Grand Theft Auto V Walkthrough: Exercising Demons - Michael
Character: Michael
Location: Pacific Bluffs
Unlocked After: Complications
Some people like to exercise. Some people like to exercise so much that they use it as a means of purging themselves of their other issues. And some like to exercise so much that it becomes their overwhelming goal in life, perhaps to the detriment of their overall wellbeing. Exercising Demons is very much a case of the latter, as Michael runs afoul of an extremely ill-tempered woman with a slight obsession over running the fastest…
- Check along the edges of Pacific Bluffs. The woman is doing stretches against a fence, overlooking the water's edge. Don't go down the road leading to the beach or you'll miss her completely.
- Accept the race (you don't have much choice).
- Beat her to the end of the course. It is marked out by a series of waypoints on your map, and is easy enough to follow. If all else fails, simply go the same direction as the woman.
Sounds easy, right? Wrong. This Strangers and Freaks mission is actually trickier than it seems, not because it's tough to follow the course, but because Michael doesn't start off in as good of shape as Mary Ann. Below are some tips for getting yourself up to par.
- Michael starts at a Stamina of two, which is insufficient for seeing this race through to the end. It's recommended that you spend a little while running around the area at full sprint to get Michael's Stamina up to a minimum of three. It still won't last the entire race, but you will get to the finish line with a minimum of damage to yourself.
- Speaking of which, if you run out of Stamina while running, you WILL begin to take damage. Consequently, it's not a good idea to do this mission at half health. If you don't feel like looking for health containers, simply do the mission, fail, and retry. Michael will be boosted back to full health for the second run.
- Beyond sprinting, you can also build up your Stamina by participating in Triathalons, riding on a bike, or swimming. I found swimming to be the most effective, but they're all probably equal in the end.
That's enough for Stamina. How about the race itself?
- Mary Ann loves to stick to the path. If you're not too concerned with 100% running this mission you can take several shortcuts, notably by hopping a fence near the beginning, cutting across grass several times, and (potentially - I'm not sure I want to test this one) simply falling down the bluffs when you reach the stairs.
- Mary Ann is better than Michael at moving quickly down the stairs, and you'll lose ground twice. It's easier to jump down the stairs instead. Just watch out for a pedestrian on the first set.
- Tap the sprint button constantly. You can't keep up to Mary Ann if you're just jogging. Keep doing this even if your health starts to run low - you won't have a chance of winning otherwise. Resting to recover Stamina is also not an option.
- Mary Ann will stay right on your toes if you get in front of her. Stay in front of her and you shouldn't have any trouble coming in first.
Gold Medal Completion
The only prerequisite for getting 100% on this race is not cheating and sticking to the path. Nevertheless, you seemingly CAN cheat - you just have to do it when Mary Ann is ranting about something else. If she calls you out on your cheating, though, it counts against your total. (This worked for me, anyway. Feel free to speak out if it didn't work for you. This could potentially be patched in the future, as well.)
