During COVID, after several years focused on being a father, he began getting active again. He was using the Centr app, getting back into shape, and seeing people take on Spartan events.
He thought, why not me?
Then he signed up for a Hurricane Heat without really understanding what that meant.
It broke him quickly.
It also hooked him.
That is how Nicolas found endurance.
Not through comfort.
Through being humbled.
Through the realization that hard things can reveal parts of yourself you did not know were there.
What kept him coming back was the battle against himself. Every time he pushed harder, he found something new. He kept learning, and he loved the learning.
For Nicolas, Spartan and Death Race carry meaning because of the kid he used to be.
As a child, he had asthma. He was not athletic like the other boys. His family eventually stopped encouraging sports because it seemed like the path was going nowhere. That kind of message can shape a person. It can settle into the body as a belief.
Maybe this is not for me.
Maybe I am not built for this.
Maybe other people are the athletes.
As Nicolas grew up, he realized something different.
The body can adapt tremendously.
Everyone may start from a different place, and the path may be harder for some than others, but adaptation is possible. Growth is possible. Strength is not reserved only for the people who seemed naturally athletic as kids.
Now, every race has meaning.
Especially Death Race.
It is a fight against the old perception of himself. A confrontation with the child who believed he was not built for sport. A way of proving, again and again, that the story can change.
Physically, Spartan helped him discover what the body can become. Mentally, Death Race gave him perspective and calm in hard situations. Nicolas is calm by nature, but he can be anxious. Doing really hard things has changed the way he sees ordinary life challenges.
Things that once felt like the end of the world become just challenges.
Opportunities.
Problems to solve.
The goal now is to become the most functional version of himself he has ever been. Nicolas wants to be able to do anything he decides to do.
One moment that still stays with him came at Summer Death Race.
The task was to beat a previous PT time two days after the first attempt. He needed his bucket, but someone had taken it. He grabbed another, filled it, and started a farmer carry. Then Carlos, someone he knew well, returned and realized Nicolas had his bucket.
There was yelling.
There was stress.
There was no clean solution.
Eventually Nicolas gave it back, found another, refilled it, continued, and missed his time by one minute. Because of that, he had to do the entire PT again, nearly two hours of work.
It destroyed him.
Not just physically, but mentally. He knew that if not for the bucket chaos, he would have made it.
That kind of absurd, painful, interpersonal, sleep-deprived intensity is why he says Death Race can feel like something you would only experience in war.
It taught him a lesson he still carries:
Pack properly.
Know your bag by heart.
Nothing is random.
In the wild, your bag cannot be another variable.
That is practical advice, but it is also a worldview. Prepare. Pay attention. Do the small things right. When the bigger chaos arrives, do not let preventable details break you.
His advice to someone thinking about their first race is direct:
Stop thinking.
Just do.
It does not matter how much you complete, how fast you go, or what your performance looks like. Take the leap of faith. You may hate it first. Then you may love it.
Nicolas is still focused on Summer Death Race. If he finishes, he will see what comes next. Maybe Winter Death Race. Maybe something else. For now, he is still learning.
That may be the point.
Nicolas Fiorini is not chasing races to prove he was always an athlete.
He is chasing them to prove that becoming is possible.
The kid with asthma was not the end of the story.
He was the beginning of the fight.
