First Spartan Race Down!

Howdy!

I am home after over 12 hours of being away racing in my first obstacle course race.  I am tired, scratched up, and sore.  I am also very happy.  It was fun and ridiculous and easy and hard.  There were parts that were absolutely doable and others that were, well, let's say that I had a 30 second moment where I told myself that I was going to have to really dig deep and just deal with the temporary pain I was in.  I am glad the pep talk worked.  It usually does at this point in my life.  My client and I finished and spent the remaining hours we were together discussing the parts we loved, hated and loved to hate.

As this was my first obstacle course crazy ass race, and because they don't tell you the course ahead of time, I went into it with an open mind and no fear.  What is the point of worrying about something you cannot control?  It couldn't be that bad after all.  Everyone was welcome to enter the race so it would have to be doable for everyone on some level.  I expected there to be challenges.  I expected there to be parts that were brutal and other parts that were simply fun.  I am happy to say that all of my expectations were met.  What I was most appreciative of was the teamwork among the participants.  Literally everyone was on everyone's side.  It wasn't a competition, it was play time for adults!  It was about pushing yourself and giving a hand to anyone who needed the help.

One of the "treats" on the course was a barbed wire hill of mud.  This wasn't a slight incline.  On this hill were ropes places strategically down to the beginning because you wouldn't be able to get up it without the rope.  By that I mean, your ass was grass if you didn't use the rope to pull yourself up.  People actually began to slide down, which was scary and dangerous due to the people and the barbed wire behind them.  The wire was around 16 inches above the mud which meant that there were a lot of people with a lot of holes and scratches in their clothing (and skin). I saw lots of hair hanging from the wire.  Pretty funny if you ask me.  It took me 10-15 minutes to climb this big ass hill, I would say (and that was actually pretty fast).  It was absolutely ridiculous!  It was during this hill that I questioned the meaning of life and my point on the hill.  Once I was at the top and went around to help my client I saw the amazing amount of support that was being given.  There were hundreds of people and everyone cheered, pushed people up in front of them, pulled people up from behind and simply encouraged with words.  It was a coaching heaven.  I felt elated to be a part of such a love fest.

By the time we finished we had completed 23 obstacles, my client accomplished a goal that was set over a brunch 5 months prior, and we went through more mud than we had ever seen in one place.  Besides the mud there was fire, cargo netting to climb, spears to throw,  walls of varying heights, barbed wire that just wouldn't end, ropes to climb, posts to balance on, nets to go under, slides to slide down and much more stupidity.

I cannot wait to do it again.

xo

a