Over the firelogs and into the cool
By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
Hillsborough High alumnus Andy Pakozdi summoned his deepest inner mental and physical strength competing in the Reebok Spartans Austin events April 23 and 24.
He climbed over walls, crawled under barbed wire and slipped up mud hills. He lifted sand bags with pulleys, swung across with slings and ropes on monkey bars, threw a spear against a target and hauled multiple 5-gallon pails filled with gavel up and down a hill.
Mr. Pakozdi was in his element, drawing in some small fashion from the physical and mental rigor of life in the Greek powerhouse of more than 2,500 years ago.
He relishes the first point on the list of characteristics of a citizen of that warrior city-state: A Spartan pushes his mind and body to their limits.
He was also successful. The San Antonio, Texas, resident placed first in his age group of 40-49, finishing in one hour, seven minutes and one second in the “Sprint” 5-mile on April 24, putting him 8th overall out of 2,285 competitors. The time put him into the top 10 to make the nationals for the Men’s Elite “Beast,” a 13.5- to 15-mile course in Dallas in October.
He also competed in the 8-10 mile obstacle course run on April 24. Both courses were packed with 24 to 29 obstacles in rugged terrain of the course at Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnet, Texas.
Such physical competitions are an extension of Mr. Pakozdi’s psyche. His innermost ethic relishes the self-reliant mentality of the Spartan citizen he first learned about writing a 7th grade book report.
“These events are very important to me,” he said from his home near San Antonio. “I have always had the competitive drive. I fuel off it. It’s something to look forward to. I actually do better in competition. The event really motivates me.”
Austin was his first Spartan competition but not his first mental and physical test in his life.
In his senior year at Hillsborough High School in 1994, he was a passenger on his brother Frankie’s motorcycle when it was hit by a car on Amwell Road.
He had a titanium rod implanted in his broken right femur and the palm of his foot was sliced open, he said. With the help of teachers who came to his house after 3 p.m. to give assignments and lessons at my house, he graduated with his class.
It took years to fully recover from the injuries.
About two and one-half years ago Mr. Pakozdi dislocated his shoulder and tore his rotator cuff from an opponent’s brutal arm bar in an amateur mixed martial arts fighting event. He’s been recovering from surgery ever since.
The Spartan competitions, with their code of “never retreat, never surrender” offered him a challenge that fueled his rehabilitation.
“I have always believed in pushing myself beyond my own limits and never given up no matter how difficult it may be,” he said. “We all go through physical and emotional battles in life, but that’s what makes us stronger and who we are today. I have learned over time that no matter how many obstacles stack up against us, we should never give up.”
In high school Mr. Pakozdi played soccer and ran indoor and spring track, running the 800- and 1600-meter events in what he remembers as “very respectable” times (under 5 minutes for the metric mile).
After two years at Lincoln Technical School, he got a job at a Ford dealership as a technician. Eventually he moved to the Detroit area to assume a “hotline” job as a technician answering dealerships’ questions over the phone.
From 2006-10 he attended Sienna Heights University in Michigan, graduating with a degree in applied science. He changed careers, switching to become a bio-med service engineer, where he installs, repairs and maintains laboratory instruments.
Mr. Pakozdi has always been fit, starting with playing soccer all his life. He still loves the game, and owns an amateur men’s premier soccer team, appropriately named the named Spartan FC, in the San Antonio Soccer Association.
He is self-motivated. After daily 3-5 mile runs, he works out in his own garage with his own crossfit equipment — a pegboard to climb, buckets of rocks to lift, repetitions of 100 sit-ups, pushups and pull-ups. The key to a Spartan workout is to repeat everything three times, he says. He scrupulously watches his nutrition. He’s trimmed his 5-8 frame to 155 pounds, he says.
Coming back from the shoulder injury, he had to push himself hard, he said. A friend suggested he look into the Spartan competition.
He’s now taking them very seriously and thinks he can even make some money in competition, especially in his age group.
His family is still in Hillsborough. Mr. Pakozdi says he got an early dose of Spartan qualities of strictness and respect from his dad, Frank. He called his stepmother, Isabella, an “amazing person” dating back to the days when she took care of him during the recovery from the motorcycle accident.
“My mom (Elizabeth, who passed away when her son was in 10th grade) always told me to do what makes me happy in life and enjoy life,” said Mr. Pakozdi.
With Spartan competition, he may have found it.
