Courage, fear, and SPARTAN!!

Sunday, September 28th- I faced my fear of failure, fear of injury, fear of not being "enough" and did the Chicago Spartan Sprint.  It took me until today to be able to figure out what to say in this blog and to decide what picture to use for the start of it.

So, let's start with this picture I chose.  This is me, at the finish line, just got my medal.  And I am crying.  Tears of relief.  Tears of PRIDE!  This was the toughest thing I have ever done.  It was physically ROUGH.  It was emotionally even ROUGHER.

Why?  Oh so many reasons.  We all have the baggage of our youths we carry, the little voices we hear in our heads.  We have that image in the mirror and the number on the scale.

So, here is the recap-

Sunday the weather was BEAUTIFUL- 80 degrees, sunny, nice little breeze.

First part- You are never alone in a Spartan- yes it is a competitive race.  It is timed.  BUT, the Spartan creed is you help others, you leave no one behind.

My Dad, step-Mom and a great friend were willing to drive all the way from Rockford, pick me up, drive me there, wait for me, take tons of pics, ride home with my STINKY self and just be all around AWESOME!!

The team from Chicago Spartan welcomed me OPEN ARMS and I was never alone.  Pablo and his Wife. Christopher Mulvey and his awesome Girlfriend Yogi, Sarah, Jes, so many others.

An awesome guy named Ken who was running it solo and happy to let us step up on him, boost us up (and nearly CRUSH him when I fell off a wall)


The COURSE- You start out climbing a wall which then basically locks you in the starting corral.  They go over the rules (speed talking the boring safety part since we obviously were not scared off by the warning below on the packet) and the remind us WHAT IS A SPARTAN.

We are off.

Nice little run......

Then the mud starts.....  yup, over and under things, In and out of mud, moving right a long and feeling good.

First thing that made me question my choice- the barb wire.  It is NOT too far off the ground.  Was not low enough at one point and felt it grab my hair.  GOT LOW THEN!!!  Rolling did not work in many places so it was flat belly arm crawl. (Note-if you are considering one- wear something covering your ENTIRE legs to your shoes and arm sleeves- you will thank me for this after the barb wire crawl)

Got done with that and then....HUGE CARGO NET.  Not your average one made of rope. Think the kind you see holding things in air planes.  Flat Canvas between two trees that you see sway.  Straight up, over and down.  YEAH.....  got up NO PROBLEM (Thank you AJ my trainer- squats and high box step-ups make these things so much easier!).  OVER?  OMG.... That is NOT easy.  Finally just wrapped my arm around the top and went for it.

Spear throw--- ALMOST- it hit the hay with the tip-- if only I had given it a little more UMPH!  30 burpees.

The exact order of other things are a bit of a blur.....  

Atlas Ball......that was a BITCH! (excuse the language but really, truly was).  The balls were somewhere between 65 and 80 pounds BEFORE the day started (there seems to be a bit of a disagreement)..... well, since many of the gals could not lift them they would instead ROLL them..through dirt/mud.  SO...who knows what it weighed.  Doesn't matter- was able to help my friend get hers lifted, got mine- carried it to the drop point (mandatory 5 burpees for all)  Helped my friend get hers up again, got mine up, off we went to drop it at the other end.  (TRAINING TIP- weighted front racked squats and medicine ball wall throws with a squat)

Tire drag- NO PROBLEM-  All the time we spend with the TRX at the gym, not even a hesitation

Hercules hoist- OWNED THAT!  Up and down w/o a thought.  Worried for no reason.  (Could have done that all day long....)

Short walls- Got those.

Log Carry- GOT THAT

The hills..... OMG, the natural ravines and hills...... UP and down and up and down and up and down.

Then we finally were in the home stretch.  Around 1/2 mile and the last obstacles and this was where it unraveled a bit. (Training tip- LEARN TO DO PULL UPS AND MUSCLE UPS.  Can't do them but will before next year!!! Aroo!!)

