags dug into my shoulders and back. I took a few steps and the doubts flooded in. It was HEAVY — unreasonably and unrelentingly heavy. Each step away from base camp was agonizingly slow and painful. I was convinced it was impossible to carry this weight the expected distance.

I had also convinced myself that I was now so far behind that I was going to get cut anyway. Why go through all this pain if I wasn’t going to finish? I’ve always been willing to work hard to accomplish a goal but I’d never given much consideration to working hard for something doomed to fail.

To make matters worse, I was now nearly alone and the only people near me were all moments away from quitting. It was easy to get sucked down with them. Hell, I’d even have some pals to commiserate with afterwards.

One by one we quit. I quit, too.

I informed Cookie of my decision and he tried to make me feel better with some kind words, but I think I would have rather been yelled at. I needed a kick in the pants for believing the lies I’d been telling myself. But maybe he knew it would have more impact to let me figure it out on my own. He was right.

Over the next weeks and months I did figure it out. The next time I had a heavy carry was in Vegas with Class HH12HR-028. This time we were tasked with completing three laps of the standard Spartan Race double sandbag carry. However, we would also need to carry a bucket of water and our weighted rucks.

As soon as I felt the weight on my shoulders, I flashed back to the heavy carry at Castaic Lake. I had that same overwhelming feeling and my brain begged for a way out. The voices in my head said that I was too old and the load was too heavy. I could see that I had fallen behind the main group and was again at risk of being cut for missing a time hack. This time, however, I fought back and completed the challenge.

What was different this time? What had I learned that helped me through this next attempts? A few things…

Inner Strength

Plenty of HH12HR challenges seemed impossible at the time but when you are sweating, cursing, and eventually even laughing with the people around you, it transforms the moment into something manageable. Feel free to draw strength from others when it is available but do not fall into the trap of letting your success be tied to the strength of others. We must be resolute and confident in our abilities even if others are quitting all around us. Be content with the idea that you may be the last person standing in the event.

Stay in the Moment

The enormity of all that a HH12HR entails can be overwhelming. Instead of thinking about the entire event, focus on the task at hand. If that is still too daunting then focus on the next 10 minutes or even the next 2 steps if you must. Do the best you can and let things like time hacks take care of themselves. There is nothing to be gained by worrying and it may even steal your resolve. If you do become aware that you’ve missed a time hack, push that information from your mind and finish strong. You will not be able to live with yourself afterwards if you don’t.

Train Beyond the Minimum Expectations

In preparing for my first HH12HR, I often rucked with a 30 lb. weight. However, as anyone who has completed a HH12HR will tell you, the weight in your ruck is NOT the challenge. Eventually your ruck weight is an afterthought. Train for heavy carries with your ruck weight and add other heavy, awkward things. The best way to fend off doubt is to call upon memories of explicit times during your training when you did more than is being asked of you by the Krypteia.

Create a Mantra

We’ve all heard this before but it works. Find a short phrase that motivates you. Burn it into your mind. Repeat it to yourself during tough times and drown out the negative voices.

If you are just trying to lose a few pounds or meet the minimum amount of exercise to not be among the 7 of 10 Americans who are overweight then this article is not for you. There are plenty of easy ways to do that. Control your eating, get in a bit of cardio and add some simple weight training. Do that and you may not die young or experience horrible medical issues as you age. One of those $10 Planet Fitness deals might be sufficient for you. You will probably meet some nice people along the way as well.

But if you want something more…

Performance oriented groups that do not make their members aware of these values are really just trafficking in cleverly marketed leisure. This works because most underachievers are seeking an experience, not the pursuit of excellence. These individuals don’t want to truly challenge themselves to get better, they just want to be a part of something.

Aaron Barruga Founder, Guerrilla Approach

If you want to experience what it feels like to set scary goals and to accomplish them or to learn about yourself through failure, disappointment and struggle then there are some great lessons in that short quote. Here are a few of my takeaways.

