THE SPEED PROJECT

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I have read “The Alchemist” by Paolo Coehlo for the first time while I was travelling around South East Asia in 2014. Ever since, his words have become a guiding piece to my journey through life, especially the word “Maktub”, which means “it is written” or “it is meant to be” in the Arabic language has had a significant impact on me and my believes. It implies that in life things happen for a reason and correlates to Steve Jobs’ famous Commencement Speech at Harvard in 2005: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

After I had failed to complete Ultra-Trail Du Mont Blanc for a second consecutive year, I have shared my thoughts and feelings on my blog as well as social channels. A couple of days later, I received a direct message from nils_hh on Instagram. The man behind this account is Nils Arend, co-founder of The Speed Project (“TSP”), telling me that they are hosting a solo version of TSP in 2020 for the first time and asking me whether I would be keen to do it. So, things apparently do happen for a reason. In defeat and negative experiences, lie learnings and reason. I wonder, whether he would have messaged me, if I would have “just” written about completing UTMB.

I had read about The Speed Project before and was captured by this immense challenge. Seeing that I would not run UTMB in 2020, I was searching for an exciting race to run next year and TSP has been one of my options. At that time, I did not know about the solo edition, so I thought that I need a team to run it. I spoke to my friends at Ciele Athletics, of which some had conquered the route from LA to LV before, but they also pointed out that I need to join a crew to take part. So, when Nils invited me to run, I did not have to think twice, but told him that I would be in. The longest I have run to date was Marathon Des Sables and its 250 kilometers course through the desert in 2017. In my next post, I will outline how I will takle TSP and discuss my training plan. Nevertheless, I guess I stick to the words by Fred DeVito “If it does not challenge you, it does not change you.”  

Some may have heard about an event that sounds similar called Hood to Coast, a relay event up in Oregon, however Arend says that it does not really compare. The Speed Project is “more rebel-style.” The Speed Project 1.0 was first held in March 2013 and was solely meant to answer one question: How fast can you run from Point A to Point B? To answer this question, two women and four men decided to see how fast they could run from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Seven years later, The Speed Project is still 340 mile-long race (550 kilometer), but turned into an invite-only event. Teams are consisting of at least six runners that set off from Santa Monica Pier at 5:00am on Friday and race to the finish line at the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign, expecting to arrive on Sunday. The relay is non-stop and runs continuously until teams reach the sign on the Vegas strip. This means running day and night through some very rugged and challenging terrain. In 2019, more than 40 teams have been selected, packed themselves into RVs to make the journey from the Pacific coast to the Vegas strip. Along with the runners, also come a selected group of individuals to support the brave men and women taking on the route. The current record was set by Team Sunchasers from Paris in 2018 and sits at 35 hours and 49 minutes. In order to be eligible for the official course record, a team has to consist of the original team set of six runners, four male and two female. 

For the first time in 2020, different to the relay, the solo race will start on Tuesday, March 17th at Santa Monica Pier with the aim of runners  arriving in Las Vegas by Sunday, March 22nd in time for the pool party. I am currently working on aligning my team as well as finalizing administrative things. Also, as with most of my previous runs, I will select a charity to raise funds for a good cause. Yet, in terms of training, I have already started to adopt my training and I will fully indulge into this training block after I have fully recovered from Ultra-Trail Cape Town. 

In the meantime, as The Speed Project is still very much considered a ‘fringe’ event with no official website, little media coverage, no timing or official results, you can follow the race on and see impressions from the previous years on Instagram using the hashtag #thespeedproject and follow the official @thespeedproject account. Furthermore, you should check out the following videos below.