Here is a page with alot of extras like Winter/Summer Descriptions from the website, Statistics of the previous races gathered by me and some links to great Race Reports...
Well, I guess I'll fill in some other blanks...
OK - Let's start. There's a lot to say about the race and I don't want to repeat too much of what I already wrote for the Winter Edition. This is the link to Winter BOB. Here I will write only what's different.
I actually really wanted to see this.
Anyway, about a week before Beast, I'm running with Hammad, Jim and Jamey. Easy relaxed pace. I was telling them about all this and Jamey started asking me about Beast. What exactly is Beast and when etc. I love to talk and perhaps teach (maybe it should have been profession) so I explained to him about it. I could see the gears moving in his head but didn't really get to what end until he popped the question: "Can I do it?"... Wow... I promised him an answer by that evening. I later changed it to we will talk about it in the morning. The next morning we ran again and talked. I told him the 100 is completly out of the picture for him. There is too much preperation here and he is inexperienced and I didn't remember but you also need a previous 50.
I also told him that I was conflicted. On the one hand, selfishly I would love for him to come with us. More company is awesome. If we get a rental, then he can't drive but he can keep the driver awake. If he drives his car, then we have 3 capable drivers... Unselfishly is a little more complicated. Can he do it? Yes - I keep telling him that he is a Ultra guy but just doesn't know it yet. I do really believe that by the way. Still, his longest run ever was 18 miles and he got beat up by it due to his inexperience. He went out "late" in 90+ weather without water or money. He, thank God, had his cell phone but didn't have a clue that he could call for help. Still, he finished it. I would have preferred for him to have more miles underneath him before attempting this but if he's smart about it, BOB 25 mile and 50 mile are VERY maneageable and doable. In fact, I told him that what he does and what his recovery will be like will depend on 3 things: 1) Him being smart, 2) him being stupid and 3) how much testestorone will be involved in that answer. Again though, if he stays with me, then he shouldn't be that bad. He said he will think about it.
OK - Didn't push it. Don't want his wife to kill me. Monday evening, while I was on the train, he called me to tell me that all systems are a go. He's in. Wow... I only asked that he tell his wife that I did NOT try to convince him to do this which is true. I know I am very engaging and an enabler but I did NOT actively convince him.
Things getting serious now folks. I was in charge of transportation while Hammad was in charge of a place to stay. He had originally called the Lockport Inn where we stayed at last time and the guy said they will call him back. Well, they didn't and when he called again, they were all booked. Oi...This time he spoke to the wife who gave us a great rate on a suite. A suite meant 2 rooms really. One had a King size bed and a bathroom. The other had a pullout bed, one of those furniture things that you pull down into a bed. Should have taken a picture... It also had a bathroom with shower, fridge, fireplace and a jacuzzi. Also had a big couch. I spoke to Jamey about driving and since they have 2 cars he didn't mind. Turned out great because in his words, "Give me a cup of coffee and I can drive forever". He did by the way. Didn't want to switch. Drove without a problem. Awesome... The three of us split the gas/tolls while Hammad and I split the room. Everyone was happy.
Meanwhile I got contacted by David Drebisky. He attempted Winter Bob and DNFed. He was still going to Summer Bob though. He had a hard time with the cold and in his words is a much better hot weather guy. Just to give my 2 cents, I think he had a problem with the cold during Winter Bob was because like Julia, he kept changing clothes. I understand the reasoning behind it... You want to be comfortable especially in such a long distance/time race and also your clothes get soaked with sweat and you figure that dry clothes will keep you warm. Except, when they did change clothes, I saw all the trapped in heat, leave their bodies. My disgusting sweaty clothes kept all the heat trapped in. Anyway, he asked if his girlfriend Lisa could stay in our room while we were running. I would have loved to say yes except we were checking out the next morning... Oh well. Anyway, he was meeting up and training with Julia and their plan was to (try to) stick together for the first 75 miles and then all bets are off. Julia had pacers and he had better keep up... He knew it and understood. He figured that Billy was injured anyway (Tendon in foot) so he could always try to stick with him if he needed.