Find a Gym That Values Excellence

Your gym’s branded t-shirts are cute and show you are part of their tribe. But that alone is meaningless if the tribe values attendance over effort, or matching workout clothes over buckets of sweat. Find a gym where everyone works hard and they push each other to excel. The gym should place a premium on performance over aesthetics and it should be obvious that everyone is there to work. Then, when you see someone wearing that tribe’s t-shirt, you’ll know they got their shit kicked-in to earn it.

I feel like I’m in one of those great environments now but it would be easy to take it all for granted and allow the friendships I’ve built to slowly turn the whole experience into a social club. Even after we find a good gym we need to be vigilant and remember the common desires that bound us together in the first place.

Find a Coach That Pushes You

A good coach will see through your bullshit. They’ll know when you need a rest day versus when you are just being a lazy sonofabitch. I want my coach to know what I am capable of and to catch me when I’m slacking off. It doesn’t matter if I might appear to be doing more than the person next to me. Am I doing all that I am capable of?

A good coach is nearly psychic and walks that fine line between counselor and drill sergeant. But above all else they can never let their standards slide even if it means some people will prefer to train elsewhere.

Beware Empty Experiences

If you are truly aiming for excellence then do not let yourself become a collector of meaningless race medals. If you are capable of completing a 5k in 22:00 minutes flat then you should be chasing 21:45. It is, of course, okay to attend a fundraiser or fun run. The goal for those is to raise money or have fun. But don’t get fixated on the medal and trick yourself into thinking you’ve accomplished something if you half-assed it to the finish line. You can buy race medals on eBay if all you want is meaningless bling.

One of my teammates is taking on his first Spartan Ultra Beast and asked me about planning for the transition area. While I have only one Ultra Beast under my belt, I think I handled the first one exceptionally well. So I’m going to declare myself an expert on Ultra Beast transition area planning and execution and share what I know.

The Container

First thing you will want to do is select an opaque, medium-sized, plastic box to put your stuff in. If you are thinking about a box with wheels then you are probably picturing something too big. If you think you’ll need help carrying it–again, too big. Maybe something in the 10 to 20 gallon capacity range.

The container needs to be waterproof since weather could be an issue and you won’t want to go into the transition area to change out of wet clothes and into wet clothes. Your transition box is also going to be sitting in a taped-off section that may not be as secure as you would hope it would be. Therefore, it will be best to stick with an opaque box. No sense advertising to the world that your box contains a $250 Lenser headlamp.   I’ve never heard of anything being stolen from a transition box but there’s no sense you becoming the first victim. Your transition box should have your name on it, a phone number, and something to make it easy to find among the rows of other plastic bins. I spray painted mine neon yellow for easy identification.

The Contents

Everything breaks. Plan for it to be a shit-show and then maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised if it doesn’t turn out as bad as you expected. Some types of equipment failures will result in you being removed from the course. For example, if your one and only headlamp fails, you are done for the night. I once had that happen before an event even started. Had another racer not offered me their spare, I would have been completely screwed. Two is one and one is none so have a spare of everything. A second CamelBak (or at least a replacement bladder) is great as well as spare batteries and a second headlamp. Last year my CamelBak leaked water onto my jacket for the first 5 hours, leaving me partially frozen until I swapped it out at the transition. A complete set of replacement clothes is smart too–shoes included. You may even want those spare shoes to have a little extra cushion and be a half size larger if your feet tend to swell or if they get tender after hours of stepping on rocky terrain.

The transition area is also going to be your best chance to take care of some minor medical issues as well as to apply some preventative care. If you want to reapply your sunblock and chapstick, this will be the spot. Pack your stuff for fixing any blisters and apply skin lube to your feet and other tender spots. I included an Ace bandage and an instant, single-use, ice pack in case I picked-up a sprain along the way. Pack any meds you might need—Advil, I’m looking at you!

