Let me start out by saying a race with a 9:00 am start time on Saturday morning is the best idea since sliced bread, or for you younger people an ipod. I get that we live in a desert and it gets hot at midday, but I would much rather suffer a little heat for 2 more hours of sleep.
The Spartan Race is essentially a copy of the Warrior Dash or Tough Mudder race with a little twist, it is longer (8 miles) and there are Spartan warriors you get to wrestle. I'll get back to that in a while. The race took place at Rawhide, which is a mock wild west town, with a rodeo enclosed by a green golf course with lush rivers and gurgling creeks. All of this is surrounded by a withered, desiccated and prickly desert. Yes I live in Phoenix.
The race is organized like all other races. Packet pickup, timing chip, bib, scantily clad Spartanettes and you have to write your bib number on your arm or forehead? Then sign the waiver that goes something like this “I promise not to sue you if I die by drowning, a scorpion sting, getting run over by a car or in an accident involving skiing and snow shoeing”. Wait, what? I just said I live in Phoenix. Ahh Now the bib number makes sense, cheap dog tags. Intimidated by the Spartanette I barely blink and then sign away.
We were corralled up like the calves across the street by a few Spartans and then set off in a sprint through a cloud of smoke, the Spartan sprint… (I was considering dropping the Spartan adjective, but things just don't sound as cool without it). Right at the start a few obstacles are clumped together. You have to climb a hay bale hill, make some small climbs over a steep burm and hurdle over a Spartan fire line to be met with some Spartan cannoneers trying to knock you back into the fire with water from a fire hose. Yes it was quite ironic, I know, but at least after you roasted a little they could put you out quick. Then you run through a drain culvert, jump a couple fences and swim through a canal, a couple of times. Great training for the next jail break for all of you criminals out there.
Now normally a runner getting that wet at the start of an 8 mile run is a recipe for disaster, read serious chaffing. For some reason I was granted a pardon from this punishment as I walked home completely un-chaffed. But I digress, overall the obstacles are pretty easy, they kill time but so far they haven't been that physically demanding. There was a cargo net climb, a 50 foot 2” balance beam and the Spartan snake pit where you get to wade through a waist deep gurgling creek under a tarp. Wow that's not so bad, a nice little break from the sun, you can catch your breath and all you have to do is climb out of the gully, pretty simple. Next you get to commando crawl through a mud pit under barb wire. This was one of the hardest obstacles for me. The best part was the fine encouragement spewed from the wannabe Spartan boot camp leader who yells “get your asses down you bunch of…”. I'll stop there but you get the picture.
During the race if you physically can't complete, or fall off an obstacle you have to do a penalty task and then try the obstacle again. So in addition to the obstacle you may have to do 50 push-ups, 30 burpees or 30 sit-ups and then retry the obstacle. These penalties are casually observed by the obstacle volunteers so you get to see the tri-athlete in his butt padded spandex doing 1 inch push ups and body builders developing their abs with some crunches. Just like a normal day at the gym. I luckily was able to get through all the obstacles without failing except for the 4 sided rubix cube. After about 30 seconds of trying the rubix cube, I cranked out my 50 push-ups and then got in line for the concrete footer pull. This was the only part of the race where I wanted to puke. Which for me was odd since I usually will bring myself to that point a couple times a week during my regular workouts. It probably had more to do with the short duration of the obstacles and the longer distance of the race. I would imagine the intensity would be greater in a shorter obstacle race, but since this one was an 8 miler I was really pacing myself between the obstacles.
At this point I was about half way through, the remainder of the obstacles were an 8 foot wall you had to propel yourself over, a rope climb, horizontal wall traverse, a javelin throw and another water crossing. So you were now nice and clean right before the finish. Clean? That's not acceptable, but wait there is another short barb wire covered mud pit you get to crawl through before the finish for your post-race photo. After you get up out of the mud and around the next corner the finish line is in site however between you and it are 5 jacked Spartan warriors (i.e. the local grappling club) who are semi-determined not to let you get through. Since I have always been a believer of force rather than finesse, I lower my shoulder and run balls out into them. Which probably was a good strategy since they kind of just bounced me between them like a pinball and finally I was across the finish line.
The post race party was a blast. They had a race for the kids and a couple of silly contests like the best injury sustained, best costume and best abs. They had on-site showers for you to rinse off in and beer for $3 and you got a free meal ticket with registration too. I had a coupon from the marathon expo so the race only cost me $50.
I was contemplating running the race barefoot but I went ahead and wore my vff's and was glad I did. There were quite a few people running with them, more than I have ever seen in a race. I might even say 10%. The majority of the running was on gravel fire roads and trails through the desert. You probably could have run it barefoot but you would have definitely been at a severe disadvantage.
