Spartan Beast

      When I turned 18 and went off to college, my best friend and roommate Stephanie Sorensen and I sat down on our beds on day and wrote out a bucket list of things we wanted to do before we died. Being a silly young 18 year old girl, I put a lot of crazy things on my list that I am not sure I will ever do. But running a Tough Mudder type race was on my list. I decided to sign up and run the Spartan Beast race this year.
      The entry fee is pretty close to $200. I really didn't want to fork out that much money to run myself to death, so I somehow convinced Paul to be a volunteer for me. If he volunteers, he gets a free race entry. It all worked out. I got to run my race, and I didn't have to pay a thing for it!
     Race day came, and I was kind of nervous. I hadn't been able to train a whole lot for it over the past few weeks. I hadn't even run a full 12 miles in over a year. I was a little daunted by the task, but I committed myself to do it and I tried my best.
       Paul had to start at his position early at like 7. My heat didn't start until 8:30 so I had a whole hour and a half to sit around and over think everything I was going to do that day. By the time my heat started I was pretty nervous and a little nauseous because I was overly stressing myself out.
    I started the race with a light jog. I had no idea what the course would be like, or what the obstacles would be like, so I tried to keep it slow and steady. Our first obstacle was a mud pit. We had to jump in the muddy water and climb out. With it being pretty warm outside the ice cold water was breath taking. Literally, I had to tell myself to breathe it was so cold, but it was VERY refreshing. I jumped in, climbed out and kept running. The next obstacle was a set of hurdles. I had to crawl under one, jump over one, crawl under one, jump over one. The course then turned onto a hiking trail that was steeper than steep. It was literally so steep you physically could not run up it. Walking and grabbing onto trees felt like the only way to propel yourself up the steep terrain. After you climbed up for 10 minutes, it dropped you back down the trail, which was steeper than the climb up. A boy in front of me had to catch me twice because I started slipping out of control down the hill. At the bottom of the hill were the first set of walls. They were only 5 feet. Scaling them wasn't too hard.

This is the Log hop. Had to run across the tops of the posts without falling off

This is at the end of the course. I had been rolling down a hill in the mud under barbed wire trying not to throw up! Some how the camera guy caught me spitting! 

     At this point I had passed up multiple girls, and several boys. I kept my pace and kept going. The running trail evened out a little bit and wasn't quite as steep. The next obstacle that came along had you pick up a sandbag and carry it up and around a steep hill. Thankfully, all my backpacking trips helped me prepare for this challenge. It was great. I even passed up a few boys and girls on this obstacle. Then off to more running. Up and down a single track trail then to another obstacle. Cedar posts were put into the ground. I had to run across without falling off. This obstacle made me nervous because I have terrible balance. Luckily I made it through with no problems. Next set of challenges were more walls, (I think. I can't remember everything exactly so I am trying my best to play the race over in my mind and write out everything I remember). These walls were a little taller 6 feet I think. I had to use the side braces to get myself up. Thats one disadvantage to being a shorty.
     Then I followed the trail a little more.   I had to pick up a heavy cement block with a chain attached to it, and drag the thing up and around a hill and put it back in the bin. That was tough. But I got it. The next obstacle after that had each person fill up a 5 gallon bucket with rocks. Once it was full, you had to carry it up and around a hill and dump it back out. This was hard. I filled my bucket too full probably adding an extra 5 lbs to it. I had to stop and set it down multiple times, which I am sure made it even harder for me because I had to exert the strength to pick it up again. I did let several people pass me up here, but I really had no choice. It was hard.
     At this point in the race I ran into several people that I knew. Seth and Ed Endemano had caught up with me. We kind of talked for a little bit and jogged our way through the course down to the next obstacle. Which was pretty fun. You had to climb up a cargo net type thing, to the top of a bridge, cross the bridge, then climb back down the cargo net. I only slipped up once, and I didn't die. So it was all good. This next obstacle I failed! You had to throw a spear at a straw bale man and it had to stick. My tip only stuck for a mili second before it fell. So, alas, I had to do 30 burpees. 30! that is a lot of burpees. I lost the Endemanos while doing my burpees, but meh. After finishing them, I tried not to sprint to catch up with anyone, but I tried to run faster than my previous pace. I set a decent pace and ran my course. When I got to the next obstacle, I was excited that it was something I could quickly complete. You had to hoist a cement block up to the top of a contraption and lower it back down without dropping it. Completed it pretty quickly then set out on my way again.

