About this item
Twenty-six point two miles isnt enough anymore. Obstacle course racing, which combines the endurance challenges of a marathon with the mind-bending rigors of overcoming obstacles along the way, is taking the world by storm. At the center of this phenomenon is Joe De Sena, the driving force behind the enormously popular Spartan Race. De Sena offers a simple philosophy: commit to a goal, put in the work, and get it done. From that philosophy, as played out first in his own life and now for millions across trails, through mud, and up mountainsides, Spartan Race was born. Now in Spartan Up! De Sena gives you a life strategy guide that takes you out of your comfort zone and into a combat zone. As he breaks down obstacles from his many races, detailing how each parallels real life experiences, you will learn how to:Conquer your greatest obstacle - your willEmbrace your greatest friend - disciplineMake limitations vanish and establish a new normalAchieve the ultimate: obstacle immunityOther events breed sheep; Spartan Race breeds wolves. Filled with unforgettable stories of Spartan racers as well as hard-won truths learned along the course, Spartan Up! will help anyone reach their full potential - in life, business, relationships, indeed anything one sets out to do. It is the blueprint that takes you right past Go, to your finish line.
About the Author
Joseph De Sena, 44, has been an entrepreneur since his pre-teens. From selling fireworks at age eight, to starting a t-shirt business in high school, to building a multimillion-dollar pool business in college, to creating a Wall Street trading firm, De Sena is a living definition of the word "entrepreneur." Currently he is a managing director for ICAP, a brokerage agency. De Sena knows what it feels like to succeed outside the office, too - and that's the feeling he seeks to bring to the world's athletes with the Spartan Race series. Throughout his lifetime, he's competed in any extreme sports adventure he could find, testing his mental and physical endurance against nature. Growing up in Queens, Joe's mother valued healthy eating and living and passed along that value system. It's been well-documented that he worked hard growing up and ultimately got to Wall Street, where he made his mark and made himself a small fortune. He moved his family to Pittsfield, Vermont, and quickly entrenched himself and his family in the local landscape. Joe moved to Vermont in an attempt to get back to the way things used to be.It's also well documented that Joe turned an interest in endurance racing into a passion. His racing resume is the stuff of legends - over 50 ultra-events overall and 14 Ironman events in one year alone. Most of his races are 100 miles or more with a few traditional marathons in the mix. (He once said that running a 26.2 marathon distance was "adorable.") To put it in perspective, he did the Vermont 100, the Lake Placid Ironman and the Badwater Ultra... in one week. The elevation climb for the 135-mile Badwater race, which starts hundreds of feet below sea level in Death Valley, is over 8,500 feet up to Mt. Whitney and temperatures soar into the 120's. Joe also biked cross-country in the Furnace Creek 508 which has been coined "The Toughest 48 Hours in Sport." It's no wonder his favorite quote is, "Death is the price we pay for life, so make it worth it."Joe's other athletic achievements:- Raid International Ukatak: Canada, January 2001- IditaSport: Alaska February, 2001 (1st place) - Odyssey Adventure Race: Big Island, Va., March 2001- OAR Beast of the East: Clayton Lakes, Va., April 2001 (1st place) - Raid The North Extreme: Newfoundland, June 2001 (13th place out of 42) - Adrenaline Rush: Dublin, Ireland, July 2001- Discovery World Championships: St. Moritz, Switzerland August, 2001In 2005, Joe decided that the world needed a new race, something that had never been done. And so, together with Peak Races, he created The Death Race, a 24-hour mental and physical test filled with unknown obstacles (www.youmaydie.com) . Racers couldn't and wouldn't know what to expect. The fear of the unknown would either break or motivate, and all they could do was try to survive. The race waiver includes three words: "I may die." It doesn't get any more rea
