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Charlotte Sprint - MUD CITY

The East Coast has had an unusual Winter and Spring hasn't let us down thus far, either. At one point in the week leading up to the event the entire festival area was under 2 feet of water.
Unwavering, Spartan Race decided to move forward and was rewarded for it's effort with a nearly water free festival area come Saturday morning. Mind you, I said water free... Mud was in abundance!
The Elite heats got the best of it all. The wet mud was minimal but wave after wave of runners, wet from streams and obstacles, and the stream of water from the shower station changed all that.
My run time was near the end of the day and I got the sloppiness that was left over from every one else. That's ok, though, because I signed up for a mud run and I wasn't disappointed. The rope climb was a challenge to get into and then out of and the Hercules Hoist was literally in a pond.
Spartan Race has introduced a new wrinkle, present in both of my races this year, called the Gamble. At some juncture in the race, there is a split - one designed to suck up time and the other to reward your good judgement. It is an interesting aspect to the race that I am interested in hearing how it affects the Elites.
Overall, Spartan Race did an excellent job in both designing and implementing a challenging course and in communicating with the racers.

Spartan sprint charlotte

So much fun! Super muddy! Can't wait for the Super! Aroo!!!!!

Tampa Special Ops

I was scared, overweight, sedentary and uninspired. In 2013, a friend's bravery to try a Spartan Sprint became contagious as I saw how hard she worked to complete her first Trifecta EVER! She did it - she conquered the mountains of Vermont! It was her example that inspired me to try it, just do it! I signed up for the Tampa Special Ops Sprint and I worked intermittently to prepare. EVERYTHING that I would allow to dissuade me from participating went awry. Starting with the fact that I was in the midst of switching jobs and could not take the time off to focus on preparing for the event. My wonderful bestie flew down from NYC to run with me - our plans to meet up got botched - then the hotel we reserved overbooked rooms so while that was all sorted out - we ended up with only 3 hours of sleep! Once at the event, the energy was invigorating - I was SO nervous. After 6 hours of volunteering - cheering on the racers - all those brave Spartan Kings & Queens how could I not race? I saw people of all shapes and sizes, giving it their all? What excuse did I have? Being tired, sleepy, scared. About an hour before I was to race, I got a terrible cramp in my right knee - so bad I could barely walk/stand. This was not fair - how could this happen now? As I limped to the window - I briefly considered not racing - in that moment, my pain went away - I paid and got my bib and prayed - a whole lot. Our small team of 3 met two wonderful men Ed K & Mike F. who raced with us. If it weren't for them I am not sure I could have finished. They were our cheerleaders, encouragers and did I mention- they could haul ass (literally)! I came in dead last at the race - I almost didn't make it- there was a point where all of my energy, resolve and will faltered - two obstacles before the finish line. But my Spartan Kings came to my rescue - about 7 of them! They rocked - I could not believe it! If I refused to quit - they refused to end the race. It was amazing. My pictures were not glamorous - some of them down right embarrassing but I dont care I AM Spartan! I did it and if I can say that so can you! I signed up for the Miami Super and I am going to give it my all - I can do anything I put my mind, will and hard work towards. Cognitive Myopia (thanks Todd Sedlak) only think and focus on the next step. It's how we do this. I've met lifelong friends through this adventure. Why don't you join in? You won't regret it!

Spartan Sprint Az 2014

I AM Spartan. Never did this phrase ring more true than the moment I hurdled the flames of my passion into the irrefutable arms of success on this my very first Spartan Race ever! Having been coerced into OCR a mere year earlier at AZ Mudathon Mud In The Moonlight by whom would become my OCR Freaks teammates, I was pleasantly jarred by the rigors of Spartan racing.

At First Glance: After making the error of completely missing the conspicuously placed construction signage pointing us to the Ft. McDowell Rodeo Grounds [as many others did ha] we came upon a well orchestrated layout, under the guidance of Maricopa Counties Finest, and found ample parking after the nominal $10 fee. Pre-Registration I.E. Waiver tents (in case you hadn't signed and filled it out), Registration Bib Lookup/Check-In, and Baggage Check were arranged in succession leading up to the festival area with clear and visible signage and well staffed with friendly, excited, helpful volunteers. There was a little snag involving one of our packets but the issue was resolved expediently and tactfully. The Baggage Check attendants were meticulously checking bag slips and the tables were gridded and well organized according to our wrist bands which was nice (and free!).

