“Man, it’s the same bullshit they tried to pull in my day. If it ain’t that piece of paper, there’s some other choice they’re gonna try and make for you. You gotta do what Randall Pink Floyd wants to do man. Let me tell you this, the older you do get the more rules they’re gonna try to get you to follow. You just gotta keep livin’ man, L-I-V-I-N.“
Here we are, the end of the first week! Pretty impressive consistency and results so far!
I am working on some additional stats and hope to have them published by the end of today as we start kicking in the door on Week #2!
Here are the numbers!
Miles rucked On Day 7: 24.95 miles.
Miles Rucked Through 7 Days: 155.71 miles.
Steps (Stairs) Climbed on Day 7: 3,571 stairs (357.10 flights)
Steps (Stairs) Climbed Through Day 7: 20,488 stairs (2,048.80 flights)
If we keep at this pace, we are looking at a total of 689 miles rucked, and over 90K stairs climbed! I would really like to push those numbers to 700+ miles and 100K+ stairs, so let’s keep it going!
Had a set-back, personally, for my own miles on May 6th, but managed to get some steps in at least. More entries on the 6th as compared to the 5th, so that is a good sign that the challenge is still going strong!
Here are the numbers!
Miles rucked On Day 6: 24.51 miles.
Miles Rucked Through 6 Days: 130.76 miles. WE HAVE ACCUMULATIVELY PASSED THE 114.31 MILEAGE THRESHOLD!
Steps (Stairs) Climbed on Day 6: 1,887 stairs (188.70 flights)
Steps (Stairs) Climbed Through Day 6: 16,917 stairs (1,691.70 flights)
“I wanted something different; I wanted something that challenged me and that pushed me further. Then this idea of climbing Mount Everest came to my mind. It stuck in my head for days. Someone told me I couldn’t do it, and that really annoyed me.”
Raha Moharrak, Saudi Arabian Explorer
Make sure to check in for the next posted results as we close out Week #1!
Yesterday, Day 5, was a bit of an acclimation day. Numbers were down a bit overall, but some numbers probably just haven’t been reported yet, either. We did manage to break the 100 mile accumulative threshold though, so that’s great!
Here are the numbers!
Miles rucked On Day 5: 12.08 miles.
Miles Rucked Through 5 Days: 106.25 miles.
Steps (Stairs) Climbed on Day 5: 2,353 stairs (235.30 flights)
Steps (Stairs) Climbed Through Day 5: 15,030 stairs (1,503 flights)
Almost one week down, and I am excited to see where we end up. At the end of week one, I will have some individual stats for all participants.
Yesterday, May 4th, we had our highest total miles in one day so far, and our highest total stairs in one day. Everybody was excited by the holiday, I reckon.
Onward and upward, we continue toward the summit!
Miles rucked On Day 4: 29.39 miles.
Miles Rucked Through 4 Days: 92.77 miles.
“We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to live. That is what life means and what life is for.”
– Mallory
Steps (Stairs) Climbed on Day 4: 4,088 stairs (400.08 flights)
Steps (Stairs) Climbed Through Day 4: 12,558 stairs (847 flights)
We have officially climbed the elevation gain of Mt Everest as a collective effort, in only 4 days! Great work, and I am excited to see how many times we can ascend the mountain as a team, and as individuals!
Cruising along with some more mileage and stairs climbed for Day 3 of the challenge. I managed to get my first miles rucked but went low on stairs because of being in the car for 10 hours. Just more fun to be had for today!
Miles rucked On Day 3: 24.34 miles.
Miles Rucked Through 3 Days: 63.38 miles.
“Everest has always been a magnet for kooks, publicity seekers, hopeless romantics and others with a shaky hold on reality.” – Jon Krakauer
Steps (Stairs) Climbed on Day 3: 3,501 stairs (350.1 flights)
Steps (Stairs) Climbed Through Day 3: 8,470 stairs (847 flights)
We had a few more people join on Daye 2, and the numbers are starting to fill in. We definitely have some people thar are above average in distance and steps climbed so far.
