Tough Mudder - Chicago Infinity 2023

 Race: Chicago Infinity

Date: August 26th,, 2023

Time:  8:40:12 

Place: 70k 

Pre-Race Conditions:

Fate whispers to the warrior, 'You can not withstand the storm.'
The warrior whispers back, 'I am the storm.'

The night before Chicago Infinity. Prep is done. I’ve studied the course. The only thing left is to go out and see what happens. 

The last 2 nights we’ve had some wicked storms that have woken me up. Last night I got woken up by a severe thunderstorm. The rain was pelting my bedroom windows and I lost power. After logging the power outage with DTE I moved from my room to the couch where it was a little quieter and went to sleep. It’s always fun to get up and get my run in right after those storms. There’s something calming about going out and surveying the impact of nature and its power. 

I think I’m ready for this one tomorrow. Training has been good. I’ve worked in some strength training the last few weeks and even rock climbed for the first time in a while. The goal as always is elite contender for WTM. I looked at the course and see a lot of places they are going to try to slow us down. I think back to last year about the heat and how much I walked with Dave Carta through the course. We walked out entire last 5k and still were way under the course closure. This year I need one more 5k than that. I think it’s doable if I keep moving the whole time. We are going to be in the river a few more times than last year it looks like. That will slow us down. This course is so runnable and I’m all in to push hard to get it. We shall see what happens tomorrow when Sean yells go. I just need to be doing sub 80 minute 15ks to be in the running for elite. 

The storms were a cause for me not to sleep well last night. I also got other good news last night that I was selected for the Last Annual Vol State 500k next July. I was so excited / nervous / worried / scared / every other emotion that you get when you get the opportunity to do something this amazing. Only so many people get to run this a year and get the vacation without a car. 

Race Recap:

Race morning started very calm. I was able to eat and wasn’t nervous. It was a weird calm before the storm. I embraced it pretty well. We got ready and drove 15 minutes to the venue. Our group was one of the first few there. Easily ahead of the time they said they registration was open. There is always a mad rush at Infinities. The registration opens at 7AM and then the race starts at 7:45. Luckily they’ve been getting better and had registration open for us. 

Once we got there and got our bibs, I was walking to the transition area and I saw Eddie and TJ talking with Chris Maltbie, the RD. We chatted for a quick minute and then we started walking to drop our stuff off. This is where they told me about the distance changes. The 15k laps would now be 18k and the 5k laps would now be 7k. This change threw a whole monkey wrench into my plans. I started trying to do the math for the different lap options and was really struggling. I ended up getting a sharpie and writing them out on top of my cooler. Only issue was that I had race brain and was doing my math wrong. I called my coach to chat through the changes and come up with a new plan. While I was on the phone with him he caught my mistake. 4 laps would be 72k. That would get me to my goal of 70k. That calmed me a whole lot. I just had to do 3 of the 18k laps in 6 hours and that would give me 3 hours to complete my last lap. The plan was set. After some selfies and saying hello to people we headed to the start line to get ready to go. 

Sean gave us his normal high energy start line speech. He yelled go and we went out hot to fight for a little bit of position off the line. The day was only going to get hotter as it went on. I had planned on going hard for the first bit and settling in for lap 2 and 3. The Chicago course is really fast and runnable. We cruised into Devil’s Beard and a group of 5 of us went through pretty fast and easy. It was so much easier with a group. From there is was a easy run over to the hurdles and then to walk the plank. I grabbed another runner and we did the 2-man version pretty easy without much delay or issues. 

After that we had a nice run over to the underwater tunnels. It was starting to get hot and that dip in the river was really nice to cool off. This time they had us dunk under a 3 logs. In between the logs they had some barbed wire strung between them. It wasn’t difficult but it did slow us down a little bit. As the day went on the barbed wire was slowly coming off and made it easier and faster. After that nice cool down we ran over to the sandbag carry. They had lighter sandbags. I decided to power hike it rather than run. A few of the guys in front of me ran with their bags. It was going to be a long day and there was no need to expend that energy that early on. There’s no prize in finishing the lap the fastest. 

