June 23, 2025 • 32 mins
The sweet spot of human potential often lies just beyond where most people are willing to venture. What happens when we deliberately seek out our limits, not just to discover them but to push past them? This profound question sets the stage for my upcoming participation in the 2025 Spartan Death Race—one of the world's most extreme and unpredictable endurance challenges.
My journey toward this event began in 2011 when, as a high school wrestler, I stumbled upon footage of participants diving into freezing Vermont ponds at 2AM to retrieve pennies needed to continue after already enduring 24+ hours of challenges. Where most saw pointless suffering, I recognized something magnetic—a rare opportunity to discover what exists beyond conventional boundaries. That fascination never faded, eventually leading to a conversation with Spartan founder Joe DeSena and ultimately, my acceptance into this legendary event.
Unlike traditional races with clear parameters, the Death Race thrives on uncertainty. The experience begins months before the starting line with monthly challenges designed to eliminate the mentally unprepared—finding logs weighing more than your body weight to drag through snow, solving puzzles while hanging upside down, completing 500 tire flips. Of roughly 100 selected participants each year (chosen from those with impressive endurance résumés including ultramarathon finishes and special forces experience), approximately half abandon their commitment before race day arrives.
What draws someone toward such deliberate difficulty? Two powerful motivations: discovering the better version of myself that exists on the other side of extraordinary challenge, and proving myself right about what I'm truly capable of. These lessons transcend the physical arena, building resilience applicable to every aspect of life. When we embrace discomfort rather than avoid it, we develop tools that serve us professionally, personally, and spiritually.
The greatest potential often lies just beyond what we believe possible. What difficulty are you willing to embrace to discover yours? Join me on this journey by following along, and more importantly, by finding your own version of "doing hard things"—whatever that means for you.
Thank you for tuning in! If you feel led, please subscribe & share the show to others who you believe would benefit from it.
Keep in touch below!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've always been somebody to appreciate pushing
the limits and seeing whathappens when we get right up to
that sweet spot.
And where is that sweet spotand how hard can we go?
And if there's an inbounds, Iwant to know what's out of
(00:21):
bounds.
I want to know what's out ofbounds.
Welcome to the Wednesdaypodcast, a weekly resource
thoughtfully crafted to helppeople build and refine
discipline, accomplish theirgoals, fortify their mindsets
and be of service to somebody inthis world.
My name is Ryan Cass and I amyour host, and it is my mission
(00:41):
and commitment to deliveramazing episodes to you every
week where you'll learn frommyself or renowned expert in
their field.
We love helping people win inevery aspect of their lives, and
you can help us win by sharingthe show with somebody that you
believe will benefit from it,subscribing and leaving a rating
(01:01):
and review.
We believe that everybody inthis world is meant to do
something great with their livesand we're here to help play a
role in that.
Thank you for tuning in andlet's win today.
There is immeasurable value tothe concept of doing hard things
we can't quantify.
(01:22):
I don't believe we can quantifythe value proposition behind
doing something difficult,meaning that doing something
hard, then equates to X percentimprovement in category Y.
Now, training, we can see thatin terms of our times going down
(01:44):
, the amount of weight that wecan push, pull, amount of reps,
paces, etc.
We can see that, but what isthe calculable value for running
marathons, ultra enduranceevents, what is it?
(02:04):
It's tough to assign a singularanswer towards and it's
difficult to assign aquantifiable figure towards.
Now one could argue, if you dothis for a living, that the
amount of races that are won orevents, whatever the case may be
, that equates to X number inearnings.
(02:25):
There's that, but what does itdo for you?
We're often asked, or you maybe asked, because a lot of folks
that listen to this areendurance athletes why do you
pay to sign up for these events?
Why do you pay for pain, fortorture?
Why do you pay to put yourselfthrough the ringer?
(02:45):
What's the return?
And I'm using that to lead offand to share why I am taking on
the 2025 Spartan Death Race.
There's been a lot of questionsabout it and I'm sharing the
why, where this whole thing camefrom.
And then a couple of things toserve as learning points, as
(03:07):
always, as every episode isintended to do that have
something tangible to take awayother than hearing a story, what
someone may learn from this orbe able to use from this
experience.
So with that, the Spartan deathrace, now the what is
(03:27):
interesting.
There's not a ton of what.
We'll get to that in a minute.
What I actually mean there, butthe why and where this even
came about goes back to 2011.
I was a senior in high schooland on the wrestling team.
(03:47):
That's where I was starting toget interested in more endurance
events and what the body andmind can really do, just because
wrestling is a very, veryphysically demanding sport and I
put my entire heart and soulinto that.
If there's few wishes I havefor life, it's that I wish I
(04:09):
knew what wrestling was when Iwas younger.
But we're neither here northere but went all in on
wrestling.
And wrestling is arguably anendurance sport because even for
those three periods andsometimes overtime, and ultimate
ride out those long matches, itis a dog fight and if you're
(04:32):
not in shape you will be gassedout so fast it's not even funny.
You think.
How can you get gassed out in asix or seven minute match or 10
to 12 minutes if it goes intoovertime.
When someone is constantlyattacking you and wants to shove
your face into the mat, it isvery much a physically demanding
(04:56):
battle.
So we ran countless miles.
A lot of our workouts werecardio based and that's what led
to this interest in running andstarting to get good at running
.
Through that and looking beyondcollege because I wasn't going
to wrestle in college but Iloved competing, so I started
looking at what's out there forthe future.
(05:19):
I stumbled upon this video ofthe Spartan Death and I remember
that there was a man that hadalready been going for about 24
hours in the Vermont woods witha rucksack and they were
approaching this pond.
And in order to pass this pond,you could pay up with the
(05:45):
pennies that participants wererequired to bring.
I believe they were required tobring 500 or 5,000 pennies.
Whatever the case may be, andyou don't know why We'll go
through the 2025 packing listhere.
You don't know why you'rebringing these things, but you
could pass through and not haveto go in the pond to the next
challenge if you had enoughpennies.