Since you’ll mostly be living on gel packs, jerky, Shot Bloks, or other forms of so-called food, this is going to be your one chance to eat something that won’t fit in your CamelBak. Personally, I was craving Zingers. Make sure it’s something you’ve tested out in advance. This would be a bad time to experience your first taste of Ethiopian food if you aren’t already certain your stomach will love it. If it is cold then a thermos of hot coffee would be nice.

Keep an eye on weather reports in the days leading up to your event. These races are long and conditions change fast. At Tahoe last year I enjoyed the sun on lap one and a blizzard during lap two. Your transition box should contain clothing for weather related contingencies. I’m a big fan of chemical hand warmers and the Super Size Hot Hands were awesome. I didn’t even need gloves.

How to Transition

I wasn’t sure how clear-headed I would be at the transition so I taped a checklist of instructions to the lid of my container. The first instruction was to “MOVE WITH PURPOSE”. If, for example, you have some meds you need to take, then be sure you’ve got that as a checklist item. I also put some quotes on the lid that have provided inspiration to me in the past. But above all else, DO NOT get comfortable! You are going to be tired and you’ll see people sitting around talking with one another looking like they are about to start cooking s'mores over a campfire. Resist that siren song! If you rest you may not get back up again. Also, depending on the weather, if you stop moving for a minute or two your body temperature may plummet and you could end up getting pulled from the race for hypothermia. Besides, you do not know what is ahead. Despite whatever the advertised course cutoff time is, conditions change and the event may end earlier than advertised. That’s what happened in Tahoe in 2016 and I guarantee you there were some people who were pulled from the course, just missing the cut-off of being allowed to finish, who spent 30 minutes or more in the transition area. Don’t be that person.

I packed everything with the intention of moving quickly to my transition box, dropping my initial CamelBak into the box and wearing a pre-packed second CamelBak out of the transition area for my second lap. I stopped only long enough to eat my Zingers and switch those packs. I knelt for a moment but I never sat down and I was still chewing as I started lap two. Had I needed anything else out of the box, it was all neatly arranged in labeled ziplock bags. Note also that you won’t be allowed to get help from spectators. So no giving them gear or taking food or drink from them. You are on your own so plan well.

I started playing Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) in middle school when I was about 13 years old. In 1981 D&D was still riding a wave of popularity and it just seemed like everyone at school was playing. I remember sitting in the amphitheater at lunch and getting invited to join a game. It immediately tapped into my psyche like nothing had before. There was even a scent to the books and the unusual polyhedral dice demanded to be held. All of the terminology, every mysterious creature and every new adventure was fascinating. Most importantly, it was easy to role-play a first-level fighter since I was as inexperienced as my new character. This particular experience is fleeting and can never really be repeated. After my first games, never again could I be surprised by a 10’ deep pit in a dungeon or by a basic creature like a goblin. I played in many campaigns over the next half a dozen years but none ever grabbed hold of me as much as those first months of playing.

Years later, I came across some old D&D books at a used book store and picked them up for a few dollars. Now in my early 30s, I had reached a point in life where there were a couple of interested pre-teen boys in my family. My son, Noah and Jill’s son, Dane, both wanted to play. Jill and I were still dating at the time but she brought Dane over to my apartment to play D&D with Noah each week. I explained how the game would work and the boys were enthusiastic and eager to get started.

I selected “The Keep on the Borderlands” since it was the one burned into my brain most deeply as a kid. The boys created their characters—a fighter for Dane and a magic user for Noah—while I outfitted the party with a handful of helpful NPCs to round out the team. Knowing what was ahead I sent them off with two clerics. Dane and Noah spent every bit of wealth they had in order to purchase horses and carts, which were then loaded down with supplies. As they set out for the Keep the bloated group looked more like a traveling circus than a group of brave adventurers.

