Mike Fucking Baker.

Many of you know I participated in Reach the Beach this past weekend. It was my second time running in it. For those of you who don’t know, it is a 200-ish mile relay race that starts at Bretton Woods and ends at Hampton Beach. You typically have teams of 12 in two vans. It’s hard to put into words the kind of experience this is. It sounds miserable and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t moments going through my mind of “Fuck this shit.”

But.

Anyone who has done it will tell you, it is truly an amazing experience. 
This time around our initial team fell apart in the days leading up to the event – injuries, life circumstances, and so on. Somehow, we managed to get together a team of 12 people, only 11 who could run – the 12th person, while he wasn’t able to run, he was a driver and arguably one of the most important contributions to the team. 

Few people on the team knew eachother. I knew one person. It was a motley crew of misfits who just happened to show up. And show up we did.

One person, in particular, was fascinating to me.  His name is Mike Baker and over the weekend we all got to know his story a little better. Like the majority of the team, Mike joined as a total random person who heard about us needing another runner. I’m also inspired by people who would do something like this not knowing anyone – the majority of our team did this, so I was already in an inspired mindset – which to do this kind of thing, you have to be.

Mike let us know prior to the weekend he was running 40-50 miles a week and was happy to run whatever leg we needed. Needless to say, he was a welcome addition to our team. 

Mike is a friendly, but quiet guy, father of three, adorned with tattoos and is pretty unassuming. Over the next couple of days I learned back in February Mike decided to make a shift in his life after hitting his rock bottom. Being someone who has hit their rock bottom, I can relate to this on several levels. It’s a difficult thing to explain to someone who has never experienced a true “rock bottom”, but when you find other people who have and it has changed their life for the better, it gives you pause and an appreciation.

Mike had gone through an ugly divorce, decided to give up drinking, start running and do mixed martial arts. He has lost 70 lbs, started focusing on positivity, and putting himself outside of his comfort zone. These are the people I am inspired by. People who grab life by the balls despite the setbacks they’ve faced, set goals and crush and crush and crush. He doesn’t pay attention to others, just himself and what he can control.

“Better, not Bitter,” I’ve heard him say.

Prior to his first leg, Mike was a little nervous so he snuck behind a tree to smoke a cigarette before running his leg at a pace of about a 7 minute mile.

 “Who rips a cigarette butt and runs 8.1 miles at a 7 minute pace?”

Mike. Fucking. Baker.

“Old habits die hard,” he joked.

From that point on, he was called “Mike Fucking Baker” by the rest of the team, because he was just an unreal presence.

Not only did he run 7 minute miles he texted our group WHILE running:

“I’m on my way”. 

Mike. Fucking. Baker.

He was an integral part of the team and I believe his story, his energy and his positive and supportive outlook collectively is a big reason why this past weekend was as powerful for our team as it was. I try and find inspiration everywhere. And this past weekend, we found plenty.

We found “Mike Fucking Baker”.

*Published with permission from Mike Baker.