Spartan Race Workout

I did the Spartan Race workout yesterday! They hold these all over the country and they're totally free. I have been meaning to do one for awhile. And this one was at none other than my very own gym! I showed up just before 0800, signed in and got my free shirt. After a quick shirt change I headed out to the turf floor to find everyone was in lines based on their number. I looked down on my hand to see someone had written a 5 when I checked in. I get in the 5 line and started talking to the guy next to me, come to find out he had come into my store last week while preparing for Tough Mudder. My world is getting increasingly smaller, it seems I can't go anywhere without running into someone from my gym or that I've helped at my store.

So the Spartan coach comes out and starts giving us instructions using the world's worst bullhorn. We seriously couldn't hear a thing he said, except for one guy who has laser ears and henceforth became known as our translator. So our warm up was a series of squats, push ups with holds at the bottom, burpees, and reverse lunges. Lots of "I am a Spartan!" and "Arrrooo!" 's throughout. I have no idea how we were still inside on the turf, there were so many people packed in there. Eventually we did go outside to do some more squats/burpees/pushups/lunges on the parking lot, and then ran a couple laps around the buildings. Back inside for some water and then back out to do lunges around the building! This kind of sucked, but we were all smiling and making jokes the entire time. Next we did more of that same squat/lunge/burpee/pushup hold circuit. The coach then asked "Is it anyone's birthday?" A bunch of us were shouting "No!!!!" but someone responded. "What's the birthday girl's name?" I shouted out "Ed!" because it was the shortest name I could think of. "How old are you?" A bunch of us were shouting numbers from 1 to 5. Alas, we did 25 burpees. Hey, it could have been worse because I saw some people that were easily 50+. The coach also separated the people who were doing Trifectas this year. There were maybe 10 people, myself not among them this year. I spotted my neighbor, it figures he would be at the workout. He did the Ultra Beast this year and we hadn't crossed paths since, so at some point I ran up to him and asked how he did. 13 hours. Screw that! I also saw Leon! He was just hanging out spectating, his knee is still bothering him but he will race again soon. The next segment we did was animal moves, A B and C. A was for Ape. The ape crawls are fine, I do them at the gym often enough. B was for Bear, and this was annoying because people in front were moving slow so I ended up hanging out in a plank for long periods of time. Can we say barb wire crawls? C was for Crab. These sucked because my arms aren't used to crab walks. Alot of people were lunging instead, I only took a quick lunge break then switched back. At this point I was starting to get quite tired.

Back inside for more crazy stuff. The 5 line was reassembled, and we took the line and formed it into a circle. There were 5 circle like blobs around the room

Adam was kind enough to take pictures. I'm pretty much in the middle of the room. 

So we locked arms and did a group sit up. My circle was more of a blob, and I was at a really weird angle because we were a bit too far apart. We tried to adjust it but I was still too far away from them, and the guy on my right was really sweaty so hanging on while doing the situps wasn't easy. Then we all got into a plank, held it, and one at a time we had to crawl under the tunnel of human planks. THIS. Oh my god. I am terrible at planks to begin with, so waiting for the entire team to crawl under me was brutal. I took breaks. Then as soon as I was done with the eternal plank it was my turn to crawl through. And after the 2-3 minute crawl I had to get back into the plank so the people to the left of me could go all the way through. It sucked but it was really fun at the same time. Next it was back into our lines and partnering up with the person next to us. First up for us was one of us holds a plank, the other does a burpee and jumps over the other person's legs. I'm so glad my partner was a small person. Next, burpees in synch with one another. Then, 20 mountain climbers while the other person did squats - this is where I really ran out of gas because I don't do well with mountain climbers. I'm trying to remember what the last one was, bicycles and flutter kicks or something. Then it was back outside for some sprints, and we were DONE! 2 hours of Spartan crazy. Arrroooo indeed. 

This was fun. It was a challenge for sure, but there were so many great people and all of us together kept up morale, we made each other laugh and smile throughout. I heard there were 400 people there - still not sure how we all fit on the turf, but that's ok. I left sweaty, sore, and bruised, in true Spartan fashion. And I'll be back for more - looking at the DC Sprint in a couple months

DC Sprint Pics

I'm just absolutely flooding my blog with Spartan pics this summer.