The next few obstacles went fast. We went through a mud pit swamp, Electric Eel, Mud Mile and the barbed wire crawl. Electric Eel had the annoying limbo bar in the middle. Luckily you could go along the side and avoid it. I made it through my first time without any shocks. Mud Mile was actually pretty easy as well compared to the other couple events I’ve done this year. After all of that we got our first dunk into the river. There’s a small bank that you have to go down. The volunteers were yelling to grab the rope and go backwards. I jumped down, took 2 steps and hit the water and dove in. It was a nice swim. 

Across the river was a little change to the course from the previous years. We veered left instead of right and went over to Pyramid Scheme, the Berlin Wall (not walls), Arctic Enema, Just the Tip, Well Swung and Pitfall. They were all pretty easy to get through. Arctic wasn’t very cold yet. They were still loading in ice when we got there. Just the Tip had very easy rock grips for the middle. Well Swung had the bells well within reach. There was 2 lanes that even had the bell a little lower which made it very doable. 

Next up from there was Pitfall and Ladder to Hell. Followed by a small grip sequence of Hangin’ Tough and Funky Monkey. Then into some water from Cage Crawl, Tipping Point and the Blockness Monster. Pitfall had a nice easy route on the right side with only one dip at the start. The most annoying part of the course was Cage Crawl. They had the mop heads in there again. On the third set of them I got a nice mouth and nose full of water. I pushed and swam the rest of the way out. I popped out coughing and spitting out the water. I thought I was fine. Over into Blockness I was told I was the 8th runner to come through. I made a joke about being the 8th person to pee in the obstacle. There was only one more obstacle, the inverted wall, before getting back to the river to head to the finish line. From the river it was about 2km from the finish. 

Back across the river there were only 4 obstacles left. Widow’s peak was an unknown. It was only a rope traverse which made it really easy. Right after that was a nice easy run up to the last 3 obstacles. The new Everest was there with a couple ropes on it. This event it was a must complete. The ropes and a hand made it easy enough. After that was Mudderhorn. I quickly climbed up using my rock climbing balance move I do on the wall to reach the hand hold. Then coming down crab walk style I heard Clinton yell out to everyone ‘Is that Miko coming down’. I stopped for a qucik second to chat where he wished me a happy birthday and then I headed through EST. 

No penalties for me. Lap 1 time was about 1:45. It was a comfortably fast lap. I knew I would slow down over the next few lap. I tried to bank a little time for my slowdowns and knew as the course got more congested I would get some little rest breaks in there. After Cage Crawl I was a little queasy still. When I got to my drop zone I got some more fuel and swapped out my bottle of tailwind. I grabbed a couple pieces of watermelon and started towards the start line. 

I was still a little nauseous from the cage crawl but was able to get some food down. About 10 feet after the start line I started off at a run. It was starting to get really warm but the humidity was dropping. The first couple miles were hot. I was dripping sweat by the time I got to walk the plank. The volunteer there told me we didn’t need to do that obstacle anymore. That was a very pleasant surprise. I got over to the underwater tunnels and jumped in. That water was really refreshing. I got through it and up the bank. This is where the wheels came loose. Not off. But the struggle started. 50 feet from the river I stepped to the side of the course and puked twice. Those Kion aminos don’t feel great coming back up through your nose. I actually felt better after that and got back to a decent running pace pretty fast. I gave it a while before trying to sip on fitaid or tailwind. When I did my stomach wasn’t having it. I decided to just hit water at the aid stations as much as I could. Through the rest of the lap I puked another 3 or 4 times. I was still able to keep a good pace and complete obstacles. Overall it wasn’t too horrible.

I finished that lap in about an hour 55 minutes. That meant I had about 2 hours and 20 minutes to complete lap 3 to beat the start line closure for the 18k distance. If I did that it would give me 3 hours to do my last 18k. That was easily doable. I checked my math with the timing tent and went to do what little resupply I needed. 