A few days before we left, I checked my flashing lights and realized they weren't all working. Also, I could not find my compression sleeves and a new friend, Bill from the PJ run, recommended a certain type. Luckily Adele came through with her Amazon Prime account. Ordered what I needed. While I was at a meeting about our daughters trip, she dropped stuff off at the house. Thanks so much Adele... ;)
Thursday night I packed my stuff. Took a pillow and blanket as well just in case we needed. Wasn't sure how the room was going to be situated.
Woke up at 2am and went to run my 1.15 mile loop. Ate breakfast, showered and got ready. Jamie picked me up and we went to get Hammad. From there, we went our way. Nice drive. Missed all the traffic. Stopped a few times. Ate lunch at Subway. Got to Lockport and decided before heading to the Lockport Inn to show Jamie the start/finish and explain the first/last few miles to him. We got there and the tent is up but nothing set up. Just a beautiful day near the Erie Canal.
I asked for forecasted temps and was told that it would only be in low 80s. Wow... OK... And that it would get into the 60s at night. Hm...
From there, we went to check in and get situated. During Winter Bob, I ended up getting a smaller room than Hammad. This time I got the single which had the King size bed. It also made sense as I was going to go to sleep earlier than these guys and also wake up earlier. I brought my dinner while they went to a pizza restaurant joint to eat. Cool. Not for me before a race though.
Unfortunatly, there was a work cutover Friday night and Saturday day. My boss was going to do it. He called me up Friday night because of an "anomally". He messed up... I fixd it. Saturday morning, as we were getting ready to leave to race site, I get a text. Can I join the conf call? Major problem. Oi.... I joined and fixed the problem. Not a good way to start the day.
We ended up leaving about 8:15-8:20 instead of 8am. Wasn't such a biggie as we were 10 minutes away from race start and race start was 10am but I like to get there early. We found a good parking spot and went to check in and pick up our stuff. Indoor plumbing too.
The rest of the time was spent on Indoor plumbing, picture taking, socializing and walking around getting the nerves out.
Time moved super slow. My nerves running super fast. Constantly evaluating my stomach and what will be. Thinking about the cold night and what it will bring. Yes - It's tough being me ;)
And then the clock started speeding up and so did my stomach. During the pre-race briefing, I went again but stomach was empty. I did eat a peanut butter protein bar on the way and it seemed to go fine. I just notice that when I eat breakfast at 4am, I get hungry early which usually coincides with race start.
Since Hammad and I would be there for the long haul (4 loops), Jamey would finish much earlier than us (2 loops). He then had options. He could take a shower there or go to Michelle Steven's house whose house was open for us. I was going to introduce them and potentially they would even run the 50 together as that was Michelle's plan. Unfortunatly, her father was admitted to the hospital. He wasn't doing well all winter long and she didn't really train because of it. She went there during the night and had to give up the race. She also didn't come to the start so I was wondering what Jamey would do.
Some people already at this point started their run/walk plan. Not us, not yet. just another run at Alley Pond. We're talking. I keep telling Jamey visual cues about what to see and what to look for. I didn't know if we would get seperated so I wanted to give him all the info I had. It was also a great distraction for both of us.
We did catch up to Keigan (spelling?), the spaniel, who was awesome. Spoke to her runner. I asked him how much he's running and how much she is running and he told me that they are running the 25 miler. I couldn't believe it. I asked if she has done this before thinking this can not be good for the poor girl but then he rattled off her stats: She's done this many half marathons, this many marathons and 2 50 milers. WOW!!! I was couldn't believe it. I turned to Jamey and said "look, you are worried while this dog has done the distance already twice and she isn't worried.". This dog really was amazing. There was that slippery bridge though which her owner picked her up for. The grates would hurt her paws. She didn't mind. My dog hates getting picked up so that was pretty cool too.
