2012 Summer Death Race....I found my MOJO!
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| Hills & Woods of Vermont |
The summer Death Race attracts about 300 competitors to
Pittsfield every year to test their physical and mental levels of
endurance. In the past, races have
lasted anywhere from 25 hours up to 45 hours.
You are allowed to have a crew at “base camp” but not out on the course
to support the athletes. A perfect
candidate for this type of an event would be a person that is part cross fit
champion, part Ironman finisher, part ultra runner, part ultimate survivor and
3 standard deviations from the mean.
What the field did not know about this years race was that
it was going to involve more than 60 miles of hiking /running up and over the
mountains of Vermont with a backpack that weighed on average 40 pounds. To exacerbate matters, the hikes also
included carrying kayaks above your head, 60-pound bags of cement and 100-pound
logs.
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| Amee Farm with Kayaks |
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| Competitor Tent |
The hikes had us all traversing the Vermont landscape,
through rivers, creeks, mud, up the side of mountain ravines, etc. For approximately the first 12 hours the
only water available to us all was what we had put into our backpacks. After hiking through the night, no sleep, we
made it to a lake that we all used to refill our camel back bladders, empty
bottles, etc. after another 18 hours we
actually made it back to base camp where we were able to refuel.
The goal of the race is to push the competitors to their
limits and beyond while avoiding the dreaded DNF. Dehydration and starvation while completing
grueling tasks forced many competitors to drop from the race early on. By the end of day 1 I’m guessing that over
50% of the field had dropped, leaving the hardcore competitors on the
field.
Summary of Challenges that needed to be completed over the
course of 60 hours included the following:
1. Crawl through a dark culvert (Jammed packed with
competitors, stuck in Culvert trapped with no way out…try that on for size)
2. Wade in pond for ping pong balls (you got a
number on the ball and this was your team for the 1st 30 hours)
3.
Carry kayak’s through the night with your
designated team…I was team #2
4.
Switch Kayak for large plastic tube filled with
water
5.
Swim 200 yards in reservoir that we filled out
camel back bladders with.
6.
Carry 10 buckets of gravel/cement 300 yards to
fill in driveway at lake house – maybe 75lbs per bucket
7.
Hike 30+ miles first 24 hours
8.
Take a multiple choice test at top of this hill,
leave as a group to run to Tweed river road
9.
Race up Tweed river road to pair off to find
stakes with number that we spent hours trying to find but never did.
10. Chop
6 foot log into two pieces then 6 pieces, then carry back to base camp –
guessing it was 250 plus pounds to carry – 3 trips??
11. Sit
in cold pond after getting “caught for cheating” – 90 minutes
12. Hike
through Gorge to top of mountain
13. Hike
to Pete’s farm to chop 10 logs, carry 100lb log 1.5 miles, make origami crane,
recite saying, and chop log that you carried
14. Stack
10 bales of hay in a barn
15. Carry
60lb bag of cement to top of mountain
16. Run
back up to the top of the mountain and back down to Tweed River Farm
17. Roll
6 laps ¼ mile in wet grass, answer trivia questions
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| Hike up the Gorge with Brian, Amelia & Todd |
At about 48 hours into the race many competitors started to
drop from the race, not because they were too tired, lacked the desire, but
instead could no longer walk on their feet.
Below you’ll see a picture of a competitor’s foot that developed Trench
Foot. She was not the only one, there
were dozens of competitors that developed this nasty problem that forced them
out of the race. In additions, many
others developed awful blisters that forced them to resign from the race as
well. See the pics below.
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| Log Chopped in 2 |
My feet however, had no blisters and no trench foot. I have Swiftwick to thank for this. The Swiftwick socks that wick moisture away
from your feet to keep them dry allowed me to avoid developing both Trench Foot
and blisters. I carried two pair with me
at all times in my backpack. If we had
to go through a stream I would stop change out my socks, wring out the wet
pair, attach them to the outside of my backpack, where they would dry within an
hour or 2 and would be ready to go again.
I was absolutely shocked at the number of athletes that were wearing cotton
socks, as a result most did not finish the race. Very very early in the race I asked a couple
special forces ops guys if they had any tips for me. They said “…take care of your feet and your
feet will take care of you.” I didn’t
fully appreciate that advice till late in the race and seeing the scores of
competitors with trench foot….UGLY…UGLY…UGLY!
Cannot emphasize the role that my Swiftwicks played in me completing
this race.
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| Head Games..Clues? Not! |
At 60 hours and change I managed to roll across the finish
line, literally. The last task that they
had us all do after not sleeping for over 2 days, mentally exhausted was to
complete a ¼ mile lap, 6 times totaling 1.5 miles through high cold wet grass
in the middle of the night. Sounds easy,
hardly. After rolling for the first 1/10
of a mile you get nauseous. This last
task was actually developed by the Green Beret training teams. It tests ones ability to persevere after
suffering for days despite feeling sick and most people vomiting repeatedly on
the course.
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Post Race at Hotel Still in Gear
w/ Finishers Skull |
After about 68 hours the last competitor rolled across the
finish line. A total of 300 competitors
signed up for the race. About 270 showed
up in Pittsfield while about 240 actually raced and only 51 finished.
I was able to meet some pretty special people in Pittsfield. I got to support athletes on the course with
nutrition and words of encouragement as well.
Late in the race I was able to motivate a woman that had “quit” the
race. She was in the tent packing up,
upset about the race and I was able to get her turned around and back in the
race. Her name was Shelley and she went
on to win the women’s division. I also
had the pleasure of pacing the youngest competitor in Death Race history with
his blistered feet over the last mountain climb and into Tweed River Farm. He was 17 years old and his name was Parker,
who headed into the Navy later this year.
Team #2 that I was proud to be a part of had about a 70% finishing
rate. We had some tough dudes and one
tough chick on our team. I was
affectionately referred to as “the old man” by a couple of the army ground
pounders. I beat them all to the
finish. My focus was never really on my
overall place but to have fun, enjoy the experience, make some new friends and
see just how far and hard I could push myself.
Much was accomplished in Pittsfield.
Most people will never understand why individuals compete in
a Death Race, an Ironman or ultra marathon.
It’s really a social event with people of a common interest get together
to push themselves beyond what they ever thought was possible. After successfully (and not so successfully) completing
many ultras, ironman and 2 Death Races, I know that anything is possible. I have learned to persevere…through it all…if
you persevere…never give up….you will always accomplish your goals. Sounds simple and it actually is when you keep
it simple.
