The Crucible - My First Endurance Hike
Up until The Crucible, the longest distance I had ever hiked was a relaxing 10 mile hike with my dog at a local park. I thought I was conditioned enough to easily finish The Crucible, Michigan's Largest Organized Endurance hike. A nice 22 mile stroll through Michigan's Waterloo-Pinckney Trail in central Michigan. 22 miles was not coincidental. Juston and Carrie chose 22 miles to signify the daily average of suicides of veterans in the US. I thought the 15 miles a day I walked while landscaping would prepare me for this endurance hike. Sadly, I was mistaken. Aside from meeting some amazing people, I learned many valuable lessons on this hike that would prepare me for challenges like the Goggins 4x4x48 and long hikes in the Rockies, Michigan's UP and the Alleghenies.
I was unaware of The Crucible until my friend and co-worker Drew Foster invited me to tag along since he had a spare ticket on account of him doing the art work for the event. Drew also knows I'm a big fan of hiking and that I was working on achieving my fitness goals. Drew is related by marriage to Juston and Carrie, the couple that runs the event, so Drew and I drove up the night before and stayed the night at Justin and Carrie's homestead.
Upon arriving, we were greeted by an ever enthusiastic strapping young lad, I'll call him “Roadhouse.” Aside from Roadhouse, Juston and Carrie, Carrie's mother and Uncle Dave were there as well. Ron, The Man, The Myth, The Legend would meet us at the homestead in the morning and join us for The Crucible. Clearly, I'm not family, but I sure as hell was treated like I was. Grass fed steak, fresh veggies, home cooked bread and so on is what they fed us. Along with some high quality conversation and a nice cozy sleeping arrangement. Sadly, I slept not a wink.
I was wide awake all night. I never sleep well unless I'm in my bed with my dog. We were all up and on the road to the meeting location before sunrise. Well caffeinated, muscles all warmed up and ready to rock. It was time to tackle this endurance hike. However, on my way there, I started to realize something was off. Something that I'm not familiar with being from NW Ohio, hills! Hills???? We don't have those in flatland Ohio! This could be problematic.
After checking in, drinking more coffee and listening to Justons encouraging speech, we hopped on a bus that would take us to the trail head. Once we arrived at the trailhead, the hike commenced. The first 15 minutes or so were a bit of a cluster fudge of people. Some attempting to get ahead of others and others lagging behind, already struggling with the hills. Amidst the “chaos” I lost two of my hiking partners, Dave and Drew. Drew and Dave went full bore into the woods and eventually, I lost them amongst the hundreds of heads. I had no issue with this since for the time being, I still had Ron with me. That was until I went into what some know as “Goggins Mode.” Meaning, I went full bore, full steam ahead.
I had to get around the folks taking their time. I'm tall and I have long legs, so when I'm taking small steps and strides behind people, I get frustrated. When I get moving, nothing is going to stop me, except maybe a pulled semitendinosus. More on that later. Not long after I was on my own, I arrived at the first checkpoint. Where I was greeted not only by smiling faces, making sure I was well off, I was also greeted by my buddy, Roadhouse. Justin and Carrie did a great job planning this all out. Aside from buses, there were multiple checkpoints with snacks, water and folks willing to aid/help anyone in need.
Everything was going great up until just before the halfway point, 9 maybe 10 miles in. As I said before, I'm from NW Ohio, where we don't have hills. Glaciers carved the area flat. When I say flat, I mean we have little to no hills at all. The Waterloo-Pinckney trail is littered with hills, at times very steep hills. At points the inclines seem to be 90 degrees. That right there is what did me in. I thought my summer gig of landscaping would have me conditioned enough to tackle this hike, I was half right. 15 miles a day carrying a trimmer or leaf blower on a flat surface was no problem for me, however, once you add the hills, stick a fork in me, I'm done.
My hamstrings, knees, and quads are used to flat land, as are my PSOAS, but again, they are not used to hills. While you're using the same muscle groups hiking flatland as you are hiking hills, they're not only used more in a strenuous manner, but the way you use them is different. Running or hiking flat surfaces can be detrimental on account your ankles and hips get tight from the uniform surface you encounter. This limits your range of motion. Switching to inclines and declines puts extra strain on the joints and muscles which can lead to injury. Ask ultra athlete Zach Bitter. While training to break the record for a 100 mile run, Bitter broke his tailbone from running inclines and declines.