(06:06):
Well, none of the participantshad enough pennies because they
had already spent them to buythemselves out of other
challenges or to be able to buyequipment to use in other
challenges throughout the day.
So it's about two o'clock inthe morning and anybody that
didn't have the pennies to passgo.
They threw pennies into thispond and told the participants
(06:30):
well, this is what you need.
If you don't have it, go findthem.
And in the Vermont mountainsthe ponds are not very warm and
I'm thinking who the heck wouldeven go look for that?
How many people probably quitjust saying screw this.
That's the most mindlesschallenge in the world.
That's stupid.
And the one gentleman went intothe pond, found his pennies,
(06:57):
kept going and I thought man, Idon't know what that is, but I
would love to do that.
That just seems like my kind ofcrazy, my kind of challenge,
because I was also looking at abunch of Navy SEAL videos at the
time, thinking that I wanted togo in the military.
(07:18):
Hence I ended up in a militarycollege.
But going the special forcesroute in the military was
certainly on the table in mybook.
So this aligned to that.
Later in the video there'sanother gentleman that is
passing through another pond andGod knows how long they had
already been out there at thispoint in time and instead of
(07:40):
taking off his gear pack,because everybody has a gear
pack and it's weighed downpretty heavily with sandbags and
everything they ask you tobring.
Instead of taking it off toreduce the amount of time he was
spending to get across, he keptit on.
(08:01):
So he's going across this pondand you see a moment where he
dips underwater and he startsfreaking out because he realizes
holy smokes, he's not strongenough anymore to make it across
and he starts drowning and youcan see him start frantically
getting his pack off and thenhis head reemerges from under
(08:23):
the water and you can see whereit looks like holy smokes.
I thought I was just about todie and, of course, to some
people, many people probablylike what the heck?
I would never do that.
And then there's me that thisis awesome man.
I've always been somebody toappreciate pushing the limits
and seeing what happens when weget right up to that sweet spot.
(08:48):
And where is that sweet spotand how hard can we go?
And if there's an inbounds, Iwant to know what's out of
bounds.
And a lot of that wasdefinitely inspired by my dad
who used to say you know, somerules only apply to certain
people, and some of thatdefinitely, you know, passed
(09:11):
over to me.
Whether it's good or bad.
I see it as a good thing inthat let's go where the signs
say we can't go.
Let's do what people say thehuman body can't do or isn't
supposed to do.
That's one thing that reallyattracted me back in 14 years
ago now, and I kept it in theback of my mind, thinking that
(09:32):
at some point I'll get intothese endurance events, but I
hadn't become a quote runner yetor done anything with 5Ks, 10ks
, half marathons, marathons noneof that.
It was all just a bunch ofthoughts and exploration going
on.
But I never forgot about that2011 video.
(09:54):
Fast forward a few years topost-college.
Now I'm competing in runningevents and running is my thing,
and I launched this podcast in2021.
In 2023, I reached out to JoeDeSena, the founder and CEO of
Spartan, thinking that there'sno way that he's going to get
(10:16):
back to me.
He's been on Joe Rogan'spodcast.
He's been on Rich Roll'spodcast a few times.
I'm still a small fish in thepond.
I'll be lucky if he sees thismessage.
I sent him on LinkedIn and,sure enough, weeks later,
because I didn't hear from him,I figured I give everybody at
(10:37):
least a week or two.
Now I know, depending on howbig they are and how much reach
they have, it's not uncommonthat it may go three weeks, four
weeks, five weeks, but mostpeople in this world are
actually more accessible thanyou could ever imagine.
So about three weeks go by andI get a message from Joe DeSena
on LinkedIn and he said hello,ryan, I'm happy to come on your
(10:58):
podcast Email, travis, geteverything lined up.
And Joe DeSena and I are havinga discussion a few weeks after
that and he was the firstepisode in 2023 where we talked
all about becoming unbreakable.
And towards the end of thepodcast, I talked to him about
(11:20):
wanting to go into the deathrace, and that's something that
has been on my radar, and weexchanged phone numbers
afterwards and a little bit ofback and forth.
And here we are time to put mymoney where my mouth is.
One thing I can't stand ispeople that say they're going to
do something or talk aboutdoing something and don't do it,
(11:40):
and that's one of my valuesthat I'm not going to put it out
there in the world or tellsomeone hey, I want to go do
this death race and then chickenout or never execute.
So now, two years later we aregoing to the Spartan death race.
So there's a lot of uncertaintyand what makes it so special
(12:02):
every year is that you don'tknow how long it's going to last
.
You know it can last up to 72hours.
You don't know exactly whatyou're going to do.
You don't know exactly whatyou're going to do.
You don't know what challengesare going to be presented to you
(12:23):
, but what you can be certain ofis that it's going to be the
challenge of a lifetime.
There's going to be endlessburpees.
There's going to be plenty ofrucking, probably some running.
There's going to be challengesthat the odds are stacked
(12:44):
against you.
There's going to be peoplecalling you out just to see if
they can get you mentallyflustered to get you to quit.
So people are definitely goingto be getting called out and
picked on.
Brings me back to freshman yearexperiences at the Citadel.
A lot of the design in thatsystem is to weed out the people
(13:07):
that are mentally andemotionally weak.
So every year there'll alwaysbe some big dudes coming in,
super fit, super strong, and youthink, okay, this is going to
be, this might be the guy, thismight be one that's going to be
the leader, top of the class andyear after year, and it'll
(13:29):
always happen.
There's always some of thosefolks that externally appear to
be the strongest and internallyare, in fact, the weakest and
crumble when something doesn'tgo their way.
So I'm expecting that there'sgoing to be misdirection.
I'm expecting that they mightsay you need to go left, and the
(13:49):
reality is everything that youactually need is right and that
right now may be eight plusmiles further than you needed to
go.
And there's that.
So expecting a little bit ofeverything, and I'm excited for
it.
