Legend's Apprentice

Race

I woke up too early. Nerves, anticipation, whatever; I ate a banana to help with the leg cramps we'd read about racers getting. I'd read some articles for the first-time Spartan and had selected my gear carefully. It was going to be a fairly chilly day, overcast, a chance of rain, around 50 degrees F, so I wore a long sleeved Dri Fit t shirt, compression shorts rather than panties, and Dri Fit shorts without pockets but with a really good drawstring. I didn't want to lose my clothing in the barbed wire crawl. I didn't bother with a watch and wore crosstrainers with a good sole. I had some gloves with decent wet grip and a Velcro closure on the back of the hand near the wrist. I put a complete change of clothes in a garbage bag for after the race, and went downstairs to wait for my ride. Roger picked me up and we got to the race a little more than the hour that was recommended, but that was ok. We submitted our waivers and picked up our packets; a volunteer drew our numbers on our forearms (I wasn't hardcore enough to get it on my forehead). I threaded the wristband through the timing chip and put it on my arm and dropped my stuff at the bag check, then we looked around for our teammates. Steve and Rob hustled up, grinning. We were all grinning as we warmed up and stretched. I couldn't believe how inflexible the guys were.

They called our time, so we joined the pack at the starting line, did a round of crisp high fives, and we were off.

The first obstacle was a moat, which was essentially a mud pit filled with water. Then there was a run and monkey bars, no trouble. A traverse wall, which was essentially panels with two by fours screwed to them. This was definitely an obstacle where having smaller feet helped. Then the bucket brigade, where we had to fill buckets with gravel, carry it along a route, and empty it again at the start. Bleah. Glad to get that one over fast. Then the barbed wire crawl through a mud field, a sandbag carry, and a plate drag. Then there was a series of ever-taller walls, from four feet to eight feet. There were kickers, little boosts to help the women, but I refused to use them. Then an Atlas Carry, which was where you had to carry a stone, put it down, do five burpees, then return the stone. That was for the dogs. A bridge where you had to climb up, go across a cargo net to the other side, and down. And that was half the race. Whew.

I was focused and ready for the next challenge. Steve had slipped on the cargo net and had a rope burn down his inner leg. Ouch. There was a nice bit of a run down a gentle slope and a balance beam. Like the traverse wall, having smaller feet helped, and I wished the soles of my shoes weren't so chunky. Roger fell off, and we waited for him to do the thirty penalty burpees since this was a single-attempt obstacle. Then we were off again to a spear throw. This was also a single-attempt obstacle, and you had to hurl the spear hard enough to stick in the target. Then a log carry, farmers carry where multiple weights were carried around a course ( I cursed steadily under my breath), and a swim through gross water. Then a Tarzan swing, great fun, and a rope climb. My arms were getting tired and I relied on my legs to help get me up the rope and swat the bell at the top. Then there was a run up and down some steep slopes, which was no fun for my legs but gave my arms and shoulders a break.

"About three more obstacles," Rob wheezed. It was 20+ obstacles for the sprint. I hoped it was more like 20 than +.

"I'd give you a high five, but I don't think I can lift my hand far enough," I panted, and the guys laughed, or tried to.

Then there was the over, under, through, which was over a wall, under a wall, and through the last wall (Roger gave me a little boost under the butt to get me over the first wall; I sat on the top and gave Rob a hand up on his second try.) The Tyrolean traverse. Then a spider web, another section to run up and down hills--although we were pretty much shuffling by this time--and, finally, the promised fire jump. We all grinned through the mud and picked up the pace. I hurdled over the flames with a feeling of triumph, then we made it over the finish line. A volunteer draped a participant medal around my neck and there was a table with bananas and water. I was in pretty good shape, though Rob had a leg cramp that had popped up as we approached the fire jump. They had 'showers', basically a bunch of garden hoses and cheap shampoo that did a great job of getting the mud off (I think I had about half the mud from the barbed wire crawl caught in my sports bra), and I changed into clean clothes including my finisher's tshirt, stuffing race clothes into the garbage bag I'd brought. Then I rejoined my teammates after they got cleaned up. There were booths set up in the spectator area with merchandise, and we all bought matching t-shirts with the Spartan logo. We looked at the trifecta gear and talked about the other two races we'd have to complete to have those bragging rights--the Super, 25+ obstacles and 8+ miles, and the Beast, 30+ obstacles and 12+ miles--which had to be done within a year.