Help DeVon Earn a Spartan Coin
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I have a dream. And though my dream is nowhere near as world changing as Martin Luther King Jr.’s, my dream is important to me. I dream of earning a Spartan coin, and though that may sound trivial to some, this dream is part of a much larger dream. To teach my children that the seemingly impossible is possible, if you put in the work.
I have always had an affinity for those who love what they do and are good at what they do, whether they be: teachers, waiters/waitresses, bartenders, yoga instructors, poets, artists, doctors, photographers, athletes, whomever. If you do it, do it with passion. Let those you encounter, bask in your radiance as you infect them with your exuberance about your chosen profession.
That being said, I love what I do for work. I help the people who help the people I can’t when the worst should befall them. I feel like I work for the betterment of humanity, and it brings me joy each day that I get the chance to do it. This is something that I have been doing, and hope to continue to do for a long time. Despite this fact, I have always loved the idea of getting paid to play, and my kids ask me all the time if you could have any other job, what would it be? My answer every time is: I would love to be paid to play, have a sponsor that funds me to go out and do these races for a solid year, and just live the life of a professional athlete for that year to know what it’s like. To achieve this, and secure a sponsor, I need to be a known quantity, and that’s why I want to earn a Spartan coin.
A Spartan coin is an invitation you earn to the Elite Heat of the Spartan World Championships. You cannot buy your way into this heat, you have to earn your shot at becoming a Spartan World Champion. To stand with Olympians, Elite servicemen, and other world class athletes. With each race I do, I improve significantly, however, I limit myself to three (Spartan) races a year as they are not free to enter, and I have three kids to put through college. I find it irresponsible to take money from my paycheck to pay for these seemingly frivolous pursuits when I have mouths to feed and minds to nourish, so thus far I have been paying for my Spartan races, hotel stays and gas money by donating blood and plasma. Having done the math, to achieve the target I’ve set on this site with my current method of fund raising, I’d need to donate 26 times to afford a Spartan Annual Pass ($700) and to donate 74 times to afford admission to SEALFIT Kokoro Camp ($1,995) (which I see as the ideal means of pushing me from my current status as a Spartan top 100 finisher (out of 5,000+) to a Spartan Top 10 Finisher) . Conveniently, this adds up to 100 donations (which would take me a solid year as there is a weekly limit of 2 donations) and a dehydrated husk of a man (picture the Crypt Keeper). It is for this reason I’m reaching out to all of you. As the old African proverb goes: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I want to go far, I would absolutely love it if you could help me along the way.
I started Spartan racing as a means of showing my daughters that with hard work and dedication to task you can achieve anything you set out to. It is for this reason that every medal I earn, I give to one of them, to remind them that hard work and discipline pay off. I am not done teaching this lesson, but they are already starting to grasp the concept. I truly believe that seeing their father rise through the ranks of an elite group of athletes, such as Spartan racers, and partaking in whatever training they can alongside him, will forever alter the way they approach life and all the challenges it throws at them. Whatever you can contribute helps.
Sincerely,
DeVon Solomon
I have always had an affinity for those who love what they do and are good at what they do, whether they be: teachers, waiters/waitresses, bartenders, yoga instructors, poets, artists, doctors, photographers, athletes, whomever. If you do it, do it with passion. Let those you encounter, bask in your radiance as you infect them with your exuberance about your chosen profession.
That being said, I love what I do for work. I help the people who help the people I can’t when the worst should befall them. I feel like I work for the betterment of humanity, and it brings me joy each day that I get the chance to do it. This is something that I have been doing, and hope to continue to do for a long time. Despite this fact, I have always loved the idea of getting paid to play, and my kids ask me all the time if you could have any other job, what would it be? My answer every time is: I would love to be paid to play, have a sponsor that funds me to go out and do these races for a solid year, and just live the life of a professional athlete for that year to know what it’s like. To achieve this, and secure a sponsor, I need to be a known quantity, and that’s why I want to earn a Spartan coin.
A Spartan coin is an invitation you earn to the Elite Heat of the Spartan World Championships. You cannot buy your way into this heat, you have to earn your shot at becoming a Spartan World Champion. To stand with Olympians, Elite servicemen, and other world class athletes. With each race I do, I improve significantly, however, I limit myself to three (Spartan) races a year as they are not free to enter, and I have three kids to put through college. I find it irresponsible to take money from my paycheck to pay for these seemingly frivolous pursuits when I have mouths to feed and minds to nourish, so thus far I have been paying for my Spartan races, hotel stays and gas money by donating blood and plasma. Having done the math, to achieve the target I’ve set on this site with my current method of fund raising, I’d need to donate 26 times to afford a Spartan Annual Pass ($700) and to donate 74 times to afford admission to SEALFIT Kokoro Camp ($1,995) (which I see as the ideal means of pushing me from my current status as a Spartan top 100 finisher (out of 5,000+) to a Spartan Top 10 Finisher) . Conveniently, this adds up to 100 donations (which would take me a solid year as there is a weekly limit of 2 donations) and a dehydrated husk of a man (picture the Crypt Keeper). It is for this reason I’m reaching out to all of you. As the old African proverb goes: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” I want to go far, I would absolutely love it if you could help me along the way.
I started Spartan racing as a means of showing my daughters that with hard work and dedication to task you can achieve anything you set out to. It is for this reason that every medal I earn, I give to one of them, to remind them that hard work and discipline pay off. I am not done teaching this lesson, but they are already starting to grasp the concept. I truly believe that seeing their father rise through the ranks of an elite group of athletes, such as Spartan racers, and partaking in whatever training they can alongside him, will forever alter the way they approach life and all the challenges it throws at them. Whatever you can contribute helps.
Sincerely,
DeVon Solomon
Organizer
DeVon Solomon
Organizer
Madison, WI