I guess I should mention what I was wearing and carrying much like I did for Winter Bob. From the bottom up:
Both Hammad and Jamey were amazed at me carrying a hand held bottle. Hammad saw me using it at TGNY so he was ok with it. Jamey has never seen me carrying water ever so that was weird for him. I made sure he had his bottles. We got to the first aid station (Gasport) and my bottle was empty. Gave it over and the volunteers quickly filled it up. They didn't have grilled cheese or pizza yet, so I grabbed 2 cokes and some chocolate and we were on our way. I usually make sure to eat the riese's pieces mini cups as that at least have some peanuts in it but they also had mini twixs and mini sneakers both of which I haven't had in ages so I took them too. Delicious. We were off.
Right after Gasport is the pirate ship and slide and I was just telling Jamey about it how people take pictures there and don't you know it, the runner in front of us, made a bee line for it, climbed up and slid down and took a picture. Nice...
I was dictating pace. Had to do it. In fact, besides usual talking, the conversation consisted of me saying "Jamey slow down" constantly. No reason for me to feel the burn down the front of my calves already in the first few miles. Jamey listened and slowed down tho every so often again would speed up. Still, the miles were gobbled up pretty quick and before we knew it, we were at the turn around, Middleport and again my bottle was empty. Again grab some food and off we go. Crossed over the bridge to get back on the path and we see Hammad and he looked good. Good - I was happy to see that. Few minutes later we see Julia and crew and everyone looked good there too. Cool.
I don't remember when the pizza and grill cheese got to the aid stations but now rolling into an aid station consisted off: hand off bottle to get filled up, grab 2 cokes, grab a slice of pizza if avail otherwise grill cheese, grab some chocolate and leave. Tried to keep it under 5 minutes at most.
Back to Gasport and then back to Lockport. Before getting into Lockport, Jamey told me that he has to use the indoor plumbing. I told him I will wait a little but then I would have to go. He said no problem. Right before we crossed over the bridge, we came across an eventually new friend, Michael C. Didn't think too much about it. Talked a little and continuued.
Crossed over the bridge and continuing. I saw Jamey a little over a mile behind me. Cool. He should be able to catch up to me without an issue. Looking forward to it.
I was surprised that I didn't see Hammad yet tho.
At this point, I did get a little rock in my shoe and decided that I wasn't going to run with it for 74 more miles so I sat on the ground contemplating whether I should have worn gaitors or not and cleared my shoe. Michael came from behind and asked if I was ok and I told him about the rock. He continueed but I eventually caught him and we stayed together.
I saw Hammad. He still looked good. I quickly asked him how he was doing and he said "Good" but then changed it to "not so good". Not good... Don't like to hear that. Time was tight but he could still do it...
Caught back up to Michael and we ran and talked. Pretty much kept the same pace and all was good. Kept looking back to see if I see Jamey but nothing there. Every station my hand held was empty which is strange for me.
In and out of Gasport. Running to Middleport all was fine until Michael ran out of water. Things went down hill at that point. He started walking. Slow. I gave him half my water and all was good again. All was good until we were so close to the cross over bridge. He ran out of water again. So did I actually. He was NOT happy at that point. I could not get him moving. I slowed down and we walked it. Once inside he got liquids and felt better. We left.
Crossed the bridge and I see Jamey. Again, he's about 1-1.5 mile back. No biggie. Julia and crew there too. Cool.
Ran to Gasport. All systems go. Almost there and Michael again doesn't feel great. He had a grill cheese (I think) and put a ton of butter on top of it and that helped. He also managed to get butter on my leg while we ran and he ate and I wasn't too happy about it. I thought it was banana. Still, all good...