There is a series of hills somewhere around the halfway point on the trail. Halfway through this series of hills is when it happened. I pulled my semitendinosus, the lower section of my hamstring. The area just above the back of the knee. I still had about 11 miles to go, and I still had to ascend this series of hills. This was not a good thing for many reasons. Clearly a pulled hamstring is not good. Since one of my legs was weak, I had to compensate with the other leg. This overworked the muscles in my left leg leading to the dreaded rhabdomyolysis. A condition when muscle cells burst and leak their contents into the bloodstream. This can cause an array of problems including weakness, muscle soreness, and dark or brown urine.
I knew this had happened when I went to urinate an hour or so later. I looked down and noticed my urine was dark, dark brown. I knew it wasn't due to dehydration since I had been drinking water and sports drinks all day. Also, I was urinating and sweating, two signs you're hydrated. This was not good, especially since I was not going to give up on this hike, myself or more importantly, the cause in which we were all hiking for. .
Shortly after I pulled my muscle, I ran into Drew and Dave, both were also struggling. I was happy to run into them for multiple reasons. Not only because I was getting bored talking to myself, but I was happy to see I wasn't the only one struggling. Not far from where I ran into Drew and Dave, we stumbled upon the halfway check point. While resting, hydrating, and having a snack, Ron, The Man, The Myth, The Legend found us. Chipper as all can be, Ron told us he had taken a wrong turn and walked an additional 2 miles.
We all left the halfway point together, and stayed together well until after the next checkpoint. Dave and Ron moved on while Drew and I fell behind. Not long after that, Drew fell behind and told me to keep going at my own pace. Not long after Drew and I separated, I felt I needed a break. Not a regular break. I needed a “Chad Break.” So I found a nice spot on the trail, sat down and leaned up against a tree and my ruck sack, broke out my bottle of whiskey, turned on some bluegrass, and enjoyed a nice smoke. We all know how beneficial cigarettes and whiskey are for your health. Especially during an endurance hike.
After my “Chad Break” I honestly felt rejuvenated. Not long after my break, I stumbled upon another checkpoint where Roadhouse and Carries mom aka Grandma were there with candy! This was the final checkpoint and I was 3-4 miles from the finish line. I decided to hang out for a while and wait for Drew. I knew Drew was having a hard time and wanted to make sure everything was ok. He showed up a few minutes later and told me to not worry about him and to keep going, so I did.
About two miles from the finish line, I smelled rain. Shortly after that, as the trail hugged a scenic lake, a nice change of scenery, the sky opened up one me. I was fortunate to only have to hike in the rain for a few minutes. At the “finish line” I was greeted by Carrie and a couple other enthusiastic yet soaked ladies. Carrie told me to walk to the tent just over the yonder where there was not only shelter, but my beloved friend, coffee. Before I poured myself a cup of coffee, I enjoyed a nice long pull of celebratory whiskey as I waited for Drew who was only a few minutes behind me. When Drew showed up, we shared a nice long pull of whiskey. Whiskey to celebrate, but to also numb some of the pain.
I learned a lot from this endurance hike. Not only about my own physical and mental limits, but also how great some people are. Juston and Carrie had spent countless hours planning this, all to raise money for a cause they both believe in. They raised more money than I would like to mention. I will say it was an amount that made me blush when they announced it. Sadly, 2020 and 2021 put a major damper on The Crucible. Fortunately, 2022 is a new year and The Crucible keeps on hammering. This year, they are raising money for Blue Star Service Dogs. The original charity was to raise money and awareness for the 22 American service men and women who commit suicide per day. Fortunately, that number has gone down over the past 3 years. Sadly, the current daily number is still unacceptable.
My favorite part about The Crucible wasn't my personal experiences and growth, but it was seeing everyone together to raise money and awareness. It was also seeing all these people working their butts off to finish. Not to mention all of those that volunteered their time. I can't forget to mention again, Juston and Carrie and the work they continue to do. Not all heroes wear capes, sometimes they wear hiking boots. I will say, I hold a personal grudge, a vendetta against those hills.
