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

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.

Savage Race

My Savage Race adventure is complete.

Stupid photo - mission accomplished

6 miles, 25-ish? obstacles. Let's do it!

This morning I made the drive across the bay and through some very pretty countryside to Kennedysville, got there just in time to jump into the 11:00 wave (I wave jumped - I'm sorry, but I had no desire to run at 1:00)

Crowd surfing at the start line

The announcer did a great job getting us all hyped up. He led a quick warm up followed by some shouting matches, locking arms with our fellow racers, and crowd surfing. A young guy in USMC shorts and no shirt standing right next to me was chosen to lead the screaming contests. After some more yelling and chanting we were off! Ran through the field for a bit before reaching the first set of obstacles. Hurdles, a ladder wall, then surprisingly within the first mile was Shriveled Richard - an ice bath obstacle. This would have felt great later on in the race, but all it really did was knock the wind out of me when I hit the water. But I knew the key was to stay moving and use the wall to pull myself forward so I could get out as fast as possible.

The trails were pretty easy, mostly flat with maybe the occasional hill but nothing to cry about. I think the next obstacle was the balance beam. My clumsy ass made it about halfway across before falling. Oh well. Back into the woods for more trail running. Met up with a pack of Avengers, a bunch of guys wearing those Under Armor superhero shirts. Every Avenger was represented and there was even one of the X Men thrown in there. I kept running into the USMC shorts dude from the start line, we got to chatting and turns out he did the NJ Beast too. But I was about to leave him in the dust permanently because he injured his leg on an obstacle.

At one point we faced some walls - a straight wall with a large overhang that you had to maneuver over. It wasn't too bad. The other side was inverted with 2 footholds. The second wall was the first wall only in reverse. Climb up a slanted wall with 2 footholds, they were muddy and there was no rope so it took some time but I got over ok. The top is where I kind of froze. The upper lip stuck out and there wasn't really any way to get down other than dropping. But they put some hay bales there, and I just knew I would fall and roll an ankle or something if I just relied on the hay bales to catch me. A guy talked me through it because I was freaking out a little bit, he suggested I turn around and drop off that way. It worked. Thanks, random stranger!

Somewhere in here was an A frame cargo net, and a barb wire crawl through grass. Following the barb wire was an obstacle that was basically one of those big black plastic pipes that was set up like a see saw. You crawl up into the pipe and once you get to the middle your weight makes the pipe shift down and you slide out to the other side. Alot of females were backing out of this one and once I entered my pipe I saw why - there was nothing to grab onto. I just pushed my back into the walls of the pipe to act as a brace. It really hurt my knees. But before I knew it the pipe was tilting and I was sliding out the other side.

Soon we were back in the woods and entered a big mud pit. As soon as I stepped in I was on all fours. The mud was so slick that I was just sliding around everywhere. Getting out of the pit meant scaling a hillside - a guy offered me a hand which was not needed, but I thanked him and took it anyway. A bunch of other girls were screaming and sliding around trying to get up the hill so maybe he felt like he had to help out, but I was flying up that hill and grabbing tree branches to pull myself up, then I was out of there. Right after the big mud pit was Pipe Dreams - a pipe to shimmy across horizontally. Tried to dry my hands off as best I could to prepare. Despite being good at monkey bar type obstacles, I failed a similar obstacle at the Beast, so I wasn't about to let this one claim me. Felt my hands slipping a few times but I made it. Next was Me So Thorny, a barb wire crawl that had barb wire on the sides too, boxing you in completely. I think after this was the traverse wall. I got SO CLOSE!!! I had like 2 more holds to go and my foot slipped. The volunteer consoled me by telling me I was one of the few to have gotten so far. I think she was right, I saw alot of people fall off at the beginning and only heard 2 bell rings.