Miles rucked On Day 2: 21.14 miles.
Miles Rucked Through 2 Days: 39.04 miles.
“You do not climb a mountain like Everest by trying to race ahead on your own, or by competing with your comrades. You do it slowly are carefully, by unselfish teamwork. Certainly I wanted to reach the top by myself; it was the one thing that I had dreamed of all my life. But if the lot fell to someone else, I would take it like a man, and not a crybaby — for that is the mountain way.” – Tenzing Norgay
Steps (Stairs) Climbed on Day 2: 3,132 stairs (313.2 flights)
Steps (Stairs) Climbed Through Day 2: 4,969 stairs (496.9 flights)
Starting to add up on miles and especially the stairs, so good work everyone!
The Leaderboard for Day 1 of the Everest in May challenge!
Yesterday was disappointing for me because I didn’t get any rucking done. But I also climbed more stairs than I have in probably 10 years or so. My quads are reminding me of this every second of today.
Kudos to the five men who made progress on Day 1! Well done!
Miles Rucked on Day 1: 12.8 miles
Steps (Stairs) Climbed on Day 1: 1,837 stairs (183.7 flights)
Great start so far, Hoping to get some ladies into the mix as well, and I am sure we will have some more people upload their stats for Day 1 before the deadline.
Good morning everyone! Or good evening, depending on where you are in the world.
The difference in elevation from the Base Camp of Mt. Everest to the summit of the peak, is 11,431 ft. Many people have successfully made the attempt. Many, unfortunately, have not been successful. And failure at such a high altitude rarely works out well for those who attempt to make the summit.
Regardless of the danger level, the idea of making the climb is exciting to me. I just don’t have any excitement for climbing through an area known as the Death Zone.
So, I decided on a sea level compromise. Climb the same distance in elevation gain (11,431 ft.) by climbing stairs, or stepping up on a plyo box, etc. While that would be a challenge in itself, it didn’t seem to be enough. So, I added on the challenge of carrying your own pack by mixing in some rucking exercise as well. 114.31 miles of rucking, to be exact.
I created this challenge to help gamify the art of pushing yourself outside your boundaries when it comes to exercise. For some of you, this will quite literally be a walk in the park. For others, this may be the hardest thing you have ever attempted. Either way, we are all cheering each other on to complete the summit to Everest.
Here are the rules for the Everest in May challenge!
You are responsible for posting your own miles rucked and stairs climbed to the Google form at this link: Everest in May
You have two days from the time you do the work, until you must have it entered in the log. This is to try and keep the leaderboard as up to date as possible.
The deadline for entering your data for the end of the month is May 31st, 11:59 PM CDT.
Miles Rucked: You can enter your miles in a format allowing up to two numbers after a decimal. For example, 3.45 miles rucked. Not 3.4567 miles rucked. Anything over two numbers past the decimal, will be rounded down.
Weight for Rucking: If you weigh less than 150 lbs. or have never rucked before, 20 lbs. is the suggested weight to carry. If you weigh more than 150 lbs. and have experience rucking, 30 lbs. is the suggested weight to carry. These are minimum weights, so if you are able to carry more, be my guest, but don’t hurt yourselves.
Steps (Stairs): You can get your steps from climbing up a flight of stairs or from stepping up onto a box, etc.. I encourage everyone to wear their rucks for this, but do as you need to do. You get credit for the steps climbed whether or not you are wearing your ruck, or climbing the steps slick (without a ruck). Additionally, if you climb a flight of stairs while rucking, you get credit for that distance toward your rucking miles (must be in conjunction with your rucking walk, not just climbing stairs for 0.03 miles).
Be safe. If you are struggling, listen to your body and your instinct. No one wants anyone to get hurt. You are participating at your own risk.
Have fun.
The “winner” of this challenge is you. You win by doing this.
If you have any questions, hit me up. Share this with your friends. Your co-workers. The people you hate. Everybody, in short.
A boat being burned at the Up Helly Aa festival in the Shetland Islands,
If you want to take the island, burn the boats!
