Summer Death Race 2015 – by #376

Ed Shelton

“To die will be an awfully big adventure.” – Peter Pan

On June 28th, I finished the 2015 Peak Summer Death Race – a 57 hour non-stop endurance event.  I am racer #376.  This is the story of my Death Race.

Table of Contents

Signing up

After the 2014 Summer Death Race, I decided that the Death Race was something I wanted to do.  The question was when.  I had a lot of GORUCKs set up for the rest of 2014 and I was focused on those.  The thing was, I couldn’t get the Death Race out of my head.  So I reached out to a friend and Death Race finisher, Patrick Mies, and asked him, should I do the Death Race?  He said it would be better to chat about it in person.  Unfortunately, our plans changed and we never had a chance to chat.  Then a couple of days later on Veterans Day, Patrick and I were chatting over Facebook about boots and he started telling about all the deals he was finding including half off for the Death Race.  After a quick chat with my wife AJ, I was registered for the 2015 Summer Death Race and sent Patrick a note, “Damn you and your deals!!!”

With registration complete, I started thinking about training and focus.  I had several more GORUCKs to complete before the end of the year, so I decided to concentrate on those to get them out of the way. I completely changed my 2015 race schedule – I simply told myself there would other events, but this is the last a Death Race.

I made 3 decisions early on:

  1. I would not tell anyone that I was planning to do the Death Race. This was my race. I did not want to deal with distractions, advice, or questions about the race.
  2. I would limit my research about the race. Doing research can make you feel comfortable and confident in knowing what to expect.  That kind of confidence can be dangerous. The Death Race is about dealing the unexpected.
  3. My training would include physical, mental, and emotional elements. The Death Race will test the limits of all three.

Training & Preparation

I did a self-assessment to determine where I needed work.

  • Physically:
    • I needed to build my strength, endurance, and distance running. I made a simple training plan. Today, do N number of push-ups (only active rest), M number of sit-ups (only active rest), X number of squats (no rest), Y number of burpees (no rest), & Z number of strict pull-ups (no rest). Tomorrow, N+1 push-ups, M+5 sit-ups, X+5 squats, Y burpees increase by 5 every week, & Z strict pull-ups increase by 1 every week. I slowly increased my running to 6.3 miles 3x a week plus 18 miles on Saturday.  On Sunday, I slowly increased my rucking on the trials to 16 miles with 55-60 pound ruck doing an average of 14 min/mi.  I rucked rough trails, up & down hills, through waist deep water. On the runs & rucks, I limited my nutrition and tested out different gels and shots to see what did worked for me and what did not.  The idea was to adjust my body to perform on limited nutrition and only eat things that did not upset my stomach.  As the Death Race approached, I added swimming to the mix.  
    • I trained alone. I would look at “yesterday’s” me as my competition. How do I beat that guy? How do I get faster & stronger than him?
    • I also took a look at my diet and decided to cut out almost all foods that included added sweeteners (real or fake). For example, bananas were okay, lemonade & all forms of soda were not.  4 weeks prior to the race, I began to cut my caffeine intake so that I was caffeine free for 2 before the race.
    • I had heard that you always had to chop wood, so I bought an ax and learned to chop wood. My in-laws were very grateful as I would spend hours at their house chopping wood. By the end, I think they had enough firewood to get through 2 winters.
  • Mental & Emotion:
    • I knew I was strong mentally, but felt I needed to be even stronger and more gritty. I subscribed to the “Spartan Up Podcast” listening for new tips and tricks from the folks they interviewed and talked about. One of the most useful tips I picked up was from a story Joe would tell often.  It was about an English rowing team.  (I may get some of the details wrong.)  The team was tired of losing and they set the championship as their goal.  Together as a team, they would always ask themselves the same question before doing anything – “Will this make the boat go faster?” If the answer was no, they did not do it. I adopted a variation of this for myself. With each action or decision, I would ask “Will this help me finish the Death Race?” If yes, then I proceeded. If no, I would ask, “Will this hurt my chances at finishing the Death Race?” If yes, then I would not proceed. I used this process with every choice I had to make from running that extra mile, to decided what to eat for dinner, to tapering my training after an injury.
    • I also picked up ideas on how to incorporate activities into my training that pushed me outside my mental and physical comfort zone.  In ancient Sparta, boys would have to run 10 miles barefoot with a mouth full of water and spit out the water at the end to prove they did not swallow it. I added barefoot trail rucking.  I added sprints with a mouthful of water in the middle of my training routines.
    • I am not a strong swimmer.  In fact, I don’t care for being in the water.  So, I added swimming to my training.  While my swimming barely improved, it built up my confidence in the water.
    • Lastly, as I began to taper my training as the Death Race got closer. I replaced the physical training with yoga and meditation. During my lunch, I would go to the top of the parking garage and meditate or practice yoga in nothing but my ranger panties while listening to recorded songs of a stream and frogs.  The idea was to become comfortable with who I am and be comfortable with being alone all by myself with no distractions.
  • Gear:
    • With just about every piece of gear of I was planning to bring or use, I tested and retested it.  I took the gear on rucks, broken in my shoes, etc.  If a piece of gear was not going to cut it out there, I wanted to find out during training, not during the race.
    • One of the items on my gear list was the email of close friend, who would not be at the race and would be available Saturday morning to respond to an email.  I chose one of my closest friends & best man at my wedding, Abe Stoker, to be that person. When I called to ask him for this favor, I think I may have scared him. I honestly think he was anticipating me to ask him to look after my kids when or if something happened at the Death Race.