 First we have this pic where my face pretty much sums up how I feel about this obstacle. Seriously though, that bucket carry wasn't so bad compared to what I've suffered through in the past! Note the clever use of the tree as a bucket rester by the gent behind me :)

Then a nice post- dunk wall picture for ya. Ptthhhbbbhh!

I love this one!

A nice sideways view of the fire crossing

DC Spartan Sprint

Once again the Trifecta is mine!

I got my third and final medal to make my 2015 Trifecta complete. This year the red medal came last, I got the hard stuff out of the way first I guess. Yesterday I was in southern MD for the DC Sprint. My heat was at 9:45, so I had plenty of time to check out the course map and find my buddy Leon who was volunteering in the morning and running in the afternoon.

He needs to work on his selfie

They warned us that there were bees all over the place. I immediately had flashbacks of getting stung at the Wildwood Games. But no bees stung me this time! My heat started with the announcer taking requests for the opening speech. He rallied us with the Mighty Ducks speech and it was amazing. Ducks Fly Together! This course was 4 ish miles, 23 obstacles. Elevation wouldn't be an issue compared to the other 2 races I did this year, but it was still pretty darn hilly! I power walked the hills and jogged the flat areas. This course reminded me alot of the SC Beast, and that's a good thing! The first obstacle was some log hurdles, then the 6 and 7 foot walls. I needed a boost over the 6 because it had no foothold. The 7 had a foothold, and just like I did in PA I got up it all by myself. Within that first mile we were assaulted by obstacles. The inverted wall - this time I got up it by myself, which I have done before but the last 2-3 times I needed a boost. Then the Stairway to Sparta, a wall with a ladder on top. I got up the wall by myself, but somehow found myself wedged underneath the first rung of the ladder. I had to drop back down and I ended up getting a boost from somebody. Once I figure out a good technique for it I'll be able to climb it by myself. Water station next, also fueled up here because I did not want this race to turn out like PA where I started having blood sugar crashes. I stayed on top of my nutrition yesterday. We had an Atlas carry here, this thing is just getting too damn easy for me. I owe it all to my deadlifting. Next, the 8 foot wall. Victory of the day - I climbed it all by myself! This wall has 2 footholds. I stepped on the first, put my left hand on the outer edge of the wall, put my foot on the second hold, then reached my right hand to the top of the wall, pulled myself up and moved my left hand to the top. So now I was hanging off the top with my feet on the higher foothold. I pushed myself up from hanging position. It was hard, I was shaking and my muscles almost gave out on me. I remember the volunteer cheering me on. I hung my arms over the wall and pushed. And then I was at the top. I'm proud, not many women make it over that wall without help. Immediately after the wall were the monkey bars. Did alot of pausing and swinging here to maintain momentum because their bars are so freaking far apart, but this was easy peasy. I can see how my grip strength has imrpoved because I wasn't struggling to hang on at any point. Not too far after the monkey bars... there was the bucket carry. As much as I hate this obstacle, I was pleasantly surprised because it was really not that bad! There were some hills, but it wasn't up a damn mountain and also it was in the shade. I only stopped 3 times. Maybe I just hate carrying objects up black diamond ski hills. But next, the sadistic course designer placed the Z walls in our way. First burpees of the day for me. 

And so ended the first onslaught of obstacles! All within the first mile! More hills in the woods, then a very easy wooded sandbag carry. We exited the woods again to find a water station, an A frame cargo which was a very slow climb because of all the people, then a slippery wall. As I was climbing it the girl next to me slipped and instantly screamed for help. A guy appeared at the top of my lane to help her, which was nice of him except for the fact that I couldn't climb up because he was in my way, and I was gripping the chain at the top and it was hard to hold on to. Asking for help is fine, but this girl didn't even TRY to get herself over the wall, just instantly screamed for help. I remember fighting for dear life when I slipped on this obstacle at my first Spartan 2 years ago. Anyway. Back in the woods for more trails. The hills were pretty relentless. But we were in the shade, I was having fun laughing with some other 9:45'ers (because Ducks Fly Together) and then before you knew it we were exiting the woods for the mud hills. These things were steep (look at how small the guy on the hill is in the picture) and they had no ropes. The hills got very slippery. I picked what looked like the driest section, got about halfway up, then I just slid down really slowly and splashed back into the water. There was just nothing to grab onto. I exited the pool on the side and climbed the hill from the side. It was still within bounds :) Later in the day I saw they put ropes up so it must have been pretty bad. Next - rope climb. The mud hills actually tired me out quite a bit. My upper body strength was sapped from all the obstacles early on. I got into the pit ready to rock but I realized there was no knot at the bottom. The first knot was like face level! I pulled myself up as high as I could with my arms and scrunched my legs up, but could not get my feet on the knot. I tried 3 times and it just wasn't gonna work. Bummer. I'll get it one of these days.

