EFFING PIRATES

It unfortunately occurred to me yesterday that I have spent the last few weeks trotting around as quite the hypocrite.  I drone ON and ON ad-nauseam about how I do races that are SOOOO hard because I don't think about them and I'm so effing stellar at shit that I just SHOW up and run around on mountains without pre-thought.  Man I even annoy myself sometimes...well then there was Worlds Toughest Mudder.  I from the jump said "NO" I said it quite adamantly and quite abrasively refused to even consider it.  To me, it was a dumb idea.  A 24 hour race in the Dirty Jerz in DECEMBER where there is shit like electrified barbed wire strung over ice that you have to low crawl under/across, something called a cerebral something which is basically just " hey get in there it's a pool that is a lovely 40 degrees and we dyed the water purple".  A ten mile loop of all this BS for 24 hours and the winner is whomever does the most...the rest...catch up. 

SO if you know me at ALL, or know me well I guess, you'd know I hate few things.  I hate the abbreviation "lol".  Whenever I read it I hear little japanime girls giggling in my head and it bugs me.  I hate being late and people who are late, I hate driving, I hate when I cook oatmeal in the microwave and it boils over the bowl and I hate....HATE being cold. 

EVERYTHING inside of me is telling me that I do NOT want to do WTM.  It will definitely be cold.  It will DEFINITELY be cold.  It will DEFINITELY be cold.   However,  after a night of vodka, Styrofoam sword fighting and plaid clad Narnian Pirates, with no regard for what I want Josh and Margo The Great tricked me into registering...to the point where I didn't even fill out the form myself I just threw plastic around and allowed things to be charged to my bank account.  It really wasn't until today that I realized that in order to be able to continue to state truthfully that I do dumb things because I at one point I have told myself I couldn't do them...I had to do this event.

 So there ya go...I am registered.  The event is in 3 measly weeks and I am fully and in true Katya form completely and totally unprepared.  I will be amongst friends which is awesome but I'm not at ALL looking forward to it.  I know that most people sign up and they are SO pumped "I'm SO pumped I just want to crush it" yea we all know that ain't my style...I'm a fan of comfort and leisure and flannel sheets and leather man chairs.  I don't like rocks and mud or "the suck". 

SO I shall be in Jersey in a few weeks if anyone needs me to pick anything up.  I have no idea what it's going to be like because I refuse to read anything other than the required gear list and rules.  What's really starting to annoy me is I could have instead bought a pair of Christian Louboutin Miss Clichy pumps (well one of them) inSTEAD of registering for this event...now it's going to be done out of SPITE!!!

FML

You're going Where?

Ever have one of those moments when you realize you're an adult? I have been having a few of those recently.  Take today for example: I was reheating second lunch and I spilled a bowl of green beans and tomatoes on the floor.  For a split second I thought "Meh I'm going to leave that there someone will clean it up.  I really don't feel like dealing with that" then I had a second thought "You live alone Katya, no one is here to clean up after you.  If you leave that there you will get bugs".  So I cleaned it up against my will.  At  that moment I realized...I do things I don't want to... I'm a grown up...I think it's official.

The other thing that had me deciding that I was a grown up was a self realization of the possession of certain character traits that I wasn't positive that I actually had.  Certain very grown up characteristics at that.  They are wherewithal and tenacity.  Simple enough words I suppose but have you ever FELT tenacity? have you ever HAD wherewithal? They are kind of a big deal turns out.

There is a certain level of crazy it takes to decide to ruck from Philadelphia to Washington DC.  I have in the past admittedly been capable of just that type of crazy.  The thing that gets me to sign up and or agree to these events is that I don't ever really think about what they are going to entail.  Much like getting a tattoo or random body parts pierced.  You don't think about the fact that it's going to hurt just that after its done your going to have an awesome permanent tiger on your rib cage!  This is the mentality I went into the USMC ULTRA RUCK ON, hereafter to be referred to as UURO for time and spelling conservation.   Keith approached me with the idea a while ago...long ago enough that I probably didn't really think it would happen as sometimes I am CONVINCED time stops...like on the step mill...time STOPS...anyways so I agreed to it.  I didn't know what I was getting into.

We all met up in Philly this past Sunday.  Half of us were already WASTED face by the time the group was coagulated (yea I decided I could use it in this instance go ahead and try to stop me...it's my blog).  We strolled a few blocks to the commemoration site of Tun Tavern, the birthplace of the Marine Corps, and set off from there on a VERY long walk.  Where we were headed? About 160 miles due north (as the crow flies...not as we ended up walking it) to the Iwo Jima memorial in Washington D.C.  It had never been done and with good reason.  It was not easy.  It was not comfortable.  It was not without hurdles.

We walked.  We walked for 86 hours.  We slept on the side of a highway, in Susquehanna State Park, on the table at a bar, in the sun at Patapsco State park.  We showered no place.  We ate EVERYTHING.  We walked.  We drank beer along the way.  We told stories.  We walked.  We inherited inside jokes "KATYMCCABE", "CHAP UP",  "JUST 1 more click", "NO, we are still in PA",  and more I'm sure that I can't think of right at this moment.  We were delirious.  We were in danger sometimes.  We were egged.  We were supported and rooted for and applauded along the way.  We were encouraged and we were motivated and we walked. 

We put in a lot of work.  We had the thankless support of Phil the whole way.  We didn't thank him enough for what he did and no one will ever truly understand how important a good support crew is unless they have had to completely rely on them.   Keith wasn't thanked enough either.  The logistics of an event like that are daunting and difficult and he pulled it together. 

NO one really knows why we did it except for us and we are all OK with that.  It was crazy but that awesome kind of crazy that people will be impressed by.  That's not what drove anyone.  Everyone had reasons but most were the same to say they had done what no one had done before in commemoration of the birth of an institution that is so very much a part of so many of us...and to in general be bad ass.

It was a good week...my feet will tell you otherwise, my sciatic nerve will agree with my feet.   But, as any of the guys can tell ya ...head phones and Volbeat will keep you moving despite the injuries, and nothing can stop awesome.  Tenacity keeps you moving.  Having the wherewithal to complete something you set out to complete despite every part of your body and mind wanting to stop.  They are good characteristics...just sayin'

Thanks for a good time guys...we you all again next time.

Happy Veterans day.