Moab '08 Adventure Race

Those who have completed the Moab XStreme Adventure Race know that it far exceeds your expectations. You just never know what your mind and body are capable of until get out there and face the challenge. It may seem like a nice little ride accross the slick rock, but should you set yourself to the test, you will see that the road through Long's Canyon and over to Gemini Bridges requires you to dig deep in your energy reserves and keep pushing forward despite the loose sand and dry heat. A couple of mashed peanut butter sandwiches, shot blocks, electrolyte packets and liters of water help keep you fueled and lucid during the journey. The kayaks require endurance, patience and some coordinated technique. The repel in the middle of the race was a major bonus - well worth the hard work to get there and back. Three hundred feet (almost) is a great repel whether its your first or one-hundredth. Team Die Hard flew down that thing with style! After I descended first I took a few photos and videos of the rest of the team. Hopefully there is a way of posting videos here. If you want a copy of the videos I can send one to you. I am excited for next year!

Vikingman 2008

What turned out to be the most extreme event of 2008 so far for me was the Vikingman Triathlon in Burley, ID on June 7. The race itself is a half ironman distance and not for the faint of heart. Combine that with the sustained 30-40 mile an hour winds that were in Burley on race day and you'll be questioning your endurance. The race started out at 7 am with the swim in the Snake River. It was 39 degrees air temperature and white capped waves were rolling up the Snake reminiscent of swimming in the ocean with the tide breaking overhead. Several competitors succumbed to the conditions and "tapped out" of the swim and the race altogether. After the swim came the bike which was also directly into the wind for the majority. The bike was a long 56 hard I wondered if my legs would ever remember how to run as I started into the first few miles of the half marathon. All said and done the Vikingman 2008 produced some slower times but the finishers relished the experience as the course was accomplished in such adverse conditions.

The World of Adventure Racing

Since I have yet to find a complete collection of Adventure Racing and other Extreme endurance events and resources I thought it would be fun to list a few of my favorite websites:

Adventure Racing Events

http://www.adventurexstream.com/ - This company puts on some awesome adventure races in Utah and Colorado.

http://www.eah.com.mx/ - Extreme Adventure Hidalgo - This is a 3 person race in Mexico. The first place purse for the coed team is $55,000. In 2007 they offered a single gender race division and offered a purse of $10,000 in that division.

http://www.oarevents.com/adventure.asp - Odyssey Adventure Racing has events in West Virginia and and Virginia

http://www.overmountainextremear.com/ - Overmountain Extreme Adventure Race. North Carolina.

http://www.coasttocoast.co.nz/ - New Zealand Coast to Coast multi-sport race (run, bike, kayak)

http://www.threepeaks.org.au/ - Australia's sailing and mountain running event

http://www.raidthenorth.com/ - Frontier Adventure Racing, Canada

http://www.arworldseries.com/ - Website for the Adventure Racing World Series and Championship

http://www.planetadventurerace.com/ - Indianapolis area adventure race series, includes an urban adventure sprint.

http://www.urbanadventureracing.com/ - The Wild Onion urban adventure race. Annual events in various locations. 2008 is Chengdu, China

http://www.abudhabi-adventure.com/ - Abu Dahbi Adventure Challenge. The 2008 race has a VERT COOL video on the website.

Training
http://www.boulderperformance.net/ - This is the site of Boulder Performance Network. They put on adventure racing certification clinics and offer adventure racing specific personal training programs.

http://www.americanadventuresports.com/ - Adventure Racing Training and certifications.

Other Endurance Events

http://www.ragnarrelay.com/ - You and 11 of your closest friends running day and night, relay-style, through some of the most scenic terrain North America could muster. Add in live bands, inside jokes and a mild case of sleep deprivation. The result? Some call it a slumber party without sleep, pillows or deodorant. We call it a Ragnar Relay... (7 races: Arizona, Florida, Wisconsin/Minnesota, Texas, Utah aVery FUN venue!, Washington, Washington D.C.)

http://www.ragbrai.com/ - This is a 7 day bike ride across Iowa. It is always the last full week of July and caps out at 8,500 riders for the full week, but also allows participants to ride single day rides capped at 1,500 per day

http://www.badwater.com/ - "The Worlds Toughest Foot Race" 135 miles, 130 degrees, 60 hours. This is a foot race through Death Valley in the dead heat of the summer. 13,000 feet of vertical ascent.

http://www.bear100.com/ - 100 mile foot race from nearly 22,000 feet of elevation gain Logan, Utah to Bear Lake, Idaho

http://www.wasatch100.com/ - The Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run is held in Utah the first weekend after Labor Day each year. The run stretches from Layton, Utah to The Homestead in Midway, Utah.

Strange & Unusual Races

http://www.muddybuddy.com/ - This race series looks cool. Teams of two trade off mountain biking and running and also completing unusual obstacle challenges.

http://www.urbanassaultride.com/ - The Pedal-Powered Urban Adventure race series included 8 venues across the country. Teams of 2 navigate their way around the city by bicycle to checkpoints where they complete "crazy obstacle courses at each stop."

http://www.oysterracingseries.com/ - If you are bored with your race, try an Oyster! The Merrell Oyster Racing Series is billed as the “Ultimate Urban Adventure Race” for its uncanny ability to combine pure athleticism with thought-provoking strategy. Your 3- or 6-person team will run-bike-scoot-paddle-trek-climb and perform other crazy athletic stuff you never dreamt could make a race so darn fun. Race venues include Seattle, Denver, San Francisco, Austin, Portland, and Nashville

http://www.ratraceadventure.com/ - The Rat Race Urban Adventure. Series of 8 European urban adventure races. The Rat Race is a physical and mental adventure challenge that uses the cityscape as its playground. It is a team event in which participants hike, bike, abseil, climb and kayak the streets, structures, waterways and urban landscape, whilst navigating their way around a course that's only revealed to them hours before they begin.

http://www.mhsurvival.co.uk/index.html - Men's Health Survival of the Fittest "a challenging 10km route, with tough and engaging obstacles every kilometre, you will pit your wits against fellow "Survival" competitors in a test of stamina, grit, speed and guts." 10k with 10 obstacles, one obstacle each 1k. Check out the video. Looks very fun.

http://www.menshealthurbanathlon.com - Men's Health Urbanathalon, New York and Chicago. The race includes an 8 mile run, 52 flights of stairs in the 7 World Trade Center, climbing over scaffolding, jumping taxi cabs, and the final wall to climb over. 2007 race video on the site.