Overall, I was pleased with my training and results. In six months, I lost 25-30 pounds, became faster, stronger, more comfortable with myself, and increased my mental grit.  Looking back at my training now, there were some key things that significantly helped me during the Death Race.  More on that later.

48 Hours Before the Race

In past Death Races, you were allowed to have a crew and drop boxes.  My wife, AJ, agreed to come with me to Pittsfield, Vermont and be my crew.  She helped me secure the items on my gear list.  

I arrived in Boston on Wednesday afternoon. Since I did spend enough time memorizing the poem “If” by Kipling, I downloaded the audio version read by Ralph Fiennes and listened to it at least 30x on the drive up.

When I finally got to the Trailside Inn, I was greeted by Josh, the innkeeper and Death Race finisher.  He asked, “Are you here for that silly race?”  Josh is a super cool guy and we chatted for a little awhile.  It felt like he was interviewing me, trying to figure out if I had what it takes to finish.  He also gave me one piece of advice.  “The Death Race is a long slow grind,” he said, “and at some point you will be alone and not see anybody for what feels like hours. It happens to everyone, just keep pushing.”

Around the time I got into Pittsfield, we were notified that crews were not allowed and there wouldn’t be drop boxes for the racers. Basically, you needed to pack everything that you would need for 4 days. This changed my entire packing strategy; I dropped a bunch of clothes, added more food to my pack, and decided to leave my ax.  I even went out a bought a compact, light sleeping bag instead of using the one I brought.  AJ was carrying some of my food, so I was hoping that she made it in before the race started.

Thursday finally arrived.  I had an awesome breakfast at the General Store.  I did break my rule and added syrup to my pancakes (it’s Vermont, how could I not have syrup?) and a lemonade (in my defense, it was a kale lemonade recommended by Josh). I hit the neighboring town for last minute gear and groceries.  Ran into a couple of other Death Racers while I was out.  I got back to the Trailside and spent the time reviewing, documenting, and packing my gear. Then we got another email from Peak saying we needed headlamps and glow sticks.  I had 2 headlamps, but not glow sticks – time to go out for another run to the store.

When early registration opened, I got my bib, #376, my Peak Racing hat, dropped off my IDs, and hung out with the other racers.  I was dressed casual, while most everyone else was dressed to race.  It got in my head a little bit – why was everyone ready to go with their gear and their bibs on.  I snuck back to my room and got some of my gear on and made sure my bag was ready to go.  People were talking different strategies and their thoughts on the race.  

