Oh yeah baby.....We are Spartan!
Furman, my friend Catie and I completed the Spartan Sprint today. Was totally awesome!! I've got soo many bruises and scratches, but I also got stories to go with them. I'm smiling! I'll heal up in a few days. No biggie. All I wanted to do was Finish. I wasn't worried about time or anything..just wanted to make it to the end in one piece to get my medal and say "I did it!". And, that is exactly what I did. So proud of myself. Thanks to Furman and Catie for doing it with me...I couldn't have done it without you guys. Ok maybe..but why would I want to? lol
When we finally found our destination in Oro Station, Ontario, we got our numbers written on our arms and forehead with marker, got our green registration wristbands and checked our bags. We walked around a bit and then found our way to where the spectators were lined up to watch the finishers complete the remaining 6 obstacles. Yes..they had that many at the end alone!
This is Catie...my partner in crime and adventure! lol Thanks to her I have been able to do some things I had never dreamed of doing. Ie. CN Tower Climb, Run my first 5k of which I am now running 10k....now the Spartan Sprint! This lady is da bomb! I won't tell you how old she is...but she is definitely an inspiration, and I can only hope that I am still doing things just as crazy when i'm her age! Love you Catie!
(God knew what he was doing when we ended up in the same training class at work 14 years ago!)
Standing along the fence by the race site about an hour and a half before our scheduled heat, we watched the first runners stop at a rowing station where several rowing machines were set up. Each Spartan had to complete 20 rows before they could move on to the next obstacle which was a pit full of ice cubes with rows of barbed wire across the top. Oh yeah! This had us concerned because the rows of barbed wire across the ice pit seemed incredibly low, too low. We watched people get their backs scratched as well as clothes partially torn off as they tried to complete this obstacle. (Thank God they raised the barbed wire by the time our heat reached them). Spartans had to crawl through the ice under the barbed wire to get to the next obstacle which were two diagonal ramps that you had to run up and jump down each to get to the hay stacks that were piled high with cargo ropes on them. Following that brought you closer to the end where you had to pass through a small space where some men dressed as Spartans holding these big q-tip looking sticks tried to prevent you from reaching the last obstacle. Once you got through them, then there was a high wall with several ropes hanging down to help you walk up and over the wall. After doing all we had to do already...you know that wall was hell to climb up. I had to stand and just look at it for a moment, wondering how the hell I was going to get up and over it. Did I have any more energy? I had to pull from deep within my soul! lol Furman went up first though, so he could help others up and over. Thank goodness. Now...these were the obstacles we are actually able to see before starting our race because they were all at the end near the finish line. We had no clue what we were going to encounter when we actually did the race.
Sprint? Turns out....the distance was actually 7.1k and not 5k as expected. Gheez! There was a lot of running but there were sections where you got tied up in traffic and had to walk because there were so many people. That was ok...I needed those rest breaks and took several more. lol. The event was being held at Hardwood Ski and Bike, so there were tons of hills to go up and down. Clearly this place is great for cross country skiing and mountain biking....the hills were nuts! They were kicking my ass. Those are what actually slowed me down, not the obstacles. I can't even tell you how many obstacles there were but I can say we did 15-20 of them. One of my favorite obstacles was the mud pit. We had to crawl through the mud under barbed wire in two pits which was actually one real long pit with a separation in the middle. Once we got through the second pit, then we had to crawl through thick mud almost waist high that seemed more like quicksand in my opinion. But, we got through it.
Some of the other obstacles we had were (in no particular order):
we had to jump over burning logs,
climb rope ladders to the top and back down,
wheel a wheelbarrow with weights through a designated area,
carry a weighted bag on our shoulders through a designated area,
throw a spear to a designated target, (yeah, I got stuck doing burpees on this one because I missed the target.lol Thank God Furman and Catie were their to help split them with me)
pull a rope that was weighted at one end to raise the weight to the top,
crawling under nets up hills,
skipping through tires,
climbing a wall of cargo ropes,
walking across wood beams without losing balance and falling, (I was supposed to do burpees on this one because I didn't complete it on the second try. A man nearby knocked me over so I carried on to the next obstacle without my burpees...after all, it wasn't my fault! lol)
crawling under wood tunnels and other round tunnels,
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| Couple of Spartans! |
Well, I've gotta go rest now. I'm beat! But I couldn't let the night pass without sharing our experience while things were still fresh on my mind. Thank you to all who have shown much support and have left many many words of encouragement on my Facebook page. Much appreciated.
I did what I said I was going to do!! I'll let you know how the bruises and scratches look as they come in. lol
WE ARE SPARTAN!!
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