No ID Required

I just prepared a tasty salad for myself from the salad bar at work.  I went to pay for it but accidentally handed my driver’s license to the cashier instead of my debit card.

She looked and it, laughed, and handed it back to me saying, “I’m not the police and we don’t ID for salads here.”

Spartan Sprint Part 4 - The Red Zone

Part 4 – The Red Zone

After some more running I came to the 4^th mile and the spear throw.  This was pretty exciting because I knew this was one of the last obstacles so the end was near.  I jokingly asked a volunteer if there was a trick to this obstacle, not expecting her to answer.  But she said the ones she had seen that were successful used one hand to support the spear like a pool stick and then launch it.  I tried it and my spear stuck!  Right into the ground, not the bale of straw, haha.  My aim was off – I should have remembered to aim higher than where I wanted it to go; who knows maybe it would have worked!  Anyway, my first and only set of 30 penalty burpees.

I was told it was a half mile to the end.  Past the chicken coop and around some trees into a stream.  I heard “RED!” and I looked behind me because it sounded like it came from that location.  But no.  It was my boyfriend on the other side of the stream on the spectator side (in FRONT of me, haha), cheering me on.  WOO HOO!!!  I was almost done!  And he ran alongside the rest of the way (what a guy!).

I came around the corner from the stream crossing and there was a wall over a mud pit.  Basically you had to completely submerge yourself in the mud to go under the wall and come up the other side.  No worries, I got this!!  :-)

Immediately upon exiting the mud pit was a wall with ropes.  I had my doubts about being able to do it, but once I grabbed the rope and actually tried, I found that it was no problem – especially for my amazing shoes!  It might have been different if the wall had been greased but it wasn’t.  As I climbed over someone called out that they liked my shoes.  I just grinned and kept going.

Right there was the fire obstacle.  I had to laugh because it was hardly anything at all.  My concerns about how far or high I would need to leap to clear the fire was completely unfounded.  A little hop and I was grinning like a fool by this point.

Last obstacle: facing the Gladiators.  I beckoned to the first one and said “Bring it!” as I laughed and charged through.  I didn’t get knocked very hard, certainly not enough to make me lose my balance.

And then I was done and volunteers were handing me a banana, protein bar, my medal, and taking off my timing chip.  I felt exhilarated!!!  What an awesome experience for my first mud run!!  OK, the running part could have been a lot better (and will definitely get some attention), but what a thrill to finish!

And not only did I finish, but not too bad either.  I placed 37% overall (out of 6700+ finishers), 22% for my age group, and 19% for my gender.  I am definitely ok with this for a start.  :-)  A year ago, I couldn’t run a mile or do a pull-up.  Regardless where I stand compared to anyone else, I’ve come a long way compared to MYSELF.

Welcome to my Red Zone. 

Spartan Sprint Part 3 - Picking and Carrying

Part 3 – Picking and Carrying

I’m guessing on the order of things now but I think the next part was where we had to choose a path without knowing what to expect.  To the left was a steep, muddy hill that people were slipping and sliding on.  To the right was a flat trail that went around a corner.  My guess was that one path was shorter with more challenging terrain.  That’s the one I chose because my shoes were AWESOME and I knew that any path involving extra distance was not my friend.  I’m pretty sure I made the right choice because I passed people easily while they were grabbing trees to avoid sliding back down.  It was also an odiferous path, thanks to cow waste somewhere nearby.  Praise God I don’t have a good sense of smell – it must have been TERRIBLE to others.

After a little bit, the paths connected and we came to mud pits either waist or chest deep.  We had to wade through and then climb the slippery mud on the other side.  And repeat through two or three more pits.  My shoes helped me cruise right past a lot of racers.

Me!!  Thumb's up!

Somewhere along the way was the sandbag carry.  Men took one weight while women took another.  We carried the sandbags down a hill and then back up.  Not a long distance.  I saw one of the photographers and gave her a grin and a thumbs-up.

Another obstacle somewhere involved pulling a rope attached to a tire until it touched the stake right in front of you.  Once it touched your stake, you had to drag the tire back to its original position leaving no slack in the rope.  I found it easier to lift one end of the tire and almost run with it instead of bending all the way over to drag it.  Done in no time.

More running of course.

At the top of a hill, there was a boulder challenge.  Again, men had one weight and women had another.  That one was heavier than I expected so I didn’t pick it up on the first try.  But I put in more effort with the second try and was able to carry it to the designated point where everyone had to do 5 burpees before picking it back up and returning to the starting point.  I was glad I wasn’t carrying THAT boulder up and down a hill!!

From this point I headed into the home stretch... 

Spartan Sprint Part 2 - Wall to Wall

Part 2 – Wall to Wall

Continuing from my previous post...

My next encounter was the traverse walls.  I heeded earlier advice from my wise boyfriend:  always keep at least three points of contact, and keep your body close to the wall.  I chose to take my time with this obstacle and it paid off!  About 2/3 down the wall I wasn’t sure how to continue.  I didn’t seem to have a good place to reach without losing my balance.  But I decided I wasn’t going to do burpees without putting in my best effort.  So I tried carefully… and made it!!  The last few steps weren’t so bad and I rung the bell at the end really hard!  I got a nod of approval and “Nice job!” from the monitoring volunteer.

