Mud Endeavor V

The first time I ran at this site near Brooksville, FL was in May 2014 for Mud Endeavor 4.  I loved the layout of the course because most of it was visual to spectators, which can't be said for most OCR's.  As usual, I had a great time with great people.  But afterwards, I didn't go home, pig out, and crash like I usually do.  I have some family in the area, so I decided I would go visit them since I don't see them as much as I would like.  I envisioned going to see my cousin and her family, my uncle, and my aunt, but everybody was out of town except my aunt.  So, it was just the two of us.

Even if I could say I had more than one fan, then my Aunt Connie would still be my biggest one.  When my family moved down to Florida, we didn't have anything, but she took us in and let us stay with her.  Any time I saw her, she would have such a huge grin and shower me with compliments.  Every time I posted a picture from a race on Facebook, you could count on her commenting something like, "There's my hero!"  We hung out for a while after the race and we had a great time just talking to each other.  I didn't know that it would be the last time I would ever see her.

So, yesterday, I made the trip back to Brooksville to race Mud Endeavor V.  I told myself I would run for my Aunt.  I wore a black sleeve on my arm with her initials "CW" and promised I would attack the obstacles more aggressively than usual.  I didn't share this with anybody.  It was very personal to me.

When the race started, the wave all took off at a good pace.  We rounded a corner, jumped a couple of small mud hills, and came to a couple of logs we had to go under into some muddy water.  As I dipped my head under water, I got kicked and instinctively said, "ouch" which was not smart when you are under water.  So, I swallowed some nasty water right off the bat, which caused me to gag at times during the race.  But, even though I wanted to stop a couple times and throw up, I couldn't.  I wouldn't.

I finished in the top 15 overall, top 10 male overall, and placed 3rd in my age group.  It was my first time winning an OCR award, and it couldn't have come at a better time.  Aunt Connie, this medal is for you.  I am going to keep striving to get better and really earn the title of your hero!