Festival Grounds: I was privy to the masses that would gather at events like this after having completed the Gladiator Rock N Run last year, but this my friends was it's bigger, badder, older brother of sorts and gathered a veritable array of contenders which I thought was amazing. There were gaggles of giddy girls with matching shirts, broods of beefed up barons and packs of plodding pedestrians, all ready to get their mud on, and all with varying skill levels and experiences which as a fan of sociology was just great to see. An assortment of vendors were strewn throughout the grounds, the most noteworthy being the main Spartan Race merch tent which I noticed immediately. Mannequins lined the tables, sporting the latest Sprint gear, including bandanas, womens tanks, mens tees and carried an assortment of trinkets such as the popular tac cord bracelets, Spartan patches and stickers. Post race I had to grab a patch, a red and gray Spartan bandana to sport during the hell days of summer and a few stickers to represent my newly finished feat!

Mud and Mayhem: The Course: Although it spanned a noteworthy 4.7 miles at this particular locale, the course itself felt much longer due to the twists and turns amongst harrowing hills, mini valleys, gullies and sand strewn washes plotted throughout the trying desert terrain. When racers weren't shimmying down embankments, they were traipsing up rough clod covered paths and running along some really beautiful arroyos to arrive at the next bevy of obstacles. For me and maybe some of the others, the most draining obstacles came head on right from the start! We were plunged into an arm annihilating onslaught I'd call the Titan Trio. First off was the Atlas Carry: hoisting 100 lb cement bollards, walking with them and doing burpees is no walk in the field! Secondly, came the Hercules Hoist: a sandbag affixed to a rope (easy right) that Spartans heaved, hoed, and strained to pull all the way to the top and back down without letting it drop; carrying a hefty 30 burpee penalty. Fortunately with leverage, I reached high and pulled with control and conquered it, Some over anxious athlete busted his open, earning himself a bountiful total of 60! Ouch. Last in the trio came the water logged, harbinger of rope wrath, the ever popular Rope Climb :) Donning my Skele-Toes, which worked well in the water areas and on land, I unfortunately slipped and sloshed my way to the sidelines, unable to get a grip, and enjoyed my one and ONLY set of muddy, non traction having burpees. (I'll have you soon consarn rope!). Introducing a new 12-18 ft wall with ropes a few days before was interesting but was fairly easy considering its bulk, and along with an 8 ft inverted wall (a personal climbing best) as a couple of my favorites among the litany of 8, 10, and 12ft+ walls on this course. What had to be the most grueling was the belly burning, forearm flaring, knee raking barb wire crawl. Used to the muddy, soft ground of the Mudathon, this was a true test of grit and guts. With varying incline and decline, starting in slick mud, upwards into pebble encrusted river beds, down into hardened muddy gravel pockets and culminating into a dizzying barrel roll downhill took its toll on everyone. But no one gave up, and everyone survived in one piece. With a team, one can accomplish most anything and for the traverse wall, it certainly helped to have a buddy by your side to literally lean on when the proverbial going got rough. That wasn't anything close to being the most mentally challenging feat of the day: then came the spear throw. I viewed some How To's prior to this event but had never actually attempted it and so I hefted, hurled and prayed to let it stick, and unbelievably I nailed it in true Spartan spirit: standing watch while one of my not so fortunate teammates pounded out her penalty. The end remains one of my more memorable finishing moments thus far in my short OCR career. Only after crawling up and over a barb wire mud hill, dunking in frigid waters, and scrambling atop a wall: did my team and I perform a fling of flailing limbs over the fire pits together, into the lions den of pummeling pugil stick toting Spartans that awaited us. After nearly being side swiped, and knocked into a few hay bales, I finally completed one of the most positive, rewarding, fun filled milestones, to rightfully earn my Reebok Spartan Sprint Medal of pride and 1/3 Trifecta Token of triumph! This event stands as a prime example of the great things that can be accomplished via OCR when events are dutifully organized, well planned and encourage the true winning feeling that is gained when one steps out of the shadows and into a healthy, mud filled challenge of the soul. I Shall Return!

