"Holy Crap, Can I Do That?" -my Favorite Epic Sessions

Part of the fun of endurance sports is the epic sessions we can tackle. We get to push ourselves, find new limits, and even prove to ourselves that we CAN. How many times have you looked at a session and said... "Holy crap, I'm not sure I can do that," and then promptly followed with completing it? I personally love these type of things just for the fact it makes us feel alive, and how many people out there will never get to discover these things about themselves through pushing their "scared" boundaries. Heck... Ironman was born on this one. Three guys were making a bet which sport was harder and wondering how they could make it more epic.

Here are just a couple of sessions I've done that scared the pants off me, and when I finished...I was like, "Okay. I CAN do that!"

Swim:

- The double rough water open water swim race in Hawaii- 8 km no wetsuit open water swim race.

- 100x100. The beloved birthday set. 

Bike:

- The ride from Nederland Colorado across to Idaho City, then up Mount Evans and RETURN!!! That was one hell of a long ride with some epic climbing up to 14,000 feet.

- The Wiggins ride from Boulder to Wiggins, Colorado.

- A 280 km bike race on the South Island of New Zealand.

- A great Arizona one not many talk about is the Arivaca Loop. It's about 120 miles along the Mexico border from Tucson. Beautiful and such a great mix of terrain. 

I literally have too many adventures on my bike to list them all. It would take a book. Riding both North and South Island of New Zealand is up there on the list, along with so many epic rides in Colorado, Australia, and Arizona. A 5-day trip across the Idaho mountains on dirt roads made an impact.

Run:

- The classic Sutto 30x800 at target marathon race pace on 200 jog recovery.

- The Run ALL Day run. Pick a trail, pack your wallet, and run all day with gas station stops as aid.

- Magnolia Road up in Colorado. This is a staple in the CU history with any professional runners and triathletes. You knew when you could crush this run, you were ready to race.

- The Sebastian Kienle 40x400 on the track. 1 fast-1 float.

Brick:

My all-time favorite "burned in my brain" brick is the ride up to Brainard Lake through Ward, Colorado via Left Hand Canyon from Boulder with your running shoes in a little pack on your back. Chain your bike up to a tree up there at Brainard Lake (up around 10,000 feet) and do a 10km-15km run (laps around the lake for measured mile intervals). Then ride back home down to Boulder.

The Faris/German AZ Brick- Similar to the Colorado one, but riding Mount Lemmon to the 26 mile marker- run 10km up there in the hills- ride home.

This is just a very small list of a few I wanted to share with you.

I've had so many fun adventures that brought out some of the funniest, the best, and the worst sides of my character. Truly living! And the people who did these with me are forever my friends as they have seen my best and my worst.

I hope you get a chance one day to try out some of these classic adventure sessions. Test your limits and boundaries.