My Thoughts After The Spartan Death Race / Race Recap
Race Highlights
Too many things went on for me to give a real blow-by-blow report of my whole experience on the Death Race, so I’ll just hit some highlights.
Our first race task was simple - an individual run straight up the trail to Shrek’s Cabin. The elevation gain on the trail was pretty spicy for the distance covered, but nothing out of the ordinary vs. my local trails, so I actually felt pretty comfortable with it, though not knowing the trail at all, I did keep my pace on the ascent a little conservative.
After that, we engaged in our first group movement tasks (shuttling stuff across the field and back), had a tug of war battle (with the winning team getting to keep their socks), and then we moved on to our first taste of the refreshing Vermont river water.
Those of you who know me know I don’t love the water, but I knew going in that we’d be spending a lot of time there, so I just embraced the suck and managed to have some fun with it. In particular, I actually found myself enjoying the “Survivor Burpees” partnered with Ozzy Manny.
We moved on from there to shuttle the heavy gear around again and took a trip to the Beaver Pond for more cold water, this time eerily lit up with our red headlamps.
After a change to dry clothes, our nighttime movement task trying to get the big disc (basically a giant, 350 pound, round table top with a basin of fluid on top) and sandbags up the trail was one of the harder things I've ever done, particularly when the disc team was blindfolded. Even with the blindfolds removed, the terrain and coordination of effort required to move the disc effectively was still very challenging. When off the disc, it was physically harder than expected to carry all my gear AND a 70 pound sandbag while adhering to the rule that the sandbag couldn’t touch the ground. For me, carrying the sandbag was definitely the harder (physically) of the two tasks. As a group, we struggled uphill for (I think) nearly 7 hours in the dark.
In the middle of that movement task, we were challenged to start a fire while blindfolded using our flint and magnesium and whatever other materials we could find on hand. That was a failure for me, though one success I had was being able to keep my composure and calmly recover in the middle of it when I dropped the striker for my ferro rod into my bucket full of gear. I managed to calmly and methodically work my way through removing everything from my bucket until I recovered it and then replace it all while blindfolded, which I was actually pretty proud of accomplishing. In the end, it was to no avail, as I wasn't able to get a fire going within the time limit anyway. Failing at the task cost me an item from my gear list - my tooth, which I was sure would come back to bite me later (no pun intended).
When we (unsurprisingly) failed to make the summit before dawn, movement back downhill with daylight and the hours of practice maneuvering the disc was much quicker. I opted to stick with carrying a sandbag the majority of the way down, and I think the longest stretch I had of not setting the sandbag on the ground was maybe two hours? It was a LONG time regardless, and all the heavily-loaded time on my feet was beginning to take its toll on them (never mind my neck and shoulders), but I was hoping that a break from the load would help.
Thankfully, after returning back to base, we moved on to our second and third unloaded runs up the mountain, and my body was feeling pretty good. Even in the middle of the suffering of the race, and having been awake for over 24 hours at that point (I had woken up for the MRTAC workshop at 4:45 AM the previous day), I still really enjoyed the straightforward grind of running the trail and the small relief for my feet of not carrying extra load was definitely welcome.
I didn't love the Joe-mandated 2-minute ice bath between those two runs, but whatever - no big deal, I just don't find cold immersion helpful at all and it wreaks havoc on my gout-affected feet for a short while after.
After that, it was on to the bunny hop / 4 leaf clover search. A few racers had quick success in finding them (10,000:1 odds or 5,000:1, whatever the true statistic, either way it was very lucky!), but I was not one of them. Returning to carrying the load along with the dynamic loading of hopping for movement brought my foot issues back with a vengeance, and they started intermittently cramping on me about halfway across the field to the clover patch.