Their first day of travel was uneventful, moving parallel to a wide river and eventually joining up with a road that would take them to the Keep. They passed other travelers on the road, seeing common folk as well as other adventurers who were now returning to the Keep after some less than successful forays into the Caves of Chaos. The boys decided to call it a night, moving a short distance off the road and into the edges of the surrounding forest. The group unfurled their bedrolls and quickly fell asleep after the long day’s travel.

    “Your dreams are troubled but you all sleep through the night. The sun comes up and its brightness slowly awakens all of you from your sleep,” I said.

    “I go get some breakfast from my pack”, said Noah.

    “You are a bit groggy still but it seems like you may have misplaced your pack,” I replied.

    “I check my horse and the cart to see if my pack is on them.”

    “Your eyes scan the campsite and you seem to have misplaced your horse as well...and your cart...and actually you aren’t seeing ANY horses in the campsite,” I explained.

  “Somebody took all our stuff!” Dane howled.

Yes, that’s right. The boys paraded their caravan of shiny new gear past curious eyes along the main road for many hours before settling into a nice long sleep. They also failed to post a guard and take shifts throughout the night. Their first encounter as professional adventurers had just taken place and the party slept through the whole thing. This is exactly the kind of stuff that never happens to experienced players even if they were to try and role play as a first level character again.

Over the next few months the boys would learn many other hard lessons, each one experienced with bright eyes. They seemed completely panicked when I described the grotesque Owl Bear as it attacked. Another day they kept getting lost in the twisty caves despite Noah’s desperate attempts to accurately draw a map. He was convinced I was making a mistake in my geographic descriptions but had yet to learn of the Minotaur living in the caves. They even fell for the “Welcome” sign outside the Bug Bear lair and barely escaped with their lives. Their naivete was again exposed when they entrusted some gold to a seemingly helpful creature who promised to procure a magic item for them—one that would allow them to gain a treasure that was just out of reach. Of course, the rascal absconded with their money and was never to be seen again. (Note: I think this was inspired by my memories of my high-school friends giving people money to buy them pot and then never seeing that person again.)

One particularly hilarious encounter involved their meeting with a Medusa. Seeing only a portion of her attractive figure and finding her chained-up in the cells, Dane moved quickly to rescue the fair maiden. Of course, the Medusa immediately turned him to stone. Noah reacted quickly and stayed outside of the cell and was careful not to meet her gaze. The Medusa offered to restore Dane to health with a potion should Noah agree to release her. Dane was bursting at the seams by this time and struggled to stay out of our conversation--he was, after all, currently made of stone.

Noah agreed to the bargain and the Medusa returned Dane to flesh with the promised remedy. Dane exited the cell and Noah kept his end of the deal by cutting the Medusa loose. She, predictably and promptly, turned Noah to stone. Over the next 30 minutes the boys would take turns getting turned to stone, the other then bargaining with the Medusa, throwing things at her and alternately opening and closing cell doors. Eventually the cycle would end with a taste of the Medusa’s Stone to Flesh potion and some kind of trickery that would result in the process beginning again. It was nearly slapstick in its execution.

No. That’s not me. But maybe it will be someday. 

I don’t know why this is on my mind so much recently. Maybe it’s watching all of the aging parents and friends going through the same stuff. But more and more I am seeing people in their 70s who are just done with life. Their health is crap and they spend all day staring at the TV, waiting for the next bit of bad news from the doctor. I realize Father Time will eventually win out and my body will fail me. And to be fair, living with a failing body will, I’m sure, take a tremendous toll on my spirit. Hell, I get grumpy missing a workout from my existing aches and pains. But if we truly are all destined for that fate--horrible health and a complete lack of enthusiasm for living--then I intend to go skydiving without a chute on my 70th birthday. There has to be a way out of having such a horrible end.

Exercise and diet are definitely the first pieces of the puzzle. I’ve think I’ve got the physical aspects pretty much under control. Diet will undoubtedly become a greater consideration as the years go by. Fewer splurges and excesses will be tolerated. No worries. I’ve got this! Nobody needs to have Spartan Race as a hobby like me but if you are not getting regular exercise and taking care of yourself physically you can pretty much assume you are fucked. No amount of positive outlook is going to give you happy golden years if the doc is cutting off limbs from diabetes.

