MONROVIA – Joei Harrison has faced death once. But this time she’s going in with months of training, a pack full of gear and a smile on her face.
Harrison, a Monrovia resident who survived a fatal car accident in 2004, is competing next week in the Spartan Death Race, a grueling endurance competition in Vermont that few people actually finish.
“I know what they’re trying to do is break you,” Harrison said. “If they find a weakness in somebody, they’re going to zone in on that weakness.”
Competitors take on challenges such as carrying heavy objects for hours, crawling through mud under barbed wire and lots of running, hiking and swimming.
But the real challenge is mental, Harrison said. Competitors don’t know what they’ll have to do, and among the required gear are seemingly mundane things such as a pink swimming cap, dress shoes and knitting needles.
Several years ago, Harrison could barely lift 15pounds or reach above her head. Her right arm was shattered in the accident, requiring years of rehabilitation, and she had to learn to speak again because of brain damage.
Harrison, though, has never shied from a challenge. She once tried parachuting to overcome a fear of heights.
“It didn’t work,” she said, but that hasn’t stopped her from tackling perilous hikes up Mount Baldy with a friend, Ana Valenzuela.
“I get it, it is insanity, but she has her personal reasons for doing these things,” Valenzuela said of the Death Race. “Any wall that pops up in her life she just climbs over and comes out stronger.”
Harrison trained in San Diego last weekend with the winner of the previous two Death Race competitions. Finishing in 24 hours earns $100,000, though Harrison is just hoping to make it through the whole thing.
She already started her first task: getting a news article printed, or swimming an extra 12 miles. However, she learned everybody is going to swim anyway. “I already have it in my head, anything they throw at me, just smile and say `all right, is that all you have,”‘ she said.
The Death Race begins Friday. To find out more, go to www.youmaydie.com.
james.figueroa@sgvn.com, 626-578-6300, ext. 4475
