I've done this race at the same location the last 2 years, so I had some idea of what to expect going into it. Now, it has traditionally been scheduled in December, which has led to some weather issues, so everyone was excited when it was bumped up to November 1st. Of course, a huge cold front came through about 24 hours before the race, so we still got some low temps at the start - but overall it was a BEAUTIFUL day for racing. I was signed up to head out there by myself, but had plenty of friends on the LSS team that I would see out there, so I wasn't too nervous about that. As I mentioned in my last review though, Nana enjoyed Tough Mudder so much, she signed up without about 3 weeks to spare and made the trek with me! I had another friend, Kelly, that I knew was going out there with a girlfriend of hers, but when we got there, turns out her friend was sick and she was solo - so we ended up with a nice little racing trio.
First, I just want to say that I LOVE Spartan race day. I've made a lot of great friends this year through OCRs and on the LSS team and it feels like a big party when I line up at a Spartan race. I got a couple of really great hugs that morning and got to put some faces with names for people I talk to on Facebook all the time. Everyone is in a great mood and so excited to see each other. I have friends that live several states away and it's a blast to touch base in person on race day. I ran into several people ON the course and then afterward, and it's just a big love fest.
I also want to say that this was the first race that I wore the long racing socks. I'm not against them, it's just that all of my shoes are minimalist shoes that fit pretty snugly and don't require socks - so I usually am completely sockless. I decided to go with long socks because of the temps and I was able to make it work with a pair of shoes I have with a little extra room. I am officially converted! I was so warm and usually after the water crossings and mud crossings I'm pretty miserable with cold toes, but no more! I will rock the socks from now on - at least in the colder months, for sure! Special shout out to Christina HB Armstrong, who is the reason I had already purchased some socks this year.
We headed down to the start line, which was in a completely different direction than the last 2 years. This was the first indication that this year was going to be quite different from the last couple of years at Rough Creek. There was a quick over under obstacle and then they led us straight to the grossest muddy bog I've ever walked through. At first it looked just like a water crossing, but oh no - the ground was made of sinking mud. We were wading through the water up to our waists and our feet were sinking in the mud to our knees. Poor Nana is a little on the short side, so Kelly and I were holding her hands in between us to keep her as much above the water if possible. That went on for a while and then we climbed out of that little ravine. I didn't look around much, but we found out later that a lot of our friends picked up some dead fish in their clothes. I'm glad that did not happen to me! Nothing like walking through a mud bog to wake those legs up!
There was more running after that, followed by the usual course of obstacles. It was pretty clear early on that this course was completely different from the GR Beast of the past. Typically, they take us out toward the "Rusty Crown", which is a little mountain that we would climb up and down for a few miles. Then just when you thought you couldn't handle it, they would make you carry a sandbag up the mountain followed by a bucket of gravel - then send you on your way to finish the rest of the race. This year, it was much more of a runner's course for the first 9 miles or so. I could have pretty easily run all of those miles, minus a quick climb out of a ravine here and there. The obstacles were also not surprising - there were a few new things, but nothing unmanageable. We flipped some logs, tires, climbed some walls, traverse wall, rope climb (only 1 this year), memory test, cargo climbs, barbed wire crawl, dunk wall, atlas carry, herculean hoist, rope traverse, mud trenches and on and on. Lots of running between them, of course.
Last year they cut the swim out because the temperatures were too low, but they threw it back in this year and it was LONG! I wore a life jacket, because I'm not a great swimmer, but it was nice because I was able to flip on my back and just backstroke to the opposite bank.
We finished up the bulk of the course and THEN we headed toward the mountain. This time, instead of traveling up and down around the entire thing, they took us straight to the bucket carry, then we ran over to the sandbag carry, then we did a small trek up and down the mountain for just a little while before heading back toward the festival area. We had warned Nana all day about that mountain and at every hill she kept asking, "Is this it? Is this it?" to which we replied - "Um no, you will KNOW when you are on the mountain." Please note that I keep using the word mountain, but there should be quotation marks around it. It's not giant, but it is really steep and difficult to navigate.
Nana coming down the bucket carry
Kelly was having some knee trouble, but she was a trooper!
About to head up for the sandbag carry
I had to navigate some of this hill by bear crawling - those rocks were tricky.
Something that I always do at these races is pack extra fuel in my hydration pack for people that may need it. I can't tell you how many times I've stumbled across people that brought zero nutrition or hydration out on the course and are suffering for it. Kelly brought some extra GU and I will tell you that we were handing out snacks left and right. There were a lot of people cramping and looking a little weak so we tried to check on people as we ran by, ask if they needed food or water. A few people drank from my hydration pack. Spartan did better with more water stations at this race, but there weren't any nutrition packs. We had a little picnic at the bucket carry and shared a Clif bar with a guy that was having some trouble. We met a group of dudes after the swim that had zero food on them and were starving. I introduced them to the magic of Shot Bloks. Then we hit the sandbag carry and on our way up, Kelly and I stopped to help a girl that started to stumble. She was with two friends and they helped her sit down. She was shivering, but her skin was completely dry and her temperature was a little high. I was really worried about her condition, she was unable to stand steady and communicate very well. We gave her a GU, half of a Clif Bar, I let her have some water from my pack and called the medic guy up. Of course, his radio was dying and he was having trouble calling for more help, so we sat with her for a few minutes. Nana had missed the scene, so she was already at the top of the hill. I was really worried about her - one of her friends scolded her for not eating during the week in an effort to lose weight. She told the medic she hadn't eaten anything that day. We saw her friends later and they said that a medic had eventually shown up and taken care of her, which made us feel better.
After that, it was a pretty quick little run back toward the festival area - we had to recite our memorized word/numbers and do the spear throw, then it was a short little jog to the end where the inverted wall and slippery wall waited for us before the fire jump and VICTORY! I did 2 sets of burpees after failing the rope climb and the spear throw - damn it, stupid spear throw - so that is a far cry from my previous performances. I will say that this course was much easier than previous years at the same location. There were a lot of obstacles missing and the change in course made the terrain a lot less challenging. We had a great time though, and it was fun to spend the day with a bunch of cool people, help others and get dirty!
It feels great to have my Spartan Trifecta - something that I never thought I could do 2 years ago. I'm ready to go for a double next year!
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