A picture of a picture of Sawtooth

Around mile 4 or 5 we were out in the fields again and encountered an obstacle called Thor's Grundle. A mud pit with 2 walls you had to pass underneath by going underwater. Saw someone try to go over top despite the fact there was barb wire there. A couple "Pthhbbthhpph" 's later I was out of the obstacle and furiously spitting mud out of my face. Running through the fields, noticed most everybody was walking at this point. The next obstacle was a log carry through a pond, the sign said "Grab 2 if you're a bad ass!" 2 logs it was! They were really light, should have grabbed more logs. The most logs carried by 1 person all day was 9. Next was the cliff jump obstacle. I got to the top and alot of people were scared so they said go ahead. Took the middle spot and had 2 people on my right and we were waiting for the countdown to all jump at the same time. As soon as he said "go" I let out a loud "WOOOO!" and was up in the air. Didn't even see the other 2 jump. Feeling the rush of joy/fear as I fell, then hit the water and brought myself back to the surface. Whee! Nice and refreshing too. Closing in on the end here. Sawtooth was next. These monkey bars were really tall and really far apart. I got halfway - up to the "tooth" part, and when it was time to go back up it was just too tall of a gap and I didn't make it.

The race was almost over. I didn't even care, I was having so much fun. Still running, had energy and was just enjoying the ride really. There was a third barb wire crawl, this time through water/mud. Chicked the guy next to me! But then I was slipping and falling all over the place trying to wade through the mud after the obstacle. Next we had some over/under walls. Got over all 4 walls, struggled with the 3rd because it was slippery. I saw a lady try to step through the barb wire on the "under" wall - seriously people, wtf??? The barb wire is there because you're NOT supposed to go over the wall! There's even signs pointing down! Anyway - approached a cinder block drag - pull the cinder block on a rope up hill, then carry it back down. It wasn't heavy, no big deal. The next obstacle was interesting, pull yourself up a slide with a cargo net while you're on your back. It had running water so you wouldn't get stuck, so at the very top I couldn't see what I was doing because water was hitting me in the face. 2 kids were standing there with a water bottle and asked "Wanna get wet?" I said "Sure!" and they proceeded to splash the water on me.

In the home stretch - time to face Colossus. the quarter pipe obstacle. Had to wait for a good bit and watch people attempt it, it was about 50/50 from what I could see. The ropes were really short. I sprinted towards my rope - couldn't quite get it and slid all the way down. Damn. Waited for a bit and tried again. Sprinted, reached - and fumbled again! Slid down and gashed up my elbow in the process. Well crap. I didn't try again because of all the people waiting for their turn. Felt pretty defeated but moved on to jump over the fire and cross the finish line!

This race was awesome! Very fun, loved the obstacles - a good mix of challenges, some obstacles were easier but fun, and other obstacles were really challenging. I loved all the water obstacles too. Volunteers were great, they actually had 3 water stations with full water bottles for every racer. Think I would have preferred cups though, I didn't want to waste too much water so I drank half the bottle/poured the rest onto myself, but I ended up having a full bladder from over hydrating. Savage Race does a great job at getting you pumped up and ready to go, yet they are laid back and don't punish you for failing or opting out of obstacles. I was having fun the whole time, there wasn't ever a point where I was hoping the race would end.

Anxious to see what my finishing time was - didn't try for speed and stopped to help others/cheer people on, but considering how many people were walking at the end I'm thinking maybe I did ok. The pictures should be good too!

I picked up a case of beer on the way home - really coming to love Shock Top lately, especially the lemon flavor. Hanging out and eating some baked ziti I ordered, the husband is trying to watch the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight so maybe I'll get in on that. Laters!

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..... :)

Patapsco State Park - Getting Lost

Hi!

I went trail running today. I have been wanting to go for some time now. But the fact that I have a Spartan Beast next weekend and zero trail runs in 6 months kind of .. accelerated things. I had to get at least one trail run in!

The obvious place to go is Patapsco State Park. It's huge and about 15 minutes from me. There are like 8172684 miles of trails and several areas to hike. I chose the Avalon area. Before going I researched which trails to run and read reviews of the trails. Alot of people said they got lost. Great! I am the queen of getting lost. No pressure.

I didn't get too many pictures of the cool stuff along the way, my phone was in my Camelback which isn't easy to access. I got some pics just some along the entrance.

Beginning of the trail

Reached the entrance to the trails. And it's straight up a HUGE hill. Like I couldn't run up the whole thing. I was like damn, is this what the whole trail is gonna be like? But it was just to get up out of the valley, once the hill was passed it ended up being alot of flat stretches. Easily runnable. The whole time I was comparing this trail to FATS (my old stomping grounds in South Carolina) FATS had several small hills throughout, whereas the hills on these trails were longer inclines. So not going uphill as often, but when I did it was tough.