Dinner was served.  I got a plate of vegetarian lasagna, salad, a water, and a Gatorade.  I sat down with some racers from Canada.  One of the guys, Aaron, was very excited, as excited as Canadians can get. He saw another racer with his bib number and was trying to figure out what it all meant.  Some other folks joined our table and we started to chat.  It seems that Aaron had done a ton of research on the Death Race and was an encyclopedia of every challenge/task from past races. He was confident that the race was going to be a greatest hits collection from past races.  The guys that joined us had done no research whatsoever.  They were a couple of big meatheads (I mean that in the nicest way), definitely seemed like they were relying on their physical strength and athletic ability to get them through.  Then we were joined by 2 women, previous multi-time finishers. Their perspective was pretty funny.  We had a couple of discussions on whether you needed a bucket or not.  I decided not to bring a bucket.  Aaron was convinced that a bucket was mandatory and that we should all go get buckets.  Carey, one of the gals, was like “You don’t need to bring a bucket.  It is not on the gear list.”  Then someone asked if she brought a bucket.  “Oh yes, I am bringing my bucket – a collapsible one.”  The conversation continued in this way, people trying to get information out of each other and get their opinions on what we would face.

That is when I saw Patrick & Ella arrive.  We had no idea that we were all going to be there.  I gave them big hugs.  Patrick and I chatted for a bit, he introduced me to other finishers he knew.  He was getting a little nervous that everyone was dressed to go.  He and Ella were tapping into their resources to get an idea on when we would start.  While the information was not perfect, they found out the race would start tonight sometime around or after 1am.  That eased some tensions while we waited for the race meeting to start.

Finally, the race meeting started.  There were over 200 of us there.  Johnny Waite introduced us to the race staff.  They went over important information, warned us about leeches, told parking rules, and celebrated a Death Race couple that was getting married soon.  Johnny did fake us out into thinking the race was starting right then.  A piece of advice was given, “Run your own race.  Don’t worry about what the other guy is doing and follow the rules.”  We were told that the optional start time of the race was 2am, while the official start time was 7am.  I was happy with the time – it was very likely I would get to see AJ before I started.  We disbursed and I went to get a couple of hours of rest.  AJ got in around 11:30pm.

The Optional Start Time

I got up early, showered, lubed up, gear on, bib on, pack ready, and headed downstairs with AJ.  I estimated that my pack was around 60+ pounds (but I am horrible at estimating weight – a flaw that would come back and haunt me later). Around 2am, we started with low crawls (aka belly crawls) in the grass. They filled up one bus load and had the rest of us crawl to the Trailside sign, then roll back to the parking lot.  Repeat this loop until there was room on the bus.  I heard that the low crawl distance was around 1/4 of a mile. It was during the low crawl I tore up my elbows.  It hurt, but not too bad.  I thought, “I scraped up my elbows before – This is the Death Race of course I will end up with cuts, scrapes, and bruises.”  I put the pain out of my mind and continued to crawl and roll.  I am not sure how much time passed.  I got a spot on the second bus near Alberto and Ella.  It was always nice to see familiar faces.

The bus dropped us off and we had to hike up the mountain.  We hit a clearing and were told to knock out 300 burpees with our packs on as a group.  After a rough start, we had a good rhythm and got to around 170 before we were told to stop and move on.  We started back on our hike up the mountain.  We took a moment to look over the mountains just before sunrise, when clouds hung low and blanketed the landscape.  It was a fantastic sight. We hiked until we met up with the first group.  They were busy cutting down trees, fixing the walls of a cabin, pouring concrete, and gathering rocks. We were told to get out bucket if we had one and go gather rocks.  I gathered a load of rocks and carried them back.  Ella stopped me on the way, pointed to my elbow and asked it I was okay.  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I replied, “It’s only my elbow.”

After some time of gathering rocks, we returned to our packs and began to hike out. It was around then, I saw the first med drop. One of the racers was vomiting black stuff and really struggling to stay with it.  As a group, we split up carrying his gear and helping him out.  We got to Amee farm, took a huge group photo, and went back to hiking.  At this point, I had about 3/4 of the group in front of me.  Since rucking fast has always been my thing, I picked up the pace to catch up to the front.  I made it to about 15-20 people from the front before we stopped to make sure everyone was there. After a short break, enough to get some food, go to the bathroom, and fix up your feet, we were on our way again.  This time I got up to the front and heard Johnny tell some stories.  

We got to a creek and was told to get in and sit down until everyone was in the water.  The water in the Vermont mountains in June is much colder than the water in Austin Texas.  I have trained in cold water, so after the initial shock it was not too bad.

