Ten days before race day, I signed up for a Hyrox. The reason is not impressive. A few people at my gym were doing it, they talked about it enough, and I caved.

For anyone who hasn’t seen it, Hyrox is eight 1 km runs, each followed by a workout station. I did the Open Men’s Doubles in Toronto, which means you split the work with a partner. We had never practiced together. I did no Hyrox-specific training. My prep was signing up and showing up.

My heart rate was through the roof for the entire race. Not at certain points, the entire thing. I have run a lot of miles and I have never been this tired at the end of anything.

The sled pull was the most humbling part. Running fitness does not help you drag a heavy sled toward yourself hand over hand, and I found that out in real time with a crowd watching.

We finished in 1:09. Considering we hadn’t trained together and I hadn’t trained at all, I’m happy with that.

Do I regret it? No. The race was awesome and the atmosphere carried me further than I expected. What I do regret is not training. I left time on the course because I was underprepared, and I knew it the whole way through.

Would I do it again? Yes, and next time I would train first. That is the opposite of how I did it this time, which is very on brand.