Category: Inspiration

Relay for Life

On By DavidIn Inspiration, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Like many people, our family has been affected by cancer and we want to get involved in stopping this disease. We are trying to help raise funds for the American Cancer Society through the Relay for Life.  If you would like to help by donating, please visit our Relay for Life Team Page and make a single donation.

Or, if you want to have fun with this, give us a challenge and base your pledge on it.  Here are some examples we’ve thought of:

  1. Donation per lap for Lucas our 9 year old son
  2. Donation per lap for Nolan our 11 year old son
  3. Donation per lap for David (He’s getting a little old and his knees are a little shaky)
  4. Donations per lap for Ana (She’s a diesel that may just chug through the whole night)
  5. Donations per lap for Team Disoriented – all 4 members (Hope you brought your checkbook for this one 😉

Pick the challenge depending on how brave, or how much money you are willing to part with…or come up with your own.  How about how many lunges Ana can do around the track?  Or, a dollar for every minute she rubs my aching feet?  We’re game for anything legal.  The event last 12 hours and each lap is 1/4 mile.

If you want to make a challenge pledge, just leave a comment either here or on our Facebook page, or shoot us an email with your pledge and we’ll let you know how we did following the event.  Maybe we’ll have some challenges that we can post in real time over Facebook…that would be pretty cool.

Anyway, we hope you help out.

We’ll be going live on Facebook throughout the night to give you a feel for the event.

The event is 05/05/17 6PM – 6AM

Our team page for one-time donations is: http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR…

THANK YOU!

And thanks to those companies that make all of our events possible:
Skratch Labs, Voyager Made, EZUP Instant Shelters, Tifosi Optics, Geigerrig, Aquamira, Lupine Lights North America, Klymit, crankbrothers, #KanpasCompass

Lookin’ Pro With Lil’ Dough!

On By DavidIn Gear, InspirationLeave a comment

Dude, I get it.  Adventure Racing is not a mainstream sport.  Most of your buddies have never heard of The Best Damn Sport Ever Created™ (Yeah, I made that up and trademarked it.) What I don’t get is why teams want to look like they just rolled out of bed, threw on the first t-shirt they picked up off the floor, and accidentally rolled into the starting line of a race.

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Our local 4-year old soccer team has uniforms.  The local bowling league has uniforms.  Hell, half of the damn tourists at Walt Disney World have matching outfits.

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Come on people!  You are adventure racers, you are athletes, most importantly you are part of a team!  You wanna be a team, look like a team!

  1. Shirts.  These days it can be really tough to find matching shirts with a Walmart on every corner and an Amazon on every computer.  But, if you’re up for the challenge, I think you can do it.  Better yet, step up your game and head over to our favorite place, Logo Sportswear.  Custom apparel, fast turn around, no minimum orders.  Inexpensive and good.  What more do you need?  Did I get you psyched and now you want custom hats, jackets, and polos?  They got all that and a bag of chips!  Maybe not the chips, sorry, I got a little excited there.
  2. Accessorize.  Yeah, you read that right…accessorize!  Don’t judge me, bro.  Matching water bottles, compression socks, headbands, whatever.  There are 20 different colors of duct tape for goodness sake.  Pick a team color, any color (except lime green of course) and then accessorize. accessorize
  3.  Getcha a sweet ass canopy from E-Z UP.  They’re inexpensive, indestructible, and made in about any color you can imagine.  And guess what, it rains and the sun is hot.  Want a dry place to do your pre-race planning while everyone else gets soaked?  Done!  Want to chill in the shade with your team and a cold one post-race?  They gotcha covered.  Don’t want to go all fancy dancy with matching colors?  That’s cool, they make them in basic black.  Are you a super duper awesome race team or race company looking for custom printed graphics?  They can handle that for sure!

Put it all together and you get, Boom!

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More poseur than pro?  Sure.  But I’m cool with that.  If for a few hours out of the month I can pretend to be half as good as Nathan Fa’avae, Kyle Peter, or Robyn Benincasa, count me in.  Aren’t we all poseurs anyway?  I see you strolling around town in your Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins jersey.

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One, you picked a crappy team.  Two, you’re in the wrong decade, maybe even the wrong century.  Three, it’s okay.  You want to be a part of something bigger than yourself, part of a team.  That’s why you got into this.  Adventure racing is a team sport.  Get out there and look like a team!

Team Disoriented’s Creed:

On By DavidIn Inspiration7 Comments

I just got back from volunteering at the Florida Sea to Sea 72 Hour Adventure Race where I saw 30 teams competing in possibly the toughest adventure race in the southeast.  As a volunteer, I was able to see many different team dynamics and it got me thinking about our team and specifically our guiding principles or creed.  I think it’s important that teams have guiding principles so that team members know what to expect from each other.  Some teams are in it to win it at all costs, which is fine so long as every teammate is on the same page.  Anyway, here is our creed:

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I am here for my teammates and my teammates are here for me.