Off I went to the next obstacle:  sandbag hoist.  Men went to one side (heavier) and women went to the other.  I chose to do hand over hand instead of walking away from the platform to pull the sandbag up (I didn’t see anyone doing that so I questioned if it was allowed).  Done and I moved on.

This time a stretch of running past the 2-mile marker and a water station.  I guzzled a cup of water, thanked the volunteer, and took off feeling slightly refreshed.

Here’s where my memory gets a little fuzzy.  I THINK the next obstacle was the mud and barbed wire.  I tried another valuable tip:  roll instead of pull.  SO much easier to just keep rolling (pausing if dizzy) than to pull/drag my body along.  This obstacle was probably my favorite and I just kept laughing!

Here a jog, there a jog.  There were some muddy, slippery sections that were no match for my special mud run shoes (but I’ll write about them in an upcoming post).  Then there was a very short obstacle where we had to pull a cinderblock attached to a chain.  We dragged it a short distance, around a marker, and then back to the beginning.  We had to make sure we didn’t drop it off too early or we’d pay the price with burpees.  Not a problem at all.

Immediately following that obstacle were some high walls.  I saw some guys vaulting it somehow (I guess like the first wall where they had to jump high and pull themselves over).  There was a guy helping people over by letting them step on his bent knee.  But I spied some rungs that made climbing over a cinch.  When I got to the ground on the other side I saw another wall of the same kind.  I started to head over but heard a woman at the top of the first wall saying she couldn’t come down – she was afraid.  So another woman and I went over to her and encouraged her saying, “You’re already halfway!  You’ve got this!”  We reached up to give her support so she could ease down.  At the bottom she saw the next wall and almost cried saying she couldn’t do it.  I said, “Yes, you can!!  You already did it once; you can do it again!”  We helped her over that wall too.

There was another section of running and I think that’s when we came to another water station.  I accepted the offering, thanked the volunteer and she said she thought it was close to the 3-mile marker.

At least half-way done! 

Spartan Sprint Part 1 - Ready, Set, GO!

Part 1 – Ready, Set, GO!

A few days ago, I completed a Spartan Sprint race – my first mud run!  What an experience!!  My write-up is a bit lengthy so I’m splitting it into four sections…  (Pictures from the actual event will follow when I get them.)

My boyfriend gave me a heads-up that I would pass people at the obstacles and they would pass me during the running.  A fair and accurate assessment.  I didn’t get discouraged when people passed me running but I have to admit it did feel pretty good to pass the same people at the obstacles.  Even better, it felt great to accomplish each obstacle (all except one) and not get slowed down by doing burpees!

I’m not sure that I remember each obstacle or their exact order but I’ll give a run-down of what I recall:

First we ran about a mile past a large chicken coop and along/through cow pastures and some wooded areas before coming to the first set of obstacles:  over and under.  Launch/hoist over the 4-5 foot wall and then crawl under the next one.  Repeat.  No problem.

A little more running and then over/under/through.  Over a wall, under a wall, and then through a window-sized opening.  Again, no problem.

Some more running and then the first real introduction to some mud.  Climb down into a mud pit roughly thigh-high and wade over to a hanging rope.  Climb up the rope using the strategically placed knots (or not if you’re capable – not me) and ring the bell at the top before climbing back down.  I was given a tip to take my time if needed, so I made a point not to rush it and wear myself out.  When I got to the top, I found that the bell was not accessible like the other ropes.  I was not about to climb down and climb up another rope to ring a bell so I made it clear that I could reach where a bell WOULD have been hanging.  I got the ok to proceed, made my way back down the rope, into the mud pit, and climbed out on the other side.  Oh so thankful not to be doing burpees after that effort.

The next obstacle was right next to the rope climb.  It was an inverted wall.  I saw some guys jumping high up to grab the top of the wall and pull themselves up and over.  My highest jump did not even reach the top of the wall.  But fortunately there were some guys at the top offering some assistance.  I jumped and they each grabbed an arm, and I used my feet and legs to help shimmy up and over.  They stayed to help others as well.  I found out later there were hand holds somewhere so I could have used those instead.  Either way, the obstacle was done and I could move on!

The next obstacle involved climbing some rungs, walking across a platform on some planks, and then climbing down some rungs on the other side.  Not really sure how to describe this one – one of the easiest and hard to believe that it was actually an obstacle.

Next post:  wall to wall!

Weird Winter

What a crazy winter.

Snow is rare in my part of North Carolina but this has been a very different season.  Not only have we seen snow on multiple occasions, but it keeps coming on Mondays or Tuesdays!  Sometimes this is right on the tail of 70° F (21° C) weekend temps.

So strange!

A logical surprise

This morning I found a surprise on my desk:  a “Logic Problems” magazine!  A co-worker remembered that she & I shared a love for solving logic problems so she brought in an entire magazine for me.  She left a note saying:

“I ordered a pack of these – you are the only person I know that likes them too!  Have fun!”

What an awesome surprise.  Big smile on my face!  This will surely keep me happily occupied someday if I find myself with nothing to do...  :-)