Physical health is critical but it is not enough. Our spirit must also remain young. I recognize that the joy in life is so often about learning and experiencing new things. I can see that as we age there are fewer and fewer of those moments. The world shrinks. You don’t get on planes and travel. You drive less often. Your “world” becomes your house and your neighborhood. Your friends who live further away are rarely seen. Friends and relatives die. Everything you liked has been replaced. Your favorite restaurants are gone. You’ll be watching Law and Order reruns because whatever else is on TV is too strange and unfamiliar to you. Technology is so far advanced that you don’t even have a reference point for understanding. Your favorite sports stars are all retired or passed on. You’ve tasted everything. You’ve heard everything. Nothing is interesting anymore. You retreat to things that are familiar and comforting.

My mantra, DO ONLY DIFFICULT THINGS, is a big part of avoiding this fate. The comfortable life will lead to our ruin. There’s just not many years left on the planet to accomplish things and I don’t intend to piss away those final decades watching Breaking Bad reruns on Turner Classic Movies. I still want to learn and challenge myself. I want to learn new musical instruments and new programming languages. I want to encourage my grandchildren to pursue big dreams and not to settle in life. I want to always look for scary and uncomfortable things and dive head-long into them. I want to stay engaged with the modern world as it is and not just the nostalgia of my younger years. I want to be an example for younger generations.

It is natural to want to be prepared for whatever events we are doing. However, each HH12HR event is different so we need to be flexible and learn to be comfortable dealing with whatever is thrown our way. But that sometimes leaves beginners not knowing what to train for nor how to measure their readiness.

I thought it would be helpful to people thinking about doing a HH12HR for the first time, to see a few of the challenges that have appeared in past events. A reasonable way to train for an event might be to occasionally select a something from this list and give it a try. The more of these that you can confidently complete, the more likely you are to be able to complete a HH12HR.  

I don’t intend to catalog every HH12HR obstacle here but just to highlight a few that show some of the diversity of the types of things that may be asked of you.

Water Bucket Combo Carry (Castaic 2016)

Equipment:

A ruck with 40 lbs (30 lbs women)

5-Gallon bucket with handle

1 Sandbag (3/4 full for men, 1/2 full for women)

Optional:

Duct Tape

550 Paracord

Instructions: Time hack! Run a mile to a place with water. Fill your bucket 3/4 full (half full for women) and get back quickly. Grab a sandbag when you return and take it and your water bucket on a two-mile hike with some elevation gain to it. If you are too slow you are cut. If you spill your water below the 3/4 (or 1/2 line for women) you are cut.  

Water Jug Endurance Miles (Lake Elsinore 2017)

Equipment:

A ruck with 40 lbs (30 lbs women)

2.5 Gallon water jug.

Optional: 

Duct Tape

550 Paracord

Multi-tool

Instructions: Go on a 3-5 mile hike with just your ruck. When you return, do it again but now add your 2.5 gallon water jug. Move with purpose!  When you finish, drop the water jug and then complete the hike again with just your ruck. When you return, do the hike again with your ruck and water jug. Lastly, do the 3-5 miles one more time without any weight. Run imagining that only the top half of your class will be HH12HR finishers. Optional gear, above, is there if you want to rig up anything special to carry your water jug. Take up to 10 minutes to build handles or a harness or whatever you want with the gear list items listed.

Sisyphus (Vegas 2017) 

Equipment:

A ruck with 40 lbs (30 lbs women)

5-Gallon bucket 3/4 full of water (1/2 full for women)

2 Cement Pavers/Step Stones 12x12

Optional

550 Paracord

Multi-tool

Duct Tape

Instructions: Find a hill. Get in a bear crawl position. Drop your ruck in front of you. Bear crawl up the hill, pushing (NOT pulling!) your ruck up the hill with hands and knees. Leave your ruck at the top and return to the bottom of the hill. Now do the same thing but push one of your pavers to the top. Then repeat with the other paver. Lastly, flip a coin and hope for a happy result. Then experience hopelessness because regardless of the coin result you must now push your bucket up the hill as well. Curse often and loudly. 