Meanwhile I realized I made a major booboo. My plan was to pick up my headlamp after the first loop at Lockport. This was my good headlamp. At the 1.5, I took my backup headlamp just in case. This time I wanted to make sure to remember my headlamp. Also, I started feeling a very bad chafe. Well, 2 actually. The first would need to be handled by me sticking my hand down the front of my pants with vaseline. The second I would need a volunteer (sorry for them and sucks for me) to put vaseline on my lower back/very upper tush area. Wasn't a "personal" area if you know what I mean but it was embarassing.
After leaving Gasport, we joined forces with Mary Harvey. She was running well especially for someone suffering from Plantar Fascitious (sp?). Anyway, we had a nice long talk. Talked about plans - she signed up for IronMan Lake Placid, about Michelle, extensivly about Julia and why she DNFed at Winter Bob and why she succeeded in TGNY. We also ran into another runner who was leap frogging with us. Nice guy who kept calling me sir. That was akward. I kept thinking about how I look older when I don't shave and I didn't shave but I wasn't that old... Then it hit me and I asked him where he was from. He had an accent. He was from Little Rock and that explained all. Those Southern boys and their good manners. Anyway, his kids kept seeing him at Lockport and his smile was beaming at that point and their smile was beeming. I kept telling his kids to drop him and pace me instead. Anyway, real nice guy whose only goal besides finishing his first 100, as to beat his co-workers 50 mile time and he was on pace to do that.
Mary, Mike and I were approaching Lockport and it was starting to get dark. The bugs were out and there were so many of them. You could actually see them as little clouds in front of you and you just ran right through them and it was disgusting. I was worried that they would be attracted to the headlamps once we turned them on but that was a worry for later. Right now, we had to run through them. They hit us in the face and potentially we had a small protein hit if we timed it right with our mouths. Mary toward the end ran faster. She was going to be done and had enough with the bugs. I tried to keep up but she dropped me and I was cool with that. Trying to keep up with her made chafe in front worse but whatever.
Got to Lockport and got my good headlamp. Good. Got a glove and vaseline and took care of that matter too. Got Jim Pease to take care of the back chafe. Got food.
I saw Hammad wearing clean clothes. He refused to tell me what happened but he dropped. Sucks.
My plan for aid stations was the same at this point as before except I also added the vaseline thing.
All set. Big hug to Mary and Michael and I are off. Jamey finishes as we are leaving. His time is something like 11:29. That is awesome. BOB allows 24 hours but most 50 milers only allow 12 hours. For a guy who is training for his first marathon, whose longest run was 18 (because he got lost!!!), that is an awesome time.
By the way, I think Mary is the only one who smelled really awesome. She put on bug spray and it was eucalipius (sp?).
By the way, forgot to mention, they (as usual) set up an unmanned water station about 3 miles from the Lockport. One time it was empty and all the runners told the aidstations and someone was very quickly dispatched to deal with it. Glad too as I was always emptying my handheld.
Another (quick) little tangent here as I forgot to mention something earlier... During the first loop, Jamey and I leapfrogged a male runner doing the 100 and a female runner doing either the 25 or 50 mile. The 100 milers all have 3 digit bib numbers while the 25/50 have double digits. The 25 milers have smaller numbers but you can never tell. I believe the guy was called Salt Shack. I dunno why. Anyway, as we almost approached the end of loop 1, they were walking and I asked if they will pass us running fast in a minute. He told me it was up to his female friend. I assumed he was pacing her and then get back to the buisiness at hand. Well, we finished the first loop and as I left for my second loop, the girl left too without Salt. Hm... Now in the 3rd loop, Salt is there with a pacer and he started passing me and Michael. I jokingly asked if the girl dropped him and he told me he fell pretty bad right before finishing the first loop and wrenched his back. It as awful. The second loop was horrible for him and now his back was finally better. Well, here he was with his pacer, different female, who had a flashing thing on her that illuminated them to a huge distance. Nice.
