I’ll begin by saying I live in Portland, Oregon, but this “Portland” race is actually located about 40 minutes away, so there will be no location bias here. The Portland Spartan Sprint is hands down the best Spartan Race location in the nation. Facts are fact, Mud Run Guide fans!
Welcome back to the absolutely beautiful Pacific Northwest, where Spartan, once again, held its highly anticipated Seattle-area US National Series. It was an opportunity for OCR’s top athletes to secure their position in the US Championship in West Virginia, while also providing a rematch of sorts for those who were physically, mentally, and spiritually defeated after the mud fest that was the Seattle Super in 2017.
Hopes were high for the first Spartan Beast held at Snow Summit in Big Bear, California, literally. The 4,000 feet of elevation gain in 12.2 miles did not disappoint. Well, it actually did disappoint a few competitors, who suffered the elevation, dust and tricky technical terrain.
If we were to pick two words to sum up this last week in OCR, I would have to say it was "Spartan" and "Beard". One crushing it with nationwide domination and growth, and the other...for its lack thereof. (RIP chin curtain)
I used to weigh 225 lbs, hated the way I looked, hated my clothes, and wasn’t happy about my life in general. I honestly didn’t love myself. I was on Facebook in November 2013 and saw a sponsored ad for Spartan Race with the title “30 burpees for 30 days.” I didn’t even know what a burpee was, but something in me said, "I want to do that." The next day I started the challenge and it took me around 30 minutes to complete it. I was inside in the air condition sweating and panting. It was pathetic.
The final stop on the Spartan Race Triple Crown took place outside of Dallas Texas. This year's race came earlier than last year’s “Winter Wonderland” which was considered by many to be the coldest Spartan of 2013. Spartan split the races up by staging the 13.2 mile Beast on Saturday and the 4.8 mile Sprint on Sunday. Many came out to try to claim a piece of the Triple Crown prizes.
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.