In the midst of my clover search, I started to suffer from dizziness, whether from my (pre-existing) vestibular nerve issues or some mild heat exhaustion, I'm not sure. While the heat was definitely an issue, I'm actually leaning towards the former as the cause because it did seem to right itself after a short while (which is the normal pattern for that issue), but not before it caused me to trip and fall, and my reflexive reaction to the fall triggered some really painful abdominal muscle cramping, resulting in the nearby Krypteia, Robin Crossman, taking the precaution of calling medical over.
While on the ground awaiting medical, I thought I overheard on the radio that following the clover task, there would be a check to see if we had our tooth, and those without it would be terminated. Hearing that and knowing that I didn't have my tooth after failing the fire starting task, I had my one major mental break on the race.
Already feeling a bit sorry for myself due to the cramping and dizziness, I honestly thought about quitting right there and then. I managed to rein that in, however, and bring my focus back to the task at hand - recovering enough from my cramping and dizziness issues to at least go out by finishing my clover search, either with success or being otherwise eliminated due to failure to complete it.
Rebecca, the medical team member who attended me was awesome! So patient and kind, and after checking my vitals and determining I wasn't at any serious immediate risk, she gave me plenty of time to get myself together rather than immediately pulling me from the race after I expressed to her how determined I was to continue (and refused to take off my gear...LOL).
Once I was cleared to continue and made my way back to my feet, my clover search resumed. At some point during that stretch, I heard it announced over the radio by Andi that the race was over because of our "deal with Joe" that if anyone quit, we were all out, and that there would be no official finishers. Despite that announcement, me and the other racers in the clover field persisted on with our search, and from looking around, it appeared that the others who had moved on from the task were still continuing to work as well.
I had to periodically stop and breathe through the painful spasms in my feet and stave off other cramps / spasms throughout my body, but I was absolutely determined to finish the task successfully. It took a while, but switching strategies to searching through areas others had gone through and finding what they missed (which became my mantra - "keep calm, be methodical, and find what they missed") proved fruitful and I found the first ever four-leaf clover of my lifetime - a definite highlight of my Death Race experience!
Clover in hand, I made my way, one painful hop at a time, back across the field to hand it in, at which point I reported in to the Krypteia there that I was continuing to have issues with muscle cramping, so with them working on the presumption that it was heat, dehydration or electrolyte related, I was directed to get in the shade with some ice and a big jug of what appeared to be an electrolyte drink (which I didn't learn until I had nearly finished it belonged to another Krypteia, Matthew Waller).
When I felt like things had eased down enough to continue, I asked what my next task was, and I was directed to turn my cans of beans into stilts with paracord and walk across the field - a task which would prove to be my undoing.
As soon as I stood up on the cans, the pressure through my footbed immediately triggered another severe cramp in my foot, causing me to fall, which then triggered another round of cramping in my abdominal muscles.
After getting some "instruction" from Joe to get more fluids in and get into cold water to "fix it", crew member Michael Baril (AKA "Radio Mike") was instructed to keep an eye on me and call medical if needed. Mike got me up and walking around to try and ease it out and got the OK to refill my hydration bladder. I tried to follow Joe’s direction to get more fluids in, but I was already full to the gills having finished Waller's drink (sorry, man!) and could only get in another 0.5L or so.
Alex DeSena also happened to be there, and on hearing the instruction from her dad for me to get in the cold water, she very enthusiastically volunteered to supervise…LOL.
So, off Alex, Mike and I went to the river, where I followed Alex's direction to immerse myself up to my neck for one minute and then dunk fully under before coming up. Her supervision task successfully accomplished, she wished me good luck and headed off while Mike patiently waited while I worked through another round of abdominal muscle cramping when I tried to get out of the water.
Since all the cramping / spasms aside from my feet seemed to mostly subside if I was able to just get up, stand tall and move, I was still hoping to just get rolling with my can-stilt task and work through it.
So, we walked back over to my gear, and I tried again to get on my can-stilts, but the combination of the load from my gear, the more focused pressure on my feet and the instability (obviously...that was the point) of walking on cans of beans proved too much and I went down again.