The Race Begins

Once everyone was in the water, Johnny told us that this was the official start of the race.  He shared that the theme of the race was Life.  He told us to get out of the water, gather the following gear and line up: sleeping bag, water bottle, water filtration, rope, life jacket, duct tape, food and whatever you need for the next 24 hours.  When everyone was lined up, Johnny said we were going to do what some think is impossible.  “Strip down to your undies, no shoes, no socks.  If you don’t have undies, we will cut your pants into undies.  We are going to hike Bloodroot barefoot and in our undies.”  I was very happy I had done some barefoot training and yoga in my ranger panties, this did not scare me.  For some, it was too much and they dropped.  We were also told our bags would get wet, and to be sure to waterproof anything you don’t want wet.  We were told to tape up our packs and we would not see them again for 24 hours. We were convinced they would be dunking our packs.

Now, it was a race.  The first thing we needed to experience was birth.  We had to get into the creek, in our sleeping bag, submerge underwater, then sprint up the hill.

I was the 12th person up the hill and I was cursing my choice in sleeping bags.  While much better then the one I brought, other people brought biby sacks which did not retain the same amount of water.  Next we had to tether together, 10 people to a group, with each group tied together.  Once everyone was tied together, we began on our way.  This quickly turned into the people in the back yelling stop or slow down and the folks in the front yelling speed up.  I just had to laugh, my team (team 2) were joking and predicting with ridiculous accuracy what people would say and when.  Finally, the teams were separated from each other and told to get to the top of the mountain as fast as they could.  Team 1 took off and got a decent lead on us.  Team 3 caught up to us once, but we turned on the gas and left them behind.  We got to the top and have to wait for the rest of the teams to show up.  Our team got to know each other pretty well – being in your undies, tied together, hiking in the mountains of Vermont is a great way to get know someone.

Over the 15 hours after we strip to our undies, we

  • Hiked the Bloodroot trail, approximately 31 miles (5 on gravel)
  • Had large exodus of people dropping, include one from side effects of pot brownies.  PSA: Kids, when you have limited space to pack food, choosing pot brownies as a form of sustenance for a multi-day endurance race is not a good idea.
  • Talked a lot of our asses.  By the way, if I was not convinced before that women talk about asses more than men, the Death Race erased all doubt in my mind.
  • Paraded in front of a wedding reception.
  • Helped each maintain balance while sleepwalking.
  • Made some awesome shadow puppets – I was a dinosaur.
  • Finally made it to the famed Area 51.

Area 51

We were the second team to make it into Area 51. They took down our numbers, told us to untie from each other, get our packs and return.  We climbed over and down the grassy hill to see our packs tied together and floating in the leech infested pond.

“Once team 1 is done, you will have 10 minutes to find your packs and get out of the water,” one of the race coordinators said.  He continued, “If you fail, you will have wait and try again.”  We jumped in.  The water was oddly warm.  We had some trouble finding our packs, but completed the task in 8 minutes.  Somehow I avoid getting any leeches, despite seeing the biggest leech I have ever seen swim right by me.

We were sent to the sand, horse corral to wait until every team finished. When we got there and started to go through our packs, we realized that our packs had been in that water for hours upon hours.  Most of the waterproof sacks had failed, getting people’s clothes and food soaked.I was luckier than others, most of my food was twice bagged – in waterproof bags inside a dry sack. My socks and shoes on the other had were soaked.  We all tried to dry out, got some food and waited for the next task.  My espresso pillows had escaped the lake’s wrath. I grabbed a couple of those and an oat bar to eat.

For some, the thought of no dry clothes and no food was too much.  Others also got very closing to quitting.  Even some of my team 2 teammates we talking about quitting. I told them, “Don’t quit until you do the next task.”  They both decided to stay (spoiler: one of them went on  finish).  

We made it through the night and it was chore time.  The chores were pretty basic.  Move that huge pile of wood from here to there.  A lot of folks were smiling, some (myself included) were having fun.  Joe De Sena came out to join us moving wood, after chasing down Patrick for pinching Joe’s rear.  (To be clear, I am not exactly sure why Joe was chasing Patrick, but that is the story I am going with.)  After the wood was moved, we had to stack it, and weed the horse corral.