Beginning of the trail, right before the big hill

It's a beautiful area. Spring is about to pop into full bloom within the next few days, so not tons of green just yet but it's coming soon. Lots of fallen logs to hurdle over. In the first 1-2 miles I encountered a water crossing that was about 1 foot deep. I took a split second to think about it, then jumped right in. Wasn't expecting water, but I have learned to always expect the unexpected - so I just went with it. The trails take you through a really pretty meadow with nice green grass and houses/farms up on the hill. And the trails were quite muddy. Closest thing I could get to a Spartan Race really. About 6 miles in I came to a split that took me to the Cascade trail. Down a huge hill (all I could think of was the fact that I had to run back up it later!) then flat for awhile, then the trail came to a creek with several crossings and turned into a very rocky path. I had to pull off some fancy foot work to maneuver the rocks, but I actually felt like I was flying through it. I got many weird looks from the hikers, there were tons of people around this area hiking or just hanging out. Cascade was pretty, almost reminded me of a "mountain" because it was so rocky. I turned around because I was 6 miles in and knew I had 2-3 more miles to go before reaching my car.

Up high on the hill, 8.5 miles in

This is where it got a little crazy. Passed a sign that said "Parking lot, 2 miles ->" But then the trail split off and it didn't say which way the parking lot was. The left was unmarked and the right was yellow blaze. Asked a couple of passing ladies if they knew the way. They pulled up the map on their phone and said "I think we're here, so you take the fork to the right" My gut told me to take the left fork, because I knew the right took me back in the direction I had came from, and the left was heading the direction of the main road. But I had never been here before so placed my trust in others that might know more than me. Big mistake! I went back through the meadow, about half a mile before coming to an old ruined house where a guy was taking pictures. Trail split off again with no signs, so I asked the guy and he pointed me back the way I came. Said it would be awhile no matter which way I went. Guess my instincts were correct. Came back, took the unmarked trail. Then it changed to an orange trail. It got hilly but I was still running for the most part. I was over 8 miles in at this point, saw a couple hikers and asked them if I was still going the right way. They said yes. Came up to yet another unmarked split, at this point I just pulled out my phone to make sure I wasn't going to get lost again. Phone said to take the white blazed trail and not the unmarked split off to the right. Finally after another half mile or so I began the descent back down to the road. 9.75 miles was the final reading. It took 2:12 with a 13:35 min/mile pace. I'd say this was pretty good considering I took breaks to walk/climb hills and talk to people. I was flying at 9:13 min/mile during one point of the run.

Gone muddin' 

Everyone out there looked at me like I was crazy. Running around dodging rocks, splashing through water when they were afraid to even step in it. Saw 2 other trail runners out there, both of them men. The weather was amazing, sunny and 60 with a cool breeze. Shirt, shorts, sunglasses! Took 1 gel (probably should have done 2) which was the pure maple syrup gel - it was really good and hit the spot nicely at mile 4. It felt great to hit the trails again and unleash some pent up energy out in the woods. I know I could have gone longer if I had to, so covering the distance of the Spartan Beast won't be a problem. The mountain might kick my ass, however.

Silly post run picture

As expected I'm feeling sore today. Right hip is a bit agitated, but this is the first time it's bothered me in months which is good news I suppose. Oh, and as an added bonus, my husband went rucking yesterday afternoon and I tagged along. He loaded his pack with 40 lbs and hit the walking trails. That ended up being 3 miles. So I pretty much ran/walked a half marathon yesterday. Last week he also ran once. I'm so happy he is up and moving.

Today I'm just gonna hang out and take a rest day. Next week it'll be 2 gym workouts, 2 runs, then it's Beast time.

The Spartan Beast - Sure, why not!

"Sure, why the hell not?"

... Is this the attitude I should have when spontaneously signing up for a Beast that is 2 weeks from now, that I haven't specifically trained for?

Yep. Shit just got real.

What happened was... I wasn't going to do the NJ Beast because I really wanted to run the Flying Pirate half marathon in NC. So instead I was gonna do the OH Beast at the end of May. But I realized I needed my husband's help to get me to OH so I didn't have to miss any work, plus I wanted him to come to Flying Pirate with me, and he just wasn't feelin' all that. And as much as I wanna do Flying Pirate, it makes more sense just to do the NJ Beast. Maybe next year they won't be on the same date and I can do it then, if I still live up here in MD and don't move back to GA.

