Small Steps and a Big REACH: A Letter from our CEO
April 17, 2024
The picture was taken shortly after my 44th birthday. The image of me gleefully sitting on the couch eating cheesecake is forever etched in my memory. Yes, I was significantly unhealthy by any measure, let alone that infamous BMI scale. I remember thinking to myself, “is that really me?” and then quickly taking inventory of how in the world this happened. I was a fairly active parent (ok, semi-active?), coaching my son’s various sports teams, working with other youth groups in our tight knit Oregon community, in the last year of my MBA program, and giving my job the significant attention it needed. Regardless, there I sat — literally fat and apparently happy. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not one to feel sorry for myself for long, and in a few short days, I had found the remedy.
I decided I needed to get some exercise in, and not really having much of a defined plan I thought I’d turn to the internet for some pointers. And that’s where I found it – no, not the Arnold Schwarzenegger body building program, but a link to something called Obstacle Course Racing. I ended up on the Spartan Race web site and watched YouTube video after YouTube video of common people with an uncommon approach to exercise culminating in what amounts to trail running with different obstacles. It looked different and sorta fun – little did I know… From that point on, I immersed myself in all things Spartan Racing – from the daily workouts (often referred to as WOD’s), to the diet plans, to signing up for my first race 3 months later. I was convinced this was my path to a better me.
With my children
at the Hawaii race
Spartan Races vary in length from a little over 3 miles long to some over 30 miles with any number of various obstacles all along the route. Over the course of that first 6 months I ran in 6 races with the longest being a 13 mile race affectionately called a ‘Beast’. I was hooked. Over the course of that year, I had lost over 70 lbs and was in the best shape of my life. I literally ate, drank, and slept to train, hitting the gym twice a day for crazy workouts and running hiking trails in my area almost every weekend. OK, full disclosure — I hate to run! My training mimicked much of what the races would randomly throw at you; lots of heavy carries, scaling 10’ walls, and running up hills, a lot of hills!
At our most recent Town Hall all employee meeting, I mentioned the term BHAG. The acronym BHAG comes from the 1994 book Built to Last by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. In its long form BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal and is meant to inspire, energize, and motivate towards a goal that seemingly defies probability. I had come across this term in my studies about the same time I was prepping for my second year of obstacle course racing. Naturally, I wanted to continue to motivate and challenge myself so I thought why not set a BHAG around my new found passion. My BHAG was to “qualify for the Spartan World Championships” knowing BHAG’s are intended to be more long term, I figured it’d take me some time to get there.
The following year I was able to run in 24 races about evenly split between 5K, 10k, and 25K race lengths. The year was full of fun and adventure. My wife and I would use these races as mini-vacations often driving or flying somewhere over the weekend and whenever possible bringing our kids with us – after all, they were my biggest cheerleaders as well as my pit crew. We had marvelous experiences all over the country, from the beautiful, pristine mountains surrounding Flathead Lake in Montana, to the warmth of Southern California, to sharing a poignant moment on a rock with my son atop the peak of Kualoa mountain range in Hawaii. It was a humbling yet fulfilling time for all of us. In September, I was notified that I had qualified for the Spartan World Championships to be held the following month in Lake Tahoe at Palisades, home of the 1960 Winter Olympics. I was amazed I had qualified, and especially way, way, ahead of my BHAG.
The World Championship race was a culmination of everything I had worked for up to that point. It was an acknowledgement that my work and persistence was paying off. I found it fascinating to see how far I could push my body or what I could do to stave off the hurt just a little longer. The time invested was paying dividends and I was lucky enough to come out the other side relatively unscathed. Yes, I had my fair share of scrapes, bruises, and broken ribs. Some of them will be with me the rest of my life, but ohhh what stories they tell. Even more so, I believe the secret sauce was the little things that helped me get to where I was.
My first race.
Burpees!
The little things mattered — what I ate, how I trained, how I listened to my body and let it rest once in a while. In addition, the application of knowledge only gained through experience was critical. In Spartan Racing, failing any obstacle required at least a 30-burpee penalty. I don’t know too many people who love to do burpees. So, every chance I got I learned better ways to climb a 40ft rope, or throw a spear so it sticks, or traverse long stretches of monkey bars, or snake under barbed wire in the mud. Mastering these tasks helped me avoid many a painful burpee — although, I was rarely perfect every race.
