Name: Tim Lindl

Birthday: Jan 15

Occupation: Student

The Challenge:

The Golden 23rd

     I have always considered myself a beautiful man with the heart of a lion  and the strength of a bull.  But even my Zeus-like qualities could not  prepare me for the twenty-three hours of hell that lay before me. 

In fact, were it not for the unbending support of Nate Gray, Nick Rhoads, Keli  Moore, Todd Mei, and Jamie Stockwell, I am sure even a man as mighty as I  would have fallen during the tales of strife that follow:

On Saturday, September 28, I woke up at 4:10 am after sleeping for a good  three hours.  It is always a good idea to prepare for a birthday challenge  before the night before the challenge, so that you don't have to stay up  until 12:30 trying to figure out logistics.  This was the first lesson I  learned during my challenge.  The challenge officially began around 4:45 am when I opened my first pony  bottle of Miller Lite while waiting for Keli Moore to get ready to head to  Devil's Lake.  The second, third, and fourth bottles were finished by the  time Nick Rhoads, Keli, and I pulled into the CCC parking lot below the  east bluff (calm down - Nick was driving). 

We climbed the trail in the  gray glow of the dawn with one headlamp for the three of us, and were  greeted at the top of the bluff by the sunrise.  My first climb was the  most beautiful I have ever had at da lake.  I was easing my way up an easy  but exposed Drunken Sailor as the sun rose over the mist-covered valley  below.  It was inspiring.  By the time I had soloed the Sailor six times,  Rhoads had set up the other top ropes.  With Keli belaying, and Todd Mei  adding one more top rope, I finished the twenty-three routes in a little  over two hours.

The second lesson of my challenge greeted me upon arrival: 

Research what  you do so that you have an idea of how long it will take.  After a one-hour  wait with Bruce Lindl, a fifteen-minute instructional video, some waivers,  and five minutes of instruction, our instructor asked who wanted to go  first since it is an hour and a half wait in between jumps.  I volunteered  to go first, thinking I could get off the ground quickly and still have  time to attend to the other chores of the day.  Two and a half hours later  (tandem jumps are low priority and a bunch of chain smoking sport diving  "athletes" bumped us to the back of the line), I stepped into this  rickety-ass plane with no seats and room for four people and a pilot to  smoosh into. 

At 10,994 feet, with my instructor strapped to my back and  his hand on the door of the plane, I was told we are "ready to  skydive."  We then circle around for twenty minutes looking for the hangar  we're supposed to land near.  Instructor guy then informs me that since a  block of clouds has covered our landing site in the last ten minutes, we  can't legally jump. 

Shit, five hours of valuable challenge time and $175  for an hour-long plane ride with jocko and batso that just left me  discouraged and tired.  Although it wasn't the best experience, and I  didn't have to make the key choice of actually stepping out of the plane  and into the void, I still consider this event a success since I did got on  the plane  something I once vowed I would never do.

Nate and I decide that  the 45-minute drive to the Ice Age trail would jeopardize the rest of the  challenge and head back to Madison.

 At 4:10 pm, I started my run along the Lakeshore Path of Lake Mendota (a  five mile circuit that I planned on doing 4.6 times).  I have only run 23  miles once before, and the next closest distance after that was 12 miles,  so the run represented the main physical and mental block of my  challenge.  I just wanted to go until I couldn't go anymore and hoped that  this would put me over 23.  Adding to the challenge was the fact that I  couldn't find any one to run with, but I hoped I would just appreciate the solitude and not miss the encouragement.

 This was the part of the challenge that everybody said that I couldn't  do.  This was the part of the challenge that usually caused faces to smirk  and mouths to say "you're a fucking idiot."  This was the part of the  challenge that people told me I was "just going to screw my legs up." And,  of course, those people were right. 

At mile 12, the cartilage and tendons  in my right knee basically gave out.  I could still run, and I could still  walk, but it hurt like hell to bend my knee.  So, I decided to forget about  23 miles and just see how far I could go.  Heroically (and by heroically I  mean given very little thought), I stumbled three more miles to my house  where I collapsed exhausted, hurting and fully satisfied with my 15-mile  effort. 

Oh, by the way, I did end up running for a few miles with Kristin  Korevec, the 2001 Homecoming Queen for the University of Wisconsin.  She  told me she was training for the Ironman next year, and then I fell in love  with her. 

The run ended at 7:15 pm and morale was at a low.  I hadn't finished two of  the three things I set out to do, and I was tired and  frustrated.

 Valiantly, Q-Doba and Miller Lite came to my rescue.  After a  few more pony bottles and a chicken burrito (black, extra chicken, pico,  corn, sour cream, and lettuce - no thanks I don't need a bag), I was ready  to start stalking women.

 My good friends Jamie Stockwell, Ted "Fatty" Gurman, Amber Samdahl, Ann  Hanson and Jenna Becker collaborated, directed and carted me around Madison  for three hours looking for girls to kiss.  Finally, at 11:00 pm, I planted  one on Ann, the twenty-third woman of the night, and completed that part of  the challenge. 

The best part of this challenge was when I got to kiss  twenty-three girls ON THE LIPS (something I rarely get to do), and spread  hepatitis to the entire UW community.  The third lesson of the birthday  challenge was to include this event in all of my birthday challenges. 

The next two hours were spent finishing the 13 pony bottles of beer I still  had left.  This became surprisingly difficult, but was completed around  1:45 in the morning while making distasteful jokes about all of my  roommates and most any one I had ever met.

Finally, only the rappels awaited me.  I had originally planned on rapping  between midnight and 2am since this is when Madison Police concentrate on  busting folks in the bars and not those hanging from construction  cranes.  But, rain started to fall around 10pm.  I decided to wait out the  rain and go whenever there was a break.  Well, the break never came and  things only got worse.  Around 12:30 am, thunderstorms moved into the area,  and at 1:30 am they still hadn't moved out.  Considering my level of  fatigue, considering I was now plastered from the ponies, and figuring it  was a good idea not to climb a large metal tower in a thunderstorm, I opted  to forget the construction crane rappels.

 I passed out around 2:30 am.

 A very wise man once told me that completion is not the point of the  birthday challenge.  In fact, if you complete your entire challenge, it  probably means you didn't challenge yourself enough.  For me, the whole point of the challenge was to push myself mentally and physically until I  couldn't go anymore.  The point was to take a day out of my life and drink  it to the lees.  For the most part, I did that.

 (Note: the last paragraph is a complete cop-out)

 Thanks for reading all the way to the finish and I hope you are all well,

Tim