Inspiring Athletes

http://www.ianadamson.com/ - 7x Adventure Racing World Champion, 3x World Record Holder, 3x Eco-Challenge winner, and author of the Runner's World Guide to Adventure Racing. I read it, it's a good book.

http://www.ultramarathonman.com/ - The website of Dean Karnazes, better known as Ultra Marathon Man. I read his book. Very cool.

http://www.eliteadventureteam.com/ - Official website of Team Nike Adventure Racing team. "The winningest adventure racing team." Very impressive team!

http://www.4deserts.com/ - This is a race series of 4 separate running races in 4 separate deserts. Chile, China, Egypt, and Antartica. Amazing.

I am fascinated with endurance races and athletes. If you are aware of any links that fit any of the above categories please let me know.

PrimalQuest

Team Nike is in the lead at Primal Quest Montanna. This 10 day race covering 500 miles is going on right now and will conclude June 2nd. 82 teams from all over the world are competing for this years title. Check out the details and track the teams progress at www.EcoPrimalQuest.com

Preparing for Moab 2009

I am excited to say that we now have 14 confirmed racers for the Adventure XStream Moab race. The race director tells me that the race is tentatively set for March 28th, 2009 (though not the official date yet) and registration will open in December.

I would like to have at least 16 confirmed racers, which would give us 4 complete 4-person teams. Confirmed racers at this point in time include:

Jeremy Jensen
Dan Jensen
Josh Jensen
Brian Romrell
Craig Romrell
Evan Romrell
Greg Randall
Jason Miller
Scott Stein
Scott Swallow
Louis Janke
Eric Rigby
Blake Drury
Rick Bruce

For those who haven't done the race before and want a sample training schedule go to http://www.gravityplay.com/adventureracing/pdf/TrainingSchedule.pdf
This is a good place to start.

If you want to be intimidated ask Jason Miller what his weekly training schedule includes. Last I checked he was running 60 miles per week, attending 3 spinning classes per week, swimming 30 minutes 3 times per week, and has raced the last 4 Saturdays in a row. His last 4 races include: Boise Half Ironman, Wellsville Duathlon (with a 1st place finish overall), Sports Academy Sprint Triathlon (1st place finish overall), and the Cache Valley Triathlon (2nd place finish in his age group).

For those of you that want to get REALLY intimidated go visit the website for Team Nike. These guys routinely attend the 12-Hour Adventure Race in Moab. Their race schedule is incredible! How would you like to race in Moab, Montana, France, South Africa, China, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, and United Arab Emirates. AND that is just there 2008 schedule. Did you have any idea that Adventure Racing was that big? Visit Team Nike at http://www.eliteadventureteam.com/
I guess all that training and racing pays off for the "Worlds Winningest Adventure Team".

For other great resources and adventure event information go to http://www.adventurexstream.com/

Incidentally, Team No Pain No Gain (Jason, Jeremy, Craig, Evan) is ranked in 2nd place overall in the 4-man Open division of the Adventure XStream race series and Team Die Hard (Dan, Greg, Brian, Scott Stein) is in 5th place overall.

Over the next few months I would like to schedule a few get togethers for training and fun. Let me know if you have any ideas. As always, Game On!

XStream Sports

This is the official blog site for the XStream Sports crazies in Utah whom I am grateful to call friends. I thought it would be helpful to have a blogspot to post ideas and share resources about upcoming team oriented adventure races and other unusual endurance events and races.

I'd like to use this blogspot as a place to post photos and commentary on recent races, upcoming events, and a place to track crazy endurance events. Speaking of unusual endurance events, I recently learned of a race series involving running, mountain biking and various unusual obstacles. To check out this race series (including 9 different venues across the country) check out www.muddybuddy.com

This past weekend our 12-person running team completed the 181-mile Wasatch Back Ragnar Relay. The team ran an average 7:40 pace in relay format for just over 23 hours and finished in 22nd place overall in a field of 500 teams. Way to go Team Run EMC. To check out this event go to www.ragnarrelay.com

Members of our group have succussfully completed (and often times ranked very well) in some of the following races: Adventure XStream Moab (second place finish 2007 OPEN division and first and third place finish 2008 OPEN division), Adventure XStream 2007 Buena Vista, Viking Man Half Ironman Triathlon, Cache Valley Triathlon, Jordanelle Triathlon, Ragnar Relay (three years running with a 2nd place finish in the corporate division), and Lotoja bike race (Logan to Jackson Hole) to name a few.

Recently a couple of our crazy buddies (Wade Macfarland, Jason Miller, and Luke Rothey) finished the Boston Marathon. We were all especially impressed with Wade's performance finishing the race in about 2 hours 50 minutes and attaining his goal to beat Lance Armstrong. Not bad for a guy who is over 50 years old.

So, now we have a blogspot to publish photos and commentary on recent and upcoming races. Please let me know if you have something to post. I would like this blog to take on a life of its own!