This is a team sport in its purest form.  There will be times when my teammates will need to rely heavily on me and times when the roles will be reversed.  In the middle of the night, deep in the back country swamp lands, suffering from hypothermia, I want you to know that I will be there to help you in any way that I can.  And I need to trust that you will do the same for me.  If it’s only about you, then maybe you should stick to triathlons.

 

We train as friends, we race as friends, and we finish as friends.

There are no large prize monies or accolades to be gained from winning an adventure race.  There are no lucrative contracts, no immortalization on Sports Illustrated, so there is no race worthy of losing a friendship.  This doesn’t mean that we don’t want to push ourselves to our limits, we do.  The challenge is what drives us.  It also doesn’t mean that we won’t get angry at each other at times, because that happens too.  It just means that there should be some threshold that we don’t pass.  We don’t want to reach the point that our friendship becomes jeopardized.  We may not remain teammates, but we should leave every race as we started it, as friends.

 

We race the course and not other teams.

We’re not here to beat other team.  Adventure racers are some of the coolest people around, they’re active, they’re outgoing, they’re risk takers, they’re usually sociable. Most of them are probably people we’d like to get to know better and hang out with.  Why then, would we take a cut-throat attitude about beating other teams?  Why celebrate at another team’s loss? What if we did beat Team Ultimate Adventure Racers United.  No one on this planet cares, no one.  Unless of course that team is composed of a bunch of smack-talking assholes, then yes, we do want them to lose and so does everyone else.

 

We race at the speed of fun.

It’s not always fun.  In fact, having to “embrace the suck” leads to some of the most memorable moments.  But, at the end of the day I always want to walk away with the feeling that it was fun.  Sometimes I have to dig really deep to admit that it was fun, sometimes I need a few beers to numb the pain before anything fun comes to mind.  But, in the end, adventure racing should always be one notch higher on the fun meter than the suck meter.  And, if I’m not having fun, it’s usually my own fault and I need to change my attitude about something, or eat another GU pack.

 

There’s no quit in here.

I don’t want to quit and I don’t want you to quit either.  I want us to train hard and to race harder.  I want us to leave it all on the course and come across the finish line running on fumes.  And if I can’t make it across the finish line then I want you to grab my stinking carcass and pull me across the finish line.  I want to train hard for my teammates and I want them to train hard for the team.  If we’ve prepared ourselves as best as possible, given our real-life constraints and commitments, then well do as best as we can do and that’s all that we can ask of each other.

 

I’d love to hear from any of you on your own guiding principles…post a comment.

TA 1 Podcast

On By DavidIn Adventure Race, InspirationLeave a comment

I just ran across TA 1 Adventure Racing Podcast, everything you ever wanted to know about Adventure Racing…and then some.  Interviews with cool people in the adventure race world.  I’ve listened to a couple of podcasts by Randy and they’re really informative, entertaining, and put together well.

If you’re an AR Junkie like me, check it out here: http://adventureraceworld.podomatic.com/ or click the image below.

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You can also check it out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TA1podcast

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Tell them Team Disoriented sent you.  He won’t know who you’re talking about, but that’s half the fun 😉

2014 Space Coast Marathon

On By DavidIn Inspiration4 Comments

If you don’t feel like you’re going to throw up after finishing a marathon, then you didn’t run fast enough. In my mind, marathons are not supposed to be social events where participants are the main performers in a parade for their honor. Instead, they are gut-wrenching, muscle-straining exhibitions of one’s mental fortitude and desire to endure against their body’s need to quit.

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Okay, maybe that’s a little overboard. But, for me, a marathon is not about having fun or enjoying the journey, although there is definitely some joy in the first few miles. Rather, the allure of a marathon is that it is a painful experience. An experience where sacrifices are made just getting to the starting line in race-ready form. One where participants train for months in preparation. The harder the achievement of the goal, the more satisfying the attainment. If it were easy, if it were fun, then the joy of accomplishment, or the sorrow of failure, wouldn’t be as great. And that really, is the point.

Anyone can amble their body 26.2 miles and slap a sticker on their car’s bumper, but it’s not the mileage that matters. It’s pushing yourself beyond the point of despair to cross that finish line in as little time as you are physically capable of that matters. It’s hitting the wall at mile 23, fighting the cramping legs and the heaving gut, gathering yourself for that final 3.2 mile assault. It’s about believing in yourself at mile 25 that no matter what, you will accomplish the goal you set out.  Maybe you won’t make the cut-off time that you set for yourself, that’s okay.  What matters most is performing to your upmost on that one day. Giving the best that you can and leaving nothing in the tank as you cross the finish line. It’s about looking like shit when they take that picture of you crossing the finish line and loving that ugly picture because it shows that you gave it your all.

Sometimes I think that we want things too easy and in so, we lessen the experience. There is adventure and awareness in adversity. There is personal discovery in difficulties. So, I encourage you to register for a marathon and to set a few goals for yourself.