I never did get to ski or snow shoe which was kind of disappointing but overall I had a great time. If you have a Spartan race coming to a town near you, quit being a baby and go sign up. They make regular road races seem boring.
The Spartan Race is essentially a copy of the Warrior Dash or Tough Mudder race with a little twist, it is longer (8 miles) and there are Spartan warriors you get to wrestle. I'll get back to that in a while. The race took place at Rawhide, which is a mock wild west town, with a rodeo enclosed by a green golf course with lush rivers and gurgling creeks. All of this is surrounded by a withered, desiccated and prickly desert. Yes I live in Phoenix.
The race is organized like all other races. Packet pickup, timing chip, bib, scantily clad Spartanettes and you have to write your bib number on your arm or forehead? Then sign the waiver that goes something like this “I promise not to sue you if I die by drowning, a scorpion sting, getting run over by a car or in an accident involving skiing and snow shoeing”. Wait, what? I just said I live in Phoenix. Ahh Now the bib number makes sense, cheap dog tags. Intimidated by the Spartanette I barely blink and then sign away.
We were corralled up like the calves across the street by a few Spartans and then set off in a sprint through a cloud of smoke, the Spartan sprint… (I was considering dropping the Spartan adjective, but things just don't sound as cool without it). Right at the start a few obstacles are clumped together. You have to climb a hay bale hill, make some small climbs over a steep burm and hurdle over a Spartan fire line to be met with some Spartan cannoneers trying to knock you back into the fire with water from a fire hose. Yes it was quite ironic, I know, but at least after you roasted a little they could put you out quick. Then you run through a drain culvert, jump a couple fences and swim through a canal, a couple of times. Great training for the next jail break for all of you criminals out there.
Now normally a runner getting that wet at the start of an 8 mile run is a recipe for disaster, read serious chaffing. For some reason I was granted a pardon from this punishment as I walked home completely un-chaffed. But I digress, overall the obstacles are pretty easy, they kill time but so far they haven't been that physically demanding. There was a cargo net climb, a 50 foot 2” balance beam and the Spartan snake pit where you get to wade through a waist deep gurgling creek under a tarp. Wow that's not so bad, a nice little break from the sun, you can catch your breath and all you have to do is climb out of the gully, pretty simple. Next you get to commando crawl through a mud pit under barb wire. This was one of the hardest obstacles for me. The best part was the fine encouragement spewed from the wannabe Spartan boot camp leader who yells “get your asses down you bunch of…”. I'll stop there but you get the picture.
During the race if you physically can't complete, or fall off an obstacle you have to do a penalty task and then try the obstacle again. So in addition to the obstacle you may have to do 50 push-ups, 30 burpees or 30 sit-ups and then retry the obstacle. These penalties are casually observed by the obstacle volunteers so you get to see the tri-athlete in his butt padded spandex doing 1 inch push ups and body builders developing their abs with some crunches. Just like a normal day at the gym. I luckily was able to get through all the obstacles without failing except for the 4 sided rubix cube. After about 30 seconds of trying the rubix cube, I cranked out my 50 push-ups and then got in line for the concrete footer pull. This was the only part of the race where I wanted to puke. Which for me was odd since I usually will bring myself to that point a couple times a week during my regular workouts. It probably had more to do with the short duration of the obstacles and the longer distance of the race. I would imagine the intensity would be greater in a shorter obstacle race, but since this one was an 8 miler I was really pacing myself between the obstacles.
At this point I was about half way through, the remainder of the obstacles were an 8 foot wall you had to propel yourself over, a rope climb, horizontal wall traverse, a javelin throw and another water crossing. So you were now nice and clean right before the finish. Clean? That's not acceptable, but wait there is another short barb wire covered mud pit you get to crawl through before the finish for your post-race photo. After you get up out of the mud and around the next corner the finish line is in site however between you and it are 5 jacked Spartan warriors (i.e. the local grappling club) who are semi-determined not to let you get through. Since I have always been a believer of force rather than finesse, I lower my shoulder and run balls out into them. Which probably was a good strategy since they kind of just bounced me between them like a pinball and finally I was across the finish line.
The post race party was a blast. They had a race for the kids and a couple of silly contests like the best injury sustained, best costume and best abs. They had on-site showers for you to rinse off in and beer for $3 and you got a free meal ticket with registration too. I had a coupon from the marathon expo so the race only cost me $50.
I was contemplating running the race barefoot but I went ahead and wore my vff's and was glad I did. There were quite a few people running with them, more than I have ever seen in a race. I might even say 10%. The majority of the running was on gravel fire roads and trails through the desert. You probably could have run it barefoot but you would have definitely been at a severe disadvantage.
I never did get to ski or snow shoe which was kind of disappointing but overall I had a great time. If you have a Spartan race coming to a town near you, quit being a baby and go sign up. They make regular road races seem boring.
