Each time I stand at the entrance to race, I feed off the energy of everyone else to get me pumped to start off from the entrance with a burst of speed. I can’t help but enjoy the spirit of what these things are about to me, the spirit of pushing yourself to a new height and doing things you wouldn’t normally do. I started doing Tough Mudder thanks to a friend at work
These thoughts and many more rattled through my mind as I stand in a crowd of hyped-up mud-run athletes, their rapt attention on the zealous stump-mounted race host/hype man hybrid who’s every prompting brings a raucous roar of “I AM A SPARTAN!” I’m Alex Huth, I’m not a finely-tuned athlete, and I’m standing next to my buddy Will at the beginning of our very first obstacle course run, the Austin Spartan Race Sprint in Burnet, Texas, and we have no idea what we’re doing.
Located at Reveille Peak Ranch in Burnet, TX, this 1,300 acre property boasted lots trails, ponds/lakes and green scenery. This was a perfect canvass for the Spartan masterminds to plan a course. The site offered lots of space and a large covered pavilion overlooking a private lake. At first, it almost seemed that Spartan was not going to open the gates due to the wind, rain and lightning. There was a slight delay of entry, which caused the waves to become backed up. I was mentally preparing myself for a miserable day of wet spectating, but the rain eventually stopped and the clouds gave way to the sun later in the day.