In any case, Michael went off with them. It's cool. Actually, it was good for him. Turns out his headlamp either wasn't working or broke down rather quickly and he was without lights. Salt gave him a handheld flashlight. Good thing too as they dropped him and I picked him up. We ran the rest of the 3rd loop together.
I don't rememeber when but they ran out of pizza at 1 point, at Middleport and I started eating grill cheese and then... Potato perogies. I wasn't sure my stomach would tolerate it but it did and these things just slipped right down your mouth and it was awesome...Later they had fresh, just made, chocolate chip pancakes...SLURP!!!
I knew I was going to enjoy this lap because well, all I needed to do was 12.5 miles and then I can start celebrating and saying my goodbyes.
I came across a female runner and I told her that I think she is first female overall. Turns out I was wrong but still I think she came in 2nd female and it was her 100. Granted she had pacers with her all the time to escort her but still...
I was enjoying myself and I realized I was going to PR. I was doing well. Still, for the first time in a race, I was tired. I was very sleepy. It was very unlike me but I didn't get a chance to get some extra sleep the few days before and the whole work thing the night before and the morning off tired me out too.
I missed Michael.
I texted Elizabeth to call me when she woke up. I texted Donald to wish him and Jamil good luck at their race. Right around that time I heard a sound and I immediatly looked to the side to see a pair of eyes looking at me. That was scary. Got my Cardio for the day kind of scary. It was a racoon and I was intruding on his time. I immediatly stopped and in a stern voice told him to stay and that I will leave. Thankfully he listened and all ended well.
Elizabeth called and we spoke for a while and that was good. Helped pass the time. Eventually we hung up and I continueed on. Donald called and that was good too. He had me on speaker in his car and he had a full car. Donald and Miriam and Jamil and Celine. Got to wish Miriam a happy birthday again. Spoke for a while before letting him go. Every step forward is one less to cover.
Gasport aid station again. Cool. In english it means 18 miles to go. Not even a Marathon ;)
I hear steps behind me. I looked back and made a new friend, Stephanie. We worked together, me talking mostly and her listening. Nice person whose husband turned out to be a lieing, cheating piece of garbage. By the way, turns out her husband ran Tesla Hertz the year I did it. I beat him. Ha!
Anyway, pulled her with me to Middleport and after getting our stuff and us ready, we thanked everyone greatly and left. By the way, Jim Pease surprised everyone by showing up. Nice.
We left and ran to Gasport. At Gasport, I did the vaseline the last time. I went to my usual guy, young kid, for the back as usual. After thanking everyone, I especially thanked him for putting up with me and told him that if he ever wants to go into the medical field that this was a perfect entership and really his parents should thank me. He didn't laugh. Everyone else did.
Stephanie made me leave her. The port-a-pottie was calling her name for a long sitdown. She was ecstatic though to have been with me. I pulled her to a PR. She apologized for slowing me down and while my PR could have been bigger, it really didn't matter to me.
Billy's story: Billy is a personal trainer and friend of David and Lisa. He likes to do ruck races, mud races and is a personal trainer. He is currently hurt with a tendon issue in his foot. David assumed he would be slow. He wasn't. HE was fast. Turns out he dropped me at 1 point too and made a new friend and they were kicking butt. Up until things caught up with them. I don't remember when exactly, but I caught up with the 2 of them and they did NOT look good. Both were "walking" badly. Perhaps limping is a better term. Long story short Billy finished DLF I believe. Good for him. He got back to LI and cramped up so bad, he could not get himself out of his car. He slept in his car all night. He finally managed to get out and into the ER where he was diagnosed with Rhabdo Myolosis something or other. My personal opinion from reading things is that you never want to go to a doctor who isn't an athlete or a sports doc after a long race especially a 100 miler. Your enzymes will send big bad red flags. Your low heart rate will convince them that you are dead and they will overreact. I am NOT taking away from what he did and his condition but I am saying that they probably scared the hell out of him unneccessarily.