– Julius Caesar
The idea of burning the boats to force yourself or others to accept only success as an option has been attributed to many people. Julius Caesar, Hernán Cortés, The Predator…
All worthy role models, amiright?
Many people attribute this notion to the Vikings however, which doesn’t make mush sense to anyone familiar with how the Vikings operated. They treated their boats as the valuable tools that they were. The only time that a boat was “sacrificed” was when a very high-ranking member of the leadership died, and even then, that was only a known act during the height of Viking cultural success.
I can understand the romanticism of such an act though. The Vikings were well known throughout much of the northern hemisphere for their bravery and fearsome dedication to fighting and invading to grow the size of their reach for their kin. The idea of them saying, “Hey. Let’s burn our boats and show these people how much we TRULY like to fight.”, is rather intoxicating.
We all face trials and tribulations in this world and the ability to remove all forms of backing out of a commitment to improve ourselves SEEMS like a can’t fail idea. We can throw away all our junk food, so that we are only able to eat what we have in the home that is healthy. Or we can get a gym membership because once we start paying for it, we have no way to back out without feeling like a financial imbecile.
But in today’s world of convenience and lacking discipline, how often do we stop at a drive thru because we don’t have the “right kind of healthy food”, so we will start tomorrow? How many times have we paid for a membership that seldom gets utilized more than 3 weeks in?
Sometimes, even burning the boats is just a way for us to find excuses to not achieve things. We don’t improve out of a lack of options; we simply find more creative excuses to not improve.
And then, sometimes our boats get burned for us.
I started this blog a couple years ago as an outlet for my journey as a man, father, and husband, as I worked my way toward being the best I could possibly be in all categories; and maybe even impart some wisdom and humors to other Dads looking to do the same.
But now I move forward in only two of those categories: Man, and Dad.
My marriage failed. My boat that I depended on was burned for me, while I sat inside of it asking, “Where did all this smoke come from?”
Not going to lie… it hurt like a bitch.
I could say that I kept a strong chin, I kept my dignity, I moved forward immediately with new vigor.
But I didn’t. Not at first.
No, at first, I begged. I bargained. I bartered. I bitched about it.
None of those things worked. My boat didn’t reappear.
Then, I realized that my boat was gone. I was no longer beholden to that model. I could move forward and build a better boat.
I didn’t have to be “happy” that I needed to build a new boat, but my options were to sit there, and hope ashes regained their original form of a strong keel and sturdy bow and end up boatless in the end anyway. Or I could get to work building a boat that was my own, that could not be burned by others. A boat that was mine to command and do with as I see fit. Not an escape vessel. Not an anecdotal motivational tool. But a truly seaworthy ship that could take myself and my son and whoever else I decided to let board my boat through heavy seas, turbulent currents, and the unsure directions of life. To be commanded, powered, and steered by me.
And that is where I am at in my life currently. Figuring out how to build a boat.
I am still a man that wants to be great. I am still a father that wants to raise a great person. My goal with Dad Level Viking is to gamify the approach of building myself into a great man and father so that others can see it can be done one level at a time. I want to share my approach to being a man in today’s world that can take a disappointment and use it as a learning that makes me even stronger and more capable. I want to share with my readers about the trials and tribulations of being a dad in today’s society that so often pushes our young people toward adulthood faster than they should, and ill-equipped to deal. I want to relay my wins, my challenges, and my lessons learned, so that hopefully you may learn or be inspired.
If you feel like you have suffered a disappointment in life and you want to overcome it, follow this blog.
If you feel like you want to be the best possible Dad and want to learn or converse with others who are driven to be the same thing, follow this blog.
If you feel like life has gotten stagnant and you are looking for a way to break the perceived monotony, cycle, or curse of modern-day fatherhood/manhood, then follow this blog.
I may not have the answers, but I will fight all the way to learn them and help others learn them as well.
Come along on my adventures and learn how to build your own boat for this world. We may take on a little water, but we will not stop until Valhalla.
Let the others burn their boats. We are here in this life to BUILD.
Dad Level: Viking 