Back into the woods for a long stretch of running. The trails were flatter so I ran here, but eventually we encountered several pits of crazy thick mud. This was like Neverending Story level mud. Many shoes lost, people slipping all over the place. I slipped and fell on my ass, totally played it off and everyone around me just laughed. My left butt cheek hurt after that and I know the bruise will be colossal. After an eternity of trudging through the peanut butter mud, we found a cargo climb in the woods. One of the ones that's between 2 trees so it moves around on you. There was bottlenecking because the net was extremely slippery from the mud we had all just been through. Right as I was about to go, a girl fell off the top and landed on her head/neck!!! She lay there silent for a bit, eventually said she was ok but the medics were called and she was most likely pulled off the course. The girl in front of me screamed as she almost slipped off the top. I said nope, screw this and walked on past. I'm sorry, but my health isn't worth a silly obstacle. If that thick mud wasn't all over it I'd have no problem, I have done obstacles like that many times. That just seemed borderline unsafe to me so I made a judgement call. I did see alot of people sidelined, one ankle injury at the inverted wall, tons of people with cramps, and a guy throwing up on the side of a hill. My take on it is, yes you do sign a waiver but you should also use your judgement and walk away from anything that looks unsafe beyond reason. But back to the race - many more hills were climbed, then we faced an easy plate drag, the final water station which was much appreciated, and the multi bars - rings, then a softball??? then a pipe. More burpees for me, yay! Followed by a very slippery Herc Hoist, but still conquered with amazing swiftness by yours truly. I guided a fellow chick through it, ready to help out if needed because she was struggling pretty badly. It took her awhile but she did it. Spear throw next, barely missed it! At least I'm getting better at it though. 

Then at long last we entered the barb wire crawl. This was a good old muddy, watery, fun crawl. I felt like I was back home in GA again with that orange clay like mud. I took a few breaks but got through it in 8-10 minutes, even faster than some of the boys. Caked in glorious mud, I emerged from the crawl, jumped the fire, and crossed the finish. I received my red medal, and therefore my 2015 Trifecta. 

I went and found Leon who wanted to get a picture of me all muddy. I wished him well and then he headed off to go run his race. 

I had a freaking blast. I forgot how much fun the Sprints were, having not done one in over a year. I need to move back south, because I'm learning that I love Spartans just like this one, and the Carolina Super/Beast. They are challenging, muddy, and fun. The mountain races were just too difficult to the point where it wasn't fun anymore. I have no problem climbing hills, they're a good challenge and serve their purpose in creating a good race, but climbing mountains just for the sake of climbing isn't really what I want to do. If I wanna do nothing but hike then I'll go hiking. The mud is also considerably absent in the mountain races, and that's a huge part of what makes it fun for me. So with any luck we'll be back down south for the 2016 season and I'll be happy running the GA/SC races. 

I also said farewell to my Inov8's. They got me through a year of trail running, a half marathon, and like 8 OCR's. 

And my results - I did pretty damn good considering the fact I didn't even try to go fast whatsoever! I didn't run much at all and spent a lot of time bottlenecked at obstacles and helping other people out. It'll be interesting when I get really really good and actually try to go fast.

• Overall
  2,374th
  of 7,472
• Female
  510th
  of 2,630
• F25-29
  121st
  of 642

Spartan Super Aftermath

I have my pictures from PA!

Sandbag carry, obviously not even aware of the camera

Exiting the swim, not aware of this camera either

At the top of the slippery wall

At the time I didn't realize 3 other people were climbing this at the same time as me

"Calm down yall, it's just a fire"

...And I look like I'm eating something. Typical me, forever hungry!

Some of them I really love, others not so much. I do wish Spartan would start photographing different obstacles because I feel like I have 8 million fire jump pictures.

This race really was an ass kicker. After talking to my friend Ashleigh, and then Spartan Leon who came into my work, I don't feel quite so defeated by that mountain. It's not just me, it was definitely harder than the Beast I did a few months ago.

