It feels good to say this, I am officially a Spartan Finisher! That is kind of where the feel good ends though. Ha, I am exaggerating actually. Thanks to the folks at Team Spartan Race, I was able to try out one of their well known obstical courses.
Now let’s go back in time…a while back to when I did a giveaway for a free entry into a Spartan Race near you (stay tuned in this post, I have another giveaway!). The contest was in celebration of both the new Spartan Podcast that was being launched, but also because I had officially signed up to partake in the Pac West Sprint Spartan Race. I was excited to give it a go, but also extremely nervous. However, I figured I would train and be very well prepared for the event. Umm well time flies, and so did my dream of training. This leads to my number one take away from attempting the Spartan Race: You Must Train! This is not an easy event and the organizers put it on to challenge you.
I started the day off early. The sun was out, the temperature was hot, and there were lots and lots of people around. Make sure to bring some cash, there are kind of hidden costs everywhere. $10 for parking, $5 for bag check, etc. However, there were some cool vendors there with giveaways and they did provide water at a couple locations, so $15 extra isn’t bad. I also didn’t purchace any merchandise, so that helped drive the cost down.
One of the bummers though was it cost money for people to come with you and spectate. That means I was all alone (which ain’t a bad thing for reporting since I can get the full experience). So if you want family and friends with you, be willing to spend. These events are not cheap, but if you want a challenge, it is worth the money.
After I saw a few heats take off and was hydrated enough I got ready for my heat. The bag check was simple and effective (so yes worth the $5). It also felt secure and well supervised as well. I then made my way over to the starting line. The cool thing about it was they had someone lead you in some stretches and a small warm up. I highly recommend this. Most the time at events I forget about the warm up due to nerves. So to have someone lead me with a group of fellow competitiors, this was much welcomed.
I then jumped the wall into the carrosell and waited for my start. A very Alpha-male muscular dude then trys to fire you up with some Spartan talk (basically like the 300 movie, it was cute) and then your off. I started by running, big mistake. Most the first mile was a hill and it kicked my ass right away. I quickly clued in and started to walk. I walked most of the trail between obsticals, but I did try to run when I could.
The first obstical was a pit of mud. It was harder to get through than I thought, but kind of fun. That was probobly the easiest. I am not going to run through ever obstical because I think half the fun is being suprised, but I will touch on some highlights. The second obstical caused me to fall right on my ass from about 5 feet off the ground. It hurt, but since it was just the start all you could do is suck it up. And well that basically summarizes the rest of my experience.
Suck it up. Period. Keep moving, face each obstical, rest when you have to, get help when you need to, and cheer everyone else on. That was the rest of the race. It took me a total of 2 hours to complete it all. I was whooped by the end. But I felt accomplished and like I hit the challenge as hard as I could. So the big question, will I try it again? Yes! I plan on trying again next year, this will give me something to work towards!
So with that, it is your turn. Want to take on the Spartan Race yourself? Enter below by liking my fitness Facebook page (with additional entries by tweeting about the giveaway or following me on Facebook and twitter). Good Luck to all that enter!
***DISCLOSURE: I have received one free Spartan Race entry as part of this promotion. I also received another entry to giveaway***