I'm excited to enter theunknown and see what all is
(14:15):
going to be put in front of us.
Less than 100 people getaccepted into this race every
year.
Of that, the applicationprocess looks at your endurance
resume, so they prefer to takepeople that have finishes at
some of the marquee enduranceevents, whether it be the
(14:40):
Leadville 100, the Moab 240series, people that have
significant accomplishments inthe military world.
A lot of special forces folksend up coming to these events,
and so, while I don't have themarquee event finishes yet, I
put on my application that Ihave ran a few organized ultras
(15:04):
but then also have ran a fewunorganized ultras and back and
forth on a bridge for 100 milesand 150 miles.
So apparently that was good togo for my endurance resume.
And then obviously havingBoston on there a few years in a
row certainly helped.
But that is the clientele thatis attracted and accepted into
(15:31):
this event.
So I also understand that Iwill be standing to my left and
right around battle-hardened,battle-tested men and women from
all over the world.
We were on a call withparticipants a few weeks ago and
there's four people coming fromAustralia, a few from France,
and I sat back and it's like oneof those pinch me moments like
(15:55):
wow, this is bringing in some ofthe toughest people in the
world and I get the opportunityto stand alongside them.
And what we bring to the table,meaning what we come in with,
whether it's the Boston finishes, the Moabs, special forces,
none of that matters.
Forces, none of that matters.
(16:20):
All that we are once we arrivein Vermont is a number and it's
game on from there.
So, following the acceptance,so roughly 100 people, or a
little less than 100 people, areaccepted every year.
Of that, about 50% show up andthe next stage where people
already start falling out isduring the monthly challenges.
So the death race, they say itstarts the minute you get
(16:44):
accepted.
So as soon as you get thatacceptance email, the race you
can consider it started, becausethen you get a monthly email
with a challenge that must becompleted before you show up to
Joe's farm in Vermont.
So for the last six monthswe've been doing a monthly
challenge that you get emailedand then for accountability you
(17:07):
must complete it and post it onsocial media.
January's challenge was to finda log that weighs as much as you
or more than you and build achain harness and pull that log
one mile.
I remember doing that andtaking about two and a half
hours in the parking lot rightnext to my house, but there's a
(17:29):
church and had a big ass logprobably 250, 260 pounds.
I obviously don't weigh thatmuch, but that's what I was able
to find.
It had just snowed inCharleston, south Carolina,
which is extremely rare Happensabout once per decade and I'm
lugging this big ass log up anddown the church parking lot.
(17:51):
My chain harness snapped a fewtimes and people were looking at
me like I'm an absolute lunatic, which I can see why.
I don't know who else would bedoing that in the snow, but when
I first saw that I said holysmokes, this is the type of
stuff we're getting into.
Let's see what February andMarch and April are going to
(18:14):
bring.
In March we had to solve a15-slide puzzle while hanging
upside down which a 15-slidepuzzle is on the packing list
this year.
In June, which I just completed500 tire flips and
step-throughs.
I figured maybe June they weregoing to let us off the hook
(18:35):
that this is race month, andsure enough, because it's a
death race, it only makes sensethat you still get to do the
June challenge.
So those were a few there thatevery month people were seeing
these and some people weren'tdoing them, and that's what was
making some people quit afterthey've already paid the entry
(18:56):
fee.
Crazy to me, this isn't a cheapthing to do.
So we're expecting roughly 50people to show up in Vermont on
June 26th that's going to bethis Thursday, depending on when
you listen to this June 26thand I'm there because I want to
(19:18):
see what, rather my why, besidesthe interest and the initial
interest I mentioned and havingthe conversation with Joe, is I
want to discover a new levelwithin myself.
I want to find that newer rathernot newer, but better version
(19:42):
of me On the other side of thethings we don't want to do or
the most challenging things thatwe'll experience in life
whether they're intentionally orunintentionally or
unintentionally always resides abetter version of you, and by
discovering that we can thenhelp others discover that better
(20:02):
version of themselves as well.
I never intend to be the personthat talks about doing hard
things and pushing people'sbodies, minds and souls to
levels they never imaginedpossible if I'm not doing that
myself.
So this is also me setting anexample for the people that I
get to serve, the people that Imay serve in the future and the
(20:25):
people that may see this, hearthis message and decide to go
take action themselves.
That when you're listening tomy stuff, when you're tuned into
my stuff or choosing me, you'realways going to be learning
from the person that is puttingthemselves into the arena.
I believe it's important thatwe listen to the people that
(20:46):
have actually been into thearenas that we are seeking to
enter ourselves.
So here we are I'm entering thearena to find a better version
of me and ultimately help othersfind a better version of
themselves.
There's so much more that wecould ever imagine we're capable
(21:11):
of and doing things like this,doing things that are hard and
hard being defined by you, notby me hard relative to you.
It's such a great opportunityto learn what we really have and
surprise ourselves.
Another thing is I love thisconcept of proving yourself
right.
When you go and do things likethis, you get to prove to
(21:33):
yourself that you do belong inthe arena, that you can go hard,
that you can go further, thatyou have what it takes.
You get more comfortable withthat little voice that's always
going to visit you, on thatshoulder that tells you you
can't or you're not enough oryou won't be enough.
I can't wait for that littledevil to be on my shoulder.
I know it's going to bevisiting Thursday, friday,
(21:55):
saturday, who knows, don't knowwhen it's going to visit, but
it's going to visit and I'vesimply refrained that to.
This is one of my friends.
When you become friends withpain, you will never be alone.
Become friends with pain,you'll never be alone in life.
I'm so excited to enter thepain cave.
Don't know when it's coming.
(22:17):
It's coming.
Don't know how long I'll be inthere.
Be in there for a while, mostlikely.
And those are really the twothings that I come back to
Better version and anopportunity to prove myself
right, and those are the twothings that I want everyone to
extract from here and this is mycontinued sales pitch for
(22:40):
putting yourself in the arena,doing tough things and showing
yourself what you're capable of.
