Endeavor 2014 Final day

Final day events Battle Drill finish line Stats Battle Drill Battle Drill is the only event that can be specifically trained for. We were told of Kayaking, swimming, buddy carry. We knew about the weighted sled pull. We knew we would have to lift heavy rocks. We knew there was to be a 3 mile wighted run. We trained. We accepted. We were mentally ready. If only our knees and feet would comply... Within a minute of crossing the Final Run finish line, we were directed to the kayak portion. "grab a life jacket. TIme starts when you touch your kayak. GO" I randomly picked the kayak with the most leg room for me, as I remember being cramped last year. My bad. I should have thought of Jack first... That dang kayak kept want to turn right. We leaned left. we pulled harder on the right, we pulled easier on the left, we cheated our blades 2-3 inches more to the right. That kayak just hung to the right I guess. We made it down the length of Alpine in fairly good time, we made the right hand turn and headed back. Into the wind. Evidently there was No Wind only :15 - :20 minutes earlier. dang. We raced back, thinking we might catch a team or two on the return trip. They were too far ahead. We were the third overall fastest kayak on the day though. The others must have gotten a straight kayak. (not that theres anything wrong with that..) or they paddled in the calm winds... We beached the boat and ran up to the scorer. "leave your life jackets on, run along the shore, follow the ribbon, swim around the buoy and carry your buddy up the hill" "GO" We ran. We swam. We made it to the shore and before we stepped out of the water I had Jack on my shoulder. I don't know if Jack weighs more or less than a creosote soaked railroad tie, but he is no lightweight. I made it about 20-30 yards, a third of the way up the bank to the final drop. I had to set him down. He turned and grabbed my wrist and threw me over his shoulder and ran the rest of the way up the hill. He is strong! I think I weigh about the same as said RXR tie...88. We made it to the Rock Lift test. Ten different sized rocks, numbered according to their weight. We had :90 seconds to put the heaviest rock possible on top of the stump. We chose to get 'some' points and threw the #8 rock up with no problem. We dumped it off and went for #10. It was heavy, but it had edges. Edges are good for lifting heavy things because it gives you a solid lifting grip. We tilted, we gripped, we hoisted, we set it down and slid it to center. We made it with seconds to spare.. we were one of only 6 teams to lift the heavy stone. Once we gathered up our gear, our camel backs and shirts, we set off for weighted run. Remember those bricks we carried at Crucible Run. So did we. They were still right there where we dropped them 24 hours earlier. We were given a sack and told grab 6 of the lightest bricks and bring them back down to town. (the Start / Finish line). Hint: there are no light bricks. they all weigh a ton. Or at least 4-5 lbs apiece as Google informed us later... I settled the sack of bricks on my shoulders and headed West. Follow the yellow ribbons. No local knowledge short cuts. Just stay on the same trail we've been up and over a number of times already this weekend. This is where our toughness came in to play. (read toughness as 'old age'). Jacks awesome display of quad strength carrying me and the RXR tie came at a cost of less support for his knees after over 55 miles of travel. He was barely able to hobble down rocks and steep hills with his own weight, never mind balancing a sack of bricks on his shoulders. He made good headway on the flats and uphills, I shared the flats and did most of the downhills. I had found out earlier, 8-10 miles ago, that it hurt my feet less if I ran / jogged rather than walked. We wogged / jalked?? as much as we could. Jack found a staff to help ease him down the steeps. We made it down, now we just needed to make a good show across the finish. Jack ditched the crutch. I grabbed the bricks. We set out at a jog toward the finish. My friend Tim Toth, owner and trainer at Murphys CrossFit, was there, on the road taking some pics. He started yelling and cheering us to make a strong finish. His yelling got even more encouraging as we neared the final approach. Evidently my friend Brett was putting on an even greater show for the finish line. He sprinted past me like I was standing still, still carrying his sack o bricks, Overall it didn't matter because he started his run about :15 minutes after we did, but it hurt a little on the inside to not be able to find any more speed when I needed it. But he did finish in 7th overall. We were 2nd.overall :-) Final stats. 1st Team 21 Pierson and Walker 2nd Team 33 Bear team(me n Jack) 3rd Team 1 Last years winners 4th Team 5 Stanford guys I was later told there was only 2 points separating 1st and 2nd place. :-) that felt good. A point or two more at Night Nav had my feet not failed me, or a place or two more at Final Run if we had trained better. just sayin. watch out next year... Our SPOT3 tracker had us going 59.2 miles. We did not wear itwhile running the 1.5 miles of Obstacle Course, Mountaineering, TRC, or Strength Event. It had us moving 17 hours and at rest 13 hours. We had about 2 hours of sleep during our 3 hours after Night Nav and before Final Run. With gathering 'extra' daytime orienteering points and maximizing night time nav points we figure the top four teams anyway, covered over 60 miles each. According to the Stanford medical team there, testing for kidney function in endurance athletes, I lost about 5 pounds during this event. I / we did much better at carrying a lighter load this year. Our biggest 'extra' weight was food last year. It was again this year, but we only had a few handfuls of trail mix and a few packets of jerky left over. I could still stand to lose a few lbs, both in my pack and on my bod. But as a Boy Scout and Coastie, I'd rather be hurting with extra 'stuff', than lost and hurting without it... Thank you for your support. Congrats to Pierson and Walker for an outstanding 2nd day run and finish. We'll see you again next year.