      By now I am trying to figure out where Paul is. I knew he was assigned to the course somewhere, but I hadn't seen him yet. I kept running and hit the rolling mud pits. The mud pits were a series of 4 mud pits you had to jump into then climb up the bank and jump into the next one. With the heat, this felt so great to be in the cold water. I did pretty good until the last pit. The level of the water was basically up to my arm pits. I couldn't get a good foot hold because the water level was so deep. Luckily a random guy gave me a leg up so I could get out of the water. Thank you random guy! Then I think we had to flip a tractor tire over twice, then turn and flip it back twice. Before I knew what I was doing I had flipped my tire three times. The lady working the course told me that I only needed to flip it back once because I had over flipped it. That was pretty nice I guess.
      The run for the next few miles was pretty brutal. It went from being flat, to being a pretty steep hike up the hill. I was telling Seth while we were walkin it that the two back packing trips I had done previously this summer were the best training I could have done for the race. It was so true. We really couldn't run the course at this point. It was too rocky, and too steep and with it being single track, it was really hard to pass up the people in front of you. You basically had to follow their speed. Once the course started to turn down hill again, I was able to over pass several people and get ahead a little bit more.
     At this point I think I am about half way through the course. I can't remember exactly what comes next because it all blurs together, but I think the next obstacle was a crawl through the mud under barbed wire. With the wire only about 2.5 feet off the ground you had to crawl in the mud to the exit. Once you get to the exit, you slide down a mud slide and get yourself up and ready for the next obstacle. The next obstacle I think, was the rope climb. Normally climbing a rope isn't hard, but when the rope hangs over a mud pit and the rope is soaking wet, it gets a little bit tougher to climb. I couldn't climb my rope. I was cocky and tried to climb the mens side (the knots in the rope are further apart), rather than the women's side. I couldn't do it. The rope was too slick, the water pit was too deep, and so I just sucked it up and did the burpees. Ugh. Up to sixty burpees now.
     I don't exactly remember what obstacle came next, but I think we had to climb across some rock wall type things. The planks of wood that were meant to be hand and foot holds were turned at crazy angles though. You had to be very carful with how you stepped or you would find yourself on the ground pretty quickly. I made it through the wall and headed up to my next challenge. This one was tough. I had to put a lot of effort into completing this task. There was a tractor tire attached to a chain and a stake. I had to drag the tire down hill until the chain was taut. Then you had to go pack to the top, where the stake anchored it, and pull the tire and chain up hill to the top. There were 3 other girls working on this challenge when I got there. They were still there when I left. As I watched them try to pull it with just their arm strength, I realized I needed to use all my body weight as well to get the heavy tire back up the small hill.
     I really can't remember the order of what came next, but I remember having to run through the hills and up and down a hiking trail. I remember running through several more mud pits, one of them they told me I had to walk on my hands and pretty much crawl through the water. I had to cross the monkey bars, after having sloshed through mud. That was kind of tricky because my hands were wet and slimy. I think that after the Monkey bars there was another rope to climb. This time I was able to climb it. The rope wasn't wet or slick so it was a lot easier to complete this challenge.
    I think the next challenge that came along was kind of tough. You had to crawl under barbed wire, again, but this time, it wasn't just a few yards, it was a few hundred yards, and it was down hill. There were so many rocks and the course was so long, that most people, me included just rolled down. It made me super nauseous, but I kept it up. At the bottom of the hill someone with a fire hose just plastered you. Maybe trying to clean off all the mud on you, or maybe just trying to tick me off, either way, they completed their task. After the fire hose spray down you had to pull yourself up a slick steep ramp with just a piece of rope, then jump through a huge intimidating looking fire, and the last obstacle was the crazy guys at the end with giant q-tip looking things they would smack you with.
     Once I finished I couldn't believe the race was over. It didn't seem like it took me that long to complete it. Now that I look back on it, it really didn't take me that long to complete it. I ran the race in a little over 3 hours. For all females I was pretty much in the top 50. I am relieved that it is over, but it was actually kind of fun. I may want to run another one at some point in my life!  

     When Paul and I got home, he got to spray me down with the hose outside. The water was SO cold. Paul just laughed. I can't believe that I had as much mud as I did attached to my body. We were outside for at least 30 minutes just spraying me down with the hose. What a great husband!
    After the race I got to spend time with Paul's family at Taylorsville Dayzz. We watched a fun concert, and got to ride in a hot air balloon. Our cute nephew Sage hung out with us too. Even though I was exhausted from the race I had a blast spending time with the family and relaxing. The fireworks show was great too!