You're probably asking what the heck this has to do with Obstacle Racing, right? Well, if one of the 3 groups fighting for different forms of sanctioning have their way, there will be at least one branch of OCR (or OR) that will strictly adhere to a rule book with hundreds of pages of guidelines about every bit of minutiae that could possibly affect an athlete's time on the course.
Step inside the mind and habits of Reebok sponsored SPARTAN Athlete Alexander Nicholas as we talk about what it takes to be Warrior in health, fitness, and the rest of your life.
For me, the best section of the book was the ‘Turning You Backyard into a Training Center". I am always looking at ways to build or provide ways to get more of an actual race experience at home, and this section of the book gave me a ton of tools to get my training above and beyond what I thought it could be. I will be working on my own wall very shortly with the easy steps provided in this book.
Not much changed other than the placement or order of some of the obstacles, but a few things of note did disappear from this race (and maybe future Spartan's?) as we've known them before. The stadium series courses have always relied heavily on fitness obstacle stations, and to the delight of many but my disappointment, the rowing ergometer didn't make it into this race.
In the ultimate of brand synergies, Reebok (finally) takes some steps to more closely align two of the biggest fitness advocations in the world, in one place, at one time. Of course you know I'm talking about CrossFit and Spartan Race, as I'm sure you read the subtitle above.
As the twelfth hour approached, my heart raced as I frantically searched the haggard HH12HR crew for any trace of Kyoul. I reminded myself he's a Hot Shot firefighter, and has been dropped in the middle of far more life-threatening situations many times in his career. He's on the Spartan Race team and a strong elite racer for god's sake - where was he and what the hell happened?
I was the girl who pretended to be happy; the girl who would smile to keep from crying, because deep in my heart I was disgusted with what I saw in the mirror. I avoided taking pictures because I didn’t like the images the camera captured and I avoided shopping with my mom and sister, because I knew when we entered the store they would be able to shop for average sizes and I would have to go to the plus sizes. I hated the life that I had made for myself, but continued to let food be my ruler. I felt like no diet or gym had ever worked, so why keep trying when you keep failing? I gave up on getting healthy.
Starting this weekend at Reebok Spartan Race Super in Las Vegas, there will no longer be pugil stick-weilding guys or gals standing between you and the finish line waiting to beat you senseless... after already enduring 10 or so miles of suffering. Take a good look, old photos are the last time you'll see this:
“Watch out!” a Death Racer shouted as the snarling bull charged across the ring slamming a racer against the wall. He was pinned to the ground if only but for a moment, the dust began to settle. Blood dripped from the bulls nostrils, not from a racer but from ramming it’s own face into the wall just missing it’s target. All across the arena crimson red bibs lay scattered about waiting to be collected by their owner. Up till now, the Death Race was an abstract concept, each racer asking themselves if they possessed the mental and physical strength to survive anywhere from 36 to 72 hours of punishment at the hands of the co-founder of Spartan Race. Now, as they all stood inside a bullfighting ring in an undisclosed location in Mexico, it became real. Entirely too real. Death was more than just a possibility.
The Spartan Beast, known for its punishing hills, will be the stage for the elite competition heat where the athletes will race head to head through the early morning mist on Saturday, September 20th. Racers will tackle a gauntlet of challenging obstacles, including wall climbs, aerial traverses over water, challenging rope climbs, and barbed wire crawls.
