In an earlier blog, I talked about the endurance event 29029 Everesting that Brenda and I signed up for. In this post, I’ll go into a little more depth about the event, what our expectations are, and how we plan to train for it.

29029 is an event founded by Jesse Itzler, Marc Hodulich and Colin O’brady in 2017 as an endurance event that measured not how far you go but how far up. the idea was to create an event (not a race) that would challenge you physically but even more so mentally. They claim that nearly anyone with even a modest level of fitness can physically complete the event but that the real challenge is mental. Can you keep climbing even when it gets really hard and the pain and fatigue are telling you to quit. Can you climb all day and all night and all day again? Are you willing to give it everything you’ve got and leave it all on the mountain. Brenda and I want to find out.

If you haven’t heard of Jesse, Marc or Colin, let me tell you a little about them.

Jesse Itzler

Jesse began his career as a billboard top 100 rapper and managed the band Run DMC. He also wrote the anthem for the New York Nicks basketball team. He’s a serial entrenuer. Following his music career he co-founder the private jet company, Marquis Jets which he sold to Warren Buffet. He then became a co-owner of Zico Coconut water which he sold to Coca Cola. He wrote the book “Living with a SEAL: 31 days Training with the Toughest Man on the Planet” along with several other books. He’s an accomplished endurance athlete having competed in the USA National Ultramarathon Championship completing the 100 mile run in under 24 hours. And if thats not enough, he’s married to Sara Blakely, the billionaire founder of Spanx. He’s now a motivational speaker and coach.

Marc Hodulich

Marc is an accomplished endurance athlete having competed the Leadville 100 trail run, Ironman Mt Tremblant and a sub 4 hour Marine Corp Marathon. He currently serves as the CEO of 29029.

Colin O’brady

Colin is a world record holder adventurer. He did the first solo crossing of Antarctica, a world first row across the Drake Passage. He’s summited Mount Everest and holds three mountaineering world records. He’s written several books including “The 12 hour walk”. He is also a sought after motivational speaker.

As you can see, these guys are the real deal and they’ve created an event unlike any other.

Event details

In 2023 there are 6 29029 events being held. One in Sun Valley Idaho, one in Jackson Hole Wyoming, two in Snowbasin Utah, one in Whistler British Columbia and one in Statton Vermont. Brenda and I will be at Stratton where the very first 29029 event was held in 2017.

Its not a cheap event. In fact its quite expensive. Far more expensive than your typical endurance event but alot is included to make it worthwhile. The entrance fee includes three night lodging at the event will all meals included. A lot of swag and a nearly unlimited supply of energy foods and drinks while on the mountain. They hold a “Coaches Call” every two weeks to help participants prepare and to answer all the questions we all have. they also provide a 20 week training plan to get you ready.

The event starts on Thursday afternoon with check in and then a series of informational and motivational speeches by the founders and coaches. Thursday night we’ll be trying to get some sleep ahead of the start on Friday morning. The event starts of 6 am on Friday in the dark as all 200 participants start climbing the mountain. At Stratton, each ascent is 1750 vertical feet over 1.35 miles with an average gradient of 25%. Its the shortest, steepest of all the events. Over the next 36 hours, we’ll attempt to ascend Stratton Mountain 17 times. Once at the top, we’ll ride the Gondola down and do it again until we’ve accomplished 17 summits or given it everything we’ve got. After each summit, they have a large bamboo board where you brand the 29029 logo above your name showing how many summits you’ve done. On the last climb, you wear a red bib so every knows you are on your last climb.

Training

Since Stratton is the last 29029 event of the year, we have alot of time to train. In the first phase, our goal is to shed a few pounds and get our bodies used to being on our feet and moving for extended periods of time. Since we are in Florida and Lousiana now, we won’t be getting any elevation work but we will be doing alot of hiking with some biking and kayaking thrown in for variety.

Once back in Pittsburgh, we’ll start working on the hills. there’s plenty of opportunity to hike on hilly terrain there and we’ll likely head over the the Cathedral of Leaning at Pitt University to climb the stairs there for some more intense climbing training. the Catherdral of Learning has 36 flights of stairs with 764 steps and is open to the public 24/7. Its a popular place for locals in Pittsburgh to go to get a good workout. In early June we’ll receive our 20 week training plan from 29029 and we plan to follow it to the best of our ability.

Why?

While I can’t speak for Brenda, I have done a few events that have pushed me to my limits and what I’ve found is that it is really hard to know what your true limits are, what you are truly capable of unless you put yourself in situations that seem impossible. You learn a tremendous amount about yourself in these situations and you also learn how to tackle big problems. The solution almost always lies in breaking them down into digestible chunks. Your mind can’t comprehend running 26 miles for the first time, climbing a mountain at 20,000 or climbing 29,000 in 36 hours. You learn to just focus on the next goal, the next aid station, the next mile, the next ascent and before you know it, you’ve accomplished what seems impossible. the real challenge at events like this is the mental aspect. Can you tell yourself to keep going even when it gets very hard? Absent and injury, our bodies are more than capable but are we mentally tough enough? Thats what we are going to find out. At the end, it doesn’t really matter if we make 17 summits or not, what really matters is that we left everything we had on the mountain and didn’t choose to quit.

“Today I do what others won’t so tomorrow I can do what others can’t” - Jerry Rice

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