I Am Returning To The Survival Run!

The Survival Run Nicaragua is an event unique in its kind. The course is designed so that it is almost impossible to complete in the allowed time. Over the last three editions of the race, only seven men have finished -- no woman ever has.

I recognized the magnitude of this race after being removed from the course in 2015. To put this into perspective, I missed the cut-off by 20 minutes leaving only the 3 successful male finishers to complete the course. Despite the quiet disappointment, there remained a broad smile across my face. I smile a lot in life, but this smile was more than just your regular toothy crack in the lip. I wore a grin of excitement; the smirk of having found the perfect event to feed my need for high stimulation. I finally discovered a race that challenged me, I found a race that is aligned with my desire to explore the full potential of human design: To run. To climb. To swim. To carry. It was a race that forced my mind, body, and soul to find routes, resolve problems, ignores instincts, and quite frankly defy nature’s forces to cross the finish line.

At its core, the Survival Run Nicaragua is not competition against other runners. It is a competition against yourself. “Adapt or Die” is the slogan of the event. It is not the strongest nor the fastest that will succeed. The ones that endure are the smartest, the bravest, the toughest -- the ones truely inspired by the essence of the event.

I am not the type who likes doing things twice, but the Survival Run Nicaragua is quite the exception. I knew right away I would return until the day comes where I will finish it. I am looking forward to the 2016 edition of the Survival Run Nicaragua on February 3rd. There will be more Fuego than Agua this year as all hell breaks loose in my quest to conquer this course. Ablaze in orange -- the color of my sponsor, Platinum Rig -- my Planinum Rig teammates Chantal and Dominic, and fellow tribe of Survival Runners will set the course afire.

I really raised the bar regarding endurance in my 2015 adventure season (e.g., 250 mile self-supported run across Florida). Therefore to bring the pain...uh...challenge...up a notch in Nicaragua, I registered for the Devil’s Double. Why not increase the heat with a challenge that consists of completing the Survival Run, AND only two days later completing the 100k Fuego Y Agua trail running race. Hell yeah!