“I Wish I Had More Arms” Carry (Vegas 2016)

Equipment:

A ruck with 40 lbs (30 lbs women)

3 Sandbags

One is half full

Two are 3/4 full for men and 1/2 full for women

Optional:

Duct Tape

550 Paracord

Multi-tool

Instructions: Get your 3 sandbags to a spot about a half mile up a hill and bring them back. Use the optional gear if you want to rig something up rather than just muscle it.

Soul-Crushing Heavy Carry (Castaic 2016)

Equipment: 

A ruck with 40 lbs (30 lbs women)

2 Sandbags (3/4 full for men, 1/2 full for women)

Five foot long 2′x4′ 

Optional:

Duct Tape

550 Paracord

Multi-tool

By 1997, Vampire: the Eternal Struggle had already suffered through three torturous years of existence. Magic: the Gathering creator, Richard Garfield, had designed the game to improve upon the flaws he saw in Magic’s design and Wizards of the Coast was expecting to release another wildly popular game. Confidence was high at Wizards and they released the game with an absolutely massive print run of 170 million cards to avoid the shortages experienced with Magic’s first printings.

Unfortunately, the multiplayer nature of the game along with its complexity and lengthy playtime, served as high hurdle which prevented it from being a hit. Some of the mistakes seem obvious now after over two decades of CCG history. Jyhad, as it was then named, was released with “starter decks” that were not pre-constructed theme decks but were instead a nearly random assortments of cards. The game was also played without a time limit so it was not uncommon to have a single game last several hours while eliminated players sat idle.

Despite the overprinting and the many boxes of unsold cards, Wizards still believed in the game and decided to re-release it with a new name, new card backs and a better graphic design to make the game easier to learn. However, despite the good intentions and renewed commitment, the Vampire: the Eternal Struggle re-launch still failed to gain a large foothold with fans. In fact, many of the remaining fans quit the game over the renaming, believing the changed card backs to be a ploy to get players to again purchase cards they already owned. V:TES hung on through the Dark Sovereigns expansion, then Ancient Hearts and even two printings of The Sabbat but had ultimately failed to turn a profit. One thing was certain, though, the players still playing the game were absolutely fanatical about it. The same qualities that made the game a hard sell to some, made it even more attractive to others.

In December of 1997, the player community engaged in email discussion on Wizards’ VTES-L listserver, decided to organize with the purpose of keeping the game alive with fans and to maybe someday get some new cards printed. Giving credit where it is due, by this time Netrunner had already come and gone at Wizards and its loyal fans had organized their own Players’ Organization. We took our early direction by simply copying the structure of the Top Runner’s Conference. Next we voted and selected Vampire: Elder Kindred Network as our name. I was nominated to be the first V:EKN Chairperson–whatever that meant–and there were not any complaints so I accepted the role. 

By January we went to work to show that V:TES had some very specific qualities that then Brand Manager, Ryan Dancey, had said were lacking from V:TES. We quickly organized world-wide competitive play with player ratings and encouraged volunteer Clan Newsletter Editors to write about how to play different clans. Our first ratings system made use of a home-brew Javascript ELO calculator created by L. Scott Johnson. Player ratings were calculated by hand prior to Stephen Buonocore’s creation of The Archon.

A lot of what we did early on was to stalk high-level Wizards employees online or during public Q&A sessions to try to get them to support the game more. Surely, they could spend some of their Magic fortune to continue to support their out-of-print games with just a few cards here and there. Right?  

