Who I am

Lucas Parker Rivera
30 years old
Lives in Gypsum, CO

Born and raised in Colorado. I lived for a brief time in Colorado Springs, but moved to a small town called Peyton Colorado to start grade school. Raised by some of the best parents around, they taught me that if I want something I must work for it! No handouts! They were and still are an inspiration to me. @ Peyton I completed k-12th. Made some life long friends, and found my competitive side! Played most sports offered, and tried to do 4 sports one year in high school. Football, Basketball, Baseball, and Track. I never considered myself an elite athlete, but tried to workout and train to be one! All conference here and there, mostly for football. I was a small undersized slot receiver/running back/free safety/ kick off and punt returner at 5'7'' and 165lbs. I made up for it with quickness and hustle.

College: Recruited for football to a few schools in Kansas; Ottawa University,Kansas Wesleyan University, McPherson College, and Bethany College. Best scholarship deal and fit was Bethany College which is a small NAIA school in Kansas The Terrible SWEDES!!! There I was an average slot receiver, but yet again I trained like I was going to the NFL. 5'7 180lbs I bulked up and was becoming much stronger in the weight room and really enjoyed Olympic lifts! Unfortunately I am not as gifted as some genetically...I ended up going from a high 4.5 40 yard dash time to a high 4.6-low 4.7 40 yard dash :(   This was freshmen year in college and I was used to being the star, I played about a dozen downs..... This and the stress of college classes took its tole on me. Luckily my "now" Wife Brittany Rivera-then Brittany Westenfelder received a volleyball scholarship to Bethany as well. She was my rock back then and is today!!! She is my motivator!!! I ended up coming home that freshmen summer and worked out like an animal. Came into training camp at 170lbs and quick. Got more playing time and built on the established work ethic! Junior and Senior year were great, got voted Captain for those two years and beat the 11th ranked team in the Nation with the go-ahead TD being caught by me.

After College: Internship in Eagle County Colorado, in the gorgeous high country of the Rockies! Who wouldn't want a job there!? Landed a job with the local Recreation District, and Brittany scored a teaching job. 2 beautiful children later we reside in Gypsum, Colorado and love life. We are both doing what we want to do and enjoy the heck out of our two boys Drake and Tyce. 

Non-Traditional Racing: It started with a silly race called Warrior Dash. a 5k mud run which got my game juices flowing a little bit. Next was Tough Mudder CO, a local race called the Dirty Dozen, and lots and lots of HIIT and long distance runs. I swore up and down in college that I would never be a runner! and regularly cracked jokes about those that ran long distances. My dad Henry has ran long distances from the time he was a kid, and excelled while is was in the Army with The 82nd Airborne! I insisted that I was a "fast twitch" athlete and could never be a good long distance runner as I did the 100m, 200m, and 400m :) I never enjoyed running more than a mile at a time. Something clicked and I got the running bug! it started with training for the first Tough Mudder in Colorado 2011. I signed up alone so I wanted to make sure I didn't die so I began to run 5ks and some 10k training runs. I was now addicted!!! Learned that my genetics actually favored long distance and my endurance gains came very quick. I ran strong at the Tough Mudder and loved this type of event! The obstacles, the freshness of something different! Now I became hooked on obstacle racing and running. Training slowed in the fall and winter of 2012 and our first son Drake was born. I put on some weight and stopped working out for a while. Spring of 2012 rolled its beautiful self around and I wanted MORE! Shedding the weight quick was the goal. Goal was accomplished by my wife Brittany and I. We both did Tough Mudder CO 2012 with some close friends and family and enjoyed the hell out of it! 

World's Toughest Mudder 2012: The journey. Once I found out that my best bro T.J. and I could do WTM12 together we jumped on the chance. He ran track and x-country in college. He was an endurance Beast! Here I am about a year ago at this time I was making fun of endurance athletes....Now I want to be one...and a good one at that!!! Training was intense! HIIT workouts 4x per week and runs from 3-16 miles were done often. I was gaining that endurance and love for running again. Not wanting to let my boy T.J. down I trained like a man possessed.. regularly on the verge of "over-training" Dropped down to 160lbs! Our experience at WTM12 was a great test! We did really well at WTM12 placing 106th-107th out of 1,300 racers and completed  50 miles on it's hellish course. Not bad for two guys that never did an "Ultra distance" event....NOW we saw our calling..Our true potential just off in the distance.We then looked to races like the Leadville Trail 100 Run which has brought me to the Bigfoot 200 Endurance Run. I love testing my limits and training for ultra marathons. How far can I go? How far can you go? Let's take on this journey together!!!

Where it all started WTM12 50 mile finish in NJ