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| Well, my BC is over and I am happy to say
that I was successful. It was a perfect challenge, and took me to just before midnight to
complete. I am still pretty sore today, two days later, but I feel pretty damn good.
I’m not sure when I am going to run again, but I will certainly be climbing and
cycling later this week. First I would like to say that I believe that my Birthday Challenge was successful in large part to the amazing support I got from most of my friends. This was really inspiring, and made it a lot more fun too. A huge thanks to everyone. Specifically: |
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Steve Edwards: Not only did he inspire me to ever attempt a Birthday Challenge, he completed every leg of my BC, except the smoking and drinking, where he certainly did over half the challenge.
Bob Banks: Bob attempted his first BC earlier this year and helped me decide to do one. He put in a great effort and did all of the running. He had planned to skip the cycling and do all of the Bouldering, but we sandbagged him at the boulders by having him take the dog through the woods to the first boulders, while we raced up the road to them. Due to my poor directions he ended up going for a four-mile hike before he found us after we had already completed 24 problems. Sorry Bob. Bob also completed well over half of the drinking and smoking part of the challenge.
Dave Guttman: Dave was a great support driver and also added his energy to part of the second run and part of the cycling leg. He was also instrumental in bringing important things to the support crew, like donuts and fritters. He also encouraged us all to drink by starting in on the beer nice and early.
Jen Webb: Support driver extraordinaire and empty beer can thrower numero uno. She also started drinking beer damn early in the day and had a good share of it, too. Don’t want to forget that she also convinced a Redlands Police Officer to drive past us very slowly while we were running and then cruise past us again before letting us know that "Jen says we should pick up the pace." Fortunately she didn’t have as much luck with the cyclist who she tried to enlist in the beer can throwing department.
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Jen Hirsch: Jen ran two of the running legs (7 miles apiece), and contributed to the support team for the rest of the evening. A much bigger contribution was the fantastic Birthday Challenge T-shirts that she had made up for the BC. These were printed on the front and back and listed the events that made up the BC. On the back it ended with the phrase "I rule," which was yelled many times throughout the day.
John Fieldhouse: John ran four miles of the last run and all the cycling and then joined the rest of the support crew for the remainder of the event.
Mike and Matthias (the Swiss boys): They just learned about the BC while in Santa Barbara with Steve and Bob. Undoubtedly, they didn’t understand Birthday Challenges initially. Maybe they still don’t. They were instrumental in dropping us off for the first leg of the run at Midnight. They kept saying that they would see us in an hour. I don’t think they understood that we were going to hit a bar enroute and enjoy a beer. They were also highly energetic during the bouldering and at the end of the evening when the support crew for the drinking diminished in size considerably.
Tim and Cyla O’Brien: Tim ran the second leg of the run, while Cyla gave us midroute support. Both were very encouraging, not to mention the fact the Cyla had Shakira playing in her car as we got ready to start the third run.
Katherine and Brian: These are Jen and John’s neighbors who we just met the night before. They are both avid cyclists and agreed to do the cycling leg with us. Initially this excited us because we thought it would be more fun. Later, we found out that Katherine was really our Ace-in-the-Hole. She was a monster on the bike and did most of the pulling on the cycling legs without looking like it required much effort. Kudos to the both of them for joining in on such short notice.
Janiec Gutierrez: Janiec missed most of the BC, but came in strong at the end. Janiec is not a drinker, nor a smoker, but she decided to go all out and joined in for both the drinking and smoking at the end of the day. No, she didn’t make it to the magic number of 34 combined, but she offered great support and energy.
Todd Daniels: Todd showed up during the BC to offer encouragement and climb many of the problems. Still a greater effort was the two previous times that he had gone up to Snow Valley with me to map out the 68 boulder problems, and then to reclimb them again on a later weekend. He also helped Steve with lots of beta and directions during his bouldering.
Josh Fairchilds: Josh showed up to offer encouragement on the boulders and with the drinking.
Pat Schlosser: Another boulderer, drinker and smoker. Always had a good word to add and a hearty laugh combined with a good spot.
Again, A great big thanks to everyone who lent a hand. I could not have done it without the great support I received.
Maybe in a couple of days I will provide you with the actual account of the BC. Maybe I won’t.
Right now, I think I need a drink.
