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All right everyone, time to break it down for you all!  After much deliberation I have decided to shift he way this thing is going to go down.  I am stripping away a good deal for how it will be run so that it’ll be a good bit cheaper and a more accessible by a greater number of people.  This does not mean you won’t be getting a crazy awesome experience!  In fact, it may just turn out to be even more fun!  The first thing to put out there is that I’m capping the whole adventure at 15 people.  So, if you want in, get registered ASAP or you may not be able to get in!

Into The Wild Basic Facts:

Cost - $150

What you get:
·      Into the wild t-shirt
·      Free snack before first throwdown (Courage Bars, Core Bars)
·      3 separate organized throwdowns in three different outdoor locations
·      Prizes from our awesome sponsors for winners, along with a few giveaways and other surprises throughout the weekend!
·      Top of the line instruction throughout the weekend from world-class coaches and experts (Josh Courage, Brendon Mahony, Corey Rennell)
·      Basics to survival instruction (how to start a fire, how to navigate, and so much more!)
·      Organized, structured and discounted access to wooded workouts, exploration, beach camping and cookout, and of course, surfing the famous Pacifica ocean
·      A good collection of food supplied for dinner and breakfast

Schedule (basic look here, a more detailed one, with times and such will be posted in the coming week):
·      Meet at San Mateo Team Elite, Saturday Oct. 15th @ 11am
·      Carpool to first location down Skyline in the woods!
·      2+ hours of instruction and training in the woods
·      Break, food, nutrition talk with Corey Rennell, owner of CORE Foods
·      First throwdown, “The Woods”
·      Carpool/hike to the beach
·      Set up camp, start fires for cook out
·      Enjoy the evening, eating good food, drinking good drink, singing songs and more!
·      Second throwdown, “Midnight Madness”
·      Camp out
·      Wake up for an early morning instruction and training session on the beach
·      Third throwdown, “Storming The Beach”
·      Breakfast!
·      Carpool to Pacifica for some bad ass surfing
·      Carpool over to Gorilla BBQ for a feast!

What To Bring:
Because this is turning into a little more of a bare-bones adventure, I am taking out the vans, the food and the hugely detailed guidebook.  Everything else will stay the same!  So, I’ll have some meat and veggies and water along for the weekend, if you want food, bring some, potluck style for the whole group.  As stated before, alcohol is more than welcome, just bring a bunch!  Be prepared to help out with driving, loading and unloading and so on.  You will still be taken care of a TON, just toning it back a little to make it a little more accessible for the first run-through of it all.
·      Food (bring anything and everything you want, be prepared to share!)
·      Drink (same thing!)
·      A couple changes of clothes
·      A tent and any other camping gear you may want
·      Money for surfing, BBQ and extra goodies (Courage Performance apparel, Courage Bars, Core Warrior Bars)

Again, I am capping this weekend adventure at 15 select people so, if you want in, get signed up STAT!  This is the only adventure of its kind and you will be part of a prestigious group who get to experience the first ever!  I am super stocked to get this rolling and have all the confidence in the world that this is going to end up being one of the most exciting weekends of the year.  So jump on board and join the fun!

So, that’s what I got for you all, let me know if you have any questions of course!  Also, I will rolling into town on Wednesday before this even, so if anyone wants to get some personal training in while I’m around, let me know ASAP (I’ve heard from a couple of you, we’ll get it set up soon!).   And that’s that.  I cannot wait to get back out West and hang with everyone, it’s gonna be a blast!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage
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Bright and early Saturday morning, people began to roll in for the third installment of the Courage Games.  I really wasn't totally sure what to expect in terms of how many people would show as the only marketing I did for it was to create a Facebook event.  But, given the "local, fun throwdown" feel of it all, I was really happy with the turnout.  The weather was perfect, the athletes were wonderfully energized, the support was perfect (Lindsey and myself ran the show and things went off without a hitch!) and when the day was done, and a handful of us were enjoying grilled meat and a couple drinks, we all agreed that the day could not have been all that much better!

