Wednesday 100811

Strength

Press

3 – 3 – 3

Skill

Sumo deadlift

WOD

7 rounds for time of:

7 pull-ups

7 sumo deadlifts, 225#/160#

7 burpees

Post time to comments!

Sarah G goes overhead!

Here's a post from Tyson:

When I first heard that Dustin was planning on running 200 miles, my immediate thought was, he’s crazy. I know I wasn’t the only one thinking that! I honestly couldn’t understand his desire to undertake such a tremendously difficult feat, but I wanted to help in any way I could, so Jill and I signed up to each run a half marathon with him as pacers. We also wanted to be there for the finish, so we planned a family trip to Steamboat.

We met Megan at the Greenwood’s at 11am on Thursday and headed toward Red Feather to find Dustin, and Jill and I were pretty anxious to get running at this point. About 12 miles up the road we saw Dustin running uphill, and it was at that point that any anxiety I had about running went away because I just wanted to jump out of the car and help him in any way I could. Dustin had completed the first 40+ miles without any pacers, and seeing him plug away at the hill after running since 1am without any help was overwhelmingly inspirational. I jumped out of the car and joined him on the difficult uphill trek to Red Feather and Deadman’s Pass.  At times I almost forgot that Dustin had been running since 1am because he was his usual self, joking and talking as if what he was doing was business as usual.  Prior to running with Dustin the farthest I had run, and cared to run, was 13.1 miles.  I had no intentions of running any further than that on Thursday, however, by the end I had run somewhere around 23 miles.  Jill and I had planned to take him through leg 16, and we would do whatever we could to help.  Dustin pushed me to complete more miles than I had ever done before, even though it was a drop in the bucket compared to what he was doing.   

Once we were over Deadman’s pass, Drew, Luke, Derek, Joe, Joseph, and Mike arrived early to take over as pacers, but Jill had yet to run.  She was not going to leave without helping, so she completed around 18 miles by 11pm on Thursday night.  Most people who had run so far with no sleep would find any excuse possible to stop, and would be completely justified in doing so, but Dustin had goals set in his mind of places he wanted to reach before he rested, and he pushed himself through the mental and physical pain and fatigue to reach those goals before he gave into his urges to rest. Everyone around him would have liked to see him rest more often, eat more often, and even sleep more often than he did, but Dustin had a fire inside of him and a mental toughness that enabled him to do what most people could not.

We left Dustin in the hands of the other pacers at about 11pm, and though we wouldn’t meet up with him again until Saturday morning, our thoughts were completely consumed with Dustin and how he was doing while we were away from him. Jill and I certainly had some aches and pains from the legs we did with Dustin, so it was incomprehensible to us to think about Dustin continuing on through the night and the next two days while we got to rest. What must that take to be able to do that? It seemed difficult to endure the long 3+ hour drive up to Steamboat, so it is crazy to think about what it would be like to run it!

It was hard to sleep on Friday night knowing that Dustin was still out there running, so when Megan let us know that she could use more help at 5:30am on Saturday, I was more than ready to go. When I met up with him outside of Walden, he was not in the same state we left him in on Thursday night.  He was moving a little slower and walking with a hitch in his giddy-up as he pulled into the exchange with Jon.  Jon and Gene had been with Dustin all night with little sleep, and like always they were encouraging and supporting Dustin with their every word.  I wanted to pick Dustin up and carry him to the next exchange, even though I knew he would never let it happen.

The last time Dustin stopped for a break was at the top of Rabbit Ears Pass.  He changed bandages on his feet, popped a handful of blisters, put on fresh clothes, socks and different shoes and never looked back.  I was amazed to watch him come down from the pass with a resolve that wouldn’t be broken.  Mile after mile he would walk by the support vehicle, give a thumb up, and smile to let us know he was okay.  After all the pain and miles, he was still smiling; I love that about Dustin.  He never pretended to be pain free, but he was able to put it aside and keep a positive mind-set.  

Walking to the finish line with Dustin and all of his supporters was such an emotionally charged event, yet I was amazed with how composed Dustin was. I’m sure every step Dustin took was painful, but he didn’t show it. He talked and joked as we approached the finish, he stood for pictures, and he talked with everyone who had come to support him. I was wondering how he was still upright at this point, let alone completely put-together and in good spirits.

I think back to my perspective about Dustin’s choice to run 200 miles prior to seeing him do it, and all I could think was, he’s crazy, and I couldn’t understand why he would do it. After seeing him constantly push through mental and physical pain and fatigue at points when almost any other person in his shoes would quit, I have a greater understanding of why he was doing what he was doing. Besides raising money and awareness for 2 great causes, Dustin was seeing what he was capable of. Merriam-Webster defines potential as: something that can develop and become actual or the capability of development into actuality. People often use the phrase, “He hasn’t reached his potential,” as though it’s a bad thing, but after witnessing Dustin’s race, I have changed the way I will use the word “potential.” It’s often talked about like some set point or ceiling that we can reach, but after seeing Dustin accomplish what seemed to be an impossible feat, I realized that if you’re living your life with drive and purpose, you never will reach your potential. Your potential is a bar that can constantly be raised up out of reach so you have to work to get it, but once you get close, you have to raise it up and set new goals for yourself. The difficult thing about potential is we set our own bar because we have to be able to see ourselves as capable of developing something into actuality. Many people never choose to raise their bar, either because they don’t see themselves as capable or they don’t care to. Dustin had run a 50 mile race, a 100 mile race, and decided he hadn’t reached his potential. I’m not sure what Dustin will decide to challenge himself with next, but I know he’s the type of person who will never reach his potential because he refuses to stop raising the bar for himself. Though I, along with most other people, don’t have the desire to run 200 miles, I realize the importance of setting challenging goals so I will force myself to improve and grow in ways that I didn’t know were possible. I don’t ever want to reach my potential, but I want to live my life trying.

I would like to thank Dustin for allowing us to be part of his amazing journey and inspiring us to reach for great things. Megan also deserves a tremendous amount of credit for supporting her husband’s desire to push himself to new heights, and I’m sure she found that she pushed herself to new heights through the process of supporting Dustin. Both Megan and Dustin had such positive attitudes along the way, and it was infectious! You guys are an inspiration, and we’re so proud of you!