Every day thousands of Americans like Rod Price are involved in some type of physical and mental endurance test. They push themselves to the limits of their ability for a variety of reasons. Some use these challenges as a means to physically rehabilitate from an injury. Others take on these challenges so as to defy the process of aging. And perhaps, the greatest number of these amateur endurance athletes make these attempts simply for the age old reason offered by climbers of various mountains, because it is there. In our web section “Pushing your limits” we discuss and share all manner of endeavor and motivation. If there is anyone thing Rod has learned during the last twenty years of adventure racing it is that the human spirit drives itself to be fed. And the feeding of one’s spirit is the key to a joyful existence. Hence Rod’s personal motto. Achievement validates existence.

Todd Carmichael is one of these adventurers as the CEO of a high end coffee supplier serving 28 states with more than $20,000,000 a year in sales, one can say that he both needs and doesn’t need an adventure. Yet last September he became the first person to walk alone across the desert land of Death Valley. Pulling a balloon tired red wagon holding four 50 gallon drums of water and a total of 450 pounds of supplies Todd headed off on his desert challenge.
On the first day of his adventure Todd ran into what for most of us would be the signal to turn back and quick the attempt. That obstacle came in the form of a 45° downhill slope. Not being able to physically brake the dissent of his wagon he was forced to offload all of his gear and carry each piece individually down the hill. This first step in his journey took Todd 12 hours. So for his effort he had managed to cover on his first day only 300 yards of a 160 mile trek. Walking at night and sleeping by day to avoid the devastating impact of death valley’s 118° heat Todd manage to cover 90 miles in his first 10 days.
His specially designed wagon with fully rotating flexible axles and almost a lunar module like appearance worked well to counter the debris along his path. Those same sticks, stones and sharp needles continually punctured his tires forcing him to patch and walk, patch and walk.

Even when at 3:30 AM Carmichael strayed from his course by making a wrong turn and found himself lost in the darkness in the middle of the desert he felt at ease with the task he had set for himself. It was as if he had chosen this ordeal so as to almost remove himself from his 9 to 5 existence. Perhaps 80 to 100 years ago Todd would have found himself crossing a Yukon mountain pass so as to pan for gold along the Yukon River. But adventure such as that might have proven to tame for the likes of Carmichael who is part of a unique group of elite trekkers who purposefully seek out unusual challenges far beyond those taken on any beaten path.
Todd has had to cross parts of the Sahara and is the first American to walk solo to the South Pole. He had intended to ski to the poll but his skis broke and he was forced to continue on foot.

The most avid diehard trekkers in the world regard death valley as an impossible passage. The mountain’s surrounding the valley create an oven like effect and to this point no one has ever successfully completed the trip. Even Carmichael himself had failed in his earlier attempt to cross Death Valley. After 10 days and nights and 90 miles to the tires on Todd Carmichael’s little red wagon it could no longer be patched and repaired and once again he was forced to abandon his quest. He walked a direct route out of the desert and into civilization. In a scene straight out of Lawrence of Arabia he found himself at a resort bar tattered and torn, scraggly and scruffy ordering up a cool lemonade.

Todd quickly regained his composure and with a shower and a few hours’ rest behind him shared his experiences. As he had failed again to cross the desert plain of Death Valley, but come next June he will try again.

As Rod Price prepares to circumnavigate Florida in his canoe in the Ultimate Florida Challenge race, his 20 planned days of enduring the outdoors pales in comparison to Freya Hoffmeister’s completed journey.

Solo and unassisted Hoffmeister paddled her Kayak around the Australian continent. She did take one “shortcut” across the Gulf of Carpeteria. The open sea shortcut was 357 miles long! Her entire journey took almost a year with 257 days spent paddling eventually covering 8,570 miles distance in 322 days. Her time for the distance mark easily beat that of New Zealander Paul Cafyn who is the only other person to complete the circling of Australia via paddle.
As with all long distance paddling endeavors sleeping in the boat is often part of the regimen.

Previously Freya had completed a two person circumnavigation of Iceland in just 33 days. Freya’s world wide paddling treks serve as fabulous motivation for over 40 athletes. She was 45 years young when she completed the Australian challenge.

