For Toms River mom, teacher recovering from stroke, Rugged Maniac not 'just another 5K'

ISLAND HEIGHTS - Toms River’s Erin Calicchio was an active 37-year-old wife, mom and high school teacher when she woke up on March 3, 2020.

By afternoon, that life was hold as she lay in an ICU hospital bed at Community Medical Center, a brain stem stroke, believed to be the result of an earlier bout with COVID-19, having left her right side paralyzed and her speech impaired.

“She was really struggling at that point,” said Gus Revuelta, who went to his daughter’s home to check on her that morning and knew something was wrong when she finally opened the door.

And a few days later, it was Revuelta who leaned in and issued a particularly daunting challenge given the circumstances.

“I said ‘you’re going to get through this and this is what we are going to do - we are going to do the Rugged Maniac again,’ “ he said.

Seriously?

Rugged Maniac, presented by Tipico Sportsbook, is a 3.1-mile obstacle course race featuring more than 25 hazards, featuring everything from a muddy crawl under barbed wire to a leap over fire, designed to challenge participants both physically and mentally, with an annual stop at Raceway Park in Englishtown part of a national schedule.

“I said yes, we were going to do it, and I meant it – but I couldn’t move,” Calicchio said.

The two will be at it again Saturday, when they return to Raceway Park for this year’s Rugged Maniac.

All of which made the embrace on July 17, 2021, Calichhio’s 39th birthday, that much more emotional, after the two made it to the top of the top of the 11-foot warped wall, the final obstacle before the Rugged Maniac finish line.

“I had no intention of even trying the warped wall, and everyone was like ‘come on, we’re doing it. Come on,” Calicchio said. “It was very emotional because at that point I knew I had done it.”

With her husband, Phil, who competed in Rugged Maniac in the past, their son Nate, then 3-years-old, and her mom, Pat Revuelta, looking on, she crossed the finish line, completing a comeback for the ages.

“I knew she was back at that point – maybe stronger than ever,” Revuelta said. “She worked so hard to get to that point.”

More:Get ready to get dirty: Rugged Maniac mud obstacle races coming to New Jersey

Connecting the dots

The obstacles are as ingenious as they are insidious. Like leaping from one “lily pad” to another without plunging into the water below. Or navigating the most elaborate jungle gym you’ve ever seen. Or scaling cargo net to reach the top of a tower of shipping containers, or using a trampoline to get a boost up a ladder wall.

“There were a couple of times during the race when I was crying,” said Calicchio, her emotions swelling as she spoke. “You have a lot of down time when you’re running or walking together, and it was a good time to share, back and forth.

“And the obstacles are so hard and change every year. Last year I just remember, one where it was one rope on top and one rope on the bottom. (My dad) was like, ‘you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to,’ and I was like ‘I am doing this!’ “

“We took our time going through. The idea was to finish,” said Revuelta, a 66-year-old Toms River resident.

What’s not difficult is connecting the dots between the mindset Rugged Maniac demands and the journey Calicchio was forced to make following a stroke.

The rehab sessions were grueling, including a 10-day stint at a facility in the early days of the COVID-19 lockdown when she was isolated from friends and family, as she had to relearn to do everything from walking to writing and talking.

And then there was the day she returned to the classroom as an art teacher for the start of the 2021-22 school year at her alma mater, Toms River High School East, after being out for 18 months.

“That was horrifying,” Calicchio said. “I had been a teacher for 15 years, but I had developed this new normal where that wasn’t part of it. So to be in it, it was just scary because I hadn’t done it. It lasted about a week, but it eventually went away.

“We had seen she was back to her old self, but she didn’t think she was at that point yet, which is why she was a little apprehensive,” Revuelta said.

If she was at 50 percent of her old self during last year’s Rugged Maniac, Calicchio feels like she’s about 85 percent now, and looking forward to a somewhat easier time negotiating the Rugged Maniac gauntlet.

“She is an unbelievable person, and when she got sick we didn’t know what was going to be ahead,” Phil Calicchio said. “We didn’t know what life would hold after that. And for her to be where she’s at and doing the things she’s doing, raising our son and to be a teacher, it’s amazing. And for her to accomplish this, it was a big goal for her, and she is going to kill it again like she did last year.”

More:Trauma to triumph: Injured NJ woman recovers from accident, returns to Rugged Maniac race

‘A special landmark”

Whether it’s shimmying your way up on a zip line over a water hazard, or overcoming one of life’s hazards, the lessons are all the same.

“I think it’s just a way to say to myself, it’s a reminder that you can do hard things, and you can overcome things,” Erin Calicchio said. “And there’s a lot of comradery, people helping each other.”

“You get to the obstacle, you assess it and figure out how you are going to attack it,” Revuelta said. “Which is kind of like what you do with every obstacle. Assess it, figure out how you are going to get under it around it over it, whatever.

“It’s not just another 5K.”

In all, Rugged Maniac, which had its first race in 2010, will host 26 events in 2022, including two in Canada.

“Rugged Maniac is a great event to help build confidence and stay motivated,” said Kaitlyn Greenleaf, vice president of Ventures Endurance, the parent company of Rugged Maniac.

This won’t be the last Rugged Maniac for Calicchio and her dad, either.

“We’re doing it every year now it is because it’s a special landmark for us. So as long as I can get out there,” Revuelta said.

Added Calicchio: “I plan on running the Rugged Maniac every year until I or the Rugged Maniac doesn't exist.”

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Erin Calicchio, Toms River, NJ, in Rugged Maniac in stroke recovery