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Name: Greg Carter Birthday: July 30, 1969 Occupation: Consultant |
The "BABY's NOT SLOWING ME DOWN" Challenge :
Attend 35 live music events (at least 3/5 with my son) Drink 35 different drinks Train for the one-day event
35 km hike with my son on my back 35 mi bike ride pulling my son in a trailer read my son 35 stories lift 35000 lbs (3500 of this will be lifting my son in reps) 350 sit-ups (35 with my son on my chest in a front carrier) Eat 35 jars of baby food |
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OK, so maybe he slowed me down a little... Overall, the challenge was a big success. Pug and I (and many others) had a great time doing a bunch of fun events for just over a month. In the thirty-five days leading up to my Birthday I easily managed to see thirty-five live music events. Pug joined me for more than 3/5 of the events (22 in all). The drinks were also a great part of the challenge as it forced me out of my comfort zone and I discovered a bunch of new drinks that I really like - as well as some I will never drink again! Either way, it was no problem to have thirty-five different drinks over the 35 days. Click on the links above for lists of the music and the drinks.
The one day event was also pretty successful though I had to cut a few things short. Pug and I picked up my faithful Birthday Challenge partner, Brad Roalson, at 2:30 AM on Saturday morning. We got to the trailhead at the end of the Barton Creek Greenbelt at Lost Creek. It was a beautiful morning, but the heavy overgrowth was covered with dew, so we were all soaked after a few miles. Pug slept peacefully in the backpack for most of the hike and awoke just as we reached Town Lake. I was surprized to discover that after only about 15 kilometers, my knee was killing me. I was pretty worried about the upcoming day, but decided to tough it out and see if the pain would fade as I switched to a different exercise.
As we rounded the town lake trail and arrived at the Y, Megan was waiting for us in the parking lot with the baby jogger. We got Pug transfered over to the jogger and I set out around the lake while Brad cooled off. As I had hoped, the run felt better than the hiking - if nothing more than it was a change of pace. My knee was still hurting, though not as badly. After I finished the run, Pug gat a chance to take a break and hang out with Mom while I went into the gym and lifted half of the 35000 lbs. In order to protect my legs for all the rest of the events, I decided to do all the weight with my upper body - arms, chest, back, shoulders. The first 18000 lbs wasn't too tough and I was able to knock it out pretty quickly.
Then it was onto the bike with Brad, Megan, and Pug in the trailer. We set up the course so that all of the uphill was in the first half, which turned out to be pretty important as I was starting to bonk a bit by the end. We took two breaks during the ride. The first was to buy some ice to line the bottom of the trailer to keep Pug cool (it was very hot out that day). The second was at our friend Marty's house. Marty had gone all out and prepared a feast for us to keep up our energy. Thanks Marty!
After the stops, we rode the rest of the way back down to the Town Lake Y. I switched out my shoes and headed back inside to do the rest of the weight lifting. The second half was definitely tougher. I had to work through a few cramps and take longer rests than the earlier session, but I managed to get through it. Then it was back outside where my friend Bart was waiting to join me for the last leg of the hike. The last leg started out strong, but about 10 kilometers from the end, Pug decided he had had enough of this ridiculous event. So when we met Megan at the 360 trailhead, Pug got to go home. We found a big rock that weighed about as much as him and I put it in the backpack to keep up the weight for the rest of the hike. We decided to keep the rock so that when Pug is a teenager and giving me lip, I can always point to it and say, "you can be replaced, you know..."
Once we got to the end, I was in a pretty foul mood. Bart kept trying to cheer me up and distract me by pointing out all kinds of things along the trail, but I was having none of it. I was pretty rough on him. Of course, Bart is used to this since he, Megan, and I have trained for and done a bunch of adventure races together. Sorry Bart, thanks for sticking with me.
As has become tradition, the party was going strong when I arrived home. Being that my mood and stench were both pretty foul, I headed straight for the shower before joining the festivities. It was pretty frustrating watching everyone drink rum punch and good beers and eat the great dishes that everyone had brought, knowing that for the next hour, all I would be consuming was baby food. But I set my mind to it and began poping the tops of the little jars. We decided that the small jars counted as 1 and the large jars counted as 2. This was the one part of the challenge that just plain beat me. It wasn't that the baby food was that bad (except for the pasta dinner and beef in beef gravy pate). It was just much more filling than I expected. I was eating pretty slowly by the end of the hour and only ended up finishing 22 1/2 before the hour was up.
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