So, with that, here's some ofthe stuff that we're going to be
bringing in 2025 for the deathrace.
I'm going to read this off foryou for this packing list, and
(23:02):
we have no idea.
We have no idea what exactlythis is going to be used for.
Well, some of it is obvious,but clothing.
So this year, in the past, theyhave allowed people to wear
whatever you want.
This year it's black pants,plain white cotton crew t-shirt,
(23:22):
so I'm not too excited aboutthe cotton part, but we'll see
how the nipples feel thereProbably going to be duct taping
those things just to not haveto worry about it.
Army green or black rain jacket,windbreaker, plain black hat
for your head.
Personal equipment, sturdybackpack.
(23:44):
So that's again going to bedoing a lot of rucking.
Hydration, nutrition.
Two waterproof headlamps withred lights and extra batteries,
four chem lights, one whistle,one thick black Sharpie marker
That'll be interesting, curious,very curious about that one.
One compass, one stopwatch, onepocket knife or multi-tool.
(24:06):
One pair of scissors, onehandsaw, one ax with protective
sheath, one flint and magnesium,100 feet of paracord or rope,
two emergency blankets, oneemergency sleeping bag, one
personal first aid kit, one pairof safety glasses, one sheet of
(24:27):
sandpaper, 15-piece slidepuzzle, bamboo straws minimum of
12 inches long very interestingone.
One roll of duct tape.
One five-gallon plastic bucket,one four to five-gallon metal
ash bucket Another interestingone 55-pound sandbag for the men
, 35-pound for the women.
(24:48):
One fully charged phone theysaid at some point we will use
our phone.
Not sure what that's going to befor either and a gear bag bin.
A gear bin for everything elsethat we may need.
We don't know when we're goingto be back at our bins.
We have no clue when for thepeople that have crew.
(25:11):
The crew has no idea whereyou're going to be.
Your crew may even be taskedwith jumping into the race with
you, so I'm going uncrewed.
I had first joked with my momthat she can come with me and
it'd be fun for her to hang outin the mountains and she can
(25:32):
just hand me some gels andrefill my water when I need it.
And she is certainly not comingafter the last call that
mentioned that we will, or yourcrew could potentially be in the
(25:54):
race, so we're not going to dothat.
Be in the race, so we're notgoing to do that.
But those items, my guess isagain, will certainly be
chopping wood for several hoursat a time.
The scissors what I've heard inthe past is that they have made
participants cut fields withscissors.
So imagine mowing your lawnwith a pair of scissors and how
(26:20):
much fun that would be.
But that's where it also goesinto some of the maniacal things
that even those little simplethings like that let's say that
that's one of the things we endup doing that doesn't require a
lot of physical effort, meaningit's not going to be as taxing
as burpees or pushing a tire upa mountain or whatever.
(26:42):
But that is stuff that getspeople to think man, the hell
with this, I'm not doing that.
Why the hell am I cutting grasswith scissors?
That's the dumbest thing in theworld with scissors.
That's the dumbest thing in theworld.
That's the stuff that again itgoes to the design, where it's
(27:02):
not about who's the fastest orstrongest person, it's about who
can withstand the most for thelongest period of time.
And what we don't know is thatsome of the challenges are
time-based, but they're notgoing to tell you that.
Know is that some of thechallenges are time-based but
they're not going to tell youthat.
So I also understand that therecould be.
(27:26):
For instance, go run five lapsup and down to Shrek's cabin.
So Shrek's cabin, I know, isabout a mile up through the
mountains from the main areathat we're starting at.
What they might not tell you isthat that is a timed event and
part of that is so that you'renot sandbagging it, meaning you
(27:47):
have all the time in the world.
They want you to exert energy,high energy, frequently so you
can be exhausted, so that theycan put you through the next
thing.
But you have no idea what thatis.
So who knows?
Who knows what to expect?
But what I know to be certainis that at the end of this,
regardless of how long I make it, I will find a better version
(28:11):
of me, so that we can help youand others find better versions
of themselves and prove myselfright that we can go harder and
further.
Every time I've put myselfthrough something like this,
whether it's a marathon, ultramarathon, going for faster and
faster times, pushing the bodyand mind further and harder than
(28:35):
I believe possible.
I've always, always, always,learned so many things and
lessons to impart on others andalso have come out better and
stronger and wiser, to not onlyserve myself but to serve the
(28:57):
world.
So I'll encourage you againthat if you're not already doing
hard things relative to you, goand sign up for something, go
and find something difficult.
And the thing is it doesn'teven have to be physical.
I always put that caveat inthere.
I believe the physical way isthe easiest way to learn the
(29:18):
most.
But doing hard things andpushing your body and mind and
spirit and soul hard means somuch more than just physical
tests.
So take that inventory, thinkthrough that.
My plan going into this is tostick with the pack as much as
possible.
If it's a running event where Ifeel that maybe I am the
(29:41):
stronger guy, maybe that I willdo my best to, especially if
it's early.
You also don't want to standout my time at the Citadel.
That if you're the person thatis always standing out thinking
that okay, yeah, I'm going to befaster than everybody else and
just blow everybody else out ofthe water, that also can lead to
(30:04):
unwanted attention.
So I'm going back to my Citadeltraining for this one, and that
you don't want to be the personthat stands out.
You also don't want to be theperson that sandbags.
You want to be the person thatoccasionally will demonstrate
strength and capability for sure.
So I intend right now, withoutknowing what we're doing, to
(30:30):
stand out when I believe it maybe appropriate, if that
opportunity warrantsrants itself, to be with the pack as much as
possible, help the pack as muchas possible and receive help as
much as possible from the packtoo, especially with a lot of
the heavier carry events.
I'd say I'm a pretty strong guy, but I'm not a strong man.
(30:55):
That's not my skill set.
I can run and go for days, butput a 500-pound object in front
of me, it's going to take me alittle longer to move it around
than maybe some of these guyscoming in here that that is
their specialty.
