Note from Kale/Updated Letters!

I've been thinking about this race a lot. Maybe obsessing more than I should about a 20-30 person event.
I ask myself why, and am quickly reminded: there are more elements to this than the periodic table:
Most of the Dirties are my friends, and each person brings a different set of talents to this race, yet none of these talents alone can get you through.

As the event draws near, and the TMB's and I start to chat about how to challenge each and every one of the Dirties, I wonder who will finish, and then let my mind wander ahead even more: who might win?
Will it be a runner with endurance?
Will it be a fitness maniac with strength and bulk?
My experience in these types of events tells me that it will be the person you least expect... one who may not be the fittest, just the right mental goods.

The 2nd running of the AD30 has some serious contenders.
We've got triathletes, ultra runners, outdoors people, fast runners, cyclists, and overall fitness junkies. I've never seen such a wide variety, rag-tag group of personalities in one event.
This is going to be a wild ride.
With the high number of entrants, we're going to need a few more volunteers, so if you could, maybe recruit a family member to come out for a morning of fun on September 24.
Without further ado....

THE LETTERS:
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I read about this race last year when I was in Skagway, AK, but couldn't do it as I was there. It intrigued me like any other race like this kind would. Oftentimes, I receive shocked looks and comments like, "You're a glutton for punishment!" (said to me this winter while I was jumping over snow banks during my hill workout on State St.) in regards to my physical activities. Well, since I was in AK, I had to do something crazy. I was registered for my first marathon, but wasn't ready for it, so two weekends before, I decided to cram some miles in by running the Chilkoot Trail overnight. 33 miles, rugged terrain (equally rugged as Richard Simmons' unruggedness), 45 degree angle portion made out of boulders, pitch black, bear haven, 13 hours straight (I know, slow for 33 - but a bit different at night), a new pack that rubbed my back raw, thick fog and no map, and a ziplock bag full of spaghetti and sausage. It was intense, and people said I was crazy. It was my longest trek.

So, I look at the Dirty 30 and wonder...ok Sarah, do you really want to say this?...what's the big deal? I can't tell you how many times I've run through mud (forced and intentionally), how I've thought about joining the Marines just so I can compete in the obstacle courses, how I've eaten a pickled pig's foot, carried a massive wooden cross and huge truck tires, eaten chili out of a diaper, been so covered in mud I thought I was born in Africa, log rolled repeatedly down a hill to the point of brain damage...all with about 2 hours of sleep, or how I intentionally go on adventures that turn out to be misadventures...giving me a nickname of Ms. Adventure.

So again, what's the big deal? This is my kind of race. You give, I'll take.
-The Gahaganator
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I would love the chance to test my limits physically and mentally in the Aroostook Dirty 30. I am a long distance runner and have raced in many races including marathons. My motivation is to not only finish the Dirty 30 but beat Susan Plissey....just sayin'.
Michelle Roy

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i used to be a division 1 track athlete, but got injured. Doc said i should try golfing, i laughed. i do run, at least 10miles a week, not together though. im into crossfit training which would be your type of 'dirty' training and i love it! i moved here last May from Liberty University; where i was a strength and conditioning coach for 9 teams. i love to kick ass, not usually the one getting my ass kicked! im finally healthy enough to start torturing my body again! my husband looked at the site and decided he's a wimp, oh well..just something else ill be better at than him!
Anna
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'm officially crazy for signing up for this one but it's freaken yes freaken awesome. I'm just signing up for my first 5k in Feb which hilarious given the intensity of the Dirty 30. But, I have the drive and ambition to give this a 110%!!!! When I put my mind to something it gets accomplished.
The cut off scares me to the bone! Especially after reading people don't finish. However, it is time to get what I want and push limits for me and only me'!!!!! But, it will great to prove all the Nay Sayers wrong cuz I'm invincible and unstoppable!!!!

I will keep this short n sweet! Let me get down and dirty this September!!!! Heck Ya!!

