“Maturity has nothing to do with age. Maturity comes from experiences, mistakes, learning and understanding”

Where to begin…feel like a quick trip down memory lane is a good place to start? Who would have though that a Tough Mudder, a fun mud obstacle run I did with some Eastside Banshee rugby buddies Chris, Micheal and Smoody in 2012 would ignite a spark that has become such a huge part of my life.

2013 started out on a rough note getting myself a DUI, which was, looking back now, a harsh lesson yet a blessing in disguise and saw me change my drunken ways to focusing on fitness and training with the challenge of the 24 hour Worlds Toughest Mudder being my reason to keep me motivated on my new lifestyle change.

2014 I worked on finding better balance in my life and started fine tuning my training. I had some good results in the South African OCRscene at the Jeep Warrior Race and Impi Challenge. I also got my first race tattoo, the Tough Mudder logo and ended the year off with an even better result at my second Worlds Toughest Mudder.

Which brings us to 2015:

Having decided since I had gotten the Tough Mudder tattoo I wanted to get a race sleeve going I was looking for an artist and came acrossArbitrary Tattoo Studio in Merrivale. Jay is an amazing artist and really does a brilliant job with fine lines and precision art, he added the Impi and Warrior logos. Shortly after I returned to get the WTM logo and they approached me with a sponsorship and it was official, I was now a sponsored OCR Athlete.

Being the first person to have the Jeep Warrior logo I was interviewed for National television and since I don’t own a television I stopped in at my friend Chris’s restaurant the Delish Dish in Howick when the race recap was aired. My interview came on and this guy sitting next to me does a double take looking from the TV to me, turns to me saying he owns a media company and would like to work with me and find out more about what it is I do. I gave Michael a call, drove through to meet up with him and his team at IKind Media, which are an amazing group of people. IKind Media came onboard and a new brand was born…That Beard Guy became a thing and on May 2nd www.tbgoutdoors.com went live.

It’s been trail and error learning curve for me from just being a bearded guy who loves running the trails to now having to update social media, write blogs, figure out the direction in which the brand should be going, helping others with nutrition and fitness, running my free Herbalife fit club while still keeping myself training and racing all in my spare time as I work a regular job. Things don’t always go as planned but a lot of progress has been made and as I get better at it all so will the content.

I had a pretty great year for racing, not getting in as many races as I would have liked but happy with my results. Having done well in the Jeep Warrior race and Impi Challenge back in South Africa in the beginning of the year, to doing my first Spartan race and stamping my mark on the Spartan Ultra Beast Killington, VT. OCR World Championship was an incredible experience and a great way to test my skills against the worlds best OCR Athletes. Then rounded off my season with the MacDaddy of races,  the Worlds Toughest Mudder and still getting better every year as I continue to get stronger.

I also drank the Kool-aid and got involved with crossfit at Crosswinds Crossfit here in my off season which has been a great addition to my training, pushing me in very different ways, helping with strength, mobility and its just really fantastic to workout in a group setting pushing each other to do better.  I’m definitely going to be getting myself certified as a crossfit trainer in the new year.

I’m super stoked about how this year has worked out for me, IKind Media has done an incredible job with the website BIG THANK YOU for that and for the race kit a

nd gear you supplied very much appreciated. Arbitrary Tattoo Studio, I have an itch that only ink can fix excited to get my sleeve updated, Thanks for your support and lets see how we can go forward in the new year. Herbalife Nutrition plays a huge roll in keeping me going, fueling my body to perform at its best, continuing to get stronger, faster, leaner and meaner...haha Thank you to the best nutrition company in the world!

I’m super excited for 2016 with all that I have got lined up and would like to achieve. I’m going to attempt to do at least one race every month. We will also be seeing  my YouTube Channel launched where I will be posting videos on training, nutrition and motivation, along with a few other projects I’m working on.  This is where I need your input and help, what would you the reader like to see that you may feel would be helpful to everyone that follows me, visits my various media outlets and would keep you coming back for useful, informative and meaningful content?

THANK YOU too all of you who follow me, it really means so much to me. Feel I have found my passion and what I love doing, being an OCR athlete, living  a fit, active, healthy adventurous lifestyle and helping others to do the same.