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Nils Arend

The Speed Project

By InnerVoice

March 22^nd, 2019

My new Friend, BLUe

When I reached a milestone in my running career, placing third in the Malibu Marathon, none of my friends were there to witness it or to share a high five with afterward. My friends were passed out from partying the night before; I didn’t get to share my modest podium placing with any familiar faces. Although there are only 4,000 or so registrants in the Malibu Marathon and you enter the race as an individual, the impact of running with a community amounts to so much more. Providence stepped in, and I found myself sharing a couple post race beers and swapping running tales with another runner. My new friend Blue was not only the race director of the Malibu Marathon but also an all-around cool guy. He understood and valued the connection between running and sharing that experience with others.

Out of my comfort zone

I didn’t grow up as a runner in the proverbial sense. I was into extreme sports and had dreams of maybe making this a career. Growing up in boarding schools in Germany where there wasn’t a big emphasis on sports, I didn’t have a coach to take me under their wing and train me. However, running did come in handy when sneaking out of school in the middle of the night. We would jump from the second floor with a backpack full of running clothes and run off grounds to party all night and then enter through the front door pretending we just got back from a run.

After I finished school at 18, I left to go travel and windsurf. When that pipe dream ran its course, I returned home and started organizing raves, which consumed my life, and running took a back seat. After a while, I was at a crossroads of what to do next. Although I had secured a corner office at an advertising agency and everything was going "well,” I was feeling stuck and needed a change. I identified three cities that I wanted to move to that would meet my lifestyle needs - LA, Sydney, or Cape Town. They all have great climates, mountains, the ocean, lots of sports and activity options, and all influential cities in their own way. I told my boss I needed four weeks to improve my English and the next thing I knew, I had my suitcase and a surfboard and found myself in California.

I perform best when I’m outside of my comfort zone. I didn’t know a single soul in LA, I didn’t have a job lined up, or a plan. As most things in life, everything worked itself out, and I landed a job, not great pay but it was something. It was then that running worked its way back into my life; it became my daily routine for balancing a hectic and stressful work life due to everything being brand new.

"Cool Run"

A colleague and I started running together, neither of us wore a watch, we ran together for the social aspect, and it was fun. When the holidays were approaching, he asked me if I was sticking around LA. I replied yes, and then he proceeded to tell me we should do a “cool run” together. I had no idea what he meant by a “cool run,” but we came up with a plan to run from his house to mine. I was living in Manhattan Beach, and he was in Long Beach a total of 35 miles. What I loved about this destination run was the route - we ran through very different environments. Starting at Long Beach, there’s a big industrial harbor and it has a very urban feel, then through a little fishing town called San Pedro, then we hit Palos Verdes which has breathtaking cliffs by the ocean, and the final stretch through beach towns like Redondo Beach.

The following year we wanted to do something more challenging and came up with the idea of running from the beach to the Hollywood sign. The year after that I got a little more ambitious and pitched the idea of running from LA to Las Vegas. I shared my extreme vision of the “cool run” with some friends, but most of them are surfers or creatives, not runners, so they all thought I was crazy.

Enter Blue Benadum, the Malibu Race Director. After connecting through the Malibu Marathon, we started running together. I told him about my idea of running to Vegas. He immediately said let’s do it! We started planning out how many people should join us for 340 miles (+547 km or so.) We settled on six people for our race, four men and two women. More and more people started to get involved and take on different roles. A filmmaker friend said he could film the project and another friend said they would map out the route. As my vision came to life, the ultimate goal was to run as fast as possible from LA to Las Vegas, nothing more, nothing less.

The Speed project was born

We had six runners, but many other people had played a major part in the run which made it feel very much like a team experience of having to rely on one another. The journey of going through scary meth-ridden towns on the outskirts of LA, to glimmering desert roads, from sunrises to sunsets, with the backdrop of the Mojave Desert was incredible. We arrived in Vegas by foot through the power of athleticism while the rest of the world flies or drives there to gamble and indulge in Sin City.

My filmmaker friend ended up with over 70 hours of footage from the run. He compiled it into a 17-minute film which conveniently coincided with the Instagram burst. We started connecting with a few running crews via Instagram and ended up sharing our film in 20 screenings across the world. In retrospect, the film wasn’t groundbreaking. But the point of the run wasn’t to make a film, it was about what we achieved together on foot.

After the run, the friend that drove the RV and built the map said The Speed Project was the coolest thing he’d ever done; and he’s quite an adventurous guy! If that was his response and he hadn’t even run, I knew we were onto something special. This was an experience that I knew I had the responsibility to share with other people. The Speed Project was born.

One Rule: Don't break the law

I created a post on Instagram about hosting another Speed Project, and to my surprise, lots of people responded. People started asking me about the cost, what the rules were and how they could register, none of which I had thought about. To ensure that people would be guaranteed to show up, I needed to figure out what was the least amount of money I could ask people for as a pseudo-registration fee. The only rule was not to break the law.

We purposely don’t have a website for The Speed Project. Last year we had over 100 teams apply, but we only have room for 40 teams. The key question I ask teams to find out if we’re a fit for them is “what motivates you to participate?”. We want teams to be competitive but not assholes. Last year we had about 20 different countries represented including one team from Lebanon. I’m always interested in having different countries participate and bringing runners of all backgrounds together. Some teams’ goal is to run fast, and for others, it’s to live in the moment, and that brings a unique balance to The Speed Project. If we were all the same, everything would be boring. The Speed Project has been referred to as Burning Man for runners because it promotes radical inclusion and teams have to support themselves. It’s a fast road trip on steroids.

What’s different about The Speed Project is that it creates a dynamic around the teams. Everyone has a mutual goal with different responsibilities. Friends and family members of the athletes become part of the run by association. The runners form a strong bond because they don’t want to let each other down, but it goes beyond that. Every person on the team matters, they all carry the weight of the common goal which creates a beautiful dynamic. After running with no sleep, endless protein bars, and extreme heat, everyone is as raw as they can get. Everyone on The Speed Project goes through an exciting and draining experience.

Having the finish line in Vegas is fitting because the accumulation of energy unleashed after 36 plus hours is electric.

On March 29, tune into the 5th year of The Speed Project, and watch the magic of athleticism, teamwork, and true grit unfold.

Footnotes

Words by Nils Arend, Cover Photo by Ron Holden (@holdenfocus), Other photos as attributed, Edited by Kelty Campbell, Published by Travis McKenzie, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group Inc

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FootNotes

Words by Nils Arend, Cover Photo by Ron Holden (@holdenfocus), Other photos as attributed, Edited by Kelty Campbell, Published by Travis McKenzie, Copyright NTSQ Sports Group Inc

Colin O'Brady

Nils Arend

The Speed Project

FootNotes

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My Incredible Journey

The Most Interesting Man In The World

Season 3