WWW: Spartan Sprint - AROO

After a grueling long day and week of keeping up with 4 guys at a powerlifting meet and my house, we awoke at 6 am on Sunday and began to pack for the journey ahead. By 7:30, I had almost thrown up 3 times, re-taped my right arm with KT tape due to an injury previously that week, put on my endunamoo shirt and worn out reebok shoes, and got ready to drive four long, early hours to Burnet, TX.

After multiple stops, we arrived around noon and headed to registration. There was so many people that we had to park a good walk away and then be bused to the actual race course. We got our bracelets and my race number and got ready to race. Before the race they had a few obstacles that you could practice on like the transverse wall and the rope climb. They also had competitions for everyone for fun while they were waiting. As soon as they called for my heat, I headed up to the pack of over 100 and jumped over the first tall wood wall that stood in between the racers and the rest of the world; those that would soon be Spartans and everyone else that wouldn’t be. One of the staff pumped us up and released my 1:00 pm heat.

The course was brutal. I was under the impression from previous obstacle mud runs that there would be obstacles placed throughout the course evenly and that it was a 3+ mile run. I was sadly mistaken. We ran a whole mile before I ever saw an obstacle. There was about 1 mile per obstacle and the race was more like 4.5 miles. The running in itself could’ve been the race. It was pure rock and trail running. We ran through woods and in between cacti and thorns and fire ants. We ducked under and around trees and branches. There were rocks and mountain climbs and roots and downhill rock slopes. I ran the first mile with fury and determination and only twisted my ankle and tripped about 8 times. Plus with worn out soles, I could feel everything I stepped on. Eventually the course got so steep and rocky that it was more hopping and placement than running. We eventually got to water, mud, and a lot of sand running. The obstacles were brutal and for every one that you didn’t complete, you had to perform 30 burpees. We pulled cinder blocks hooked to chains in the sand, carried sand bags up hills, jumped over 7 foot tall walls, went under and over and through walls, walked across vertical logs, crawled through small tunnels, up and over slanted walls that defied gravity, up and over muddy slopes into muddy water, and finally swam through their lake. After we emerged from the mountainy-woods, we came upon the gladiator pit. This is where everyone can watch you perform. There were sandbags on ropes that you had to pull up and back down, transverse wall, a ladder wall climb up and back down and walk across planks several stories high, multiple barbed wire crawls through mud, spear throw, rope climb up a muddy wall, swim under a wall in muddy water, and finally a rope climb straight up out of muddy water.

I competed for over 2 hours in the blaring Texas heat. I had to ask for help to do some of the challenges in the woods and conquered them. I wish I could have run more while in the woods, but unfortunately safety came first and it was more a walk, jog, and hop for sturdiness. The end is when I began to fail. All the challenges are one try. I missed the spear throw, fell at the top of the rope climb up a muddy wall, and couldn’t get up on the straight up rope climb. Therefore, I did 90 burpees. Most people didn’t do their burpees and if they did, not all 30 - shame, shame. I did a lot of complete burpees with full push-ups, but after the first 2 sets I realized they didn’t care and did speed burpees. Finally, I conquered the race and ran over the fire to receive my medal.

Overall, it was a good race. It was definitely hard and I don’t think I trained well enough for it. So check back next week and get some tips on how to train if you ever want to become a Spartan… AROO!