Rohan Goes Rogue

Rohan’s First Mud Run This last weekend we had a HUGE number of people sign up for a race called the Rogue Runner. It was tons of obstacles over ~6.2mi (10K) through the gorgeous mountain desert. But it wasn’t about our giant team that day. It was about Rohan. He had been asking to do a “Tough Mudder” since we ran our first one 15 months ago. Since they can’t electrocute 3 & 4 year olds we had to wait until a race came along with a kid’s mud course. Finally during this year’s Tough Mudder a plane flew overhead advertising the Rogue Runner, and Rohan was signed up as soon as we got home.

Rohan has been training by climbing, running, and doing anything crazy just to say it was “training”. He was so excited. The race was supposed to be 200 yards long, and when we saw the course, it was a joke. This kid could do this in his sleep. But Rohan was still VERY excited. Rohan waited VERY patiently with Mara and the twins while our group of 32 people did the adult race. Rohan sat and played in the mud for close to 3 hours before his race…:)

Turned out they didn't have very many 4-8 year olds sign up so they just grouped them in with the 9-12 year olds. That meant a ½ run with some real obstacles, not the kiddie ones. I was able to run with him and film a lot of it. The kid blew me away. He was fast, excited, and out for blood when challenged. Even as hyped and jacked up as he was, he still waited patiently at the obstacles and was (fairly) courteous to other racers…aside from the fat kid he tackled at the bottom of the water slide. Nothing malicious; just jumped farther than I thought he could and landed falling forward…:)

After the race he got his medal, and was gleaming ear to ear. You could tell this was the highlight of his life to date.  It was great having such a HUGE support team with friends cheering Rohan on, getting tons of pictures and congratulating him at the end.  It meant the world to him.  He capped it off by impressing EVERYONE by doing 2 chin-ups on an ox yolk that we won for largest team (totally random prize).

 Our friend Shannon put together a great compilation of his race. Enjoy!