So leverage specialties of thegroup, offer my specialties to
(31:17):
the group and go from there.
I'm actually enjoying andfeeling less pressure going into
this that because there is somuch unknown versus a marathon
where you know the distance, youknow the course, you know where
the hills are, you know when togo hard, when to draft off
(31:39):
somebody.
This you really know nothingabout nothing other than it's
going to be hard.
It's going to be long.
We're going to do burpees.
We're going to get wet.
It's going to be wet, lookinglike right now.
Forecast is showingthunderstorms and rain, which is
freaking awesome.
Like what better way, whatbetter challenge, what better
opportunity than that rightthere?
(32:02):
So we will.
We shall see, we shall see.
That's where I'm leaving it.
We shall see, and I'm certainlygoing to share a recap.
I'm certainly going to share arecap, but now you've got the
what, the why and really acouple things that you can take
from this in your own pursuitsand endeavors, do hard things
(32:29):
and win today.
I've always been somebody to appreciate pushing
the limits and seeing whathappens when we get right up to
that sweet spot.
And where is that sweet spotand how hard can we go?
And if there's an inbounds, Iwant to know what's out of
(00:21):
bounds.
I want to know what's out ofbounds.
Welcome to the Wednesdaypodcast, a weekly resource
thoughtfully crafted to helppeople build and refine
discipline, accomplish theirgoals, fortify their mindsets
and be of service to somebody inthis world.
My name is Ryan Cass and I amyour host, and it is my mission
(00:41):
and commitment to deliveramazing episodes to you every
week where you'll learn frommyself or renowned expert in
their field.
We love helping people win inevery aspect of their lives, and
you can help us win by sharingthe show with somebody that you
believe will benefit from it,subscribing and leaving a rating
(01:01):
and review.
We believe that everybody inthis world is meant to do
something great with their livesand we're here to help play a
role in that.
Thank you for tuning in andlet's win today.
There is immeasurable value tothe concept of doing hard things
we can't quantify.
(01:22):
I don't believe we can quantifythe value proposition behind
doing something difficult,meaning that doing something
hard, then equates to X percentimprovement in category Y.
Now, training, we can see thatin terms of our times going down
(01:44):
, the amount of weight that wecan push, pull, amount of reps,
paces, etc.
We can see that, but what isthe calculable value for running
marathons, ultra enduranceevents, what is it?
(02:04):
It's tough to assign a singularanswer towards and it's
difficult to assign aquantifiable figure towards.
Now one could argue, if you dothis for a living, that the
amount of races that are won orevents, whatever the case may be
, that equates to X number inearnings.
(02:25):
There's that, but what does itdo for you?
We're often asked, or you maybe asked, because a lot of folks
that listen to this areendurance athletes why do you
pay to sign up for these events?
Why do you pay for pain, fortorture?
Why do you pay to put yourselfthrough the ringer?
(02:45):
What's the return?
And I'm using that to lead offand to share why I am taking on
the 2025 Spartan Death Race.
There's been a lot of questionsabout it and I'm sharing the
why, where this whole thing camefrom.
And then a couple of things toserve as learning points, as
(03:07):
always, as every episode isintended to do that have
something tangible to take awayother than hearing a story, what
someone may learn from this orbe able to use from this
experience.
So with that, the Spartan deathrace, now the what is
(03:27):
interesting.
There's not a ton of what.
We'll get to that in a minute.
What I actually mean there, butthe why and where this even
came about goes back to 2011.
I was a senior in high schooland on the wrestling team.
(03:47):
That's where I was starting toget interested in more endurance
events and what the body andmind can really do, just because
wrestling is a very, veryphysically demanding sport and I
put my entire heart and soulinto that.
If there's few wishes I havefor life, it's that I wish I
(04:09):
knew what wrestling was when Iwas younger.
But we're neither here northere but went all in on
wrestling.
And wrestling is arguably anendurance sport because even for
those three periods andsometimes overtime, and ultimate
ride out those long matches, itis a dog fight and if you're
(04:32):
not in shape you will be gassedout so fast it's not even funny.
You think.
How can you get gassed out in asix or seven minute match or 10
to 12 minutes if it goes intoovertime.
When someone is constantlyattacking you and wants to shove
your face into the mat, it isvery much a physically demanding
(04:56):
battle.
So we ran countless miles.
A lot of our workouts werecardio based and that's what led
to this interest in running andstarting to get good at running
.
Through that and looking beyondcollege because I wasn't going
to wrestle in college but Iloved competing, so I started
looking at what's out there forthe future.
(05:19):
I stumbled upon this video ofthe Spartan Death and I remember
that there was a man that hadalready been going for about 24
hours in the Vermont woods witha rucksack and they were
approaching this pond.
And in order to pass this pond,you could pay up with the
(05:45):
pennies that participants wererequired to bring.
I believe they were required tobring 500 or 5,000 pennies.
Whatever the case may be, andyou don't know why We'll go
through the 2025 packing listhere.
You don't know why you'rebringing these things, but you
could pass through and not haveto go in the pond to the next
challenge if you had enoughpennies.
(06:06):
Well, none of the participantshad enough pennies because they
had already spent them to buythemselves out of other
challenges or to be able to buyequipment to use in other
challenges throughout the day.
So it's about two o'clock inthe morning and anybody that
didn't have the pennies to passgo.
They threw pennies into thispond and told the participants
(06:30):
well, this is what you need.
If you don't have it, go findthem.
And in the Vermont mountainsthe ponds are not very warm and
I'm thinking who the heck wouldeven go look for that?
How many people probably quitjust saying screw this.
That's the most mindlesschallenge in the world.
That's stupid.
And the one gentleman went intothe pond, found his pennies,
(06:57):
kept going and I thought man, Idon't know what that is, but I
would love to do that.
That just seems like my kind ofcrazy, my kind of challenge,
because I was also looking at abunch of Navy SEAL videos at the
time, thinking that I wanted togo in the military.
