Through Fire and Water
Member and former fighter pilot Om Prakash explains the appeal of punishing obstacle races.
When I was a kid, I was a total nerd. I just studied, read or was on a computer. I didn’t do anything athletic.
But then, uncharacteristically at the time, I went to the Air Force Academy [in Colorado]. During the second summer, you go through survival, evasion, resistance and escape training. I was teamed up with a female bodybuilder. I was super skinny, and she basically carried me. After training, she said, “I’m going to take you down to the gym and teach you how to lift weights.” She was the one who first got me interested in getting into shape.
I found I was able to focus and study efficiently. Exercise became a way for me to do better in school. Over time, I appreciated being in shape. It helped me as a fighter pilot and in other areas of life. Somewhere in my 40s, I started CrossFit. I also did races from time to time—marathons, obstacle races and such. I found longer, physically challenging events are more a mental test than a physical test. You need to be in shape but, more importantly, you just need to persevere.
When I got to Japan and Covid hit, it was a risky thing to go to the gym. Some of us of the same ilk, realizing that part of your mental health is physical exercise, decided it was worth the risk. During that time, a group of us at my CrossFit gym got to be close friends, and we decided to enter our first Spartan Race together. I was the team leader and there were 15 of us from all walks of life. No one left behind was our goal—and we all made it.
There are Spartan Races of 5 and 10 kilometers, and then there’s the 21-kilometer race, which is called the Beast. This is the one I ran again on September 17 in Niigata. There are 30 obstacles, and the route runs up and down the Gala Yuzawa ski slopes. It’s a race that lasts four to six hours and is grueling. We tried the Beast the first year as a large team, but it was too long for the group to stick together. The second year, we tried with a smaller group. I ended up finishing with one teammate, Noriko Toguchi. She is a tough lady. It felt great to jump over the fire at the end.
Apart from the physical challenge, it was so rewarding to lead the team and find ways to keep people motivated. I had been an officer in the military for 26 years, and leading was always the most rewarding part. The races were the first time in a while I had felt like I was leading a four-ship [formation] in combat again.
Much smarter people have already observed there’s a duality of mind and body. I don’t run races because I want to compete and win and be world champion. For me, it’s about mental perseverance, with a side benefit of fitness.
As told to INTOUCH’s C Bryan Jones.
Top image Om Prakash (right) and Noriko Toguchi: Spartan Race Japan
November 2022