I have some of the nastiest bruises I've ever had. Giant red bruise on my inner thigh among the noteables.

Went for a 5 mile run yesterday, it felt great to get back out there after being so lazy the last few weeks. Unfortunately my alarm went off at the wrong time this morning, and rather than rush to get to the gym I opted to stay home and do some things around the house/just relax before heading to work. Aint nothin wrong with that :) Plus I'll be at the gym with my husband this weekend!

PA Spartan Super

I'm trying to find the words to describe the brutality that was the 2015 PA Spartan Super.

Put simply, this was the hardest Spartan I have ever done.

I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I was clearly not ready for it. Blame my lack of trail running in 2015? Either way, I don't have any mountains to train on. And the mountain itself is what did me in I think.

A shot of the mountain from the parking lot

Let's start from the beginning. I arrived bright and early to Blue Mountain ski resort to meet my team for our 9am start. It was my neighbor and 2 of his friends - Andrew and Chris. The course was 8 miles, 32 obstacles, and 3200 feet of elevation gain. Shortly after a nice uphill start we found some log hurdles which were easy to get over, then it was straight up for our first ascent. A cargo net climb was somewhere in there. It didn't take long for me to realize my team was in way better shape than me. They were running up the mountain and I just couldn't. They said they were going to take it slow, but their definition of slow was clearly different than mine. I said they could go on ahead if they wanted, but I didn't actually expect them to leave me behind. Most folks I've run with have been pretty team oriented. Ah well. Around mile 2 we reached the summit of the mountain. The Hercules Hoist awaited us. It was refreshingly heavy. The women's bags used to be heavy, then they made them lighter, and now they're heavy again. You're allowed to have help if you need it, but I am a champ at this obstacle so I'm glad they made it heavy enough to be a challenge again. Right after it was mountain top monkey bar. Again with the really far apart monkey bars. Aced this one as usual! 

The sandbag carry. Usually not a very intimidating obstacle, hell even in NJ it was easy. This was ridiculous. Straight down and then back up a double black diamond slope. I swear some bastard hosed them down too because mine was soaking wet. The downhill wasn't fun, and I knew just what kind of special hell I was in for on the uphill because I could see it. I stopped several times - but I refused to put my bag on the ground once. I dunno, some weird challenge I made for myself. At the top of the hill I met up with the guys again and we all took on the spear throw together. That was the last time I saw them as a group. For the first time ever I was really close to hitting the target! It went exactly where it needed to go, just didn't go far enough. Back into some woods, very slippery rocks and soft ground so treaded carefully here. We hit a regular wall followed by an inverted wall. I think they made the inverted walls higher this year cause I've been having trouble getting over them without a boost. But the boost was received and the wall climbed. Next they had this thing called "Stairway to Sparta" which was a wall with a ladder on top. Not really a big deal. After this we had a pretty crazy descent. All wooded, rocky, extremely slippery trails. It took alot of muscular coordination in my feet and legs to navigate it. My feet were killing me already and we were only in the 3rd mile. It was also very mentally tiring because I had to calculate every single move and step. It felt like forever but eventually I found myself at the bottom of the mountain with an Atlas stone to carry. This thing keeps getting easier. 75 lbs isn't a huge deal to me anymore, just the roundness of the weight is awkward. A few more obstacles - a plate drag and farmer's log carry. A couple smaller uphills here and there, then the set of 2 walls. Badass moment of the day - I climbed my first wall by myself! This was either 7 or 8 feet and it had a tiny foothold just big enough to get your toe on. I put one toe on it, jumped up to get my hands on the top, and not really expecting to get anywhere I pushed myself up. I found I had the strength to push myself all the way up and over the wall. Finally! The next wall proved to be too much for me to climb on my own simply because it was taller and I couldn't reach the top by myself. But it was still a victory for me. 

