Spartan Race

         I competed in my first 10 K Super Spartan race.  10 kilometers of running and 25 obstacles.  I finished with a time of 1 hr and 26 minutes.  It was a hot day, but at least Red Deer wasn't hit by any of the smoke.  

        Now the only training I've been doing is my Kung Fu, and some strength and conditioning in the gym that my trainer has programmed for me.  I haven't run really in over a year, and I didn't take a look at the obstacles ahead of time.  I wanted to go in blind so that I could just focus on one thing at a time.  Race started with about 3 km through trails in the tress, things really bottle-necked here due to lack of spacing.  First obstacle was a 5 foot wall that you had to climb over, followed by some more running and then a 7 foot wall.  That was all good.  Then the first challenging obstacle was a rotating bar with handles.  I failed not from a lack of strength, but rather, it was hot, and I was sweaty, and my palms slipped right off those metal bars.  The obstacle after that was monkey bars, and same result.  With each failed obstacle you have to do a penalty loop, so yay more running.  From what I saw, many people struggled the same way, just sweaty grips couldn't hold on.

        More running, and whoops, did a penalty run by accident.  That's okay, needed the extra exercise anyways.  Next up was an inverted ladder climb.  More running.  More walls to climb over.  More running.  Memory starting to get hazy here, but there was army crawl underneath barbed wire, another wall climb with rope, javelin throw, atlas rock carry, bucket carry, another rock carry with handles, rope climb, mud pits followed immediately by a horizontal wall with tiny foot holds (which didn't matter because your shoes were slippery with mud), couple of a framed rope climbs (up and over), Hercules lift (basically you used a pulley to lift weight to the top, and control the weight back down), rings that you had to swing across, a huge flight of stairs around Km 8, and of course lots more running.

        It was a great accomplishment.  A ton of fun.  I will definitely try it again next year, and maybe stick around for the 5 k sprint as well.  I know the work I put into my Kung Fu was a big contributing factor to my performance.  Through forms and testing, I know I have the conditioning needed to perform.  I also have a lot better body control now than I used too, and I've learned to recover quicker from hard work.

        Anyone care to join me next year?