Donovan's Story
These are all by Donovan on the other thread:
First thing let me just say thanks to my fiance for being there the whole time, doing the twitter, scores, video, time, and everything else in between; including NURSE. I need to thank my caddies; not only did they do the hard work of picking up the discs but even at times when I got hot, tired, or disorientated they were there to tell me where to throw the disc and when to concentrate on making the put. Without their badgering I guarantee you there would have been A LOT more shots taken.
Thanks RussMB, grodney and Olorin for their comments, encouragement, and helping me plan strategies.
The one thing that wasn't put into the TV interview was how everyone on this website came up with lots of good ideas to help me plan this adventure. I cannot tell you enough how much all of you mean to me and how not wanting to let any of you down was one of the driving forces behind me pushing through the pain. Four hours in I was close to fainting from heat so I took an extended break (including some time in the truck with the a/c on) which helped me feel better. At this point I actually felt completely rejuvinated and I had changed socks twice already but it was so hot the blisters were inevitable. At six hours in the skin on the bottom of my feet already looked like it melted off and bunched up and slid towards the inside of each foot. I was at the point of saying it's not physically possible for me to finish. But then I realized the damage was done and it was just a case of me pushing through the pain for the next 18 hours. (along with the encouragement from my fiance - I now secretly wonder if she hasn't upped the amount on my insurance policy
) just kidding.
With six hours left my concentration was lost. My caddies told me where to throw before each shot and reminded me to concentrate on my putt. I haven't looked at the scores intensely yet but because of them I know I strung together a TON of pars! This of course reduced the distance I had to travel.
With three hours left I had 17 rounds left on this six hole course to reach my goal of 1002 holes. It felt like every time I finished a hole I had to ask my caddie or my fiance via the walkie talkie "How many more rounds do I have left?" The were all so sweet they never got annoyed. I barely remember any of the rounds prior to the final round. When I finished 1002 holes I had to force myself to say I've done enough. Oddly enough from my ankles up I felt great for the whole thing except for the rumpus rash. My arm never did get tired. I threw right hand backhand the entire time except for left handed putts when that's the side of the basket I was on. When I can sit up and type more I'll come in here and respond to any comments and questions.
We didn't bring bolt cutters to cut the chains off the last basket at the end like they do at the end of the basket ball games. And I thought I came prepared
-------------------------------
Originally Posted by
sidewinder22
Congrats Donovan!!! Thats awesome! What was the temperature? Pretty sure you would die if you tried doing that around DC where it was 100 degrees with humidity off the chart!
Hi - this is Donovan's fiance - at (2PM) one of the guys that was helping out left and when he got in his car he heard that the temp was 101 degrees. I know it was humid but I don't know how bad. It was actually around this time when Donovan was experiencing the heat issues. It rained for about 1 hour from about 6:45PM to 7:45PM hard with lots of lightning. Donovan expected some of the holes to be pretty muddy when he was able to go back out but in reality the dirt was barely moist and the grass was hardly wet. While the rain held him off from playing it also helped get the temp down just as we were headed into the evening hours. So while there was an hour of delay - it was really a blessing in disguise. If the temp had stayed as high as it was he would have been hurting from more than just his feet.
----------------------------------------------
BY THE MATH!
I only took an ace run at the first hole maybe 5 times. I just did not want to overthrow my arm at all. I basically just played for par on almost every hole. there are just enough cedar trees there that if you grip lock you will get caught in them. In those 14 instances, I took an immediate "unplayable lie" and just re-teed. And one of those was a double (cedar) penalty. I was par or better for a consecutive 60, 54, & 46 hole runs. The 60 run started at hole 300, 54 was at 497, and the 46 was at 642. The 60 hole run was about 78 minutes long with I think a 5 minute break in there.
1002 holes completed
3077 strokes
3063 physical throws
14 penalties
167 rounds (on 6 hole course)
71 over par for the whole thing
0 aces
56 birdies
841 pars
87 bogies
14 double bogies
4 triple bogies
------------------------------------
To answer how my arm never got tired.
When I first started playing this game with the newer discs I had a regiment. After finishing the rounds I was going to play that day, I would then go out in a field and throw as hard as I could until my arm had no more to give. Take some ibuprofen and 2 days later do it again. Within 3 weeks, I could throw all day with no more pain.
Well, I did this again a month before this day, for 2 weeks, just to make sure I was still there. Oddly, I didn't get sore at all. It all kind of stuck with me all this time.
-----------------------------
When we can go back through the video, I can give you a better estimate. But for now...
2-5 minute breaks per hour for the first 3 hours
40 min possible heat stroke/exhaustion on hour 4
10 min break & 20 min break wrapping my feet on hour 5 & 6
2-15 min breaks fot feet
1 hour rain
20 minutes night golf prep
10 minute avearge until the end
13 - 5 minute break average per hour
42 min stopped short
So my best guess is about 4 hr and 40 min of down time.
Which means I averaged 1 hole a minute of actual playing time. Man my feet slowed me down. I threw a shot almost every 20 seconds of actual playing time.
--------------------------------------
Did you see the shout out to your Frog Toggs on the Twitter? LOL