Yours truly,
Ellisha
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this letter is for the dirty 30, i want to sign up for it. some past experience- tons of road biking, 14 mile xc trail race, 5 mile runs here and there, cpt boot camp, i think im ready for the challenge
-andrew
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Kale, as you probably already know anything that is "Dirty" or called "TITT" I must be a part of. So if it means potential alien anal probing and bloody mud covered freezing bodies clinging and clutching there way through stankholes and root infested trails just to enjoy a cold beer at the finish, Please sign me up... if there is still room available. I may not be the quickest nor the slickest, but participating in a race where I have to repeat, "I Think I Can Lick This" is right where I want to be.
Dan B
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I will be turning 30 this year, so I would like to run The Dirty 30. I
have done hundreds of races, but never a 30 miler. I have never dropped
out of a race. I relish the challenge. Thank you for your consideration.
Susan Plissey
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In person, Jon Kelley bows down on one knee, and "proposes" to join the Aroostook Dirty 30. This, though unorthodox, qualifies him as a Dirty with the rest. May the Torture Maids on Bicycles have mercy on his body....not.
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Ok Kale here it is. I am scared shitless of entering this contest but just crazy enough to push my fears aside and say PLEEEEAAAASSSEE accept me for the Aroostook Dirty 30!!!! Thank you for your time and consideration!! Now please let me get dirty!! Jess.
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After a crazy internal debate...and much self doubt, I have decided to suck it
up and write a letter for this "Dirty 30" you speak of. When I read about your
travels, your adventures, your life, I am so impressed and amazed. You are a
machine!! For that reason, I really doubted that I should sign up to do
something that you designed. But today was the day that mindset changed!! I
could tell you that I had a life changing event, or that I suddenly started
truly believing in myself. Truth be told...lack of sleep and too much Starbucks
French Roast have probably lead me to this decision.
I cannot wait! I love a challenge!! Thanks for creating one!
be well
sarah ellsworth
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to anyone who might care

I am a very dirty boy and sometimes I like it rough! I look forward to getting spanked at the Aroostook Dirty 30!

Dirty deeds done dirt cheap!

best wishes

Gary Allen
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Dear Kale "Tent Man" Poland,

I, Kathryn A. Foster (better known as Kati) desire to participate in your extreme events: Aroostook Dirty 30 and Trouble in Turner. Since I have been in Maine I have heard many endearing stories of the previous Dirty 30, and I too want to frolic through nature and attempt absurd obstacles.

Thank you and have a nice day.
-Kati
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Dude, I was waiting until this race was filled FIRST, and then to beg to NOT be selected!! Who'd want to put up with 30 miles of mud, dirt, sweat, streams, punishment, etc, etc, etc. (Lol...) Ya'll thinking I'm a MAINE-iac or something... I AM... but not a masochistic!!! What would possess ANYONE to try this ridiculous activity ANYHOW?? I think ya'll are NUTS... PLEASE DON'T select me!! :D
as I have too many marathons and ultras to run and NOT ENOUGH TIME!!! I might get my shoes "dirty" or sumtin
-Dave
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Why the heck would I want to put myself through that again? I barely made it out alive the first time. Nearly every muscle in my body was shaking and I could hardly stand up by the end of it. I reeked of the swamp and river I had to wade through, not to mention the sweat and blood that soaked my body. I pressed on through burdock patches, rose bushes, found a tangle of freakish looking prickly vines, at times not knowing if my next step was going to be on solid ground, in a foot of muck, or into a hornets nest. We kept being lead by the starting point and pushed past it as if you were mocking us, letting us think we might - just might - be close to the end when you would laugh like insane sadists and tell us we ain't done yet! My high morale only lasted the first ~24 miles. I wanted to stop and cry so many times, call for a ride, or just find a hiding place to rest my crumbling body.

Why would anyone want to be put through this once, let alone a second time. A second time where it's undoubtedly going to be much more difficult, based on how disappointed Kale was that anyone finished this year.

I guess I've learned something new about myself this year, since I'm bent over waiting to take it again.

Next year's will be twice the race this event was. Like the evil mistress said: "There's no teamwork in the Aroostook Dirty Thirty"! Game on.

Kyle
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Once upon a time there was a woman named Amy who had a fire inside her. She skied, ran, hiked, and biked with wild abandon. Then she got comfortable, got married, and had two kids. Now she watches Food Network, knits, and plays Bejeweled Blitz. But, when she saw the pain, agony, and spirit of this year's AD30 victims, that fire was relit. She wants IN to next year's mayhem, and the opportunity to have that pain and agony inflicted on her.
Amy

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I am SO there! I wouldn't miss it for the world. By next september I should be over the dengue fever I got from crawling through the swamps and that funny smell from going through the river at the sewage plant should be gone. Hopefully the canadians who were sent to spy on us in the raft on the riverbank will have given up by then also. And maybe the hurricane remnants could come a week earlier so we could have that too.
I have a friend in west virginia almost as sadistic as you and she said she would come up and run the ab stations for you because she likes to see people suffer - you, her and Kate should get along fine. At least Mark seems to have some human kindness left in his soul. Not sure if you and Kate have a soul.....
I will be there with my railroad spike and ready to make you work just as hard.
Barb

