- We meet at the general store at 5:30ish pm to collect our bibs, shirt and skull cap (IBEX, nice!). We're told to meet back in front of the hoop house (our gear hut) at 6:30 without our packs. The first thing we're told is a complete psych out, that neither Andy or Joe had actually planned this event out, and that they're making everything up as they go. Ha, we thought...then they throw out a random twist that nearly convinced me of it, they told us that from here on out we could only use someone else's pack. And then they told us our first task.
- First task was 1k burpees; we did 650 (strict-ish, didn't do a full pushup near the end, but wasn't just doing a squat thrust), but some had already made it as high as 900.
- Joe was getting tired of waiting for us, so we were all told to stop, and grab whatever we thought we needed (but not packs) and follow them. As a group, we jogged to a Bikram yoga studio. I arrived to a few people stripping, and realized of course, we'd actually be doing yoga. I stripped down to my boxers and headed in with 42 others, into a studio suited for half that. Initially, the steam and heat wasn't so bad, but the heat and steam and stuffiness multiplied with 42 sweaty bodies in the room. No one passed out, which was impressive. When we finished, we left the studio to find our gear had been thrown into a nearby snowbank. There was one participant that was smart enough to tie everything of his together, but most of us scrambled disorderly to find our things before we froze.
- With everyone more or less dressed, we follow Andy and Joe on a run for a few miles on dirt roads and then a snowy trail.
- When we arrived at the camp, we're told to make a log pile for each person, 43 total, 70 logs per male, 50 per female. Once we're done, as a group, we have to go to sleep. The log stacking took a few hours I believe, and we didn't have enough to make uniform piles. In the end some were much smaller than others, and some were ludicrously large. The monotony of walking logs to piles got to me so I switched to digging through the wood pile and tossing them down to other participants (at this point we were all working as a group). When we realized we didn't have enough wood, we took from some piles to create new ones. Once done, we all slept. The rule was all lights had to be out and eyes closed, but I don't think anyone actually checked on us. We slept from 1:45am to 3am.
- We're woken up and told to hold our axes above our heads until Joe comes out. After 35 minutes he still hadn't arrived and we're told we can relax in the hoop house until he shows up. After about 20 minutes, we hear a voice telling us to get out and finish our burpees . I got to 875 in the short time they gave us; Dan's knees were hurting but he kept on trucking, go comrade!
- Some had gotten to 1k, and they were told to grab the largest log in a pile of our choosing. Dan (partner) and I followed the rules, while some chose logs that were a little far off from the largest. We are told to carry, not drag them, along with our axes. We didn't know where we were going, and I was falling behind here due to a huge log that felt very similar in weight to my weight vest (80lbs). The only comfortable way to carry the thing was on my shoulder. I'd slam my axe into its side, which allowed me to use the blade to hold the log with one hand, while I wrapped my other hand around the log itself. I kept switching arms, only going about 200 ft at a time, and taking long rests, since getting the damn thing on my shoulder was extremely exhausting. My lower back was definitely getting sore at this point. I finally make it to where I can see a bunch of motionless headlamps; they were on the other side of a river. A plywood bridge was our river crossing, very rickety, and covered in ice. I made it across fine, but saw a friend (Mark W.) slip and catch his log in his lap as he fell square on his ass. Mark shrugged it off though! Once we were all at the embankment, we're told we need to make a ramp from the lower shore to the upper shore (it was a washed out ledge from the hurricane flooding) for the snow shoe marathon taking place in a few hours. As we're building it, a racer from the 100 mile snowshoe race came through and tested it, he made it up without a hitch. We kept going, making it sturdy and wider until the race staff with us told us our next task.
- We're to wade our logs across the river and then roll them back to the farm down the same path we came. People with smaller logs could basically kick them. Some who'd tried to wedge their axe in their logs to drag them earlier only had half a log...not sure where the other half went. Our friend Jess was a trooper, she'd broken hers, but kept the pieces together, even though it ended up busting her finger. We waded across the river, shoes, gloves, axe in one hand, the other hand pushing a frozen log across a knee-deep river. On the other shore I used my log as a seat to put my shoes on. I was in the back of the pack here after helping a few people get their logs down from the upper bank, and then waiting for people, since the shore we came from was very narrow and slick at that point.