The race in Lake Tahoe was the most challenging race I had ever attempted. The distance was slated to be 25k (but I later learned it was closer to 28k, almost 2 miles longer) and no less than 36 obstacles. If you’ve ever skied there, good for you. I’ve only traversed the same ground on foot – from little to no snow at the bottom of the ski lift to blowing snow at the top. This race tested everything I had — more so than any before it. As usual (and standard for every race) the horn blares and you get to run uphill the first mile. This is always intentional by the race organizers to thin out the pack and create separation so obstacles further in the race don’t get backlogged. The switchbacks up the side of the ski hills were insane as was the rock filled bucket carry a half mile up hill (and of course back down) without spilling it. There was a lot of sitting on your bucket on the side of the trail that day. As I scaled the various ski hills going up and down, and up and down the weather started to change. No, the sun wasn’t coming out. It was starting to spit snow. 3 hours later, I finally made it to the top where I met my race pit crew (my wife) who got to ride the gondola up to meet me. A quick hello, some pickle juice, a short peek at the course map and I was gone again.
Perhaps the most memorable, painful and traumatic obstacle greeted me around the halfway mark at the top — a small lake, to which the racers were tasked with swimming a ¼ mile around. Bear in mind, we didn’t do things like change into our wet suits – we just donned a life vest and hit the water. I have never been so cold in my life! My training took over where I managed my breathing and kept the limbs moving doing a back stroke most of the way. When I finally got back to shore, attempting to walk out of the water was an interesting experience as my muscles decided they didn’t want to work so well anymore. The transition area was replete with people trying to warm up, many wrapping themselves up in foil blankets in a seemingly hopeless effort to regain some body heat. I met my wife on shore and quickly changed out of my wet clothes, teeth chattering. Still unable to shake the shaking, I found a large boulder and lay down on it in hopes of soaking in the last bit of heat it might still have from the earlier sun. It was at this time my wife — for the first time ever, suggested I call it quits. I still had 8 miles and a bunch of obstacles to go. Perhaps I had met my match, it wasn’t worth it. After all, it’s just a race.
As some will tell you, I can be a stubborn soul. So, despite the suggestion to walk over to the gondola and call it a day, I knew I had to finish what I started. This is where the training and mental fortitude took over. Perhaps it would have been easy to say “I’ve already reached my BHAG, I can call that success” but at this point, not finishing was the furthest thing from my mind. The question I was wrestling with was “what do I need to do to finish?”
Spartan Race
From that point on, it was a lot of one foot in front of the other — wet shoes and all. The course didn’t get any easier, but at that point, with the big stuff behind me, I knew it would be doing the little things and a lot of mental perseverance to keep my head on straight enough to finish — which always includes avoiding burpees as much as possible.
I finished the Spartan World Championship race in just over 6 hours. It definitely wasn’t my best time and I honestly have no idea where I placed. I was simply happy to have been there and blessed enough to finish. Coming through the final stretch around the lodge was an incredible feeling and one I reflect on often — especially when challenging situations arise or the way seems unclear. I am absolutely convinced that applied knowledge gained through experience (or training, or practice) builds confidence and give us the stamina to persevere during tough times.
It should come as no surprise that the difficulties of our industry are replete with obstacles, not terribly different from what Spartan Racers encounter — often varied in their makeup and challenging to navigate.
At HRMC we are fortunate to have an extremely supportive Board of Directors who have our community’s best interest at heart. As a result, they’ve seen the wisdom in helping us define our BHAG for the foreseeable future as stated in our new mission and vision statements. With the utmost sincerity, we desire for our employees and patients to have a world class experience when they’re at HRMC. It isn’t impossible. Rather, our vision is exciting, energizing, and inspiring — enough so to be the difference maker as we approach the work ahead of us with purpose and confidence.
With our new core values of REACH we recognized the need to be ever vigilant in the little things — those little things that make the difference when the going gets tough. As we execute on the simple principles of being Respectful, Engaged, Available, Competent, and Helpful I guarantee you we’ll do a lot less burpees!
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