Next, it was time to get something to eat, fill our water, put our gear together and get ready for the next part of the race.  We would start in the order of teams came in with the time advantage we had.  Once the teams were grouped up, we heard “Everyone get your whipped cream or your hot sauce.”  Since my hot sauce was buried deep within my pack, I got my whipped cream.  Christina had lost her whipped cream to the lake, so I gave her one of my canisters (foolishly I gave her the smaller can).  We had to down the whipped cream or hot sauce, before the next stage would begin.  I realized 3 things about aerosol whipped cream. 1. Ingested it quickly is nearly impossible.  2. I don’t ever want cheap, canned whipped cream again.  (My 3rd lesson would come later.)

Time for School

The horn blew and Team 1 took off.  Team 2, my team got ready.  We waiting for our time, the horn blew and we were off.  At the bottom of the hill, we learned what about the next stage – School.  We had entered the first grade and were meeting the principal.  She explained the rules to us and other important information about school then pointed us to the start of 1st grade.  School fit a basic formula.  

  • Perform a movement to a fixed spot (front roll, back roll, bear crawl, etc.) depending on the grade
  • Dunk yourself in pit of black-ish water (number of dunks depended on your grade)
  • High crawl to the class area
  • Class would have a piece of paper with important information about your grade you need to learn
  • Perform the earlier movement you did to the tester
  • Take a test
  • If you passed, you moved on to the next grade.  Fail and you would repeat the grade.

First and second grades proved to be the hardest for me because of how easily I get motion sickness.  Lisa, one of my team 2 teammates, suffered from the same condition.  During the second set of backwards rolls with a belly full of whipped cream (that had not been kept at the recommended temperature and likely went bad), I stood up and asked the principal, “Excuse me ma’am, if we have to vomit, is there a place you would prefer us to vomit?”  She replied, “Yes, over by those rocks.  Thanks for asking.”  I responded with a thumbs up and a “Not a problem” and went back to rolling.  After two more rolls, I stood up, walked to the rocks, and vomited.    I rolled some more and caught up with Lisa.  She was not doing well.  Unfortunately, neither was I.  I got back up and vomited again.  Of course, that set her off and we became vomit buddies.  Then she said something to me that I will never forget, “Is it weirding you out that there is no whipped cream in your vomit?”  Up until then, I had not noticed.  But she was right, there was no whipped cream.  “Yes – yes, it is weirding me out that there is no whipped cream in my vomit.”  This is when I had my third realization about aerosol whipped cream, it scares the crap out of me.  I ingested over 13oz of whipped cream and threw up multiple times shortly afterwards and there was no whipped cream.  I have no idea what happens to it when it enters your body.  To re-iterate what I wrote earlier, I never want to have cheap aerosol whipped cream ever again.  Thanks to all the vomiting, one of the local med staff paid me a visit and asked how I was doing.  I told him that I was doing fine except for having a belly full of rancid whipped cream and having to roll in a field.  I would be fine once I got to the next stop and had some water.  He gave me a warning, “I am watching you.  If you throw up again, I will med drop you.”  That really pissed me off.  To make it that far and possibly be dropped because I am highly susceptible to motion sickness, I was not having it.  I got angry and I am not one who gets angry very often.  Luckily, I was done with rolling, or so I thought.  A few classes later, I was told to front roll again.

If you don’t know me, I will let you know that I am problem solver.  In fact, solving problems is what I do.  I look at results, find the pattern, determine what variables are under my control to change the result, then start changing them.  For front rolls, I knew that after 2 rolls I would start to feel sick and the world would move on me.  Then I remembered something that Melissa Antonios told me a long time ago, she suggested doing jumping jacks when getting very dizzy will help reset the fluids in your ears.  Whether that is true or not, I decided to give it a try.  After 2 rolls, I would bounce up on my feet and jump twice.  It worked.  I may have looked kind of crazy out there and was forcing my body to do more work than necessary, but it worked.  Thanks Melissa.

School ended at 6th grade and I graduated before the time hack.  I was told to get some food and fix up my gear before reporting for the next stage which was going to be rough.