As far as training goes, I actually feel ok with my strength training. Lots of heavy lifting, lots of pull ups, alot of work to strengthen my hips and glutes which I hope helps me out at the traverse wall... the problem is, I have literally not run on any trails since last year's Beast in October. Just with moving and the winter weather, I have not had the chance to get up to the park to run some trails. So, 14 mile trail race in the mountains, yay! I'm gonna hurt bad the next day. I do have one more weekend to finally get out to Patapsco park and at least get one trail run in, get the calf and foot soreness out of the way.

I am glad I am at the point in my life where I can sign up for a Beast 2 weeks in advance and feel semi confident about it. There's something to be said for that I think.

SC Spartan Super/Beast

Well, I just returned from the craziest frickin weekend of my life...

This will be a long post. Where do I even begin to sum up such an epic weekend?

I guess I should start here - A 12+ mile trail run with 25 obstacles seems intimidating to most people, right? Now add on top of that a 8+ mile trail run with 20 obstacles on the very next day. Yep. That's what I just did.

Ok. So the Spartan Beast was set for 10/25, and a few months back they decided to add a Super on 10/26. This meant I could get both races (and my trifecta) on the same weekend and not have to travel to Virginia for the Super. But... this also meant I had to do them back to back, and for someone who had never done either race before, the thought of it was pretty intimidating.

I ran with Team RWB - Lil' Sarge's Soldiers. Saturday I got up to Carolina Adventure World in Winnsboro, SC. Our mission - Complete the Beast and/or Super while carrying the flag through every obstacle. Our strategy was to take it slow and not run for time. The goal was survival. We were set to run at 12:15 which is later than we wanted but that couldn't be helped. Of course we stopped for a group pic...

The Beast - 12 Spartan miles (14 actual miles) and 25 obstacles

Eagles at the Beast! I'm in the middle wearing all black

I didn't wear my RWB shirt - it's too short on me. Went tactical for this race. 

So at 12:15 our journey begins. We set off through a wide and very dusty trail, ran for quite awhile before reaching some over/under walls and our first 6 foot wall. After this wall we ran into the woods and encountered hill after hill after hill. These trails are gnarly - steep, rocky, roots, hard packed dirt and clay, and just unrelenting hills. We were reduced to walking up most of these. Flat sections of the course were so rare but much appreciated. 

Just one of the many hills

Within mile 1 or 2 we hit the low lying woodsy area of the park. Here they had our barb wire crawl, which wasn't too rocky and the wires were not very low so you could be on your knees for alot of it. However we had alot of thick, nasty, stinky grey mud. The guy in front of me was super slow so I ended up laying in the mud for a long time. My ponytail got soaked and became a hard chunk of muddy hair for the remainder of the day.

Once out of the muddy barb wire crawl we went straight up a hill which was covered in the slippery mud that everyone else's shoes left behind. We climbed up and down more hills for quite awhile before reaching a balance beam that went over a small pit. I am no great balancer but took this slow and made it across. Back into the low lying swampy woods - down a giant hill where you had to slide on your butt and grab any tree limbs you could. A teammate almost stepped on a snake that was hidden among the leaves but someone alerted him to it's presence at the last second. We were back in the thick mud again. Our teammate Delaney took a step and was suddenly in waist deep mud! By some miracle my shoes stayed on and after what felt like an eternity of mud we started to make our way uphill and back out to another clearing. Tractor pull. Take a concrete block tied to a chain and take it up and down a huge hill. This was brutal. Downhill was difficult, uphill was a nightmare. I was doing ok until halfway up hill, I began to slow down as the block got stuck on every single bit of uneven ground. But I made it up and hit the well placed water station for some water and food. I took my Camelback with Skratch powder in my water, and ate Honey Stingers every few miles. 

Back into the hills - walking at this point because we were wiped out from that tractor pull. It wasn't long before we hit another upper body killer - the Atlas Carry. Pick up a giant stone ball, carry it to the flag, do 5 burpees, pick it up and come back. I believe the women's version weighed 72 lbs.

Some lady eagles doing the Atlas Carry

This was much easier for me than the first time I did this. Guess my training in the gym has paid off. 

Next was a tire drag. I guess they're getting better about the placement of these, because at the Georgia Sprint this was nearly impossible for me due to my tire being stuck in mud. This time our tires were all on dry ground so this wasn't too bad.