(07:18):
Hence I ended up in a militarycollege.
But going the special forcesroute in the military was
certainly on the table in mybook.
So this aligned to that.
Later in the video there'sanother gentleman that is
passing through another pond andGod knows how long they had
already been out there at thispoint in time and instead of
(07:40):
taking off his gear pack,because everybody has a gear
pack and it's weighed downpretty heavily with sandbags and
everything they ask you tobring.
Instead of taking it off toreduce the amount of time he was
spending to get across, he keptit on.
(08:01):
So he's going across this pondand you see a moment where he
dips underwater and he startsfreaking out because he realizes
holy smokes, he's not strongenough anymore to make it across
and he starts drowning and youcan see him start frantically
getting his pack off and thenhis head reemerges from under
(08:23):
the water and you can see whereit looks like holy smokes.
I thought I was just about todie and, of course, to some
people, many people probablylike what the heck?
I would never do that.
And then there's me that thisis awesome man.
I've always been somebody toappreciate pushing the limits
and seeing what happens when weget right up to that sweet spot.
(08:48):
And where is that sweet spotand how hard can we go?
And if there's an inbounds, Iwant to know what's out of
bounds.
And a lot of that wasdefinitely inspired by my dad
who used to say you know, somerules only apply to certain
people, and some of thatdefinitely, you know, passed
(09:11):
over to me.
Whether it's good or bad.
I see it as a good thing inthat let's go where the signs
say we can't go.
Let's do what people say thehuman body can't do or isn't
supposed to do.
That's one thing that reallyattracted me back in 14 years
ago now, and I kept it in theback of my mind, thinking that
(09:32):
at some point I'll get intothese endurance events, but I
hadn't become a quote runner yetor done anything with 5Ks, 10ks
, half marathons, marathons noneof that.
It was all just a bunch ofthoughts and exploration going
on.
But I never forgot about that2011 video.
(09:54):
Fast forward a few years topost-college.
Now I'm competing in runningevents and running is my thing,
and I launched this podcast in2021.
In 2023, I reached out to JoeDeSena, the founder and CEO of
Spartan, thinking that there'sno way that he's going to get
(10:16):
back to me.
He's been on Joe Rogan'spodcast.
He's been on Rich Roll'spodcast a few times.
I'm still a small fish in thepond.
I'll be lucky if he sees thismessage.
I sent him on LinkedIn and,sure enough, weeks later,
because I didn't hear from him,I figured I give everybody at
(10:37):
least a week or two.
Now I know, depending on howbig they are and how much reach
they have, it's not uncommonthat it may go three weeks, four
weeks, five weeks, but mostpeople in this world are
actually more accessible thanyou could ever imagine.
So about three weeks go by andI get a message from Joe DeSena
on LinkedIn and he said hello,ryan, I'm happy to come on your
(10:58):
podcast Email, travis, geteverything lined up.
And Joe DeSena and I are havinga discussion a few weeks after
that and he was the firstepisode in 2023 where we talked
all about becoming unbreakable.
And towards the end of thepodcast, I talked to him about
(11:20):
wanting to go into the deathrace, and that's something that
has been on my radar, and weexchanged phone numbers
afterwards and a little bit ofback and forth.
And here we are time to put mymoney where my mouth is.
One thing I can't stand ispeople that say they're going to
do something or talk aboutdoing something and don't do it,
(11:40):
and that's one of my valuesthat I'm not going to put it out
there in the world or tellsomeone hey, I want to go do
this death race and then chickenout or never execute.
So now, two years later we aregoing to the Spartan death race.
So there's a lot of uncertaintyand what makes it so special
(12:02):
every year is that you don'tknow how long it's going to last
.
You know it can last up to 72hours.
You don't know exactly whatyou're going to do.
You don't know exactly whatyou're going to do.
You don't know what challengesare going to be presented to you
(12:23):
, but what you can be certain ofis that it's going to be the
challenge of a lifetime.
There's going to be endlessburpees.
There's going to be plenty ofrucking, probably some running.
There's going to be challengesthat the odds are stacked
(12:44):
against you.
There's going to be peoplecalling you out just to see if
they can get you mentallyflustered to get you to quit.
So people are definitely goingto be getting called out and
picked on.
Brings me back to freshman yearexperiences at the Citadel.
A lot of the design in thatsystem is to weed out the people
(13:07):
that are mentally andemotionally weak.
So every year there'll alwaysbe some big dudes coming in,
super fit, super strong, and youthink, okay, this is going to
be, this might be the guy, thismight be one that's going to be
the leader, top of the class andyear after year, and it'll
(13:29):
always happen.
There's always some of thosefolks that externally appear to
be the strongest and internallyare, in fact, the weakest and
crumble when something doesn'tgo their way.
So I'm expecting that there'sgoing to be misdirection.
I'm expecting that they mightsay you need to go left, and the
(13:49):
reality is everything that youactually need is right and that
right now may be eight plusmiles further than you needed to
go.
And there's that.
So expecting a little bit ofeverything, and I'm excited for
it.
I'm excited to enter theunknown and see what all is
(14:15):
going to be put in front of us.
Less than 100 people getaccepted into this race every
year.
Of that, the applicationprocess looks at your endurance
resume, so they prefer to takepeople that have finishes at
some of the marquee enduranceevents, whether it be the
(14:40):
Leadville 100, the Moab 240series, people that have
significant accomplishments inthe military world.
A lot of special forces folksend up coming to these events,
and so, while I don't have themarquee event finishes yet, I
put on my application that Ihave ran a few organized ultras
(15:04):
but then also have ran a fewunorganized ultras and back and
forth on a bridge for 100 milesand 150 miles.
So apparently that was good togo for my endurance resume.
And then obviously havingBoston on there a few years in a
row certainly helped.
But that is the clientele thatis attracted and accepted into
(15:31):
this event.
So I also understand that Iwill be standing to my left and
right around battle-hardened,battle-tested men and women from
all over the world.