There's a barb wire crawl right before this slip wall

And so began the most miserable climb ever. Uphill in the hot sun, just a never ending climb from hell. I stopped for so many breaks - we all did - and it just felt like there were hot coals in my shoes. I had a splitting headache by this point. I really think this is where things started to turn south for me. I just couldn't get my energy back because the hills were so taxing. The worst part about it was, immediately after we reached the summit we turned a corner and went all the way back down. At least put an obstacle or some distance up there to make it feel less pointless! There was some sort of obstacle at the bottom, more walls or something. And then there was more climbing of course. We exited the woods onto the slope and all I heard was "LOG!!!!" The log carry was above us uphill and a stray log was tumbling full speed down the hill. Racers scrambled to get out of the way and no one was hurt. We moved on, now knowing what awaited us at the summit. Yes, a 50lb log carry down (and up) hill. Thre was a very steep tiny hill to get down at the beginning, the kind where you should get on all fours and scooch down on your butt. While holding a log. I slid mine down the hill on the cut side because I know I would have fallen and dropped it if I tried to walk down. The downhill sucked. The uphill was a nightmare. I was stopping, sitting on my log, just absolutely exhausted. Logs were rolling left and right as people lost them. Whoever thought of this obstacle is a bastard. After an eternity I dropped that son of a bitch log back at it's station and moved on with my life. Then down the mountain again. I was trying to keep my mind from going to a dark place, chatting with people and listening to their conversations just to keep my mind occupied. I couldn't help but feel abandoned because my team had left me behind. We found some mud hills and pits next, I normally love them but was too exhausted to even care. A Tyrolean was next. Nothing new, I still can't cross it. A refreshing swim shortly followed, there was an option to swim in 8ft water and go underneath floats, but I was so tired I just waded through the chest deep part just so I could cool off and recouperate for a bit. It felt amazing. After we got out I was dismayed to see the traverse wall, an obstacle I'm not good at. I didn't make it far before my hip started to cramp up and I was down for the count. I turned a corner to see them. Buckets. Rocks. The goddamn bucket carry. The third uphill loaded carry of the day. I looked at this thing and said Fuck This. I don't usually skip obstacles but I was literally feeling sick at this point. So I moved on to the rope climb. I have never made it. And knowing how tired I was my chances were definitely low, but I went for it to see what would happen. I ALMOST MADE IT. For the first time ever. I was one more segment away from reaching the bell, but I could feel my foot slipping off the last knot. I went back down to retry. Still slipping. My strength was failing and I knew it wasn't going to happen. I guided myself back down 2 knots, then dropped and fell the last 2. My whole body was shaking from the effort and I was almost in tears because I was so close. My first Spartan I couldn't even MOVE on the rope, not one inch. And now I'm almost at the top despite being in a state of complete exhaustion. 

The Rig and the fire pit right before the finish line

The final stretch - I was close to the festival now, and thus the finish line. I saw Chris here, I guess the team had left him behind too. So it was 2 very long barb wire crawls. 1 crawl in the grass, then a slippery wall, then another barb wire crawl in the dirt. Think of it like a U shape. This did me in. By the time I was in the second barb wire pit I was about to throw up and pass out. I had nothing left in me to even attempt "The Rig". I walked right on past. All I wanted to do is be done. I jumped the fire and it was over. 8 miles of pure insanity. Finished. 

All I did was get my bag, mumble something in response when the volunteer asked me a question, sit in the shade and eat a banana. I felt better about 20 minutes after eating it. 

And about 30 minutes later I was already looking forward to doing the Sprint next month.

Isn't that so messed up? I just stumbled through this sadistic ass course and now I'm looking forward to doing a 5 mile one of these in a month?

I don't feel good about how I did. Yes, I have strengthened in some areas which is new and exciting, but I did not have the endurance to tackle this mountain like I wanted. I don't feel good about skipping obstacles, but trust me when I say I literally felt like I was going to collapse. I made some judgement calls where necessary.

That being said, I clearly need to get my ass in gear for future races so I can continue to do better.

The Lazy Spartan

Pffffh.

I've been so lazy. Not sure if it's cause I have been feeling super busy and like I've got no time on my hands... or if I'm not keen on running in this disgusting heat... or if I'm just downright lazy.

And I'm running Spartan this weekend.

I dunno. I just haven't been super motivated lately.

But you know what... next weekend I'm gonna change that and force my ass back into gear. Get running regularly again. I want to run. It's just been so hard to overcome my urge to sleep in lately.

There's a guy who always comes in to my work, I call him "Spartan Leon". This guy is 60+ and runs a Spartan pretty much every weekend. He volunteers then runs for free and travels all over the place. Today he came in and having the chance to see and talk to him really stepped up my enthusiasm for this weekend. Plus I'll be there with my neighbor and his friends, so I'll have people there to socialize/endure with. I'm excited to be challenged, but also glad it's not 14 miles like NJ was. 9 miles is much more manageable. I'm excited to challenge myself by picking up those men's sandbags and hoisting that men's weight at Hercules. These are my strong points Nervous of the rope climb and traverse wall as always, they are my weak points.