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When we were running next to the river, we saw a dead raccoon, and I wondered, "Does this foreshadow things to come?" By the eighth mile, I found that the answer was yes. By the ninth, I had to call quits, but next year my goal is half-way. Next time I'll train a bit more... I had a weeks notice. I am glad I will have a chance to try again, keep doing this year after year, and maybe, I too will get... a railroad nail. Oh, and Kale, I take it back, it was NOT easy. And a question, why did we need extra underwear? Keegan

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So Kale....what's this "blog" dealie all about? Is it a particularly wet section of some blowdowns in the woods for next year's AD30 or something? I could handle that...isn't there gonna be anything tough?? You'd better count me in...somebody has to lead all the youngsters around so they don't get discouraged or hurt!

Brent
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I had burdocks in my butt crack, my drenched cotton socks were chafing my ankles and the mud, rain, and river-trudging only added to a level of misery for which I was totally unprepared. I felt a sense of deflation I don’t ever remember having after lacing up my sneakers and “exercising.” I felt fear. Fear of the unknown and that’s usually an emotion I try to avoid by controlling which situations I put myself into. I’m not going to lie to you; I dreaded doing this. The only reason I didn’t shut my alarm clock off and stay in bed that Saturday morning is because I respect the limits to which you push your own body and I not only see you as a role model for my fitness journey, but I see myself as a role model for others on their journeys. If I can’t dance outside my own comfort zone when asked, how can I ask others to do the same?

I can’t promise I’ll finish 30 miles at the next Dirty 30 and I can’t even promise I’ll be better prepared for the course (knowing that a barmy, unpredictable chap like you is planning it again), I can only say I’d like to attempt it again. Chances are, there are 20 other people in better shape than me, who have ten times the endurance I do and actually enjoy that level of twisted, soggy, prickly pain. If you’d like to give others a chance to get pissed at you instead of those of us who already gave it a shot, that’s cool. But keep me in mind as one of your sadistic torture maids on a bicycle.

Renée
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3 weeks ago I never heard of the dirty 30, last Saturday I got my first dose of the " run ". Never thought after trying it one time you could be addicted. So I need my fix next year. Consider this my request to be tortured next year.

Chris

Racer Profile: Renee "FU TMB" Ennis

It takes a certain kind of individual to even think about toeing the line for the Aroostook Dirty 30. You must be fit, confident, willing to accept probable devastation mentally and physically, humble, and maybe even a little eccentric.

One key rule to the race last year was that you had to come to the start in a costume. I remember Renee walking into Mojo at the buttcrack of dawn just before the start with her 14 year old son, Keegan. Superwoman and a Knight.
This is was going to be good.

She survived the pushups under the bridge, the muck of wading upstream in the Aroostook River, the waist-deep water before coming up the steep embankment by Mojo, and the obstacle course at Riverside Park at the 12 mile point(she was even spry enough to give Kate and I the finger then)...but when she came to Mojo again at the 13.5 mile mark, the thought of going through the deep disgusting water below was too much to bear. It would be the end of her AD30 experience.

Here's a closer look at Renee "FU TMB" Ennis:

-reason for signing up this year:My reason for signing up this year?

Because I was insane enough to sign up for it last year and even though it almost sucked more than childbirth, I'm really competitive and I couldn't handle snuggling in my warm bed that morning knowing my girlfriends are out there being all badass while I'll sip coffee and watch an old episode of Friends, warm in my bed. Did I mention warm in my bed?

-current favorite training song:

My current favorite training song is and always has been "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters.


-you attempted the AD30 last year, and looked strong until you dropped at the half marathon point of the race. what was your reason for dropping?

I dropped out because I was soaking wet, discouraged, alone and "gave up" when at the thought of doubling back through the water. I'm hoping to have the moral support of other women this year which might help me push through those tough moments.


-last year, you raced with your young son Keegan, who stayed strong through 9 miles. Is there going to be a mom/son showdown this year??

No Mum/Son showdown! I'm in far better shape than that wussy 14 year old is and I don't want to bruise his fragile ego by squashing him like a bug. I'll just support him in however far he can go. But I'm totally not waiting for him this year.


-what motivates you every day?

What motivates me? Being able to play WITH my kids as opposed to watching them play from the sidelines. Being able to show other women how to reach their own fitness goals. Having a stronger body now than I did ten years ago. Being strong.


-fitness goals for 2011:

My fitness goals for 2011 are a marathon, becoming a personal trainer and kicking P90X's ass.


-Anything else you want to tell us?

Be gentle on me okay? I cry easily.