11/26/2025
The plan was perfect. The reality was chaos. The result was everything.
After the lessons learned in the 10k, I spent 4 months dialing in my programming for the Spartan Beast (21k). Precision was the name of the game, and every week I felt stronger, faster, and ready.
Then, life threw a curveball.
Two weeks out—right before my taper—I got sick. Twice. My training ground to a halt. To make matters worse, the week leading up to race day was cold, wet, and rainy. Doubt started to creep in. Would the course be a mud pit? Did the sickness ruin my endurance?
Race day arrived with a goal of 4 hours.
The starting corral was electric, packed with thousands of people buzzing with excitement. But as the miles dragged on, that crowd thinned out. The excitement turned into silence. The density of people dwindled until it was just me, the trail, and the obstacles.
I won’t lie—it was a war. There were failed obstacles. There were hills that felt vertical. There was mud. But with every mile, I kept moving.
Somewhere in the pain, I had a realization: This race is exactly like life.
You will lose. You will fail. You will struggle. You will get knocked down when you think you’re ready. But when you have your end goal clearly in mind, nothing else matters. No amount of rain, sickness, or fatigue could stop me from crossing that line.
I crossed the finish line at 3:35:43.
I didn’t just beat the course; I crushed my goal by nearly 25 minutes.
From a struggling half-mile run a year ago to conquering the Beast today. Proof that if you have the grit to keep moving forward, you can achieve things you never thought possible.