All in all, maybe this Super will be the kick in the ass I need to get myself un-lazyfied again.

STFU, Aroo.

NJ Beast - The official pictures

During the Beast last weekend I noticed photographers throughout the course. Despite how challenging the race was, I did my best to look decent whenever I saw a camera. Usually that backfires on me because I'm not very photogenic. But I gotta say, these aren't too bad.

I like how the only real pictures of us doing obstacles are at the 2 obstacles I struggled with the most.

I look ok, but the reality is that bucket carry was hell. Looking back on it now though, I am stronger for having completed it.

After the dunk wall. I didn't have to put my head all the way under, but my face was covered in mud from falling off the rope and into the mud pit - which happened about 30 seconds before this picture was taken

This was towards the beginning of the second barb wire crawl

Right before the finish line!

48 hours after the Beast

So uhh..

I was scheduled to go to work early this morning and had no idea why. Turns out the regional manager is coming this week and we have to clean. So I was tasked with vacuuming (oww, my sore arms and back) and wiping down all the shelves/clothing racks/baseboards. Uh, ever hear of a duster? Other than my calves, wasn't having too much leg soreness - until I had to bend down and clean all this shit. My boss knew I was running Spartan this weekend. I fully believe this was intentional. He asked me how it was. This picture sums it up perfectly.

I also nabbed some of the official Spartan pics off their Facebook page. These capture the obstacles in (nearly) their full glory..

Start line hill

Bucket carry from hell

2 shots of the final barb wire crawl. 

Not a hard obstacle but the view was amazing!


I think I will go foam roll my back and hang out for the rest of the night. Right now I am thinking I'll be back in the gym Wednesday - we'll see!

NJ Spartan Beast

The Beast. 

That's what this was alright.

So - 2 weeks ago I signed up for the NJ Spartan Beast. I had planned on doing a different beast later in the year, but this just made more sense logistically, so without specifically training for it I took the plunge. I did SC last year and made it through, but that's like comparing apples to oranges.

Not so great picture of the start, straight up the mountain

Entered Mountain Creek ski resort. Parking and traffic was fine, they did a good job planning everything. I was there super early and actually witnessed the first male elite finish the race, in some ridiculous time like 2:30. Inhuman! My turn to go was 10:00. The wall just to get into the start corral was higher this year and I actually needed help to get over it. The start sent you straight up the mountain with snow on it. As for the snow on the course, it was definitely a scare tactic because it was just them turning on the snow machines in certain places. Everywhere else was snow free and it was actually a warm and sunny 70 degrees. Dressed perfectly in a short sleeve and capris. Anyway - off we went, straight up a hill that did not end. It was seriously a mile of nothing but uphill. Mixed in were some snow hills to climb over. Then a little while later we encountered some log hurdles to hoist ourselves over. At one point we were under the chair lift which was just straight up rock climbing. None of us were moving very fast. I knew this race would be mostly hiking, very little running. My goal is simply to finish - having never done a mountain race I did not want to burn myself out trying to go for time. 12.3 miles plus obstacles = just over 13 miles. 4800 feet of elevation gain

Finally we reached the summit of the mountain and wow, what a view. I admired it for a second before moving on. I had started talking to a fellow racer and wound up doing the entire race with her. Her name was Ashleigh and she was there with her boyfriend, who I vaguely remember seeing when we first met up but he went ahead and kind of left her behind. She was just coming off of a back injury due to car accident and planned to take it slow. I felt bad that her boyfriend left her behind and I also wanted some company. So we ended up talking and found out we have alot in common. At the top of the mountain there was a cargo net climb, at which I accidentally kicked her in the face. I felt awful about it but she assured me it was ok. Down the mountain, encountered the log hop. We were gonna help each other across but the volunteer was a jerk and said no helping. Booo. We both fell off and did burpees - squats for Ashleigh due to her back injury. Not long after the logs was the Rig, or "Multi Bars". It's basically a pipe you have to shimmy across, then grab onto 2 ropes, then grab onto another pipe. I got across the pipe (sideways - whatever works, right?) but when it came time to transition to the knotted rope I fell off. Damn, already 2 failures. Thankfully the Spartan gods put my favorite obstacle up next - Herc hoist. I seriously considered doing the mens, if it wasn't a Beast I would have. Demolished it and swore to myself to do the men's weight at all Sprints and Supers.  At some point early on in the race we were given a code to memorize and we would be tested on it later. Mike 025 5788. Also early on in the race was a nice muddy river to wade through. It was cold but it felt great.. the men didn't seem to agree with me however because I heard alot of nice high pitched shouts.

