Yeah, we pulled a 737. No biggie.

Last week Coastie and I were approached by another lifter in the gym, a man by the name of Larry.

"You look like a fit, fun-loving couple."

Firstly, did we seriously just reach fit couple status? I might have just squealed a little...a lot...silently...in my head. Go us!

Moving on...

His next question for us was, "What are you doing this Saturday?"

Larry invited us to join his team for the Cleveland Plane Pull, an event that fund-raises and benefits Special Olympics Ohio! What a great cause, Coastie and I both know people who participate in the Special Olympics back in Michigan, why not support an awesome organization?!

Initially it was a casual encounter. What were we doing Saturday? Usually...laying on the couch with a cat watching movies together. Doing laundry. Cleaning up the apartment from a week's worth of chaos. Meal prepping for the week ahead. Mundane, typical, normal Saturday (sometimes Sunday if we really play bum on Saturday). We mulled it over for a day or so and registered shortly after. 

Pulling a plane? That's different!
A Boeing 737. That's big.

How do you even pull a plane? 

We were soon to find out!

We arrived at the I-X center next to Cleveland Hopkins International, ready to pull well over 100,000 lbs. Team Powerhouse was pumped and ready to go! New faces, people, and friends were made. We were underdogs, our first event - a team of 15 (5 people short of the experienced 20-man-teams that surrounded us).

Didn't phase us a bit. We were ready to rock and roll!

Team Powerhouse was last in the Men's Division to compete. We had the goal of being co-ed, but couldn't get enough female folk to join in. Alas, no matter! Our time came and we were given a practice pull with a rope attached to an airplane taxi. No problem, that sucker rolled like it was nothing. 

Photo property of Larry Schwandt

We were then called over to the main pull rope. We staggered ourselves along the line, hoping our strategic lineup might pay off. Strong men in front, anchors in back. Me? Put me where you want coach, I'm the smallest one here! My strength may be dwarfed by you lot, but I've got some force to contribute! I ended up 3/4 of the way down the line, just right. 

12 feet, that's how far we had to pull this sucker. 12 feet, as fast as we could. The horn sounded and our rope went taut. Forgoing gloves in favor of chalk, I could feel the coarse rope pulling at my palms. Was the plane moving, could I possibly pull with any more force? Hard to tell, but slowly I could see my feet gaining ground. We were moving and pulling a plane! This giant steel bird was rolling forward because of our combined strength. Wait...how long have we been pulling? The finish horn hasn't sounded yet. It felt like ages, and then it sounded loud and clear. We had done it! We pulled the behemoth across the finish line and let our line go slack. 

15 people, 1 Boeing 737, 12 feet

8.64 seconds

Team Powerhouse did not place that day, but we pulled a plane and raised approximately $500 for Special Olympics Ohio. It was an awesome experience and I can't wait for the opportunity to do it again next year!