Traverse Wall-  SERIOUSLY?  Yeah, tried and tried and failed.  Could not fit my big fat feet on the blocks and I could not.  30 burpees!

Inverse Wall- Tried and couldn't get over, tried and couldn't do it, tried and FELL OFF IT FLAT ON MY BACK AND ON TOP OF  THE VERY NICE MAN TRYING TO HELP ME OVER.  30 burpees.

Rope Climb.... in slippery, waist deep water... right after those burpees and falling off a wall.  You guessed it- 30 burpees

Water swim---AHHHHH, this was LOVELY- nice cool water to just paddle across.  It was HEAVEN!!!

8 foot wall-  PHEW- got a boost, got over it.  Slipped coming down- hit ribs on the up right.  That left a mark.

Under the Wall- Ok- the water was gross.  It was thick.  Had to go totally under the water, pull yourself under the wall and come out the other side.  More mental than physical but got it done.

Inverse Wall- last and worst part- I was physically and mentally spent.  Went at it, made it half way and slid down.  Awesome Pablo and the Spartan Staff guy tell me "Hang on- we got you"- I get to the top.  My brain said "Enough".  Seriously- told them to let me quit, that I was done.  NOPE- that is NOT SPARTAN- they got me to just hold on.  A guy from below helped to shove me up high enough so they could grab from the other side and pull my legs OVER!!!

Fire Jump- Ok... had this fear I would trip and fall into the fire.....Not kidding.  Can't do that if you are holding onto your friends!!!

So, for those counting- it was 120 burpees.  Had friends help me with some.  Had the Spartan member at the Rope trade me some burpees for being willing to carry over life jackets to the starting of the swim.

So.... the question I keep getting is "Will you do it again?" OF COURSE- plans are Indiana Sprint in April, Chicago Super next fall and maybe throw in Tough Mudder since many of the people who did this Spartan said it was MUCH harder than the Tough Mudder!!!  Planning to find other races nearby to volunteer and run for free!

Stay tuned for MORE fun.

Knowing oneself and knowing one's limits

So, it took me a few days to get my head "right" so I could make a decision and then update this blog.

Monday I had the chance to go out to DirtRunner for a "training day" on the course where my Chicago Spartan will be at the end of the month.  The training course is a portion of the Super Course.  It was my "reality check" and I needed it.

I am 100x stronger than I was 18 months ago when I started this.  I know this in my heart and head.  HOWEVER, that course is BRUTAL.  Tons of deep ravines you must traverse, tons of obstacles that require upper body strength.

I honestly came quite near to sitting down in the middle of the course when I saw yet another ravine ahead.  It was about 4 of them back to back.  So steep you pretty much slide down on your backside and then have to climb back out.  It nearly broke me.

But I finished it.  Had to skip a few obstacles because I just couldn't pull myself over (and was not going to make the 1 guy there boost me) or because my head was not there.......  At the end, there was a Rope Swing to Cargo Net.  I knew my arms were cashed and I would not make it.  An awesome young lady who was just KILLING IT on the course told me "Oh, this is the best part- just swing out like Tarzan and drop on it.  The water is AMAZING".  So I did it.  I let go of my fear of how high it was and the fact that I had NEVER swung and out I went.  It was the most glorious drop to that water.  (And then she helped me get out of the water as it is quite a deep pit.)

Probably this is my favorite part of OCR- no matter what your level of fitness or what you look like, everyone is there cheering each other on and helping you get over that next obstacle...physically or mentally.

So.... knowing that the course was only HALF of what to expect of a Super I had some thinking to do.  I knew deep in my heart, I would never be able to finish a Super.  I have the option of dropping to a Sprint or deferring to next year completely.

It weighed heavy on me as I really, really wanted that SUPER!  But is it worth hurting myself or someone else who is trying to help me?  No, probably not.  Could I do the Sprint?  Yes, I think I can.

So........ I downgraded my race.  Dropped the Sprint.  Next year--- I WILL DO THE SUPER!
.