On September first 2011, Freya set off again on a sea kayaking challenge that seems more difficult, if not impossible, than any she has thus far completed. As of this writing Freya is paddling away attempting to circumnavigate an even bigger continent, that being South America. She had better paddle a little faster this time, as the distance, at 14,913 miles, is almost twice that of her Australian feat. In another week or so she should be rounding Cape Horn by means of Drake’s passage. Surely that trek alone is worthy of worldwide attention!

Many top swimmers have attempted comebacks before her. Even the venerable Mark Spitz tried to get back into Olympic form. But, for gold medal swimmers there seems to be one disadvantage that surpasses that of time as a factor. That disadvantage is genetics. Let fifteen years go by and you will quickly discover that the next generation of athletes is faster than you were when you were their age. Some sports have a built in evolution that forbid aged competitors from staging a return to center stage, field or court.

Still a few try every year to defy father time. One such athlete is four time Olympic gold medalist Janet Evans. You may remember her as a fresh faced teen in 1988 or a seasoned Olympic veteran at the age of 21 in Barcelona. By the time she arrived at the 1996 games in Atlanta she was well past her prime.

So where is Janet Evans today some 15 years past her semi failed effort for a fifth Olympic gold medal? She is training of course. She is in the pool getting into shape for a run at qualifying for the 2012 Olympic games. At the tender age of 40 Janet Evans hopes to qualify, once more for the Olympics, and she just might do it. Apparently we baby boomers are made of stout stuff. Scientists have discovered that we 40 plus somethings are not as over the hill as we had imagined. In fact so long as we do not have injuries an over 40 athlete can get into shape and be competitive. We may not be sprinters but we do have endurance. So Janet who now has two children and a life beyond the pool is able to whittle down her times in the hopes of making the team. At present her speeds in various events are good enough to place her in the top 100 ladies swimming ranks worldwide. Bear in mind that in her youth Janet set records that remained in place for over twenty years. She was a prototype for female swimmers to come.

But those same scientists have also discovered that age is not the reason we slow down. We slow down because we cease doing the type of activities that required greater aerobic strength. We lose it because we didn’t use it. Granted it is an incredibly difficult task for any of us who have led a semi-sedentary lifestyle to refind the desire to put our body back into its shape and condition of those twenty years prior. But it can be done, and for those with that drive like Janet Evans, it opens up a world of possibilities. Stay healthy and we will be able to enjoy our lives far longer than we had imagined. Instead of 40 being the new 30 perhaps 60 will be the new 35.

Tori Murden McClure began her life a simple southern girl born in Brooksville, Florida. Her intellectual ability steered the boat of her life through an academic sea until at the age of 34 she had her doctorate in law from the University of Louisville School of Law, masters in fine arts and was in line to become president to Spaulding College. She also had an interest in adventure. That passion led her to attempt a little exercise in rowing. Tori attempted to row a 24 foot plywood boat across the Atlantic Ocean.

A funny thing about oceans and the Atlantic in particular is that sometimes they are calm and other times they are not so calm. Tori found this out the hard way when on her attempt to cross the pond between America and France a la Lucky Lindy, Charles Lindbergh, she ran into hurricane season. Her boat was without communication and she was only able to secure herself in its airtight emergency area while the sea played ping pong with herself and her vessel. The result of the storm was her survival after sending out a distress beacon.

She returned from her failed attempt to row the Atlantic with a new vision of herself. She truly learned that the journey exceeds the arrival. Her life opened up for her simply for having undertook the adventure. Her failure taught her that her limitations were meant to define her existence and her success despite any setbacks. With advice from Muhammad Ali she set about again to row the Atlantic but this time with her spirit well formed. Like so many others before her attempted great things Tori Murden had discovered that the joy of life often lies within its struggle. Work towards something you believe in and you shan’t ever live with regret.
On her second attempt to row the Atlantic Tori was successful. Owing to a lack of a hurricane and a renewed sense of self she made the crossing in 81 days from the Canary Islands to Guadeloupe.

Tori has written a memoir about her experiences title A Pearl in the Storm, that presses forth the greater values she has learned during the course of her life. She literally found adventure and romance on the high seas.