Things got started with a bang with workout #1:
Push a car 50 meters, push it back 50 meters
(women did 30 meters)

The push down for the first 50 meters clearly put everyone at a physiological disadvantage; it was so damn easy!  But, when they ran around and tried to get the things going back, all of a sudden things became real tough, fast.  Eric Kolarick took home the fasted time with 54 seconds while Leah Vanhoose and Christie Wheatly tied at 51 seconds for the women; most people were in the mid to upper 90+ second range.  People sure were walking a little funny after this one, quad burn galore!

After a little break, workout #2 was announced (follow along as best you can...):
Cross short bridge, run a rough single track tail about 150 meters, run up a crazy steep hill about 30 meters, military crawl 20 meters (knees and forearms crawl), cross the blacktop, 5 rope climbs, each about 15 feet (women do 3), then throw a 52#/32# sandbag three consecutive times as far as you can.

When your time is stopped, you get to take 3 seconds off your total time for every 10 feet you throw your bag.  Always a little fun twist to throw into the workout to make people think!

Eric Grant took home the top time for men, while Leah Vanhoose blasted through it for the women.  What proved to be the best strategy was to just get the sandbags thrown as fast as possible as to not waste any extra time.  But people were good and worn out with the combination of skill and raw power after a touch run and crawling face first in freshly mowed, wet grass!

The third one proved to take the most out of people! (follow along closely with this one as well!):
Grab a large bucket, run under two hurdles, over a sandbag pile, through a collection of tires, across a 10' 2x4 and across the blacktop to a sand pit.  Hand fill your bucket half way with sand, then run about a 300 meter, very hilly course and back through the obstacles.  Hand fill your bucket to the top now with sand (this is heavy by the way...) and repeat the run.  End with dumping your bucket back into the sand pit!

Man was this one fun to watch!  People shoveling sand into the buckets then taking off around the great outdoors!  But it was that second run that just crushed everyone.  Word from the athletes was that right around the 3/4 mark of the run loop, it just hit people so damn hard.  Running with that crazy heavy bucket was just about as awkward as a run could ever get as well!  But the best part: people had a bucket at hand right there just in case things got a little worked up in their stomachs after the workout...

Adam Chudy tore this one up with Cory Spera close at his heels, and Leah Vanhoose yet again grabbed the top time for the women. 

A little extra break was given out here as thing were rolling WAY ahead of schedule.  And the last one would be a brutal sprint of sneaky-hard proportions! 

Sprint 30 meters across the blacktop, up a little hill, grab a sledge hammer then hammer a tire across the 30 meters of the blacktop.

This one felt like it took 20 minutes even tough most people were getting it around 2-3.  The go-to strategy for this was to straddle the tire and over-head slam it between your legs.  The trick was hitting the tire just right so that it got the slightest big of air under it and could skid across the concrete about 4-6 feet.  But peoples hips, shoulders and hands were just burned!

Eric Kolarick came in first for the men, with Dave Shaw just seconds behind him, while Diane Cole took first for the women.

In the end, Dave Shaw proved to be the most consistent across the board (winners were decided by fasted overall combined time) for the men taking home the top prize, while Leah Vanhose blazed through for the win for the women.  Below are the top three from both sides:

Men:
Dave Shaw - 639 seconds
Eric Grant - 6 seconds
Joseph Barlia - 650 seconds


Women:
Leah Vanhoose - 767
Diane Cole - 802
Christie Wheatly - 876

Special thanks to Core Warrior Bars and 2XU for helping out, both are awesome brands that I personally love and am so pumped that they continuously support these awesome athletes as they challenge themselves!  Also a huge special thanks to Lindsey for yet again coming out and choosing to spend her wonderful off day outside with me and helping out!  Could not have done this without her at all!

And of course, thanks so much to all the athletes who came out and pushed yourselves!  So happy to have to you all out for the day and believe me, I'll be getting people together again very soon!

I'll have a nice little video up from the days fun in the next couple days, so look for that! 

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage
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