Tire drag, I'm in the black just getting up after finishing it

Not too long after this we hit the log hop obstacle. I suck at this thing so I had a helping hand to get me across. James stumbled during his, so as he was about to fall he nimbly saved himself by hopping onto the log in the next lane, then hopped back over to his own lane for an epic finish.

James at the log hop

After the logs we were maybe at about mile 5 and this was where the course started to circle back towards the festival area. This meant tons of obstacles bunched up together so the spectators could see. We rounded back towards the start line where some mud hills and water awaited us, followed by over-under-through walls. At the following water station the volunteers told us to dry our hands in the dirt because monkey bars were up next. Sure enough there they were, black paint coated bars of varying heights. I have some unholy gift for the monkey bars. I have never failed them and Saturday's Beast was no exception - made it! Unfortunately the traverse wall was right after it and I failed that. I don't have the hip flexibility and strength to cross it just yet. I also learned that I am not cut out for any type of medic job. At the Traverse Wall as I was waiting to cross it, all of a sudden I heard the most horrible blood curling scream. A guy dislocated his shoulder and was just screaming bloody murder. A medic was near and tended to him quickly but it kind of turned my stomach to watch him screaming in pain like that. Poor guy.

Monkey Bars and Traverse Wall, James gets creative with the flag

Next up in the onslaught of obstacles - the inverted wall. A wall that is at an angle pointing towards you, so getting over the top is the challenge. This thing was covered in mud and I started to slip off but some Eagles had my back and gave me a boost so I didn't fall. THEN we had the spear throw. So apparently now they have started attaching the spears to a rope and setting up a fence so you can't pass a certain point. This backfired on me horribly as the rope got caught under my foot when I threw the spear. Fail, burpees. But our gauntlet of back to back obstacles was over as we went back into the woods at mile 6. 

Inverted wall

Spears!

It wasn't long before we reached the sandbag carry down and up yet another massive hill. Alot of people cramped up at the top of this. In fact, past this point I saw dozens of people sidelined along the trail with calf cramps. I was fortunate this weekend and experienced zero cramps. This portion of the course was mostly trails, the hills weren't quite as steep as they were in the first half of the course but they were DUSTY. I was coughing and sniffling alot because of all the dust I was inhaling. We hit an A frame cargo wall, pretty easy but it shook around alot which made me wonder if the thing would suddenly collapse on us

Mile 9 or 10!

Jasmine took a bathroom break and almost stepped into a fire ant hill. Really gotta be careful on these trails. We set off for more trail running/walking for at least 2 more miles before we encountered the next obstacle - 7 and 8 foot walls. After the walls we were back out in the hot sun and dusty trails. Up next came an obstacle I had never done until now. The Bucket Carry. Fill your bucket with rocks and then carry it straight up a huge rocky hill then all the way back down and empty the bucket. In the hot sun. This. Freaking. Sucked. I have no pictures of it right now but just know that it was painful. I had to stop a few times for a break. Eventually I got it done and we plunged straight into some 50 degree water for a short swim. Screams were heard all around as racers entered the water. I just swam quickly and breathed deeply to avoid getting my body into a panicked state. It worked well and I actually felt nice and refreshed once my body got over the shock of the cold water. It was straight up a huge steep hill which was muddy from the water we just crossed. My energy was almost spent. My left leg and right ankle were hurting, and don't even ask me about how my feet were feeling. But this was mile 11 so the end was not far away. After crossing the final stretch of trail we approached the Hercules Hoist. A bag attached to a pully system and rope. Pull the rope until the bag reaches the top, then lower the bag back down slowly and you're done. They made this obstacle way easier! The bags used to be like 70+ lbs for women and now they are 45. Made an obstalce I'm already great at even easier.

Nasty Ass Molasses Mud Pit

Barb wire crawl

One of the final obstacles - a thick, soupy, nasty mud pit. This thing was like molasses. But it was hilariously fun to cross. After exiting this we were back in the festival and facing the rope climb. Ah, the rope climb. I have practiced this faithfully in the gym and can climb it pretty easily. At a Spartan Race? Not so much. This thing was so wet and muddy I could barely climb it. I made it up the first knot and that was it. But at least I have made progress because I couldn't climb it at all before now. This point of the race took awhile because we waited for everyone to cross these final obstacles so we could finish together. Next was the ladder climb, followed by a short barb wire crawl that was slightly uphill and filled with razor sharp rocks. Then it was just a matter of crossing the underwater wall, the slippery wall, and a very wide fire jump and we were across the finish line!