The “Pit of Sorrow”, 1-Mile Loops, Hallucinations, and Crews Arrive

When I got there, I was weighed. (I made the mistake of getting weighed with my wet boots and clothes on plus a small amount of gear in my pockets which added about 10 pounds to my weight.)  “Go get a rock that is ⅓ of your body weight and return.  If it is under, you owe 250 burpees and have to pick again.  If it is over, you keep it and start.”  Death Race lesson learned: I am horrible at determining the weight of a rock.  My first rock was about 12 pounds under.  My second rock was about 14 pounds too heavy.

I put the heavy rock in my pack.  Based on the weight it started at, plus the additional water weight from the soaked gear & sleeping bag, and the rock, I am thinking my pack weighed around 120 to 130 pounds.  I started on the trail.  I was feeling good.  I was able to get some food and espresso pillows and I was about to go on a ruck.  The first obstacle on the hike was the “Pit of Sorrows.”  This was a pit filled with thick, black mud that was in spots waist deep on me.  It was what I imagine going through quick sand would be like.  After a lot of struggling, sinking to my waist and falling forward covering my arms and hands in the black mud, I made it through.  It zapped all the energy from my legs, but I continued on.  The hike was ahead of me was steep, real steep.  Hiking the hills (or bumps) in Texas is not comparable to hiking the mountains in Vermont.  The hike looped back to the base area.  I went to the tent, they took down my number and that was when I realized we were going to be doing loops.  I was not done with the pit.  

It started to get dark and we keep doing loops.  This is when I was alone, sleep deprived and likely malnourished.  Being alone in the dark is not easy for some people.  I was grateful for my training.  As I wrote earlier, I had added meditation to my routine.  I was used to being completely alone with my thoughts.  I leaned on that training during these dark hours.  

It is funny, this was probably the most miserable part of the Death Race (temperatures in the 40s, the rain was pouring down, 30-40 mph winds), but it ended up containing some of my favorite and most memorable moments.  Here they are:

  • Up until then, crews were not allowed.  At the end of one of my loops, I entered base camp to have a woman run up to me, holding a box of Little Caesars, and say, “Would you like some pizza?”  I thought, “Okay, I have completely lost my mind.  I am seeing a woman offer me pizza and not even good pizza.”  I said, “No. … What the hell is going on?”  She told me that crews were just now allowed to help because the the weather was getting bad.  The crews had to help any racer that needed help, not just theirs.  She said only a few crews were here, but the rest are on their way.  I did a quick look for AJ (my wife), did not see her and started my next loop.
    • By the way, if the woman that offered me pizza reads this.  Thank you.  I realize I may have been rude to you, I apologize for that.  In my defense, I honestly thought I had lost my mind.
  • On another loop, a fellow racer came up to me.  Put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Thank God it is you.”  I looked at him and asked, “Do I know you?”  
    “No, but that entire way here I thought you were an ATM.  But now, I see that you’re not one.  Thanks.”
    “No worries,” I replied with a big smile, “Keep trucking, brother.”
  • When I first saw AJ in the base camp.  It was awesome to see her.  I honestly don’t remember what I said to her, but seeing her there helping my fellow racers and me was awesome.  Also, she supplied me with Reese’s Pieces, peanut butter fold-overs, and Cool Blue Gatorade – all things that helped my continue on.
  • Seeing Xavier huddled in the tent, wrapped up in multiple blankets, emergency blankets, hat, hood up and thinking: “Wow, he looks very cold.  It sucks to be him.”  
  • Hallucinating.  I saw multiple things in the woods.  It is hard to describe.  Basically, the trees and leaves looked like things: A wooden painting of a skeleton dancing, a fancy mouse having tea, the inside of a concrete tunnel.  At first, I was like, “Whoa, this is nuts.”  Later, as I began to memorize the route, they became landmarks that helped me know where I was.  I would greet them as I passed.  “Hello Mr. Mouse, I hope you are enjoying your tea.”  Mr. Mouse was the correct way to greet him; he was quite fancy and I did not want to offend.
  • The moment when I had all the hope, lost it, but did not give up.  We were told we had to complete 9 laps by 6am.  I looked at the time, did the calculations and realize that it would be easy to make the cut-off (as long as I did not lose too much time in the pit).  On the next loop, I get majorly stuck in the pit.  I was in the pit for 50 minutes, struggling to get out.  Eventually I made it out but had little to no energy to go on.  As I hiked up the mountain trail, I decided that I would not give up.  I reminded myself, “Be in the moment.  There is no future.  There is no past.  There is only the present.  Keep going.”  
  • Of course, watching Eric Furtado fly up the mountain trail, waddling because of the amount of chaffing he was experiencing.  I swear, that is the fastest I have ever seen anyone waddle – ever!