Only a few months later, V:TES players became concerned about a new policy at FRPG (now a Wizards subsidiary that was managing the growing list of out-of-print CCGs) which prohibited games with blood and gore. Dancey also said that V:TES had reached the end of it’s lifecycle. Players were not sure if that decision was due to the new morality policies or due to the game’s poor sales. Things got tense when Dancey publicly posted that he found V:TES’ vampire backstory to be morally reprehensible. One thing was certain, we knew that Dancey was NOT the guy we wanted to be in charge of deciding our game’s future.

Fortunately, we weren’t the only ones offended by Dancey’s comments. Remember that many of the early Wizards team put a lot of time, energy and love into V:TES and I spoke personally with some of them. We bombarded Wizards from all angles and they agreed to discuss the matter internally at a meeting in March of 1998.  

By May of ‘98, Wizards was now working with the V:EKN on several areas of common interest. Wizards had also agreed to resume sanctioning V:TES organized play, listing events on their website and providing, at times, limited prize support via Wizards volunteer liasons Eric Cagle and, later, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes. One of our “big” ideas was to organize tournaments around the world for the same weekend. I believe our first event, Crusade: World, consisted of a whopping 18 tournaments. We eventually worked our way up to having about 30 Princes (aka local player representatives) running demos and tournaments in their respective cities. Contrast that with today’s V:EKN, where there are hundreds of V:EKN Princes representing 39 countries, and it is clear to see how much growth there has been.  

Wizards had grown weary of having to manage rulings and errata for V:TES as our players completely devoured every well-intentioned official NetRep Wizards would assign. Clearly there was no way for Wizards to assign a casual V:TES fan from their Customer Service team to handle answering complex rules questions. Along the way, new NetReps would be assigned but they were never up to the task at hand. Wizards’ solution, eventually, was to give L. Scott Johnson (aka LSJ aka the “Rulemonger”) some leeway in issuing rulings without Wizards’ input. Scott began as a cataloger of official rulings but was respected by the original Wizards Rules Team members so his appointment here made good sense. As was our modus operandi by now, Scott took the liberty of completely overstepping his authority and made a whole pile of changes that we, the players at large, were waiting for. Wizards slapped our wrists a bit in a conference call after the fact but it was really too late. The game was ours now. We could feel it.

Over the next few months we organized a letter writing campaign (yup, snail mail) and were pushing Wizards to print one sheet, maybe 100 cards, spread across all of their out of print games. We figured we would get a third of that and could reprint and fix problem cards like Return to Innocence and Tomb of Ramses III. By November of ‘98 we learned that Ryan Dancey was no longer the Brand Manager for V:TES and Wizards agreed to print “a handful of new cards” in 1999. Not a full expansion but it was progress. Things were looking up!

Instead of the 30 or so new cards we expected, 1999 brought the unexpected news of White Wolf and Wizards reversing their existing licensing agreement, allowing White Wolf to resume production of V:TES. Steve Wieck from White Wolf was impressed with the little community we’d built and was confident the game could be profitable in the right hands. For the next decade, White Wolf and the V:EKN would work closely together to ensure the game’s health.

It’s great to see the V:EKN still representing players these 20 years later. V:TES and the V:EKN have been through so much together and I hope there is much more history to be written for both.

I just completed Ashley Seeger’s 4th “I AM A BADASS” 5-hour event and, as usual, had a fantastic time. We typically start with some P.T. and some teamwork challenges and this event began in much the same way.  In the past, the first teamwork challenge always involved hoisting a tractor tire onto our shoulders and then moving with purpose up into the hills. The smart teamwork move here is to rotate tired team members out from under the tire at intervals throughout the trek. Fresh team members jump in to relieve as needed, no single person gets exhausted and the load is efficiently moved. 

A new twist for this event was to move buckets of water, along with some awkward jump ropes and slam balls, up into the hills to a checkpoint within the allowed 30-minutes. This was a team timehack but each person would operate independently, carrying their fair share of water or extra gear or both. No longer operating as small teams orbiting around tractor tires, how would this giant team accomplish the task?