- Dan and I were in the last 4/5 of the pack, and our large, wet logs were collecting snow quite well. Most of the time I would walk backwards and use my axe to roll the log, up hills I'd push it by hand. This took us a long time.
- When we returned we found out our next task was to chop and stack wood. One had already completed this task, and being that he'd already done his 1k burpees, was assigned 100 more before he could complete the next task. Dan and I plugged away, while many finished piles incredibly fast. We lost a lot of time to the log carry/roll and to the chopping. Before we finished our 1100 burpees, the guy who'd finished his log chopping first was already back from the next task, which was to grab 4 chopped pieces of wood, and bring them up the mountain.
- This task was simple, hike up (6.5mi loop), and drop the logs off at a small hut at the top then get back. The trail was ridiculously steep in some places and seemed very long since it was part of the snowshoe race. Anyway, we bombed the downhill, and when we get back we see the leaders doing more burpees, we find out that's what we get to look forward to.
- So we start the next task, which was pick 5 unchopped logs (at this point the unchopped ones were huge water-soaked stumps), chop them and bring them across the street with either a wheelbarrow or by dragging them in a milk crate, or carrying them. Dan and I took a long time to chop these, since our logs sucked. We were at about the same time since we both had 1 or 2 logs that took 20 minutes to split. We traded on and off using a wheelbarrow and crate...both sucked since there was a huge hill we had to go up. Once done, we overhear another racer being told the next task, and it didn't include the 900 burpees, so we ask Joe, and he neglects to mention burpees...yay, we got a pass! Sometimes it's crappy to be in first, but this is another aspect of the "race" I don't agree with.
- Next task was to hike up the mountain again, with 5 logs, but the logs stayed with you the whole time. It was getting dark, so Dan and I were told to take on a 3rd team member. We had a slow ascent this time, and rested at the top. Dan and I bombed the descent again, we only took 10 min longer than the previous loop up the mountain, and this time we had logs in our packs the whole way, and stopped quite a few more times on the way up.
- We get back at 7pm (25 hours in) and see the next task is submerging your entire body in a ice-covered pond and holding your breath for 60 seconds. After that we were told we'd have to do another 1k burpees, and then we were doing Bikram yoga again. That'd make the earliest the event would end around 10pm...I was personally not motivated to go beyond 24 hours...mentally, I'd planned to have some weekend to spend with my significant other, and I didn't feel like staying would prove anything more. Dan was fed up, and I realize now that I was as well. It seemed that the organizers were mad that there were still ~20 people left. Had my counterpart been there as my support crew, I'd have likely kept going. Dan's girl was there, but they don't get to see each other often and wanted to be done so he could have some time with her.
In the end, I'm happy. Physically I could have kept going, but I didn't mentally prepare myself for an unending event; I planned to be home. We started with 43 people, and Joe and Andy didn't end the event until 10 people were left. From what I understand of the ending, soon after the 11th quit, the race was over. Had I continued, and based on one finisher's end time, Dan and I would have been going until at least 1am, and then I'd likely not be getting home until noon on Sunday. Once we left, the remaining racers had to do the water submersion, carry a log to do more Bikram, and then do another 1k burpees. Some, who were ahead of others on the burpees, also had to carry a bucket of water from the river and bring it back with the water level no more than 2'' from the top. Once done with that, they did one more loop on the mountain and they were finished. Since one of the competitors had already done a 3rd loop hours earlier, he was told to submerge again, and then do 1k more burpees. The ones that didn't finish their last burpees fast enough were instructed to just do the loop, and when they got back they were told they were finishers. The survivors are some awesome athletes.
Anyway, this was a good test for the Summer Death Race, which had a time of 45 hours last year. I'll assume it will last at least 72, and I will make (request politely) my girlfriend come with me so I'm not tempted to head back home. A crew is a necessity for a long event. I'm going to stick with Dan again, and we're going to finish. I'm not going to look at this as a race anymore, because by definition, it isn't one. It's a challenge, a test, a proving ground. Find your breaking point, and push beyond it. What's good to know from this, is that I am recovering from these long events faster every time. After the first Tire Guys camp, it took 3 days before I felt like doing anything, the second, only a day, and after the Winter Death Race, I felt good with one day of rest! I took two for good measure, and because I felt like being a lazy ass. In all, this was an awakening, an introduction to the summer event. As Dan said, we're going to finish, and move on to bigger and better things.