A spear throw made it's appearance early on. Nothing new here, I didn't get it. Then the monkey bars. They seemed really far apart this year! I got halfway through and lost my momentum. I was hanging there for a few seconds, and I knew that if I didn't get my momentum back I would be done for. So I swung my whole body forward and reached for the next bar. Got it. Proceeded to fly through the rest of them. Not a couple seconds after I finished I heard my name. Ashleigh was halfway through and needed help. I got underneath her and she rode on my shoulders to complete her monkey bars. Yay, we both did it and I am 5 out of 6 on monkey bars at Spartan races. My victory was kind of short lived, because the next obstacle was the traverse wall. Now they are doing them in a Z shape so you have to navigate corners. I have never completed this. Ashleigh held me up while I moved across my wall. Trying to figure out my foot placement for the corners was tough but she was giving me guidance along the way. Navigated the blind corner, but I felt my strength failing me. Got about 2 pegs from the end when my right foot slipped and I fell off. I was so pissed off. But I learned an important lesson - I took too long. If I had gone faster I would have had more grip strength, but by taking too long I wasted alot of energy just holding on to the thing. Ashleigh didn't need any help because she's a champion. Seriously this chick is good at obstacles. We descended a hill again to find a random hay bale to climb over (really? this is considered an obstacle?) then turned the corner to find a water station. Then, up the mountain again and there it was. The goddamn bucket carry. I hated life when I did this last year, and this bucket carry was a freaking nightmare. For one, the volunteers were super strict about filling your buckets. People cheated anyway, but I filled mine up because I did not want to be forced to repeat the obstacle like they were threatening to make you do. Straight up the mountain. I had to take so many breaks, a break every few feet!!! It was killing my hands. A plastic Home Depot bucket with pounds of muddy rocks in it isn't fun to carry by the bottom. I felt like I was in hell. This took me so long to do, but at long last I was dumping my rocks back into the station and said goodbye to that damned bucket. This obstacle took alot of energy out of me and killed what strength I had in my forearms. But we were almost to the halfway point! All we had to do was 1 more of what we just did!

Walls, 10 or 12 feet?

We turned the corner and it was time to climb the mountain again. A little ways up the slope was a plate with a sandbag on top of it that we had to drag through snow. There was a line so I chose the plate on the end with no one at it. I soon realized why no one was using it. It was the hardest one because it had the most snow. The plate kept getting stuck in the snow and I actually needed help getting it back down the hill. Sometimes the path less traveled isn't always the best. More climbing - Ashleigh had a somewhat amusing angry meltdown, then calmed down a bit and felt better afterwards. Another summit reached, time for some barb wire crawls. This one wasn't too bad, but it ended just in time because I was starting to get tired. Had a very motivating volunteer who pushed us to keep going. Time to cool off in some mud hills and pits. Maybe I'm weird but I always appreciate the mud and water obstacles. They're fun! If memory serves, this was one of the flatter areas of the course. Soon it was time for the sandbag carry, it was an easy one but it was very long. Probably half a mile at least. The hill descents did get a little tricky with footing at times. I think at my next race I will do the men's weight. We were now in a relatively flat, wooded area. Up comes the memory test. I got a bit of stage fright and transposed 2 of my numbers, but on the next guess I got it right. Ashleigh heard me say "MIKE" and it screwed her up, but the volunteer was cool and gave her another try. We passed through an area with cabins, some type of abandoned kids playground, then approached the inverted wall. I dunno if it was the 9 miles of insane climbing and obstacles, or the fact that we already climbed 2 walls, but I couldn't do this one alone and had to get a boost. Ashleigh almost fell off but she saved herself and got over. Instantly following was the Tyrolean traverse over dry ground. I tried, but I just can't get it yet. Following this was some more nice cold water to walk in, we were approaching a lake and even got to cross the dam. The trail got kind of monotonous for awhile, then we climbed even more. Very rocky, lots of fallen logs to climb over/under, then we wound up on another summit with an A frame cargo on top. Climbing a mini mountain on top of a mountain. The view at the top was amazing.