For the fourth year in a row, Spartan has it hit the Georgia International Horse Park in Conyers. While this event was not my first OCR, it was my first Spartan Race. The gods had smiled on Sparta the week prior to and the days of the events with plenty of rain leading up to it, then sunny skies on Saturday and Sunday. I was very impressed with how well Spartan had things laid out on both the course and the festive areas.
It is my opinion that the course was a very nice layout using the land for a hard course without being brutal. I would have liked to see a few more water obstacles, but it was still a very nice course. The “gamble” obstacle was a great one with a choice between about a hundred foot cargo net climb up a near vertical hill or a thousand yard run out and around to get to the top. Most everyone was taking the cargo next which got a bit challenging to some near the top.
I heard both complaints and cheers that there were no monkey bars this year, while monkey bars are one of my strong points, I did not miss them. My only complaints about the obstacles or course are with the rope climb and the final mud crawl. All of the ropes were knotted, so if you are used to doing a leg wrap to climb the rope you were out of luck, the knots just make the wrap near impossible. I would have liked to have seen maybe 2 to 4 of the 10 ropes without knots, let those of us who can do it without knots have our go. The final mud crawl was great, the red Georgia clay was its typical sticky gooey mess, and my complaint comes from the placement of some of the barbwire stings. The one right before the drop into the water was too close to the edge and numerous people were getting hit by it as an over exuberant person would “jump” over the hill thinking they would splash down into the muddy water and get the spectators on the bridge over the crawl. This tended to pluck the wire and hit people already in the water. I for one get hit in the face.
Someone on the Spartan staff was really thinking when they decided to place the finisher shirt pickup between the showers and the changing tents.
All in all I have to give the GA Spartan Sprint 4.5 muddy hands.

Great Run

This was my first time doing a Spartan run. It was definitely different from the traditional mud runs. It was nice having parking by the event and not having to worry about a shuttle. Check in was easy. They made sure to include the surrounding terrain to help challenge the runner. The only downside was it seemed that they crammed some obstacle's in the spectator area too close to each other.
My daughter ran the kids 1 mile and really enjoyed it. Some of the Elite runners ran with the kids and encouraged them which helped make it more exciting for my daughter. The one nice part of having my daughter run was we didn't have to pay the $20 spectator fee for my wife.

Spartan AZ 2014 Road to Championships

We flew into AZ from Colorado getting in at 10:30 pm. Set our alarms for 6am. Weather was a bit chilly then but it did warm wonderfully at the venue. This race was at the same place, Fort McDowell but this year we were at the place where we parked last year before we were shuttled by bus to the actual park. We were at the rodeo grounds and the venue was across from parking. Always great as you don't have to bag check. Parking for us was free as we gave a ride to a fellow Colorado Obstacle Racer who was volunteering and racing.
This race we both wore arm and calf sleeves. I wore OCR gear arms as did Chris and I wore skins for my calves and he wore CWX. I definitely liked the arms sleeves as did chris, but I do not know about the calves. He still cramped but I don't have that problem. I did run more so the jury is out on the calves. Our shoes were different too as I wore my inov 8 and he wore salamon fell raisers. I do know that when we washed them last night, my dried way before his did. As to other gear, I wore my usual Athleta shorts and North face t shirt. I was fine as temps were close to 60 when I started at 8:15. I had 3 goals this time around, take 1st in my age group, not come in last for elite women and qualify for OCR championships. Done, done, done.
The course had several new obstacles, one of which was the vertical wall with rope. This was fun and to us not as challenging as some others. The course was hilly, rocky and sandy, always an interesting combination. There was a split at one point where you either went shorter/harder or longer/easier. We both opted for the shorter way. It was a gully trail which was winding and sandy.
We found the walls as usual, it seems the inverted wall was taller than when we saw it in Nebraska and pacific NW. Maybe 8 feet plus? But there are blocks for us short people which I used.
I found the heavy lifting obstacles are now way heavier. The atlas is a round sphere which is tricky to pick up. The cement block was the same for both men and women and that was I heard over 100 lbs and it felt like it. We had to drag it through sand and then up and down the hill. My technique up the hill was at a diagonal and I pulled it and walked up backwards. Worked for me. The hoist was extremely heavy now. It is a sandbag and you can not drop it. I had to go way out and I know that weighed in excess of 100lbs. That fired my arms. And the wonderful Spartan people decided after that you did the rope climb. Chris and I both got an arms length form the top but were too tired. I think the knots actually made it worse for us and we should have used the s technique. Burpess there and afterwards when running I had noodle arms, couldn't feel them.
Barbed wire crawls were gritty, and of course up hill. I did my other burpees at the spear as it went in and them fell out, lame. Chris did his other burpeees on the traverse wall. That was all we missed.
I love the finish at Spartans, with the mud crawl and the under water and then the sprint over that fire and running into the gladiators. It is a good finish, as you get lots of food, water, your medal and the race results are right there. You can get them emailed to you so that is a great feature. The medals are the full medal and the 1/3 part of the trifecta. I am glad spartan abandoned that 40 burpees thing. The t shirt is nice and it is a great improvement over that black one.
A great race, a great course and I have yet to be disappointed in the set up for a Spartan run.

