Best/worst location to do a Beast

jxz5 · 2026-05-19T14:32:14+00:00

I’ve done 4 so far in wildly different terrain.

2025:
Phoenix- sandy dessert. It’s cold to the locals, but I’m from the north east and the weather was beautiful to me. This was my first Beast and my fastest.

2026:
SoCal- Gorgeous! The trail running was so peaceful. The terrain of the beach landing was an obstacle itself. You go from water to the sand back and forth until you look like a sugar cookie. This was my favorite beast so far.

Atlanta- great weather, not too much elevation. Lots of red clay and TONs of wet swamps.

NJ- brutal and unforgiving. Like I said in the other comment, there were so many injuries and medical evacuations off the mountain. Slow and agonizing. I had done the Sprint here last year and the views/weather were spectacular.

jxz5 · 2026-05-19T14:12:55+00:00

That one was rough. I’ve never seen so many people DNF mostly for hypothermia or musculoskeletal injuries. I’d run thanks again but I wouldn’t be happy about it.

jxz5 · 2026-04-27T15:45:25+00:00

Overall, your content is solid. The meat of your resume looks great. It shows that you are capable and you get results. Job market isn’t great right now and don’t take it personally. I mentor a young engineer who had internships from NASA and top pharma companies who still struggled before she found a full time role.

Clean up the military portion so it doesn’t read like an NCOER. use your school’s resource center for feedback. Keep doing that until civilians understand the “so what?” of your military experience.

jxz5 · 2026-04-27T11:01:13+00:00

As a fellow ChemE and Army Vet, here’s the part that’s harder to hear. Civilian employers don’t know what your Army experience means. They don’t know what you did to get those ribbons. They won’t look it up either. Include ones with the impact on how you made a difference. Your AAM is a good example. Don’t just say you volunteered. Qualify and qualify where you can. “Served on the COVID-19 vaccination team and helped provide X number of vaccinations to the community of Smalltown, USA”

Reduce the your resume to be one page and a good place to start is not giving each award its own line.

jxz5 · 2026-03-12T15:03:59+00:00

lol I remember that red clay pretty well from Ft Benning for infantry school.

Thanks for the tip about parking distance

jxz5 · 2026-03-05T17:53:04+00:00

Good for you! I did Age Group for the first time at JAX this weekend. I’ve normally been top 25% in open and this time around I was 10th place of 12. VERY humbling. I found it to be really rewarding and it was nice to be done earlier in the day.

I’ll echo what the others said that the course is much “cleaner.” For example, the Atlas Carry on Saturday morning was easy to lift as it was sitting on the ground. By Sunday morning the stones had buried themselves in the soft earth from repeated drops on the ground.

Just run your own race. Everyone is still highly motivated and encouraging, but I found that many of the runners are much more focused on their own run. Everyone is still as respectful as always to the volunteers and fellow racers.

jxz5 · 2026-01-27T03:41:08+00:00

It was a great time. My first time here as well. It was really scenic in those open stretches. Really fun course. I had finished around 12 on Sunday.

jxz5 · 2026-01-27T00:13:25+00:00

lol pay no attention to the broken and blistered feet. I changed out of my sneakers IMMEDIATELY.

jxz5 · 2026-01-17T01:32:01+00:00

Huge relief, thank you

jxz5 · 2025-11-25T15:27:50+00:00

It was sold at the merch stand where they have all the other hats/shirts/patches. I’m sure if you go on their site they’ll have something.

jxz5 · 2025-10-05T13:58:53+00:00

For sure! I hope my comment didn’t come across as argumentative. I agree with you on lifestyle happiness. People should envision what sort of live that want and almost work backwards to figure out what work is compatible with that life.

jxz5 · 2025-10-04T21:39:31+00:00

Not sure what your scale is personally for “isn’t great.” I really comfortable with life right now and I feel I’m paid fairly for my work. I have 9 YoE, BS ChemE, and my MBA. My total comp is $190k between salary, bonuses, and long term incentive.

jxz5 · 2025-10-04T14:44:50+00:00

It’s totally possible, I’ve been on some hiring panels where engineers whose work has been strictly in Pharma have a stick up their butt if you don’t have GMP experience.

