People Are Crazy

Everyone knows about the current NBA lockout and the recent end to the NFL lockout.  It seems as if these are the only topics discussed on ESPN these days.  I started to get tired of seeing the same thing on ESPN.  I mean what happened to stories about athletes who are actually competing and not locked out of their sport?  Then I saw a story on Outside the Lines that trumped the depressing lock out news.  Que Charlie Wittmack the 5 foot 7, 145 lb. lawyer.  The dude is straight crazy.

He pushes himself to the limit.  As a teenager he biked across the country and a few years later climbed Everest.  Both trying tasks were too easy for him.  He decided he wanted to do the "ultimate triathlon."  What did he come up with?  Well he starts off with a 250 mile swim across the English Channel, then a 9,000 mile bike excursion, and wraps up the whole adventure with a 750 mile run/climb (including climbing Mt. Everest again as part of it).  He calls it the World Triathlon.  I call it crazy.

Despite the fact that the man is a total lunatic for taking on a challenge like this, I have to tip my hat to him.  Life wouldn't be nearly as interesting if we didn't have psycho people who pushed the limits like this guy.  When I watched/read everything I could about Mr. Wittmack, I got the same feeling when my mom told us she was going to run a marathon.  She made the goal to run one when she was a little kid.  She was at the Days of 47 parade and watched a man crawl across the finish line.  I remember her training for months before the marathon in Salt Lake City and just a couple weeks before the race, she got sick with bronchitis.  With her running shoes and nasty cough, her and my dad left for Utah.  We knew she was ill and I wondered if she would be able to run.  Who was I kidding?  This is my mom we're talking about.  She came home with a huge, shinny medal with the word "Finisher" engraved on the back of it.

She walked down the stairs backwards for a week, but she accomplished her goal.  I remember thinking it was so cool she did it and I recall telling all my friends about it.  Looking at the 26.2 mile map, I thought it was impossible to do something like that.  Although I respected what she did, I knew there was no way I could ever do something like that.  I HATED running.  I always worked extra hard in practice because if we performed poorly in drills we had to run and I didn't want to have any part in that.  Shortly after my high school basketball season ended, I realized something was missing.  I wasn't competing in anything and it was killing me.  So I thought I would try this whole running business.  It was dreadful at the beginning.  I had to force myself to do it every day.  Then my mom signed Rylee and I up for a little run for breast cancer.  Upon finishing that race I was hooked.  Finishing a race was a high I had never experienced.  I took it slow at first.  I ran the SLC Half marathon in 2010 with my mom and a few of my cousins, aunt, and uncle.

The run was fun, but that summer I decided to try something I thought would present a different kind of challenge.

I did a triathlon back in California.  I started to really enjoy pushing myself (maybe a little too much) and doing the best I could.

Then in October I ran another half and I didn't feel the same sense of accomplishment that I had before.  So my New Years resolution was to run the SLC Marathon.  I did another half in St. George with my Aunt Karen and roommate Sadee in January, and then the training for the full began.

I was a wreck the whole week before my race.  It was finals week and I had to run 26.2 miles.  I was also a little bummed no one from my family was going to be able to be there, but I had Porter so I knew I would be fine.  I went to go pick up my bib at the convention center and when I turned the corner, standing there was my hero who started it all for me--my mom.  She had flown in and surprised me for the race.  On the morning of the race, I started to doubt myself.  "I can't do this, what was I thinking."  But my mom, Porter, and Trey continued to tell me I was fine.  I got to the starting line, a nervous wreck and heard the gun sound.  Butterflies had consumed my whole stomach but I continued to take baby steps and maneuver around other runners.  I caught up to my Uncle Darryl and Aunt Kim who were running the half.  I told them how nervous I was and they told me to stop worrying and wasting time trotting with them and go kick butt.  The nerves were gone after that.  I wanted to finish in under 4 hours and I did it in 3:48.57.  I was pumped.

Three weeks later I ran the Provo half with my roommate Alex and had Porter and his parents at the finish line cheering me on.  Just one month after that, I ran the Utah Valley Marathon with Porter.  We finished together and our families were at the end.  My body was shot after running 3 races in 7 weeks, so a break was mandatory.

Lots of people told my mom she was crazy when she ran her first marathon.  Lots of people told me I was crazy after all of my spring races.  I'm sure lots of people have told Charlie Wittmack he was crazy, but for some reason none of us listened.  Maybe it is because we have some sort of sick addiction to pain.  Or maybe it is because we like doing something most people are too afraid to attempt.  I'm going to say it's the feeling I get when I cross the finish line and I realize I just accomplished a goal that I had worked for.  Everyone should try it sometime, there is nothing quite like it.