Finished my trifecta

I lined up at the starting coral and my worries from last night had been forgotten and replaced with worries about the temperature. We stood there for the elite heat at 8a.m. with an air temp of around 33 degrees and knowing that it had been under the freezing point for most of the night. The water obstacles would be bone-chilling! We were quickly introduced to that chill when less than 400m into the race, we were put through the trenches. I didn’t see one person manage to jump over them this time, they were huge! I attempted to bound over the first one and nearly busted my face on the opposite wall; I made the decision to just tough the waters for the remaining trenches. It took a solid hour from that point for me to regain feeling in my hands. All the while I was running, I was clenching and opening my fist to try to generate heat but it seemed to take an eternity for it to even get to the point where I could feel contact between fingers.

Continued at http://spartanfiles.com/2013/11/13/spartan-race-south-carolina-beast-11913/

VA Super - My Spartan Induction

As the title says this was my first Spartan. We opted to pay the extra $40 for VIP Parking and it was worth every penny. We knew it would be close, but didn't realize just how convenient it would be. We were right next to registration and the start/finish line, making it very easy to get to our things before and after the race. Everything was organized well at the event, from signage to getting into our wave. If I had one gripe, it would be the lack in variety of food post race. We could buy a burger or hot dog. And, chips. That was about it. After that long day, I was just hoping for more food.

So, the race....fantastic! The MC had us hyped. We ran on Sunday and he talked about how much the Elites hated coming back, how most people walked the course, how Norm was trying to break us on this course. Great! He didn't lie. That course was beyond brutal. I cannot tell you how many times we went up and down those ski slopes. There were times I thought my legs would fall out from under me, but we survived. Luckily we brought hydration packs because there were only three water stations through the whole course. For this course there should have been much more.

The obstacles were tests of strength and actually came as a welcome break on this course. My favorite was the log carry (carry a log a quarter mile down and back up the mountain). I chicked a few men and it felt great! I was sad to see that some obstacles weren't there...the tire flips, water bottle carries...but, it was an amazing time. Another plus was the terrain of this course. Although we rarely ran, we went from walking down the ski slope to hiking through the woods, to crossing streams. It was the most beautiful experience, if one can say that about an OCR.

Black Garbage Bag

This was one cold day, windy and just miserable. Which is saying a lot cause Colorado usually is pretty great. We just had snow about 3 days prior to the race. We were very much security checked at this race complete with a bomb squad and bomb sniffing dogs. I personally was grateful for this as this race was at the army base in Fort Carson. Parking is easy here, good directions as it was last year. The only difference was this year we paid for parking. Also this I think was the race that introduced the headbands. All I can say, was thank god for that. We totally did not prepare for weather with this one, and that is our own fault. We should have worn our wet suits. The very first obstacle was muddy water trenches. It was wicked. I will say that last year's Colorado was harder than this one because of the rucksack carry and the 150 yard barb wire crawl with our fake gun. This was challenging only for the weather aspect. Course was shorter than last year and they did not have the standing rowers, which I like but haven't seen again. At some point on the course they gave us black spartan garbage bags. Thank god for those. I heard 50% of Sunday not finish. I do not blame Spartan, I blame myself for not dressing correctly . I will tell you though, the cold made me go through faster. This year, remember Colorado weather is unpredictable in May. We can have 100 degrees and then be in the 40's. This needs to be watched.
You knew you had been through something if you got through this one. It was something. I finished this race and I remember grabbing my plastic bag tight around me when I jumped over the fire at the end. Another interesting Spartan.