Background

Coming back to Georgia after such a disappointing performance in 2018, made me a bit nervous.  This was my 5th Worlds Toughest Mudder; and any nerves at this point shouldn't exist.  However, last year getting borderline hypothermia around the middle of the night and tapping out brought 2019 butterflies.  Of course the odds of it being equally cold as 2018 were very slim; the weather prior to Worlds Toughest Mudder 2019 was going to be below average again.  With lows projected to be in the Mid 30s; it was going to be warmer than last year; but not by much.

The Crew and Personal Goals

This year, my goals were a bit more basic; and a bit less 'selfish'.  First off,  I didn't want a repeat of 2018.  If I didn't freeze; i was confident could get to 50 miles.  A simple approach to be mindful throughout the event and to focus on the present moment.  Our location in the pits this year was amazing; we had 3 pit spaces shared by 9 runners and 2 pit crew.  None of us were there to camp (rookie mistake), we were there to run!   One of our pit crew, Melissa Dugan; a WTM veteran, OCR badass motivator and overall super helpful individual.  The second pit person; was my Dad.  New to the sport; it was special, because this was the first WTM he has come to; and it was also the first Ultra distance race of mine he has attended.  Having run 20+ ultra-marathon distance races; it was super cool he decided to come out.  In addition to that, my wife Michelle was running her first WTM and having that extra support in the pit helped put her mind at ease (and mine too).  I promised her if i wasn't chasing a 75 mile bib (very unlikely) that i would run my last lap with her so we could finish together.  

Photo by Dave Haupert - Pre-Race Briefing

  The Start

The start of this race is unlike anything else; the energy is off the charts.  Sean Corvelle; probably one of the best motivational speakers on the planet always finds a way to finesse words into meaning to give fuel to fire a 24 hour ultra endurance obstacle event.  Its something that you can't describe; but must be present to witness the energy.  With the sound of the horn and an excessive amount of Orange Smoke; we were off on a beautiful sunny 60 degree November Day.

The OCR Report - Photo by Jack Goras - Race Start

The Course

I really  enjoyed this course layout.  With about 623' in elevation gain per 5 mile lap; it was hilly; but not mountainous.  The terrain was red Georgia clay throughout a mix of woods and rolling fields.  The mud is greasy, sticky and relentless.  I'm pretty sure i lost my shoe on 5 separate occasions throughout the race in the mud; and getting it back on is no easy task.  My Super Nice club hat will never wash fully clean.  The wet course was a lot like running on greased Tupperware.  This mud alone took two people out of our group early due to injury (they assured me already they will be back for vengeance).  The 5 mile loop consisted of a big climb just after the start; and another right before the finish which made for coming into the pit warm and warming up after leaving the pit rather easy.  The 2nd half of the course was a large amount of water obstacles (around 9 of the 22 obstacles had water...cold water) and most were on the 2nd half of the 5 mile loop.  That made for a warmer first half, and a very cold second half if not dressed properly.  This wet second half of the course caused a lot of people to struggle with the dropping temps at night that got down to around 37 deg F.  The obstacles were fun, not too overly intimidating to me; an if penalties were taken; they were manageable (running, carrying stuff, jump rope, dragging stuff, writing sentences, mini mudder course, etc.)

The OCR Report- Photo by Jack Goras

Photos by OCR Report (Jack Goras) - Devil's Taint - This obstacle sucked.  It was like you were a kidney stone trying to be passed.

Photos by OCR Report (Jack Goras) - Obstacle Oiled Pyramid Scheme

My Race

What can i say, my race went well.  10 laps-50 miles completed with around 200+ obstacles; and also many penalties.  I managed my body temp; adding a shorty wet suit after 2 laps; then frog skins plus a full wet suit after 4 laps.  As the night continued on, lap by lap i picked away at the course; trying to remember to eat enough. (I finally rang the bell on king of swingers! It only took 5 years of TMs!)  Rachel, Melissa, and my Dad all would help me each time i came in; giving me a re-filled bottle of water with 200 calories of tailwind; and would also shove some food in my face to make sure i was taking in enough calories.   For the most part; i would describe my race as 'consistent'  nothing too extreme that made me want to stop and quit.  I felt good, strong, was having a blast; and really enjoyed the course.  With a consistent short pit approach (longest being 10-15 minutes when i knew i was a bit behind on calories) i had racked up 9 laps (45 official miles) by 7AM as the sun was starting to rise.  Throughout the night the course looked eerie as fog rolled in and the harvest moon in the distance above the trees gave off a spooky walking dead style vibe.   Also, once thing i really liked is the course was consistently littered with Pit crew cheering people on.  I think this was because of the mid lap quick pit; causing people to get out of the pits an move around a bit more.  It was great for keeping the spirits up in the middle of the night.

Photo by Shayne Bo - Runners coming up the hill towards Arctic Enema

 The Last Lap

 As i came into the pits after finishing lap 9 around 7AM (running for 19 hours), Michelle was sitting on a camp chair; wrapped up in thermal blankets, shivering and looking a bit deflated.  If you finish after 8AM at Worlds Toughest Mudder you are considered an official finisher; so one more lap was required by both of us.  Her upper body strength was gone, so some of the 'must complete' obstacles were becoming very challenging.  Together we went back out (Me on lap 10, her on lap 7) for our final lap together.  Slowly we picked away the course enjoying ourselves; being mindful of what we had accomplished over night, and the personal thought knowing that with each passing obstacle we were closer to being done.  When everything hurts, every muscle hurts, every step hurts; that constant forward progress takes more and more mental grit and determination; this is also the most rewarding part of running an ultra OCR.  As we rounded the last corner we used our 'bypass obstacle bands' to skip the final obstacle as we crossed the finish line in hand together.  

It felt amazing to see her run further and longer than she has ever ran before, as well as personally redeeming myself from my race performance last year.  If i could describe my race weekend in 1 word, id use 'happy' as it was the state of mind I managed to keep thorough the ups and downs all 24 hours.  Everyone in our pit; racers and crew included made it an amazing event and Ive heard from multiple people it was the 'most fun' they have had at a WTM.

Photo by Jack Goras -  The Finish Line - after a knee issue took her out for several hours; she got back out on course

The only other very difficult obstacle; was the 1 mile walk to the car with all of our gear after the race.