Rope Climb

Atlas carry somewhere in here. I think because it was so late in the race I had a harder time with it, but I got the stone where it needed to go. We began another steep descent with snow, down to the big walls (pictured above) They are either 10 or 12 feet, got help of course. Immediately after was the rope climb. This rope was drier than SC. I got up the first knot, got my feet on the second but they slipped and I fell into the water. But I'm getting better and better every time I attempt it! Ashleigh's back seized up so she didn't make it either. Next we did the under water wall followed by the slippery wall. I swear they made this thing taller. I got up it with no problems. We were in the final mile. But ahead of us was a true test...
the long barb wire crawl, uphill in the snow. The snow part wasn't bad, just made my hands cold and painful, but halfway through it got muddy and very rocky. This thing nearly broke me. I took breaks. At one point I considered just standing up and walking out. It sucked all the energy out of me. Every move I made hurt. My knees, elbows, everything. I heard several grunts of pain and frustration from everyone around me. People getting their skin stuck on barb wire, cramping, etc. At the very end I was so relieved it was over, but when I went to stand up it happened - Calf cramp. I couldn't move for about 30 seconds, it almost brought tears to my eyes. Ashleigh helped me stretch it out and once the pain faded a bit I moved out of the way and got on with the race. Last climb, also the worst climb. This slope was absolutely brutal. I had zero energy left. Ashleigh had to stop often because of her back, she was crying a little bit it hurt so bad. Her morale was gone and she was ready to quit. I helped her up and told her I wouldn't let her. At this point it was all about putting one foot in front of the other. The final descent was hell on my knees and my hip. We reached the bottom which held a Tarzan swing above a mud pit, a fire jump, and a water pit to cross. Then, the finish line. We crossed at the same time, the green medals were ours. 7 hours, 13 crazy miles, 33 obstacles. My greatest challenge to date, and I won.

Ashleigh was reunited with her boyfriend, and I was united with my free beer (Shock top!!) hung out for a bit, got cleaned off and on my way back to the hotel. Well first I went to Applebees for dinner, not a place I usually like but I saw they had brisket nachos so duh, of course I had to go.

They were good except for the brisket itself, it was all slimy and unappealing. I picked around it mostly.. and only ate about half of what you see here, lol.

I had a great time. It was brutal both physically and mentally. But it was also fun to experience it all. Ashleigh and I randomly met at mile 1 and were kind of there for each other through the whole thing.  We talked the whole time which helped take our minds off of the tasks ahead of us. I failed alot of obstacles but kicked ass at others. I did my best and finished all in one piece! 

I'm sore and bruised today, but feeling good.

Spartan Beast Eve

Yes ladies and gents, it is Spartan Beast Eve. The day we officially panic and flip out!

The rumor is - 14 miles, 33 obstacles, plus the mountain still has snow on it. See...

Barb wire crawl uphill in the snow? Something tells me grandpa didn't do this "back in his day"

(What the hell am I going to wear? Packing a bunch of stuff and deciding in the morning I guess... )

I am freaking out a little in these final 24 hours. I have never run a Beast in the mountains - just SC, which pales in comparison to the mountain races. I always hear about how brutal the VA and VT races are just because of the mountains themselves. They are saying this beast might be the hardest yet - don't know if that is just a scare tactic, but Norm Koch is the course designer and supposedly he is known for designing very punishing courses. Lots of uphill sandbag and bucket carries.

However, all of this impending craziness also excites me. This is going to challenge me like nothing ever before. The mountain will test me. The obstacles are harder this year, but I'm ready to see how much my strength has improved since last year, now that I have been working hard on a *consistent* basis for 4 months. I know one thing, my upper body is finally starting to come together with some visible muscles.

Weighed myself out of random curiosity this morning - 166. A far cry from 2 years ago when I was 155 with little to no muscle.

Ass on the counter! But I swear I can see the beginnings of some back definition.

I am stronger than ever before. Right now I am at the point where I can go out and run 10 miles on hilly trails after 6 months of not even touching a trail. I didn't specifically train for this race - signed up 2 weeks ago - but this year I am hungry for Trifecta #2. Let's get 2015 started with a Beast! 

Arrrrrooooo..... :)