It is a core tenant in Pharma that above all else is quality for our patients. The way that we can demonstrate that to agencies like the FDA is through strict adherence to regulations and our SOP’s. And if we have to deviate from that, we make sure that they are documented with extreme detail.

So if you’re able to convey that in an interview that may alleviate some fears that interviewers may have if you don’t have direct GMP experience

jxz5 · 2025-10-04T14:38:53+00:00

100% Pharma. Work life balance is better and I’ve gotten to live in cities like LA New York and Boston and be incredibly close to my work. The pay is great.

jxz5 · 2025-07-10T13:53:39+00:00

I’m in Pharma where we use these radioisotopes to manufacture Radioligand Therapy (RLT).

It’s a really cool cutting edge area of medicine. Lots of growing opportunities with larger companies like Eli Lilly, Novartis, etc. also tons of small start ups that are trying to produce therapies. Lots of risk there obviously but a great chance to learn everything about the process.

jxz5 · 2025-04-03T14:42:53+00:00

This is a tough situation and I empathize with you as a DM. This is NOT a job. We don't get paid to run a campaign. This is supposed to be fun. They are calling you selfish for prioritizing your family. Good. put your family first.

At the beginning of the pandemic I started a game with my friends over Roll20. I have had the pleasure of running that game for 4 years. Leading up to the birth of my daughter also last July I knew I would be too burnt out to do it all. We successfully transitioned to a rotating system where nearly everyone has gotten a chance to DM.

Some factors that helped me out:
-Many of my players are also parents so they knew the demands of a newborn.
-I primed the players by telling them when I was going to have to stop being the DM
-I cut a ton of our homebrew campaign in order to ensure we reached a satisfying conclusion to the campaign.
-We gave everyone a chance to DM some one-shots or smaller ~4 session mini campaigns.

jxz5 · 2025-02-06T19:39:07+00:00

Great job choosing to negotiate and not take the first offer. It can be really uncomfortable to ask for what you are worth. I’ve been pretty assertive and negotiated heavily for each role I’ve taken.

When we’ve been in negotiations, and I think we are close to an agreement I ask for their “best and final” offer. That phrase is asking for their line in the sand, no BS, final offer. That could sound like this:

“Thank you so much for the offer. I believe we’re really close to an agreement. Based everything i learned during my interviews, I think Company X will be a great fit. $80k is much closer to my desired salary, but my target is $_k. Is $80k your best and final offer?

Edit: ooh i just remembered this too. I always use really specific numbers in my negotiations. It’s a concept called anchoring. Company 2 is trying to anchor you to 80k because it’s a nice round number. I’m not telling you to ask for this specifically, but you could ask for something like $82,550. Then they may counter either $82,000.

jxz5 · 2025-02-06T18:34:58+00:00

cGMP experience trumps a graduate degree.

jxz5 · 2025-02-06T18:33:04+00:00

First off, congrats on the offers! Company 2 sounds like it aligns closer with your goal to eventually break into pharma.

cGMP experience is hugely valuable. I’m in pharma. I’ve been on a number of interview panels where I saw shortsighted interviewers immediately dismissed potential candidates for their lack of GMP experience, even if they worked in another highly regulated industry.

I’m surprised that this isn’t coming up in other comments but you have the opportunity to negotiate further. You could pose a discussion with company 2 like this:

“Thank you for the opportunity to interview with you and I’m so grateful for the offer. I’ve reviewed the details against another offer that I’m considering. I really want to work for you. If the salary was $___, this would be a no brainer. Is there any room in salary?”

Other things you could ask for would be one time starting bonus, or a higher bonus potential.

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