We were on a call withparticipants a few weeks ago and
there's four people coming fromAustralia, a few from France,
and I sat back and it's like oneof those pinch me moments like
(15:55):
wow, this is bringing in some ofthe toughest people in the
world and I get the opportunityto stand alongside them.
And what we bring to the table,meaning what we come in with,
whether it's the Boston finishes, the Moabs, special forces,
none of that matters.
Forces, none of that matters.
(16:20):
All that we are once we arrivein Vermont is a number and it's
game on from there.
So, following the acceptance,so roughly 100 people, or a
little less than 100 people, areaccepted every year.
Of that, about 50% show up andthe next stage where people
already start falling out isduring the monthly challenges.
So the death race, they say itstarts the minute you get
(16:44):
accepted.
So as soon as you get thatacceptance email, the race you
can consider it started, becausethen you get a monthly email
with a challenge that must becompleted before you show up to
Joe's farm in Vermont.
So for the last six monthswe've been doing a monthly
challenge that you get emailedand then for accountability you
(17:07):
must complete it and post it onsocial media.
January's challenge was to finda log that weighs as much as you
or more than you and build achain harness and pull that log
one mile.
I remember doing that andtaking about two and a half
hours in the parking lot rightnext to my house, but there's a
(17:29):
church and had a big ass logprobably 250, 260 pounds.
I obviously don't weigh thatmuch, but that's what I was able
to find.
It had just snowed inCharleston, south Carolina,
which is extremely rare Happensabout once per decade and I'm
lugging this big ass log up anddown the church parking lot.
(17:51):
My chain harness snapped a fewtimes and people were looking at
me like I'm an absolute lunatic, which I can see why.
I don't know who else would bedoing that in the snow, but when
I first saw that I said holysmokes, this is the type of
stuff we're getting into.
Let's see what February andMarch and April are going to
(18:14):
bring.
In March we had to solve a15-slide puzzle while hanging
upside down which a 15-slidepuzzle is on the packing list
this year.
In June, which I just completed500 tire flips and
step-throughs.
I figured maybe June they weregoing to let us off the hook
(18:35):
that this is race month, andsure enough, because it's a
death race, it only makes sensethat you still get to do the
June challenge.
So those were a few there thatevery month people were seeing
these and some people weren'tdoing them, and that's what was
making some people quit afterthey've already paid the entry
(18:56):
fee.
Crazy to me, this isn't a cheapthing to do.
So we're expecting roughly 50people to show up in Vermont on
June 26th that's going to bethis Thursday, depending on when
you listen to this June 26thand I'm there because I want to
(19:18):
see what, rather my why, besidesthe interest and the initial
interest I mentioned and havingthe conversation with Joe, is I
want to discover a new levelwithin myself.
I want to find that newer rathernot newer, but better version
(19:42):
of me On the other side of thethings we don't want to do or
the most challenging things thatwe'll experience in life
whether they're intentionally orunintentionally or
unintentionally always resides abetter version of you, and by
discovering that we can thenhelp others discover that better
(20:02):
version of themselves as well.
I never intend to be the personthat talks about doing hard
things and pushing people'sbodies, minds and souls to
levels they never imaginedpossible if I'm not doing that
myself.
So this is also me setting anexample for the people that I
get to serve, the people that Imay serve in the future and the
(20:25):
people that may see this, hearthis message and decide to go
take action themselves.
That when you're listening tomy stuff, when you're tuned into
my stuff or choosing me, you'realways going to be learning
from the person that is puttingthemselves into the arena.
I believe it's important thatwe listen to the people that
(20:46):
have actually been into thearenas that we are seeking to
enter ourselves.
So here we are I'm entering thearena to find a better version
of me and ultimately help othersfind a better version of
themselves.
There's so much more that wecould ever imagine we're capable
(21:11):
of and doing things like this,doing things that are hard and
hard being defined by you, notby me hard relative to you.
It's such a great opportunityto learn what we really have and
surprise ourselves.
Another thing is I love thisconcept of proving yourself
right.
When you go and do things likethis, you get to prove to
(21:33):
yourself that you do belong inthe arena, that you can go hard,
that you can go further, thatyou have what it takes.
You get more comfortable withthat little voice that's always
going to visit you, on thatshoulder that tells you you
can't or you're not enough oryou won't be enough.
I can't wait for that littledevil to be on my shoulder.
I know it's going to bevisiting Thursday, friday,
(21:55):
saturday, who knows, don't knowwhen it's going to visit, but
it's going to visit and I'vesimply refrained that to.
This is one of my friends.
When you become friends withpain, you will never be alone.
Become friends with pain,you'll never be alone in life.
I'm so excited to enter thepain cave.
Don't know when it's coming.
(22:17):
It's coming.
Don't know how long I'll be inthere.
Be in there for a while, mostlikely.
And those are really the twothings that I come back to
Better version and anopportunity to prove myself
right, and those are the twothings that I want everyone to
extract from here and this is mycontinued sales pitch for
(22:40):
putting yourself in the arena,doing tough things and showing
yourself what you're capable of.
So, with that, here's some ofthe stuff that we're going to be
bringing in 2025 for the deathrace.
I'm going to read this off foryou for this packing list, and
(23:02):
we have no idea.
We have no idea what exactlythis is going to be used for.
Well, some of it is obvious,but clothing.
So this year, in the past, theyhave allowed people to wear
whatever you want.
This year it's black pants,plain white cotton crew t-shirt,
(23:22):
so I'm not too excited aboutthe cotton part, but we'll see
how the nipples feel thereProbably going to be duct taping
those things just to not haveto worry about it.
Army green or black rain jacket,windbreaker, plain black hat
for your head.
Personal equipment, sturdybackpack.
(23:44):
So that's again going to bedoing a lot of rucking.
Hydration, nutrition.
Two waterproof headlamps withred lights and extra batteries,
four chem lights, one whistle,one thick black Sharpie marker
That'll be interesting, curious,very curious about that one.
