Today I completed my very first Spartan sprint in Tuxedo, NY. My husband had to work so I went alone and ran it alone… Well, alone in the sense that I didn’t know anyone personally.
I picked up my bib number and headed to the start line but of course I had to snap some photos first.
Sorry I don’t look happy, it was really bright out….
Before we could even get to the start line we had to hop over a wall – I got a little help with this because, well I’m new to wall climbing – but as the race went on I got the hang of it – literally!
I won’t go too into detail about the race, but I will say that it wasn’t easy. I got tripped up on the Z wall, the clif two bar obstacle, and the spear throw. The Clif two bar obstacle was right after we fully submerged in muddy water to go under the wall, and the bar was just too slippery for me to hold it so I opted for burpees. The Z wall was after a muddy barbed wire crawl and I couldn’t get a good grip on the blocks to climb across it – I am also not familiar with side to side rock type climbing so I will have to figure out a way to practice this. The spear throw was really not that hard, but my spear just didn’t stick into the hay so burpees it was. Out of 22 obstacles I only got hung up on 4.
4? But you only told us about 3! So about this fourth one… So anyone who knows me knows that the rope climb was one of the obstacles that i set out to conquer. You see, in elementary school I used to get laughed at because I couldn’t climb the rope – not at all. I would jump up and fall down – every single time. The only rope I was ever able to climb was the one with knots. But the rope at the Spartan has knots…. So, I’m 5foot tall, and the knots on the Spartan ropes are quite far apart for me… I utilized the knots the best I could and was doing really well, I was focused on getting to the top and I was able to get to the top knot! I grabbed the rope with my right hand about the top knot, brought my legs up and my hand slipped and I, only one more pull away from the bell, fell back/butt first into the water below. Water went rushing up my nose and in my mouth (yuck!!) I made sure I had my glasses and stood up. I was so disoriented I didn’t know what side I had to get out of, when one of the volunteers grabbed my hand to pull me out (thank you). Someone yelled “make sure she’s okay” which I was – for all intents and purposes. I was disappointed – I was right there – I was so close. I felt tears coming but I held them back, reminding myself that I’ve never climbed a rope and I was able to almost get all the way up there! I could be nothing but proud, although I really want to do it again and get up there – all the way and hit the damn bell!
The hardest obstacle of the day for me was the bucket brigade. The damn bucket of rocks was so heavy I could barely make it up the hill. Once I did I was determined to just go and get down the darned thing but almost slipped because I couldn’t see where I was going (thanks to the bucket)!
In the end I left with a mud beard, a metal, and a lot of memories!
Overall, it was a very fun day. I finished in 2:49:55 and I wasn’t the last in any category/division!
Depending on how well I recover from today, I may do it again next weekend – and conquer that rope! At least then I’ll know what to expect!
After, hubby treated me to some pizza and froyo – nothing like a good cheat meal after 4.7 miles of torture!! 
AROO AROO AROO !!
Have you ever run a spartan race? Which one? What was the hardest obstacle you faced?
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