The Beast Report: November 2018

Issue 12
November 2018

By Kim Collings

1. Beast Profiles

2. Nutrition

3. Joe’s Corner

4. Looking Ahead

1. Beast Profiles

Articles and interviews dedicated to reporting on the amazing people and stories of Your Beast Team!

Beast Ambassador, Fearless BeastWod Leader, All Around Great Guy………Meet Nic Thompson!

What was your first OCR race and what made you decide to try it?

My first OCR was Survivor Mud Run in 2015. I was in a bit of a lull looking for something to fill a void in my life. I had spent years playing in an adult kickball league, winning 5 out of 7 championships, and our team had disbanded. Also, had quit playing darts after repeatedly winning our league and going to state. It was all a lot of fun, but I was always left not feeling quite fulfilled. Then, I came across a Facebook add for Survivor Mud Run, and it piqued my interest. Conned my buddy into bringing his wife and daughter to join me and Yosh. I had the absolute best time I had had in years and I ended up so covered in mud that when it dried I looked like a human statue. From there it became what’s next? What else is there? And, I was off and running to any and all events I could find.

How has OCR helped you overcome challenges?

How OCRs help me overcome challenges would be in two ways. The first being overcoming my natural shyness/standoffishness, and BeastsOCR has had a lot to do with that. I’m a really quiet and introverted person when I’m around people I don’t know, and I’ve learned that in this world of OCRs that’s just not how things work. I’ve had plenty of complaints over the years from friends and ex’s because they’ve talked me up to other people and when I get around them I’m nothing like the person they’ve heard about. I had one friend tell me that when they first met me they thought I was really stuck up. They all were dumbfounded that in a competitive environment like our kickball team or darts, etc. I’m the loudest person out there. The biggest trash talker, and cracking the most jokes. Then, stick me in a room of strangers and I’d be completely different person. The OCR world hasn’t allowed me to be so reserved. It’s required so many little interactions with complete strangers that it just becomes natural to befriend practically everyone. I’ve gone from maintaining friendships with probably under 10 people to hundreds, mainly Beasts. The second way comes from the endurance portion of the OCR world. It revolves around focusing on breaking things down and focusing on what needs to be taken care of NOW. It works for everything in life. If you only look at the overall it can be too overwhelming to accomplish your goal. But, take that same obstacle you’re trying to overcome and break it down and focusing on what immediately needs to happen, and so on, and so on. Next thing you know you’ve done it and it felt like nothing. Take my mph time. If you asked me at the beginning of the year if I could run a sub 10 min mile over distance, I’d have laughed you out of the room. I broke things down from athletic gear, to diet, to exercise, what have you. Come Ragnar Relay, I finished a sub 10 min, and came in at 9:46 mph over 20 miles. For me personally, that’s impressive. Especially when 10 months before I was running a 13:42 mph.

What do you love most about the OCR Community?

What I love most about the community is the community itself. I have yet to meet someone in the OCR community that I haven’t absolutely loved. That might be completely different if I had met them originally in the normal day to day world, but there’s something about this OCR life that naturally draws people together. I’ve picked up a strangers dog in Seattle and drove it all the way to Vegas. I’ve had countless strangers, meaning I had never met them in person prior, that I’ve housed for local events. I had a man, who I’d only met a year prior, be the gentleman to marry me and my bride. No one has yet to betray any trust or pick fights, at least with me and mine. I also have people that I only know at OCR events that seek me out. Seriously, what’s not to love?!

Who inspires you?

Who inspires me? That’s a never ending list. There’s so many stories and people just in the OCR community alone to provide inspiration for countless lifetimes. Jessica Martin, Kacy McCallister, Virginia Nickelson, Janell Endo, James Lapine, Michael Sanchez, and Emily Ford are just a short list of names that immediately come to mind. If you don’t know any of their stories, please seek them out. I can’t see after seeing their accomplishments, what they’ve overcome, and their trials and tribulations how you could possibly walk away uninspired. Hope Caswell is another example. 16, deathly afraid of heights, frozen, coated in tears, and needing multiple people to get her over her first vertical net. A year later finishing her first Spartan Trifecta hitting the same vertical, A-frame, etc solo. Still holds the same fears, but no longer paralyzed by them.

