You know when you wait and wait and wait for a day to come and then it comes and it’s every bit as exciting as you thought it would be? That was today!

In September of 2019 I raced in the Worlds Toughest Race, Eco-Challenge Fiji as a part of Team IronCowboy. I’ve been required to stay mostly silent since the race and we have been in the dark about an airdate until TODAY! On August 14th the show will air on Amazon Prime, 10 episodes, and we finally get to see the race unfold from the perspective of the amazing production team. We were not allowed any electronic devices so we only have our own memories to carry with us.

Until today…

This experience started in December of 2018 when I saw a random post on Facebook that Eco Challenge was coming back and you could put together a team and apply. They had a promo video for the application and in the video they said “This is the race that eats Ironman for breakfast.”

That felt like a direct challenge to me. Mark Burnett was literally speaking to me saying “Sonja, this race will eat you up”

My mind thought back to all the Eco Challenge races I watched back in the 90s and 2000s. I loved them. I watched all of it and I always wondered if I had what it takes to make it through such a huge endeavor.

I knew I needed to apply, but I’ve never done an Adventure Race and I didn’t have a team.

I immediately thought of James Lawrence, the Iron Cowboy, because, well, like me, Ironman is his middle name. I called James and asked if he would be game. He is James, so he said “yes". We pulled in two of James friends Shaun and Aaron because James knew they would be great teammates, and the day after Christmas in 2018 Annie and I drove to Utah and filmed our application video and then drove back to California the next day.

Fast forward a few months and a day came that Mindy and Ashley, the casting directors, called to tell me we got into the race. I lost it. From the moment I saw the application trailer, my heart wanted to have this experience so bad. I felt like it was calling to me.

There is so much I want to share about my background, about the show, and about our teams journey. So many stories, and you know me, I love telling stories! But they will have to wait a little longer.

Check out the teaser trailer for the show and mark your calendar for August 14th.

I will say this because I can.

The people of Fiji are amazing. The country is stunning and so diverse in terrain (and I feel qualified to say that).

Magic happens when 950 people who are all amazing at what they do and FULL of lifeblood put their energy into making something next level. This is beyond that. I can’t wait for you all to see it.