OK, so Runners Roost has said that they would like (expect) that if one of their runners has a blog, then you should post at least once a week. I have tried to not do this, I'm really not that interesting and no one wants to read a dyslexics non-proof-readed (dyslexics of the word UNTIE!) ramblings, but I have put it off as long as I can.
I didn't do so well in this weeks Running of the Green so instead of moaning about that story, I thought I would tell you this one. Spartan SoCal.
I have become totally addicted to the whole Spartan obstacle racing thing. In a nut shell, a Spartan race is a trail running race with a bunch of strength obstacles that you have to perform that are scattered throughout the course. I did one last May in Ft. Carson, CO and after winning it, thought that I could compete against the best so I signed up for the Spartan SoCal weekend. The web site listed the race as 8+ miles with 20 or so obstacles along the way, how hard can this be? Being full of arrogance from winning my one and only Spartan race, I thought I could sign up for both the Saturday and Sunday Elite race and at least place in each race. Let me tell you, the course made me pay dearly for my lack of respect.
The Folks at Spartan have stated that it is their goal to elivate obsticle course racing to the Olympic level. To do that, they must grow a pro field and expand globally. SoCal was the first race where they offered prize money. As a result everyone who was anyone in Spartan racing was there including 11 race winner Hobie Call. Well, I wanted to race the best, here I go.
The course was a brutal 8.8 single track trail with over 3000 ft of vertical. The course would be brutal on it's own. Added to the difficult course we had obsticles like a travers wall, 8' 7' and 6' walls, mud pits and scrambles, tire flips, atlas carries and 21 other similar tasks. Since the course was long and difficult, I took it easy in the first climb straight off of the starting line, and then started to move into the lead group. I was in 4th or 5th and within seconds of the leader when we came to the monkey bars which normally I wouldn't even mention. Unfortunalty it had been raining in San Diego for the past week and was still raining and I had mud on my hands and ok, that's enough excuses. I fell off and had to do 30 burpees (with push ups) which took me out of the lead group for good. I spent the next 3 miles and I can't remember how many obsticles to get back into the top ten when I failed the tire flip (again). 30 burpees later I was off and running again and starting to crap.
The last 1.8 miles where the hardest I have ever had to race. There was a 1000 ft climb that was more of a hands and feet scramble then it was a run with two 7' walls at the top, a cargo net climb, then a screaming descent past the 8 mile mark into a 75 meter lake swim. Since it had been raining for a week straight, the water could not have been warmer than 50 degrees. By the time I got 50 meters, I was so dizzy from the cold that I actually started to fear for my life, but I did make it out and stumbled into the gauntlet. The last .8 mile went three mud pit/bum climbs into barbed wire sand crawl into water pit into 45 degrees greased plane climb into a 100 lb weight hoist up 15 feet into a spear throw into a 20 foot romp climb into a fire jump into a run through three gladiators with bow-staffs and then the finish. I'm tired just typing it. Everything went well until the hoist. The rope was soaked and my grip strength was gone so I had a 30 burpee penalty. I then turned the corner to the spear throw and I hit the target, but the spear had to much torque and it popped out. 30 more burpees. At this point my chest and biceps started to cramp in earnest and I barely made it through the penalty. I jogged to the rope climb and was able to hoist my carcass up and touch the bell, but immediately my forearms failed and I dropped the 20 feet from the top and into the 3 feet of muddy water below. Thankfully I wasn't hurt and I managed to drag my battered body and devistated ego across the finish line for 7th place.
To say that the 22 hours between the finish on Saturday and the start on Sunday were some of the darkest moments in my competitive life would be an understatement. I thought myself to be this tough Ironman athlete who could manage just about anything, yet this 8.8 mile run had bested me!
Hopefully Sunday would bring a new day and a different result. Never mind the fatigue I now felt.
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