I finished my laps.  A big thanks to my fellow racers, my wife, Eric, Michelle, Ted (who taught me how to get up off the ground with a 130 pound pack).  You made completing those laps easier.

Eric and I finished our last lap at about the same time and were told to report to the corral.  I told Eric that I was going to go, I knew I was better off if I did not stop.  On the way, I told AJ that I was headed to the next area.

We get there and are told to talk to the guy in the shed.  He explains that we need to do a loop of exercises and check in with the guys in the SUV.  We decide to take a quick break to try to warm up.  Both Eric and I are are shivering, he grabs a garbage bag to warm up.  Since there is only one and he needs to warm up, I decide to start the exercises in the hope it will warm me up.  The problem was my feet were in agony from being wet and in boots for over 14 hours.  I check in with the Johnny in the SUV and start my PT loops.  The first station is push-ups.  I am feeling good and bang out the first 12 quickly with no problem, then the muscle fatigue hits me.  I keep going, just not very well.

At 6am, we are told to stop.  They gather us in the shed and we are told that there are 7 official finishers.  The rest of us are unofficial finishers.  We are told to get our shovels, head back to the base camp to dig graves for the top 7.  My feet were in so much pain, I decided to check with the medic to make sure I should continue.  At this point, I figured I did not see any negative to being med-dropped.  

Hypothermia

My memory is cloudy at this point, so I don’t recall all the details that follow.  I talked to one of the medics that was there.  When I walked up to the truck he was in, I saw him with his vapor pipe.  Nothing makes me distrust a medical person more than seeing them do something so unhealthy, like smoking.

AJ came up and walked me away and had me get into the car.  I believe this was when I had hypothermia and was talking complete nonsense.  I had no idea where I was and was asking about our home, like “Where was the closest restroom to our house?”  A few minutes later I snapped back and asked if I was just talking non-sense.  She said yes, then told me to change my shoes and shirt.  AJ helped get some clothes out of my pack, informing me that she better not get a leech from my pack.  She helped me change and put on fresh socks and shoes, then got me out of the car and joined the group to help dig.  I am pretty positive without AJ’s help at this point, I would not have finished and may have been dropped due to hypothermia.

The End

Once the graves were dug, we changed into our suits and dresses for the funeral.  The top 7 returned.  One by one, they ready their eulogies and were buried alive.  The Death Race was over.  Johnny and Joe informed us that the seven that were buried are the 2015 Death Race Champions and that the rest of us were official finishers.

The Aftermath

The Death Race was the most intense event I had done.  It was not easy, several previous finishers did not finish this race.  I experienced hypothermia, hallucinations, and remember how my elbows were all torn up – they developed a staph infection, which was caught super early and treated.

Once we got back to Texas and back to the normal routine, I got the post race blues pretty hard.  My body was still recovering, every morning and night I had to wet-dress my elbows which involved ripping off all the scabs, dead skin, dirt etc. and redress them.  It was so bad bad I had to do it over the tub due to the amount of blood.  My daughters helped me, which was awesome, but they did ask if I had any blood left elbows after see them bleed.  

The thing that got me the most was dealing with a lack of purpose, so to speak.  For the previous 6 months, I was focused on the Death Race.  Every decision I was faced with, I answered based on the effect it would have on me finishing.  Now, with it all over, I did not know what to do.  Someone asked me, “What’s next?  What do you do now?”  I don’t know the answer to that.  In the beginning, that bothered me.  Now several weeks after the Death Race, I still don’t know the answer.  Not knowing bothers me less,  I know there will be another silly race similar to the Death Race in my future.  I just don’t know what or when.  I took the time to recover, I have restarted my usual training and have documented my memories of the race.  No more blues and little more freedom.

Thanks again to everyone for their help.  I did not include every detail above, that was never the intention but if I left anyone out in my call-outs, I apologize.  It hard to remember everyone and everything, but I did try to do my best.  

If you read this and have questions about the Death Race, my training, or just want to chat, feel free to reach out.

Gallery