Jameelah's story: Another personal trainer out there. Jamey and I first encountered her on the first loop. She was running F-A-S-T!!! and could barely keep talking but she
David's story: He stuck with Julia for the first 75 miles. He was all smiles till then. All went according to plan. The 4th loop I'm not sure what the plan was exactly but they seperated. I think he couldn't keep up the pace at this point. My last time at Middleport, Lisa showed up to pace him the last 12.5 miles. He wasn't having any of that and yelled at her to leave because he was too slow for her. I wanted to strangle him later when I heard that but then I saw a picture of him at miles 98 and I get it. He was all bent over moving forward slowly. Mad props for finishing. He did well and he did hug Lisa and apologize.
Course: I'm under 3 miles. Just continue straight and soon enough I should see the start/finish (Lockport) after we curve around. Once I am across from it, 2 miles to go or 3 bridges. Once I'm done with that, I cross over and a mile to go. Road is windy/twisty but eventually to the finish.
Body: Pretty sure I have a blister (or more). Dying to take shoes/socks off and feel free. From past experiences, I'm sure my feet are swollen. The lower back is chafed badly and that's gonna hurt. The front region is chafed but not that bad. My fingers are swollen like hot dogs. Glad I'm not wearing my wedding ring as that would have been a problem.
Keep moving forward. All you can do. I'm walking but walking super fast. I am tired but still very well aware of my environment. My tired is still way more aware than most people. Far ahead I see something that catches my attention. I recognize Jamey and Hammad. I run with them every weekend, I can recognize their gait and body from afar. I wave. Takes a while but they recognize me. My Marathon Maniacs yellow singlet is obvious. They finally wave back. They run to me. Happy to see them but we aren't stopping. Jamey's long legs have no problem keeping with my walking. Hammad has to run a little ahead and leapfrog us. I can walk fast.
I cross the finish line. I go in the tent and people are shaking my hand or hugging me. Jim Pease and wife are here, I get hugs. I grab some food. I sit. The RD says we have some unfinished buisiness. He means my buckles. I tell him let's wait a few.
I go outside and lie down on the concrete on my back to stretch and put my legs up. Get the blood moving back now a little. I also then do Childs Pose for my back. The floor feels so good and I rest my head on the ground. I could easily take a nap. I get up. I get my buckles. The first is for the Summer Beast. The second is for doing both Winter and Summer Beasts in the same calendar year.
I call Michelle. I didn't want to bother her while everything was going on with her father but she was adamant we come over. We get there and they were so nice. She left to go back to the hospital and we stayed. They had a spread for us. First though had to take a shower. Jamey helped me take my shoes off. There was no way that I could have done it with my finger sausages. Feet are swollen. Big left toe very sensitive and as soon as I took off the toe socks, it expanded with a blister. Oi. Went upstairs to the bathroom/shower.
Used a needle onthe blister. Well, actually I just touched it and the thing started spurting like a geyser. Wow... Got all of it out and took a looksee at myself. Not that bad. Shower help and did NOT hurt. Big props to the volunteers and the vaseline.
We ate and suddenly we heard that Julia is back. She finished. Yay. She ran upstairs and I went to talk to her.
Julia's story: The first 3 loops were exactly according to plan. The 4th loop as well. She had multiple pacers and all that worked out. The only thing that didn't was her GI system and she had to take care of it multiple times behind bushes. It was so bad, that (TMI ALERT!!!) she was chafed between the cheeks. If you never experienced that, awesome. If you ever did, then you know how bad that is.
She was hurting and excited and delirious and a little high (on life) and so many other adjectives. She had already started taking clothes off so I got her a towel and we talked. She was so happy and it was nice to see her that way and to share in her excitement. She came back to Beast 3 times in the summer and 1 time in the winter and the offical score is Beast 3, Julia 1 but that 1 was worth it. Gotta give her huge credit for coming back again and again to fight it.