For a moment I could have cried. I just finished the Spartan Beast. Shawn wore a GPS and said this course came in at over 14 miles and 9,000 feet of uphill AND 9,000 feet of downhill. 

That night I met my husband in Blythewood where we were staying - he was supposed to come meet me at the finish line but his GPS messed up and he got lost. So instead we ate at some Carolina Wing place and then headed to the hotel to rest up and prepare for tomorrow. I was so glad he was there with me for emotional support.

The Super - 9 Spartan Miles (10.5 actual miles), 20 obstacles

I'm not going to go into a exact play by play of the Super because it's the same course, only some mileage and 3 obstacles were cut out. I woke up feeling sore but not as bad as I had anticipated. However it was clear by the first wall that this was gonna be way harder than the previous day. Here's basically what happened. Our teammate Giselle had a knee injury that was bothering her even at mile 1 of the Super. Most of the group went on ahead but me, Jasmine, and Mike stuck with Giselle. She said it hurt most going downhill, so at a point where 2 points of the course intersected she decided to skip ahead and wait for us. We said ok but then as we went forward we realized we were heading away from where we left her, and that the course wasn't going to double back that way and that she must have gone backwards instead of forward. So at the first water station we told the volunteers to go look for her. Jasmine and Mike told me to go on ahead so they could wait for her and then catch up to me. After awhile I realized I was going to be alone for this whole race. But then at mile 3 Giselle was sitting there, apparently she found a way to skip ahead and said now she was going to wait for the other 2 because they had to come back that way. So after being sure she wanted me to leave her behind to wait I moved onward.

I tackled the same obstacles and knew exactly what was in store for me this time around. The fatigue really set in after the Tractor Pull which was just brutal on my already tired and sore body. After that point I pretty much walked the whole race. I figured since I had the 3 teammates behind me there was no rush for me to finish. I felt much weaker on the second day. This time I needed 2 people to help me cross the log hop! I also experienced a first time failure yesterday. The Monkey Bars. An obstacle I have been so proudly able to complete finally claimed me yesterday, and my failure came at a price because it left me with 2 open blisters on my right hand. I got halfway across when I went to reach for a high bar and just barely missed it. However this time I had no trouble with the inverted wall. Missed Traverse Wall and Spear Throw again. I became very chatty with strangers on the course to try and keep my mind from going to a dark place. My right hip and bicep were hurting badly. I was alone and starting to question why the hell I was doing this, so I found that socializing was my way of keeping myself going. At least I had help when I needed it, although one guy who seemed really eager to help me grabbed my butt when he helped boost me over the 8 foot wall. It wasn't a grope but it was still a little weird. The Bucket Carry reared its ugly head again at mile 8. This damn thing sucked the life out of me but I got it done. I got in the 60 degree water, trudged painfully up the hill following it, and as I approached the home stretch I distantly heard the song my husband and I danced to at the Army Ball playing back at the festival. I sang along to keep me going. The big nasty mud pit was hilarous once again as everyone slopped their way through. It actually hurt my muscles to try and move through this ridiculously thick mud. Once out of it I passed through the final obstacles, sprinted over the fire jump and crossed that finish line to earn my final Blue medal...

Trifecta Complete

It was brutally awesome. There were many times when I laughed and a few when I almost cried. I gave it my best and won!

I was surprised to find my entire team waiting for me at the finish line. Apparently the 3 that were behind me cut the course and finished earlier than anticipated. Which was for the best really because Giselle was hurting with that injured knee. But it was all good - we all made it, some of us earned Trifectas, and we celebrated at Red Robin before I made the trek home.

This weekend was amazing. This experience has taught me that anything is possible if you have the willpower. I learned that as long as you're putting one foot in front of the other, as long as you KEEP GOING, even when you think you can't, just keep going and you WILL finish. These races teach us much about our own strength and about life in general. That we can accomplish great things if we realize that most of it is a mental game and that we just have to ignore the voice in our head that tells us to quit.

I finished 2 tough courses with the ever so awesome Team RWB of SC/GA. Would I do a Beast and Super back to back again? If you asked me yesterday the answer would have been NO. But today I am saying "Probably!"