The 5 Hardest Physical Challenges I've Ever Done

I've finished seven 100-milers and three 200-milers, and I've done some things that weren't races at all. These are the five that pushed me the hardest, counting down to number one.

At a glance

5. 29029 Everesting

• Where: Snowbasin, Utah
• When: August 2021
• The challenge: 29,029 ft of climbing, about 13 trips up
• My result: 1st place, about 17 hours

A company rents out a mountain, and you hike the vertical equivalent of Mount Everest. You hike up, take the gondola down and do it again, loop after loop. I think I went up 13 times.

This one was extremely hard because I'd never climbed that amount of vertical gain. I took first, which was awesome, but the event is really more about how you challenge yourself than finishing first.

It was probably one of the most fun fitness events I've ever been to, because of the atmosphere and how everyone supports each other. I rode the gondola down with different people after every loop, and it was super fun.

4. Ultraman Arizona

• Where: Phoenix area, Arizona
• When: 2023
• Day 1: 6.2-mile swim, 90-mile bike
• Day 2: 171.4-mile bike
• Day 3: 52.4-mile run (a double marathon)
• My result: 4th place

This race actually doesn't exist anymore, but it was a fun one. It's basically a double Ironman over the course of three days. It was extremely challenging, but very fun.

I had been running a ton before then, so getting to switch up the disciplines was what I liked about it. You also cover so much distance that it was cool to see different parts of Phoenix.

Coming back three days in a row to do crazy efforts was wild. I had never done a multi-day event like that, and this was before I did the 200s. And swimming for four hours straight was so wild. I was so discombobulated getting out of the water that I almost stumbled and fell.

3. Tahoe 200

• Where: Lake Tahoe, California and Nevada
• When: July 21, 2023
• The challenge: 200 miles, my first 200
• My result: 86:58:27

The Tahoe 200 was my first 200-mile race, and I didn't know what I was in for. Honestly, I was a little cocky going into it and didn't respect the distance.

I was so excited that I forgot to put on chafing ointment before the start, and I got crazy bad chafing. Then about 30 to 40 miles in, I got really bad diarrhea, which made the chafing even worse.

I wanted to quit several times and almost did. My crew helped me problem-solve it, got me to take Imodium, and talked me into continuing instead of quitting. Thanks to them, I finished in 86 hours and 58 minutes.

2. Bigfoot 200

• Where: Washington's Cascade Mountains
• When: August 11, 2023
• The challenge: 200+ miles with about 44,000 to 46,000 ft of climbing
• My result: 79:54:50

I finished Tahoe, and 17 days later I was on the start line of Bigfoot. I basically had no time to recover, and this race has crazy amounts of elevation gain.

There's no way I should have been able to run that race well. But I finished about 7 hours faster than Tahoe, on a harder course, with only one crew member and no pacer.

It was a big turning point for me in the power of the mind.

1. A half marathon on a treadmill every day for 153 days

• Where: Irving, Texas
• When: March 3 to August 2, 2025
• The challenge: 13.1 miles on a treadmill, every day, for 153 days
• My result: Guinness World Record

It was absolutely wild doing that for so many days in a row. After about two to three weeks, my body could handle it pretty regularly. I was still tired and worn out throughout the days, but it wasn't that much harder. I just got used to it.

What made it difficult: three different times, I got all the way done with my run and realized my camera was out. I needed the footage for the record, so I had to redo the whole run from the start. Three other times, I had to get off the treadmill to go to the bathroom, so I had to rerun it again.

The hardest part wasn't even the physical side. It was the mental side of doing it every day for five months.

Why this is number one: a lot of the other challenges on this list were harder or hurt more in the moment. But this one was just so long. It required me to be present, not travel, and be at the same treadmill every day for around two hours.

It required two witnesses to be there every day, and sometimes the witnesses canceled. It required me to run the whole half marathon twice in one day on three different occasions when I had camera issues, and to run more miles than necessary when I had bathroom issues on the treadmill. That is why this was the hardest.

Want more? Here are the 10 hardest endurance races in the world, including the Triple Crown of 200s and Ultraman, and my bucket list 100-mile races.

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