I headed out on lap 3 ready to break myself trying to get it done in time. I was starting to feel better but still wasn’t able to get much nutrition in. Water was easy so I was drinking a cup at every aid station. I knew this was going to hurt me but I was determined to get this done. I was still running pretty comfortably at just slower than an 8 minute mile pace. I kept doing my thing.

Just to add one more headache to my race at mile 7 of lap 3 we ran along a solar panel farm that was fenced off. The course went along the fence through a lot of brush and apparently a nest of very upset wasps. I saw the one flying around and it saw me and came and stung me right above the waistband below my bellybutton. That hurt. All I can remember thinking was that I didn’t need another challenge. That pain took the focus off of everything else. 

I finished another clean lap still moving good. I had about 20 minutes to start my last lap and have the 3 hours to do it. I got back to the table and was able to drink a little bit and eat. I saw Leigh and told her to start a 5 minute timer for me. I wanted to cross the start line with plenty of time. That way there would be no question if the timing showed me close and they wouldn’t count that lap. I loaded up some applesauces and was able to drink some coke. I put a cold bottle of water in my vest and had my bottle of coke. I was ready so I closed my kit and told Leigh I was off. She told me I had 30 seconds left. I wanted to get moving. 

I started walking sipping on my coke and decided to walk until the 6 hour mission clock time and then would start jogging and moving a little quicker. The walk ended right before devils beard. Perfect timing to find someone to go through with. I was running with a couple guys for the next quarter mile until the split. They were doing short laps so I made my turn and went for my long lap. Right after walk the plank I came up on another 2 guys walking. I walked with them for just over half a mile until we hit the underwater tunnels and I split off. The rest of the lap I took it easy alternating between walking and easy running. I stopped at every obstacle to chat with the volunteers and thank them for being out there. I had plenty of time and there was no need to kill myself. It was reminiscent of last year's victory lap with Dave Carta. 

I finished the lap with a final race time of 8 hours, 40 minutes and 12 seconds. I got my elite bib for WTM again. I didn’t get the belt buckle award they had thrown out as an incentive for us at 75k. As much as I wanted the buckle it wasn’t worth the risk of maybe missing elite if things didn’t go right. The event was over and I needed to focus on putting myself back together before Toughest in 2 weeks. 

The Bad:

Everything about the day seemed to be sideways. I had so many things go bad and seemed to overcome them. Although I now really hate fucking wasps. I could have done without that. 

The Good:

I got my elite contender bib for WTM. That was my goal and coke hell or high water I was in to do it. I struggled a lot and pushed myself. Somehow I managed through all the challenges to get it done. 

Moral of the Story:

“If you’re going through hell, keep going” - Winston Churchill. 

It’s so true. When you are going through struggles you’d have 2 options. Stop and stay in hell or get going and get through it. 

Best Moment:

Honestly. Finishing and not ending up in urgent care. I know one runner from Ode ended up in the hospital with Rhabdo. I’m happy my body never got to that point. I was worried about it but didn’t let it stop me. 

And I got my black bib for November. Now I just need to figure out what I want to do there. 

Worst Moment:

Fucking wasp sting. When you’re having a bad run. About 5 hours in. The last thing I wanted was to get stung. 

Funniest Moment:

The funniest moment on this one wasn’t at the race. I don’t think I had a point during this event that I actually laughed. Too focused on getting work done. The best moment had to be the night before the race at the house. TJ got the princess room. It was the most fitting room for him and the more we looked the more perfect it was. We should have taken the ‘I’m like, really pretty’ sign for him. Maybe for his birthday I’ll find one.  

Map:

Results: 

https://toughmudder.com/endurance-results-leaderboard/?eventid=258627

Gear:

• White Altra Superior 5

• Dirty Girl Gaiters

• Smart Wool crew socks

• Virus compression tights

• Gurney Goo

• Trail Toes

• Solomon Adv Skin 5 red vest

Nutrition:

• Kion EAAs

• Applesauce 

• FitAid

• Coke

• Water