Jamey and Hammad told me a story though and this is unconfirmed and truly hear say but is funny. When Julia got to the half way of her 4th lap AKA Middleport, she broke down crying. She knew that barring any unfortunate issues, she was going to make it. All she had to do was get through 12.5 miles in the shadeless sun. She had a pacer with her and she had this. She completly broke down and started asking what do I do, what do I do? Apparently one of the volunteers said: "Shut the F up and get out of here already...!". Seems harsh but it isn't. It was probably the best thing she could have heard. I don't know if the story is right but it makes complete sense knowing who the volunteers are and how she was.
Hammad's story: He finally told me what happened. He was cramping badly and his back was seizing as well. Sucks.
Michael's story: I was still there at Lockport when he finished. He got a chair and sat in front of the steam fan. Awesome.
Stephanie finished and we were both happy to see each other. She got a huge PR that day and finished feeling good.
I ended up with a 2 hour 43 minute PR. I felt awesome.
We left Michelle's and Jeff's and were on our way. Jamey drove and again didn't need a relief. I was awake most of the time but here and there, I took a few 20 minute naps here and there. We did stop to get lunch at one point and as usual my inner thermostat was off and the great AC they had made me shiver uncontrollably. I got hot tea AKA sleeping potion and as soon as we got into the car it had it's effect on me. Managed to mumble an apology before crashing. Later told me it was hillarious seeing me apologize before and after every nap but I felt bad about it.
Overall I felt great. I was right about my feet. They were swollen and stayed that way for a few days. My big left toe nail turned completly black. My right toe nail is half black. Fingers came back down within a day. The chafe on the back didn't hurt but did resemble the Beast logo which I thought was funny.
We go back around midnight due to all the stops we took. I thought we would get home much later. Slept and showered and ate and then Elizabeth and I took Jessie to her Circus/Trapeze camp that she started that day. I was there for Jeremy's 17th birthday and that's all that counts. Hopefully, one day he will appreciate what I did to make it back in time and what I was prepared to do. That afternoon, we picked Jessie up and went to the Long Island Adventure Place. We met up with Evelyn and Ekat and also Elizabeth's uncle and aunt and their granddaughter.
While Evelyn, the uncle/aunt and Elizabeth stayed on the ground, the kids and I went tree climbing and zip lining.
We were getting our safety harnesses on and the guy putting it on me asked why I did something. I don't remember what it was but I explained that I had just done a 100 miler and was bruised. His eyes almost came out of their sockets.
We did the yellow course with the girls and it was getting late and Jeremy really wanted to do a blue. He and I have previously done yellows and greens. Unfortunatly they were shutting down the courses and the blue had a long line. He asked if we can try a black diamond. I asked the guy and he asked me what's at the end of the green course and I replied the suicide jump and he said that we can do a black diamond but that there are cutouts and if we needed them then we should take them. I asked him if he just quizzed me to see if I was telling the truth about doing green and he just looked at me with a half smile. OK...
It was a tough course. Much more physical and mental then any other course out there. It was designed to challenge. We were both soaked in sweat. Jeremy's arms were killing him and of course he had intensive 2 hours of tennis the next day. I was hurting too. It was a lot of fun and of course they ended the course with a suicide jump which was MUCH MUCH higher than the Green's. Jeremy took a little but made it. I didn't really have a problem with it when we did the green course but this time I did. Took me a little but I went over.
Jamey's story: He finishe and the only "injury" he has is a black toenail. Awesome. He told me that if I ever come back here again, he would do the 100. Oh oh... He's gotta wait a little for the next 100 but it will give him some more experience...
I kept the streak alive by running slow and short the next few days.
Lastly gotta mention my shoes. My shoes were brand new. Now they looked horrible but that's ok. Comes with the territory. The next week we were doing kicks at Krav Maga and I didn't understand why the "pillow" that we were using was so dirty. I then looked at my shoes and they looked brand new. Turns out that I kicked all the dust and dirt out of them. Haha...