I can tell you how I have approached this challenge in the past. I would have done my best to up near the front, killing it. RAWWWRRRR! Must. Destroy. Challenge. Of course, after reaching the checkpoint I would still come back and help my team members still out on the trail. There’s nothing wrong with that approach--after all, it still benefits the team but I learned something new this time out.

It was an unexpected lesson but also one that is embarrassingly obvious to me now. What I discovered is that there are opportunities to lead that only occur at the back of the pack.

First off, when your team has a timehack (assuming no other parameters), the ONLY time that matters is the time of the last person to arrive at the checkpoint. Any effort spent to propel a middle-of-the-pack team member to the front won’t accomplish anything. Similarly, the front-runner pushing hard to arrive even earlier rarely produces a benefit. However, time spent with the slowest among your team goes straight to the bottom line--improving your team’s finish time.

Just in case one of my pals at the back of the pack reads this, know that I am absolutely NOT knocking you. We all have our strengths and weaknesses and depending on the task at hand and the makeup of the team, any of us might find ourselves the slowest team member at that particular moment. Challenge me to a crab walk race sometime and I’ll prove my point.

The back of the line is where I met people with the least experience at these types of events. The picture, above, is of Laura. She was carrying two buckets--both with cracks in them. Laura silently put up with the awkward load and was doing the best she could but the water was still draining away as the team advanced up the hill. Eventually, we ended up dumping her water in my bucket. (By the way, I’m not bragging about carrying a double load of water--CAW CAW! As soon as I had opportunity, I distributed some of that extra weight among other team members up ahead).  

At the back of the line I saw a lot of offers to carry packs and extra gear to lighten the load of team members who were struggling. I saw Ryan carrying two water buckets for long stretches during the first ascent. Someone even suggested that the bucket handles were wide enough for two people to share. Sure enough, that worked too. There was also plenty of encouragement being shared as the heat and the hills made many question their preparation and training.

All of this early teamwork paid off at the end of the night. It took four events to get to this point somehow everything clicked. We had a final timehack which involved the entire team getting themselves and their gear back to Marie Kerr Park by the deadline or suffer a horrible penalty. (The penalty last time was an agonizing elephant walk which I hope never to repeat.)

We set a timer and away we went. I noticed immediately that the team was running as a tight pack--no stragglers and no one sprinting ahead. We checked in frequently on the time remaining and were confident of the pace we set. We took shifts carrying the heavy gear, keeping it out of the hands of our more tired teammates. Our lines stretched a bit once we exited the trails but we arranged to re-group at the final traffic signal leading to the park, ensuring that we would cross the finish line as a team.

At the regroup point, I believe it was Brandon Grazer who suggested that the slowest team members from the most recent run should move to the front and set the pace. Brilliant! THEY would be the ones to lead us in. 

Time was short so Rachel Beardsley abruptly stepped off the curb and marched into the street with arms waving to stop traffic. The team followed and poured into the crosswalk. All extra equipment was now in the hands of those most able to carry them all the way to the end--there would be no time left to switch carriers mid-run. 

Our weary team members led us into the park at an impressive pace. You could see how much effort they were giving and it was the most inspiring thing I saw all night. Timekeeper Beardsley called out that we had less than two minutes remaining which resulted in a quick change of course. The flat dirt running path was instinctively abandoned to cut a direct line through the park towards our destination. We saw Ashley and the volunteers in the distance ahead. We knew it would be close and gave it one last push. We reached the finish line and were relieved to find that we had succeeded--and with 40 seconds to spare. Victory!

Looking back now, I wonder if our slower runners would have had enough energy for that final sprint if we had left them to struggle under excessive weight earlier in the night. Or if we had not earlier shown care and concern for them, would they still have even been willing to push themselves to the point of collapse to ensure the team’s success? Maybe instead they would have said “screw you guys” when we asked them to sprint for the finish.