It's mid-May, and if you've been following my blog since earlier this year, you know that it was FINALLY the time for Matt and I to compete in the Spartan Race with our good friends Nick + Amanda! There are many different types of "mud run races" - you may have heard of Tough Mudder or Warrior Dash, to name of few. But Spartan Race is pretty much known as the toughest when it comes to penalties, because it is apparently the only mud run that penalizes you for failing to complete an obstacle. The penalty? 30 burpees - one of the most hated body-weight exercises EVER.
The day of the race, we had perfect weather {it wasn't too hot}, and the trail and scenery were really very beautiful. It took place about an hour outside of Austin in the Hill Country, and the trails were surrounded by fields of cactus and wildflowers. The higher we ran up the granite hills, the prettier the views got. The obstacles were a lot of fun, and the water we had to run and army-crawl through was actually pretty refreshing. I think the best part might have been the energy and motivation that you experience, though. Everyone around you is so pumped up and bystanders are cheering you on - you can't help but feel like a Spartan! And we also had our awesome friends Nick + Amanda there with us, which made each obstacle a team effort and the day that much more fun!
The Spartan Super {there are different levels of races - "Super" is the middle level} was 9.5 miles and around 25 obstacles, which leaves a lot of opportunity for some burpees. However, I'm glad to report that we did better than expected, and I was only penalized for not completing 2 obstacles {that's 60 burpees total} - the spear throw + the rope climb.
Being that I trained for both of these obstacles before the race, I was super bummed that I didn't complete them. On the spear toss, I just plain missed the target. In fact, we all missed except Matt! The rope climb was one of the very last obstacles, and almost no one was making it to the top. We were standing in waist-deep, squishy, muddy water {ie. no stable ground to stand on or jump off of}, and the ropes were hanging in said water. Not easy. Also imagine how physically exhausted we all were after running 9.5 miles and completing all of the other obstacles. Put all those factors together, and you get 4 spartan racers not even making it a quarter of the way up their ropes.
Regardless, we all crossed that finish line together - which is a giant leap over some fire into a pit of muddy water - and were greeted with our "finisher" medals at the end. All I truly wanted to do for my first race was to cross that finish line, so I'm definitely happy with that! I ended up really enjoying it so much more than I expected to, and I think I may even see another Spartan race in my future... not super near future, but future nonetheless. And afterward - a true Texas BBQ to celebrate.
Thank you all for reading!
The day of the race, we had perfect weather {it wasn't too hot}, and the trail and scenery were really very beautiful. It took place about an hour outside of Austin in the Hill Country, and the trails were surrounded by fields of cactus and wildflowers. The higher we ran up the granite hills, the prettier the views got. The obstacles were a lot of fun, and the water we had to run and army-crawl through was actually pretty refreshing. I think the best part might have been the energy and motivation that you experience, though. Everyone around you is so pumped up and bystanders are cheering you on - you can't help but feel like a Spartan! And we also had our awesome friends Nick + Amanda there with us, which made each obstacle a team effort and the day that much more fun!
The Spartan Super {there are different levels of races - "Super" is the middle level} was 9.5 miles and around 25 obstacles, which leaves a lot of opportunity for some burpees. However, I'm glad to report that we did better than expected, and I was only penalized for not completing 2 obstacles {that's 60 burpees total} - the spear throw + the rope climb.
Being that I trained for both of these obstacles before the race, I was super bummed that I didn't complete them. On the spear toss, I just plain missed the target. In fact, we all missed except Matt! The rope climb was one of the very last obstacles, and almost no one was making it to the top. We were standing in waist-deep, squishy, muddy water {ie. no stable ground to stand on or jump off of}, and the ropes were hanging in said water. Not easy. Also imagine how physically exhausted we all were after running 9.5 miles and completing all of the other obstacles. Put all those factors together, and you get 4 spartan racers not even making it a quarter of the way up their ropes.
Regardless, we all crossed that finish line together - which is a giant leap over some fire into a pit of muddy water - and were greeted with our "finisher" medals at the end. All I truly wanted to do for my first race was to cross that finish line, so I'm definitely happy with that! I ended up really enjoying it so much more than I expected to, and I think I may even see another Spartan race in my future... not super near future, but future nonetheless. And afterward - a true Texas BBQ to celebrate.
Thank you all for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment