Patch Blog: Road to the World's Hardest Race

My friends think I am crazy.  While they spend their Friday nights at the movies or bar I am pounding a sledge hammer into a tire for hours on end.  While they go to the movies with their significant others I am running and hiking through the mountains intpo the next mornning.  While they are sleeping in on a Sunday morning I am swimming in the ocean with a brick loaded rucksack.

I am preparing my mind and body for the challenge of a lifetime...running the Spartan Death Race this coming June in Vermont.  It is as much a mental fortitude challenge as it is a physical beat down.  And I cannot wait for June 15 to get here!  I signed up almost as soon as registration opened up last year and have been preparing on one way or another ever since.  January marked a step up in training and I have been pushing my self farther and farther.

Back in January I registered for back top back Goruck Challenges just to see how much punishment I could take in one weekend.  The Goruck Challenge is a team event created by a former Green Beret in order to test the ruggedness of the rucksacks his company (Goruck) made.  The Challenge takes a group of people ("classes" are capped at 30 participants) on a 12-15 mile "tour" of their city (Challenges are held throughout the country and also overseas) over the course of 8-10 hours.  Or so the website claims...the company likes to underpromise and overdeliver.  In actual fact, Challenges last anywhere from 12-16 hours and cover closer to 18 miles or, ususally, more.  In addition, particpants carry 4-6 bricks in their rucksacks.  Each Challenge is led by a cadre who is an current or former member of the special forces.  In addition to the bricks in the rucksacks, participants also carry a team weight and are often burdened by additional awkward and heavy items found by the cadre (logs are a favorite of Challenge cadre...and not 100lb logs...we're talking about 500lb or more logs!).  The challenge is never a race and the group learns to work as a team...or sufffer as a team. Pushups, bear crawls, crab walks, buddy carries and other forms of physical suffering  (Good Livin' as the cadre like to call it)come often and come hard. And, yet, despite the pain and hurt that each team member endures, it is still a fun event.  The success rate is high...almost everyone who begins the challenge will finish the challenge.

SO...I did TWO Challenges back to back.  I did one Challenge back in May of 2011 and I suffered through the last 7-8 mils of our 20+miles.  This time I was more prepared mentally and phyically.  The first Challenge began at 1AM on a Saturday morning at the Venice Beach pier and ended 16 hours later at Runyon Canyon in Hollywood!  I went home, showered, changed, ate and was back in Venice Beach for the start of my second Cahllenge at 10PM.   No sleep in between Challenges.  No sleep since waking up Friday morning at 7am to go to work.  The second challenge covered approximately the same route but we did it in 12 hours.  We came together as team faster than my first challenge earlier that day.  I finally went to bed around 8pm on SUNDAY night.I was exhausted but felt great!  Althought the second challenge eas mentally difficult I was able to get through it and feed off the energy of my fellow teammates.

Starting off my year this way was a great morale boost and confidence builder.  Back to back Goruck Challenges.  Yes, thank you!  Death Race here I come!!