What is your favorite OCR memory?

Favorite OCR hands down and I don’t see it ever being topped, my wedding. Couldn’t have asked for a better day, and it went off so much better than we could possibly have hoped for. We’re still humbled with how much our fellow Beasts stepped up and did so many amazing things for us from marrying, us to baking our cake, to taking our photos, etc… Most of our wedding party were doing their very first OCR. Friends had come all the way from Texas to be a part of it, and everyone had an amazing time.

Tell us something about yourself that few people know, whether OCR related or not.

Something that people don’t know about me. I have no idea at all what I’m doing. Most of my life goes as such, but I’ve never let that from hindering my success. I’ve been a machinist for over 20 years, and during that time I demanded jobs and positions that I had no business whatsoever even thinking of asking. That belief in myself and belief in my ability to rise to the occasion and/or learn on the fly helped me leap frog better qualified people. I did the same back in college. I went to school for video and audio. Having no clue what I was doing I wormed my way into shooting multi-camera concerts at venues all over Seattle, from the Moore, Paramount Theatre, Showbox, the Undergound, and even Benaroya Hall. Moved on to broadcasting concerts live via the internet for Big R Radio from 2002-2005, and this is when no one anywhere was doing this. I had minimal knowledge at best on being online, let alone conquering that feat. That propelled me into working with Jerry Cantrell and Aaron Lewis to film the Lane Staily tribute concert, shooting music videos for Solidified Records, and evening creating my tv show “Washington’s Music Dungeon”. All that done with complete ignorance, and yet complete faith in myself to not fall flat on my face. I’m doing the same now with BeastsOCR. I really have no idea what I’m doing, but that hasn’t stopped me from running BeastWODs, becoming a first year Ambeastador, and creating my first, what I’m hoping, Beast Endurance event.

What are your goals for 2018?

My 2018 goals are minimum. 2017 was filled with goals like the 1000 mile challenge, 52 hike challenge, etc. 2018 has been more lifestyle changes. Major cut back on alcohol intake, and energy drinks. Making an attempt at being friendlier and more encouraging to others. Helping my daughter to accomplish her goals like earning her first trifecta, and getting a job working for Spartan upon graduating.

2. Beast Nutrition

Avocado Fun Facts

1) First things first, avocados are a fruit, not a vegetable. They belong to the Genus Persea in the Lauraceae family.

2) Avocados contain four grams of protein, making them the fruit with the highest protein content!

3) Avocado trees do not self-pollinate; they need another avocado tree close by in order to grow. Avocados are an Aztec symbol of love and fertility, and they also grow in pairs on trees.

4) Don’t just think of avocados as a savory addition to sandwiches and salads, Brazilians actually add avocados to ice cream.

5) You can tell that an avocado is ripe when they feel heavy for their size and are dark in color. If you want to quicken the ripening process, simply put one in brown paper bag for 2-4 days. You can speed this process up even more by putting adding a banana to the bag.

6) Avocados mature on the tree, but only ripen once they are taken off the tree.

7) Hass is the most popular variety of avocado grown worldwide. The Hass tree was discovered in the backyard of a mailman named Rudolph Hass in Californina in the 1930’s and Hass patented his tree in 1935.

8) On average, 53.5 million pounds of guacamole are eaten every Super Bowl Sunday, enough to cover a football field more than 20 feet thick.

9) Speaking of guacamole, the origin of the word comes from Spanish explorers could not pronounce the Aztec word for avocado, “ahuacatl,” so they called the avocado “aguacate.”

10) Avocados have the highest fiber content of any fruit and contain vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, and folate.

Recipe:

Avocado Toast

I love avocado toast for a quick healthy breakfast! Add a little fruit to round it out and you’re in business:

1 piece (whole grain) bread
1 – 2 eggs
1/4 avocado

Toast bread. Scramble egg or cook it sunny side up (I like to break the yolk so it cooks through and isn’t messy) and slice avocado. Layer avocado and egg on bread and enjoy!

Photo Credit: Nic Thompson, Kim Collings

Fun Food Facts about Avocados

3. Joe’s Corner

Check back next month for Joe’s Corner