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My personal goals for the 2014 Space Coast Marathon were to:
1. Complete a marathon
2. Complete it in under 4hrs – Threshold
3. Complete it in under 3:45 – Objective
4. Complete it in 3:30 – Stretch goal

I didn’t make my 4th goal. By mile 23 I was at the point of exhaustion, fighting nausea and leg cramps. I was heartbroken as I watched my pace leader run off in the distance. I had carried an 8 minute mile pace for 23 miles and in the last 3.2 miles I couldn’t muster the strength to make my cutoff time. I struggled to keep from vomiting, knowing that if I just kept moving and got some fluids in me that I would cross the finish line. Maybe not in the time I wanted, but in the best time I could make that day. Four months of training had come down to this moment and I wasn’t going to make my goal, I was devastated. It took some time to accept the truth, but then I realized that my goals were self-imposed. Nobody cared what time I finished, only me.  But, what I cared most about was training hard and preparing myself for this race and then performing the best I could that day.

So, if you’ve ever considered doing a marathon, do it. But, don’t be a pansy about it. Set some goals, make them hard ones, but don’t beat yourself up if you don’t make them all. It’s okay. Be proud of what you do accomplish. Most people can’t run for 26.2 miles. Most people don’t have the self-discipline to train for 4 months to get ready for a marathon. But, in the end, you’re not competing against most people, you’re only competing against yourself. So, believe in yourself and if you’ve fought the good fight, be proud your success.

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Team Disoriented YouTube Channel

On By DavidIn Adventure Race, Inspiration, VideosLeave a comment

The long anticipated Team Disoriented YouTube Channel is now online.  Check out https://www.youtube.com/user/TeamDisoriented for all of our latest race videos, gear reviews and most importantly, links to other adventure racing channels.  I have also created a playlist of professional adventure racing videos.

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I like to watch these for inspiration when I’m trudging along on the treadmill.  If you know of any good adventure racing videos or YouTube channels you think I should link to, please leave a comment or send me an email.

I look forward to adding more content in the future.  Stay tuned.

Stolen goods!

On By DavidIn Adventure Race, Inspiration, VideosLeave a comment

This blog post blatantly stolen from The Adventure Blog.  Go checkout their site after you read this post

Gold Rush Expedition Adventure Race to Air on Universal Sports Network in October

Adventure racing fans listen up, you’re going to want to set your DVRs to record soon. The Universal Sports Network will begin airing a three-part documentary focused on the Gold Rush expedition-length adventure race in October, bringing the sport into the homes of millions of viewers across the U.S. Each of the three self-contained documentaries is 90 minutes in length, and captures some of the top adventure racing athletes from across the globe as they take part in one of best races in North America, and a qualifying event for the AR World Championship.

The first episode will air at 6PM ET on Thursday, October 16 and will feature the 2012 Gold Rush Expedition Race. The following week, at 6:30 PM ET on Friday October 24, the network will premiere the 2013 edition of the Gold Rush documentary. Meanwhile, the film for the 2014 edition of the race, which was greatly shortened in length due to wildfires in California, is currently in post-production, and will air in May of 2015. Additional airings will be announced at a later time.

If anyone has ever been a part of the team that produces adventure races, you probably already know how difficult it can be to capture all of the action out on the course. There are simply too many teams, spread out across too much territory. Throw in the fact that these events usually take place in remote and rugged locations, and it can become a logistical nightmare. But, the team behind these documentaries have taken a unique approach to how they are made, and that is a great story in and of itself.

For the past three years, the Gold Rush AR event has been filmed by a team of University of Cincinnati students, who are studying media production. For the 2014 edition of the race, 16 students, under the direction of professional television director and U.C. alum Brian Leitten, and E-media Professor Kevin Burke, traveled to California to shoot the documentary and witness the incredible sport of adventure racing first hand. As a result, their work is now going to be shown on Universal, and we’ll all get the opportunity to see the Gold Rush as well.

I’m trying to remember the last time adventure racing was on television here in the U.S. It has been many years since we actually saw a network air anything AR related. This will be great exposure for the sport, and hopefully introduce a new audience to what adventure racing is all about.

To get an idea of what to expect from the documentaries, check out the promo video below which was shot at the 2013 Gold Rush.

Coosa River Challenge

On By DavidIn Adventure Race, Inspiration, VideosLeave a comment

Just signed up for the Coosa River Challenge and we are super excited.  3-6 hours of mountain biking, trail running, river paddling with lots of special tests throughout.  The format is 2-person teams male/female/co-ed or individual and the course is friendly enough to be finished by the novice racer, while challenging enough for the veteran adventure racer.

Check out the video above to see some of the events that will be part of the race.  There will be Class II-III rapids, rope work such as rappelling, bouldering and some pretty sweet single track.  We already ran the rapids on the Coosa River a few weeks back and had a blast.

Cooler weather, beautiful scenery, multi-sport challenges and the opportunity to hang out with the most awesomest adventure racing team…what more could you ask for?

Go here for more info: Coosa River Challenge