One compass, one stopwatch, onepocket knife or multi-tool.
(24:06):
One pair of scissors, onehandsaw, one ax with protective
sheath, one flint and magnesium,100 feet of paracord or rope,
two emergency blankets, oneemergency sleeping bag, one
personal first aid kit, one pairof safety glasses, one sheet of
(24:27):
sandpaper, 15-piece slidepuzzle, bamboo straws minimum of
12 inches long very interestingone.
One roll of duct tape.
One five-gallon plastic bucket,one four to five-gallon metal
ash bucket Another interestingone 55-pound sandbag for the men
, 35-pound for the women.
(24:48):
One fully charged phone theysaid at some point we will use
our phone.
Not sure what that's going to befor either and a gear bag bin.
A gear bin for everything elsethat we may need.
We don't know when we're goingto be back at our bins.
We have no clue when for thepeople that have crew.
(25:11):
The crew has no idea whereyou're going to be.
Your crew may even be taskedwith jumping into the race with
you, so I'm going uncrewed.
I had first joked with my momthat she can come with me and
it'd be fun for her to hang outin the mountains and she can
(25:32):
just hand me some gels andrefill my water when I need it.
And she is certainly not comingafter the last call that
mentioned that we will, or yourcrew could potentially be in the
(25:54):
race, so we're not going to dothat.
Be in the race, so we're notgoing to do that.
But those items, my guess isagain, will certainly be
chopping wood for several hoursat a time.
The scissors what I've heard inthe past is that they have made
participants cut fields withscissors.
So imagine mowing your lawnwith a pair of scissors and how
(26:20):
much fun that would be.
But that's where it also goesinto some of the maniacal things
that even those little simplethings like that let's say that
that's one of the things we endup doing that doesn't require a
lot of physical effort, meaningit's not going to be as taxing
as burpees or pushing a tire upa mountain or whatever.
(26:42):
But that is stuff that getspeople to think man, the hell
with this, I'm not doing that.
Why the hell am I cutting grasswith scissors?
That's the dumbest thing in theworld with scissors.
That's the dumbest thing in theworld.
That's the stuff that again itgoes to the design, where it's
(27:02):
not about who's the fastest orstrongest person, it's about who
can withstand the most for thelongest period of time.
And what we don't know is thatsome of the challenges are
time-based, but they're notgoing to tell you that.
Know is that some of thechallenges are time-based but
they're not going to tell youthat.
So I also understand that therecould be.
(27:26):
For instance, go run five lapsup and down to Shrek's cabin.
So Shrek's cabin, I know, isabout a mile up through the
mountains from the main areathat we're starting at.
What they might not tell you isthat that is a timed event and
part of that is so that you'renot sandbagging it, meaning you
(27:47):
have all the time in the world.
They want you to exert energy,high energy, frequently so you
can be exhausted, so that theycan put you through the next
thing.
But you have no idea what thatis.
So who knows?
Who knows what to expect?
But what I know to be certainis that at the end of this,
regardless of how long I make it, I will find a better version
(28:11):
of me, so that we can help youand others find better versions
of themselves and prove myselfright that we can go harder and
further.
Every time I've put myselfthrough something like this,
whether it's a marathon, ultramarathon, going for faster and
faster times, pushing the bodyand mind further and harder than
(28:35):
I believe possible.
I've always, always, always,learned so many things and
lessons to impart on others andalso have come out better and
stronger and wiser, to not onlyserve myself but to serve the
(28:57):
world.
So I'll encourage you againthat if you're not already doing
hard things relative to you, goand sign up for something, go
and find something difficult.
And the thing is it doesn'teven have to be physical.
I always put that caveat inthere.
I believe the physical way isthe easiest way to learn the
(29:18):
most.
But doing hard things andpushing your body and mind and
spirit and soul hard means somuch more than just physical
tests.
So take that inventory, thinkthrough that.
My plan going into this is tostick with the pack as much as
possible.
If it's a running event where Ifeel that maybe I am the
(29:41):
stronger guy, maybe that I willdo my best to, especially if
it's early.
You also don't want to standout my time at the Citadel.
That if you're the person thatis always standing out thinking
that okay, yeah, I'm going to befaster than everybody else and
just blow everybody else out ofthe water, that also can lead to
(30:04):
unwanted attention.
So I'm going back to my Citadeltraining for this one, and that
you don't want to be the personthat stands out.
You also don't want to be theperson that sandbags.
You want to be the person thatoccasionally will demonstrate
strength and capability for sure.
So I intend right now, withoutknowing what we're doing, to
(30:30):
stand out when I believe it maybe appropriate, if that
opportunity warrantsrants itself, to be with the pack as much as
possible, help the pack as muchas possible and receive help as
much as possible from the packtoo, especially with a lot of
the heavier carry events.
I'd say I'm a pretty strong guy, but I'm not a strong man.
(30:55):
That's not my skill set.
I can run and go for days, butput a 500-pound object in front
of me, it's going to take me alittle longer to move it around
than maybe some of these guyscoming in here that that is
their specialty.
So leverage specialties of thegroup, offer my specialties to
(31:17):
the group and go from there.
I'm actually enjoying andfeeling less pressure going into
this that because there is somuch unknown versus a marathon
where you know the distance, youknow the course, you know where
the hills are, you know when togo hard, when to draft off
(31:39):
somebody.
This you really know nothingabout nothing other than it's
going to be hard.
It's going to be long.
We're going to do burpees.
We're going to get wet.
It's going to be wet, lookinglike right now.
Forecast is showingthunderstorms and rain, which is
freaking awesome.
Like what better way, whatbetter challenge, what better
opportunity than that rightthere?
(32:02):
So we will.
We shall see, we shall see.
That's where I'm leaving it.
We shall see, and I'm certainlygoing to share a recap.
I'm certainly going to share arecap, but now you've got the
what, the why and really acouple things that you can take
from this in your own pursuitsand endeavors, do hard things
(32:29):
and win today.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.