Ignoring the taunts from the peanut gallery, I opted to try another lap to walk it off and give it another go (two actually), but was likewise unsuccessful, with abdominal muscle cramping occurring almost immediately when I tried to get to a half-kneeling position to stand up.
Since I had committed at the beginning that the only valid "medical DNF" I would take would be a broken bone, deep laceration or something similar, I opted to swallow my pride and quit the race at that point.
Unbeknownst to me (since we weren't allowed any watches or phones) it just happened to be at the 24 hour mark since I officially started racing the previous afternoon, so I actually made it to my "high confidence" goal time going in, though not feeling as good as I had hoped at that point!
After my final med check (again with the awesome Rebecca and her teammate, Angela), I was cleared to have my wife come and pick me up, and I had visits from both Tovar and Andi who had some really kind words for me about how I ran my race, despite it not really ending for me how I would have liked.
What I Learned
I live my "North Star" value of being authentic and true to myself and my core principles, even under immense physical strain and pressure. Even when some others were cutting corners on tasks, I stuck with my commitment to do everything as instructed, no matter the pain. At times it took a lot for me to bite my tongue and not call some folks out, but hey - that's on them to live with their choices.
I can keep my head and rise to the challenge of taking on a leadership role and get things moving when others are lacking direction or momentum, and still be ready and willing to step back when another potential leader presents themself. I was very fortunate to have some great leaders to collaborate and trade off with on our nighttime movement task, including Kelly Shores, Daniel Gordon and especially Taryn Brees, who was an absolute champ at directing the movement of the disc with an eye for keeping everyone as safe as we could. All three also had zero hesitation about jumping in and doing the grunt work when called for.
That said, I am still no cheerleader...LOL. As with my training clients, when things are going to suck, I don't sugar coat it, and while I will gladly chime in with a "good job guys" as we work, I'm not someone who can really hype up the crowd. Thankfully, we had a super motivator in the form of Christian Bizzotto to keep up that end of things and keep people working. His energy was incredible, and really did serve to lift a lot of people up.
Even when things are sucking and I’m suffering physically, getting to move out on the trails is still one of my favourite ways to get into that “flow” state. I kinda knew that going in, but this really reinforced it to me, and is making me more open to the idea of longer duration trail events. I’m definitely thinking about 50K, 100K or longer events as more feasible for me in the future thanks to this experience.
The Death Race Krypteia I had the pleasure of working with / for during my time on the race were all such quality people. They set clear expectations, and it was up to us to meet them. When we as a group failed, they meted out tough consequences without meanness or spite, but rather with (again) clear direction and explanation of why and how we failed.
When we were doing well, or if they at least saw you giving something your best effort, they were not hesitant to say that either. If someone got injured or was otherwise struggling, they were immediately on top of the situation with professionalism and compassion.
Top of the list in that regard for me had to be Tovar, Robin and Andi, all of whom really comported themselves in such a way as to make you want to work hard and live up to their expectations, even if the task was incredibly challenging.
I also found those three, Waller, Dallan Cheah and Peter Borden to all just be really "good people" with ready humour and a sense of fun amidst suffering while still letting you know they meant business and wouldn't tolerate any bullshit. They all really exemplify the kind of people I like to have around me, and I am definitely thankful for the opportunity to have met them.
Would I Do It Again?
Honestly, I'm not sure.
I'm not someone who just coasts through life - I'm fortunate enough to be in a position in my life where I have the time and opportunity to challenge myself to operate outside of my comfort zone a lot in many and varied ways, so that aspect of the race isn't unique for me.
Not that I was anywhere near the top performers of the group by any means, the fact that so much of the experience and success on some tasks depends on a bunch of random strangers you're in the race with rather than just your own ability was challenging at times. That said, it was inspiring to see the vast majority of my fellow competitors just put their heads down and grind away alongside me.
