I hope my being completely honest can help even just one person that reads this, I truly know what it feels like to feel hopeless and helpless and not want to live life that way anymore but I promise you its better spend every day killing yourself a little than to call it quits and remember... The only easy day was yesterday, embrace your beast and always be insanely focused.
In order to be eligible, racers must kick off their Triple Crown challenge by competing in the Killington, VT, Reebok Spartan World Championship, September 20, 2014, and finish with the first-ever Team Championship in Dallas, Texas, November 1, 2014. Competitors must round out their Triple Crown by competing in either the South Carolina Reebok Spartan Race Beast, or the Sacramento Reebok Spartan Race Super, both on October 25, 2014.
“What the Hell am I doing here?” I thought to myself as I stood in a pack of about 40 men and women in the Elite heat of the BattleFrog Race in WV. My only previous OCR experience had been almost a year earlier at the Super Spartan in VA. Despite running in the Open heat, I’d put up a pretty competitive time which gave me some confidence heading into the BattleFrog race; however, my confidence began to fade once I arrived.
The Spartan Sprint was held at the Mohegan Sun Casino. There was plenty of parking, picturesque views and a challenging course. The obstacles were well spaced out of the course, with an exciting pile up of six obstacles right at the end. Due to the venue, the course itself was a combination of trail, grass and road. There was definitely more road than many were used to seeing at an obstacle course race, which usually tend towards trail.
This past weekend in Utah was huge for over 2 dozen Colorado Obstacles Racers. We all completed our Spartan Trifecta. For those of you who do not know what that means, it is completing the 3 distances in the Spartan racing series. The Sprint which is usually 4 + miles, the Super 8 + miles and the Beast 10+. By all accounts we completed a marathon of obstacle racing. My races were 27 miles total with over 90 obstacles.
The course this year was an additional 2.5 km. At each obstacle the volunteers clearly explained the obstacles, how they worked and what the penalty was for failing to complete them. It was also clearly stated this year that you could get help if you needed some. I liked the course this year more as it was longer, and you were able to go higher up the mountain and down it.
From my first event to this day I have been excited about the prospect of pushing my limits and the limits of the obstacle course racing events. The end of the line for the two largest events in our country are the Worlds Toughest Mudder and the Spartan Death Race. Having participated in WTM in 2013 I am now about to take on the Death Race and find out if I have what it takes. The two events have chosen vastly different atmospheres and different challenges to apply to its participants.
Knowing that we were going to be running up and down mountains, I decided to take a slower pace at the beginning of the race. I didn't want to burn out early. From what I saw, it was pretty much the mass consensus once we reached the first climb. I have to hand it to Dan. He managed to find every single track trail that had a steep grade and long distance to climb. Calves and quads were to be tested this day! After about 2.5 miles of running up and then back down that same mountain on the long trail, we make our first loop back through the festival area for the Rolling Mud and Monkey Net obstacles.
This was one tough course. It was at Tuxedo Ridge Ski Resort in Tuxedo NY. This was the last day of the Actual 4 races that took place here over two consecutive weekends. In the 4 days over 18,600 people raced. That’s a lot of bodies. Being from Colorado I thought I might have an advantage with the terrain, nope I went up and down that mountain. I did not run at all, well I did for about 5 minutes in the beginning and then it was just uphill, rocky, boulders, tricky stuff. I do not have that same competitive edge as younger folks. I am all about self-preservation which I again executed so that I may race another day.
The Death Race is a physical, mental and emotional journey. It is designed to break you, to teach you, if you’re willing, a lesson about yourself. It’s up to the individual to see the lesson in the journey. Some people will focus on the wrong things and be consumed with, “It’s not fair!” and “That person is cheating!” Others, even some first time participants, will let go of what they can’t control and not give it another thought. They will go from one task to the next with no preconception, no rating or judgment system, they will simply go. Life isn’t fair, neither is the Death Race.
