Mission Possible -- Badwater

Badwater Training Week #1 (of 20)

"Are They Trying to Kill Me?"

At the end of my first week of training, I'm thinking to myself, "are they trying to kill me?" Trust me, it's great to have all these wonderful friends, and it IS wonderful...but??? It started Saturday, with our normal HURT (Hawaiian Ultra Running Team) group training run, which this week, was held at Peacock Flats, now known as Gordon's Secret Weapon. You see, Gordon Lau credited much of his success at the HURT100 this past January to training at Peacock Flats. Anyway, the roughly 20 miles of tough training, up and down the hills, literally kicked my butt. This time, the major culprits pushing me, were "The Punisher" Ernest Tay and "Wild Woman" Cheryl Loomis, with Gil "The Hill" Loomis setting the pace.

On Tuesday afternoon, my good friend and running buddy Bob McAllaster began my strength/core training program. Bob is a corporate training professional, who trains groups of people in the workplace on management and leadership skills and had kindly offered to put a fitness program together for me, similar to the one that had helped him to be successful at the HURT100 race. Volunteering to do this for me, really touched me. What a great guy he is ! After a short, but intense workout, targeting areas that were, in my case, embarrassingly weak, it was obvious that I was going to be very sore for the next several days. Later that evening, my wonderful wife Heather got into the act at the YMCA gym by getting me on the rowing machine for the first time. Just when I was exhausted from finishing my 1 1/2 hour workout, she badgered me into getting on the rowing machine for 10 minutes. Okay, granted, 10 minutes doesn't sound like much, but I was dragging my okole at the end. I slept like a baby.

After my usual Wednesday networking meeting in town, I met my normal Wednesday running partner Mike Muench for a Run to the Sun training run. This was a couple of laps up Tantalus Road to the top of very steep Concrete Hill (about 15 miles, total). Mike is another HURT success story. Since Run to the Sun last March, Mike went on a serious core-strengthening/healthier-eating/ increased-running regime and has not only lost weight and looks great, but has done 2-100 mile races along the way, with plans to do 3-100's-in-30-days at the end of the summer. Well, Mad Man Mike has been kicking my butt for almost a year now and delights in doing it every Wednesday. Sure, it's great training for me, but understand, I really suffer (whine, whine). He powers up the hill and when he gets out of sight, I can visualize him grinning like the cat that ate the canary. The fact that he beats me so bad, keeps me pushing to keep it from being worse. An ego thing, I guess. With this being the first week of Badwater training, after a light lunch I decided to push the envelope and go to Diamondhead, one of my old favorite training grounds. After 5 Diamondhead repeats, I was exhausted. I toweled-off as best I could, put on some cologne and my street clothes and went to an HEA open house.

In a couple of hours, I meet Bob for the 2nd core/strength training session and will be at the YMCA gym later tonight to give Heather another opportunity to punish me. Just kidding. I really appreciate what everyone is doing for me. It's great to have wonderful friends like these. Are they really trying to kill me? Not at all ! They are all just being the best friends a guy could have. See ya next week!

Don

Mission Possible -- Badwater 135

We were given a MISSION and chose to accept it. The MISSION is to bring awareness around the world that a person's age or physical imperfection does not determine what they can accomplish. Older people, people with disabilities, and even people with life-threatening diseases can and do share the same active lifestyle that society has believed to be limited to the young. Don Fallis 65, from Hawaii, a type 2 diabetic, will be competing in the 135 mile Badwater Ultramarathon, in Death Valley, in July when the temperature reaches 120-130 degrees. The runners travel entirely on foot, basically uninterrupted, in order to complete the distance in the allotted 60 hours. Since the race supplies no aid, Don will be joined by 6 tough, experienced athletes, who will make up the Mission Possible Force (MPF) Team. With an average age of 63, they will alternate between pacing Don on foot and crewing from support vans. Pacing and crewing this particular race is quite an accomplishment in itself, for, in addition to the heat and the distance, the race starts at the lowest point in the U.S. at -282 ft. at Badwater, and crosses two mountain ranges, finishing at the portals of Mt. Whitney at 8,360 ft. elevation. The field of 90 invited entrants, from 15 countries, includes some of the top endurance athletes in the world. The goal will be to finish.

One of the main reasons that this particular race was chosen, is that this race also has a mission. They use this event to bring aid and awareness to that very special group of people known as challenged athletes. These are athletes that despite incredible odds continue to show us the real meaning of the triumph of the human spirit. Part of our goal in this endeavor is to help raise money for this worthy cause and if you would like to join us with your support for the Challenged Athlete Foundation, please click on the link provided at the upper left of this page. We invite you to look around this site to learn more about Don's adventure and encourage you to go out and challenge yourself as well. Click here to read a good article about the Badwater race. Aloha !