Spartan Race Weekend - Part 2

   After an awesome race on Saturday, I was stoked to get up and head out again on Sunday.  I took my foam roller with me, which helped a lot that night and tried to get some rest.  I slept well and woke up feeling pretty good for Sunday's race.  The only real issue I had was that some of my scrapes and bruises were a little uncomfortable, but that was no big deal.  The Sprint distance is listed as 3+ miles and I had in my mind that it would probably be close to 5.  I had previewed the course map a little the day before and it looked like it was pretty close to the same route, minus the big "mountain" climb.  I got to the race site with about an hour to spare and ended up hanging out with the team again.  Made some friends, laughing and joked around, everyone was talking about their aches and pains from the day before.  Overall, everyone seemed pretty relaxed about the whole thing - we had done twice the distance on the same course the day before, so this should be a breeze, right?

BEFORE

  We headed over the starting corral again and I have to tell you that it wasn't as easy to jump over that wall on Day 2.  Ha Ha!  I figured it would take a minute for two for my legs to really warm up.  Another great speech and we were off!  The trail was pretty much the same for the first mile or two and then I could tell that it cut in closer to shorten the distance.  Much of the same - wide open trails with a few smaller paths, river crossing, a small amount of climb, but not much - I kept a good pace, but there were some bottlenecks at the narrow sections and the climb.  We hit many of the same obstacles, wall climbs, over unders, tire drag/pull, pipe crawl (15 burpees again), inverted wall, log walk, mud trenches, the swim, sandbag carry and then back to the festival area for the gauntlet again.  I may have missed a few things there, but you get the idea.  At this point I was feeling really great, I ran as much of it as I could.  I got stuck a few times in small packs, but it was fun to talk to people and make jokes about the situation.

Wall you have to climb to get in the starting corral

  
  The overall atmosphere on Sunday was way more laid back than it had been the day before.  The weather was a little cooler due to the earlier start time and it just didn't feel as serious.  By the time we got back to the festival area, I was totally ready to give that run of obstacles another go.  This time I made the traverse wall, but did not land the spear throw, darn it.  I failed the rope climb again as well, so I still ended up doing 60 burpees at the end - same as the day before.  I will say that crawling through that barbed wire with open wounds and bruised from the day before hurt like HELL.  That may have been the hardest part of the entire race.  

Barbed Wire Crawl

Dunk Wall

DONE!

  I knew several people that ran the Sprint multiple times and looking back, I wish I had gotten one more entry.  I really wanted to run it again when I was done with it - the Sprint was just a blast.  Total mileage ended up just shy of 5 miles - I think most people got it at around 4.8 or 4.9.  After the race, I jumped in the lake again for a good rinse, got in some dry clothes and took a few last looks around.  I signed the wall:

"Tara Campbell Came and Conquered"

  Then it was time to catch the shuttle back to me car and head back to reality.  Some of my race friends and I were joking about just living in Spartan village forever, but we know that all good things must come to an end.  I had SO much fun and I'm still riding the high of the weekend.  Yes, I am absolutely covered in bruises and scrapes, but I can't wait to go back and do it again.  The Beast is in November, which will complete my 2014 Trifecta.  I mentioned in my last post that I've run that race a couple of times, but this year I'm going back with way more confidence.  The goal for the Beast?  NO BURPEES!  AROO!