An Open Letter 2013-11-12

APRIL 25th-27th, 2014

Hi Gents,

Below is a link to the Shenandoah Epic AR in April.

http://www.rev3adventure.com/race/shenandoah-epic-adventure-race/

For full disclosure, before I can officially extend the offer to join, I have to talk it through with my co-chair of Kaizen AR Team, Jason Smith.  Please don't be offended by the formality.  Where we're going there is no room for hurt feelings and we may want to have a meetup to discuss as a group. 

Take a look, do some soul searching and see if you are interested.  Then take a week or two and think it over again before deciding.  Mind you that this decision is all too easy to make sitting at a computer in the comfort of your dry warm home with a full belly, rested muscles, no blisters on your feed and following a good night's sleep These will not be the conditions of this race.

Committing to this venture means that each of us (and our families) will be making non-trivial sacrifices of time and energy to prepare our minds and bodies.  To be certain, there will be some slice of your current life that you will be missing out on over the next 4-5 months.  Carefully consider if you'll really have time for consistent weekly training and building to "Epic training" 5+ hour sessions every couple of weeks.  Making the commitment to yourself and the group, only to pull out later, can have seriously demoralizing effects.  Of course, no one would be faulted for pulling out because of injury, death in the family or other similar serious event.

My last disclaimer is that like many extreme endurance events, the training is where you'll find the most fun.  Comparing progress with teammates, planning for the event, building a new body temple and developing or honing new skills is supremely satisfying.  I wouldn't categorize the actual racing as "fun" no more than Lance Armstrong would call an important Tour De France time trial as fun.  Rather it is an event of supreme focus, maximizing efficiency of locomotion, head work, selflessness and managing the group dynamic to finish as a team much faster than any one person could accomplish on their own.  Together, we will be far stronger and faster than our weakest link, and at different times, we will all be the weak link.

 Hagberg Out.