2014 Florida's Strongest Man.
It was my second competition.
I was riding high from getting 6 of 8 at my first competition just 2 months beforehand, surely I'd do even better since I competed up a class before!
I got last on every event. By a lot.
Sure, I didn't know that I was against 3 of the top 5 from the Arnold, but I got absolutely stomped even by the 4th place kid (who I never saw again).
On the yoke, second place went 50 feet down and back with a 500 pound yoke in 16 seconds, first place I think got under 16.
I got 53 seconds.
There are 2 ways you can take that type of loss.Â
Over the years I've seen many guys in that same situation see the writing on the wall and quit.
They don't have the genetics. Strongman is just too heavy.Â
But I didn't feel defeated, I felt inspired.
If they can do that run with 500 pounds in 16 seconds, why can't I do 400 pounds in 20 seconds?
My perspective on speed completely changed. I realized that this is not only about moving heavy weights, but if I had to literally run with heavy weights.
I would be mad if I missed my goal time in training.
I wrote down all of the fastest times of every competitor I knew and all of the top guys in the world. I couldn't do a 50 foot 700 yoke in 7.8 seconds like Pat Castelli, but that meant I wouldn't go up in weight until I could do a weight in under 8 seconds.
It was that competition, where I got dead last, that I fell in love with strongman.
I got last at a lot of competitions after that. But I kept challenging myself and never tried to sign up for an easy win. I needed to know where I really stood.
I ended up becoming a yoke specialist from how hard I worked at it.
Why did girls always ask how much I bench and not what's my fastest 50 foot yoke with 650?
Don't take being the worst as something as a sign that it's "not your event."
Make it your event.
What are you going to take from being your worst to first story?
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