“What round are you guys on?” “Three” we reply. “Good work! This is the one that really hurts, but you find out what you’re made of.” “Roger that.”
I’m limping. It’s a nimble limp. An awkward one nonetheless. A ten-mile stretch terrors between us and the finish line. And if we want to snag an extra 5K we must be swift enough to greet the time constrainting us. I really do want this 5K. Let’s go!
Nature’s temperature begins to drop. My core’s soon to follow. “Hello there”, hails slight spits of rain. Great thing we’re already wet. And yet, this still scratches a lower level of brisk.
Hurriedly we hobble from obstacle to obstacle, separated by some half mile in between. It isn’t fast. It isn’t pretty. It’s sheer determination. It’s all we have left. Long are the hours it takes to complete this round. Long is exactly how this feels. Long story short, we aren’t going to make it in time.
We did our best. Left it all out on the field. Though I am disappointed, I can rest in the relief I won’t be continuing on this bum leg any longer. Lord knows, I certainly would have. And all those prayers? I’m positive we would not have been able to endure what we have without them. But this isn’t over yet!
Quick as we can up the quartered pipe (Everest). Scale now a forty-foot summit as we ascend and descend ole Mudderhorn. One final grind through Electroshock Therapy. Three times do we reach this mark. Three times, each time, I’m rocked via 10,000 volts. Slammed with violence into black, sopping mud. And then. At last. It is finished.
The goal is 50K. At minimum, 45. Assuming we achieved the latter, I step up to the booth in return of my tracking device. “Mr Brooks?” the attendant asks. “Yes sir.” “54K” he states while staring at his laptop. “No sir. I only went around 3 times.” “True, but these trackers are a lot more accurate than the mile markers.” “Roger that”, I assert, while my mind flails to make sense of it all. I can barely believe it. We freaking did it!
“I never thought I could do something like that. Now I feel like I am capable of so much more.” - Nick Hill (pic left), friend and fellow soldier
54k. Man! Sometimes you already went further than you thought possible! Way to lead the way Ken and Nick!