Now that the race had officially started, we were informed that the next leg of the race would take place on the notorious Blood Root Mountain Trail. At last it was finally upon us, one of the most demanding segments of last year’s race took place here, but even when my team was forced to … Read More
After finishing the barbed wire challenge I had the opportunity to gather my gear before proceeding to the next challenge; or lack thereof. My mission required that I head back to the Riverside Farm and wait. That’s right, myself and the other four racers who finished were so far ahead that we had to wait … Read More
Making my way up to the top of Tweed River Drive, I was surprised not to see anyone ahead of me and looking back, no one behind me. I was all alone. The solitude felt strange. The sun beat down hard as I charged up the same path I remembered taking the year before, when … Read More
Running down the staircase, yes, the one we just built not even a few hours earlier was absolutely exhilarating. Seeing the variety of boulders we’d placed and dug into the mountainside to create this new pathway leading us from the bottom to the top was a thing of beauty. In my head, I could already … Read More
The first night we were on Joe’s mountain we didn’t finish working on the staircase until something like 3AM. The entire time, we worked tirelessly building those stairs. It was evident that some teams were clearly expending more energy and putting forth more effort in making a respectable staircase compared to other teams. My team, Team … Read More
As I made my way over toward Andy’s place I was noticing how muddy the terrain was beneath the grip of my Inov-8 Roclite 285’s. The path that led to Andy’s was pretty short and simple as we arrived we instantly came to a halt and it was time for a gear check by none … Read More
Just a week prior to the 2013 Spartan Death Race – Year of the Gambler, I was being trained to be a Spartan Group X Trainer, had the trip of a life time to California – my first time ever (I was there once before but only for a day trip to Magic Mountain) traveling … Read More
Here we were back at Riverside Farm for the last challenge. To begin you needed to have a ticket, if you wanted to “ride.” If you did not have a ticket you could earn one by doing 120 pushups. Thanks to a tip from Morgan’s parents, I quickly grabbed a note card out of my … Read More
Happily waiting for us at Death Race HQ was Joe, and a few others. You could see they were surprised with our perseverance. Initially, they didn’t want to give us another task but they gave in soon enough. We just missed participating in the Origami, so next on their list of challenges required us to … Read More
Being out on the mountain, living, surviving, being physically and mentally challenged, this is what life is about. From chaos, came clarity. In the heart of feeling defeated we had found our inner strength. Camaraderie creates a very powerful connection; it has the ability to make the impossible become another training day. The presence of a … Read More