I get that some of the tasks are "stupid on purpose" to mess with you, and I was willing to give them my best effort. I didn't find myself frustrated or even annoyed by them - I just accepted that they were part of the deal, but I don't feel that I was learning anything about myself or improving in any way through experiencing them.
My body physically letting me down at the end was not overly surprising given the minimal lead time I had to prepare. Given the workload, I feel like that 24 hour mark was about right for where my conditioning, etc. was at. Part of me IS still a bit curious how I would do with proper preparation and a bit better knowledge on the gear, etc. that would serve me well.
I'd also really like to be able to show Andi, Tovar, Robin (and myself) a performance that is more representative of what I "could" do, and would love the opportunity to run alongside some of the awesome people I met once again.
So...I'm on the fence.
For now, my upcoming Spartan-related plans are to get my team of clients and friends through their events at the Trifecta Weekend at Big White in September, and to aim for running in the Spartan Trifecta World Championships next year to celebrate my 50th birthday. I’m also thinking about running some Spartan races solo next year (vs. in the Open with a group that I try to get to the end) to test my own limits and abilities. If so, I’ll up the ante a bit and run in the Age Group category, and go for a triplet of Trifecta Weekends along the way.
I'm also thinking about some other events / challenges I could tackle now that I have a better idea how my body reacts under fatigue / sleep deprivation, but details on those will have to wait until I've done more research and figure out whether I have any budget to do them…LOL.
I feel like something more challenging than what I've done before where I can really test myself individually (E.G. a Spartan Ultra, a trail ultra or maybe a multi-day event like the Trans-Selkirks Run) or maybe a team-oriented event where I'd be working with a team of people that train and prepare together (E.G. an adventure race like the Expedition Race Canada) might be more what I'm looking for.
Thank You
Regardless of my future plans, I want to say a big THANK YOU to:
Andi for allowing me to jump into the event on short notice, for her hard work and dedication as race director, and for her kind words and encouragement after my race was over.
Toño Tovar for finding me such beautiful sticks to try and take care of (LOL - I owe you an antler if I see you again), for his exemplary conduct and professionalism while we were under his supervision, and his feedback and compassion after my race was finished.
Robin Crossman for his humour and conversation along the way, his caring concern when I started to physically fall to pieces in the clover field, and his "it ain't over till it's over" encouragement when I was trying to get my head back in the game.
Rebecca from the medical team for her patient and truly compassionate support while I was under her care, for her professionalism and judgement in giving me the chance to continue by not medically pulling me when I was probably right on the edge, and her continued kindness and concern when my race had come to its end.
Mike Baril (AKA "Radio Mike") for his patient stewardship and calm demeanour while I was under his watch during my final hour or so, and his help in letting me try to get my shit together when he could easily have just written me off.
All the other crew who gave their time and energy to making the 2023 Summer Death Race a truly memorable experience.
All my fellow racers for suffering alongside me, but especially:
Howard for being such an inspiration in pushing on and doing things RIGHT despite his injuries and having been racing for two days ahead of us already
Danny, Kelly and Taryn for stepping up without hesitation when the situation called for it
Ozzie for being an awesome partner on the Survivor Burpees
Christian for his energy and drive to lift others up!
You are ALL inspiring, awesome people, I’m glad to have met all of you, and I look forward to keeping in touch with many of you and seeing where the future takes you.
Of course, I couldn’t have been there and done what I did without the unfailing love and support of my Super-Wifey, Raina. She did a LOT of legwork for me in running around to pick up missing bits of gear while we were in Vermont, including a drive all the way to New Hampshire and back for my cans of beans. She was, as always, an absolute rockstar, and I’m so lucky to have had such a great partner these last 24 years of my life, and forever into the future.
Congratulations
Finally, congratulations to Abbie, Danny, Ivan and Serena for being the last 4 standing at the end. Great job, all of you. I'm glad that you were all recognized as official finishers - you earned it!