It was nearly 5 years ago when I first began searching for challenges that would not only discipline me but would drive me to find my absolute limits, I started my search by enrolling in Officer candidate school, from there it has been quite an adventure. The 2012 Death Race will hopefully serve as a building block for my quest to push it to the limit. This is the story of how I came to want to compete in the Death Race, but my actual beginnings stem way back from when I used to watch my father run marathon after marathon after marathon. He was a machine, and so too will I be.
December 2006, I applied to join OCS, Officer Candidate School, for the United States Marines Corps. The plan was to go through the summer training program and at the end of my senior year at UIC I would make my decision if I were going to join the Marines Corps. as a Second Lieutenant or continue life in the civilian world.
Complications arose during my second semester of my junior year in the required finance class I was taking for my major. Due to athletic commitments I had to miss a few of these finance classes putting me way behind. My professor offered me an alternative to receiving a bad grade for the semester, she would allow me to start over in the summer and would give me an incomplete until the summer semester was over. I took this opportunity immediately but had to sacrifice something I have always wished I’d had another opportunity to be a part of. It happened very fast and ever since I’ve always thought back about how much I missed out on being trained and disciplined through such a meaningful and productive journey.
About two years ago I participated in my first non-collegiate sport activity, it was the Men’s Health Urbanathalon in Chicago. There were a few obstacles and we did it was a relay but it was a great time. I had a feeling if I could find challenges like that with more difficulty put into the obstacles aspect I’d have found my new thing.
Fast-forward to about 2 years ago, I had discovered the Death Race through some random series of events while scouring through Google. This was it, the event I was looking for, something beyond just running, or biking, or a couple of jumps and wall climbs. After some more research within six months time I knew I wanted to compete in the Death Race, but not only did I want to compete I wanted to know I would go in and finish, at the very least. I expect to do more than just finish though when I do compete. Now that I had finally found something to fill the void created by not attending OCS training I had to figure out when I would compete. Originally I was considering waiting till 2013 so I can get some time to build up and do some other challenges like the Chicago Marathon first.
After my trip to Texas for the Super Spartan and conquering the long night out for the Hurricane Heat, swimming by myself across the lake to find my way back after getting a little lost from a bathroom detour, and then placing 32nd overall the following day, I realized what I was truly capable of in very little time.
Since then I have been thinking about the Death Race nonstop, with thoughts about doing it in 2012 instead of 2013 feeding my appetite to train more. I went on a long hike a week or so ago by myself and it was then I knew that I had to sign up for the 2012 Death Race, waiting until 2013 would just slow my progress. I’m here and I’m ready to get started working to be a strong competitor in the 2012 Death Race! AROO AROO AROO!!!!