About a year and a half ago, I was challenged during an Under Armour What's Beautiful campaign to sign up for an event that scared me. I have a major fear of heights, so the first thing that came to my mind was an Obstacle Race. I chose the Spartan Race. I stressed out for months until the day arrived, and I surprised myself at my willingness to try everything during the race. I never felt more proud of myself than I was crossing the finish line in 2014. With that said, once and done was enough for me! I had no desire to sign up for anymore OCR's. My husband, however, had other plans. He wanted to do it again, so since he supported me, I chose to support him and sign up again for the 2015 race.
Leading up to the race this year, I wasn't as nervous as the year before. We chose to do the PA Sprint at Blue Mountain in Palmerton again, because it's one of the closest to us, and we knew our friend Kristin would be running it again. Honestly, I didn't want to do it at all. I was dreading it. My fear was getting in the way again. I guess I was afraid of getting injured. Falling off of something high and spraining an ankle was my biggest fear. I dreaded doing the bucket carry again, because I hated that obstacle so much last year. I just went into the whole race with a bad attitude.
We drove to the Palmerton area the afternoon before the race and met up with Kristin and her family to have dinner. It was nice being able to catch up and keep my mind off of the torture I would be putting myself through the next day.
We woke up at 5:45 AM on race day. They were calling for thunderstorms, so I looked out the window and saw it was just overcast, no rain. Perfect racing weather! By the time I got dressed, the thunderstorms started, along with downpours. While I had a negative attitude about doing the race, I would have been really pissed if we drove all that way, paid for a hotel, and had them cancel the race due to lightening. By some miracle, right before we left the hotel, the storm and rain stopped. So off to Blue Mountain we went!
They ended up delaying all of the race start times 45 minutes due to the storm. No big deal, they did a great job keeping everything moving. We got in the long line for registration, and I realized I left my ID in the car. Fabulous. So I had to hike back to the car to get that before we could pick up our packets. Once we got our packets, things moved pretty quickly. We put on our headbands (I chose to put mine on my arm, because I do not have the head shape for a headband...lol). We put our timing chips on, used the lovely porta potties, got our number drawn on our arm, then headed to the start line just in time to see the Elite Women take off. We were next!
If you've ever done a Spartan, you know there is a wall you have to climb before you even reach the start line. Last year, this scared the crap out of me, but I made it over with no problems. This year, I didn't make it on my first try. I guess I forgot that I needed to swing my leg over it, but even so, I swear it was higher than last year's. A lot of people seemed to be struggling with it. I tried again and swung my leg over and got over just fine. But that first time failing was enough to get me into my negative thinking again. I did not feel strong AT ALL! How was I going to make it through an entire race if I could barely make it over the wall at the start line?
Last year, I was excited to get started when waiting at the start line. This year, I just wanted to get it over with. I'm really disappointed in my attitude, and I don't know why I was doubting myself so much. Once we got started, I just tried focusing on doing what I had to do so I could finish and get that medal around my neck. The first mile and a half or two miles was all up hill. My calves were a little unhappy, but my quads and hamstrings didn't feel a thing. Honestly, the climb didn't bother me at all. I could have climbed that mountain all day. There was quite the gridlock trying to climb up though. People were off to the sides puking. I was literally dripping with sweat. I loved it. There weren't many obstacles the first mile or so. A couple of log jumps, and I believe the over, under, through walls were during that time. I had no issues climbing the wall that time thank goodness. I felt stronger, but at some point I did something to my left arm - possibly even at the start line when jumping the wall. It was throbbing and felt weak. But I knew I needed to Spartan Up and get through it. I had a whole race full of obstacles to get through.
One of the first obstacles was this thing:
I have a fear of heights, and climbing over the top was scary for me. I just kept thinking that if I fell, I'd have nothing but hard ground to land on. I probably went a little too slow over this one, but it was new to me, and I wanted to be cautious. One of the other "new to me" obstacles was the Tyrolean Traverse. I've seen this in pictures before and they usually have it going over water. This one was not over water. I can't find any pictures of the one from Palmerton, but basically, it's a rope that you have to climb either over top of it or hanging upside down from one side to the other and ring the bell. I got some MAJOR rope burn here, as I was wearing low socks and never looked up how to properly do it. I honestly froze for a minute when I saw it and debated if I wanted to try it or not. I knew I would be disappointed in myself if I didn't try. I knew right away that I was going to have rope burn. But I was over halfway and didn't want to give up, so I switched legs and finished with rope burn on the other leg as well. I'd say the rope burn was my worst injury from the race. I will definitely be wearing long socks from now on. Here's a picture I found from a different race, but this one was over water:
And here is what my rope burn looked like that day:
I'm 3 days out from the race and it looks a lot worse. But it finally isn't burning as badly. I need to learn how to properly use my legs during this obstacle to prevent this in the future.
My first set of 30 burpees was at the uneven Monkey Bars. I have a fear of monkey bars in general. I just picture myself falling and spraining/breaking an ankle. Last year, I had Bart help me across by placing my knees on his back. This year, I went into it thinking I wanted to try it on my own and just have him walk in front of me just in case I needed him. However, when he went first and slipped to the ground due to the bars being wet, I opted to just do my burpees with him. Part of me wishes I would have tried, but quite honestly, I don't think I would have made it. Especially because the volunteers were yelling at people telling them they weren't allowed to help each other this year (which is a bunch of crap - you're only NOT allowed to help during Elite heats). A lot of these obstacles are made for taller people. Bart had a hard time reaching from one bar to the next, so with me being only 5'2", I'm not sure how I could have reached it.
I'm pretty sure the sandbag carry was the same as the year before. So far, everything up to that point was completely different. The sandbag felt much easier for me this year. I didn't have to stop much on the way back up the mountain with it, and when I did stop, I just rested the sandbag on my leg for a few seconds then kept going.
I did another set of burpees at the Spear Throw, which I knew that would be a burpee obstacle for me. I tried, but this girl has no aim. lol. Another one that I expected to do burpees at was the Traverse Wall. I did better than last year, but I still slipped off. It was right after a water obstacle, so it was extra slippery. More people were doing burpees than not at that one.
I have to say that the swim was the absolute worst obstacle for me this year. I could have opted to walk on the side and do burpees, but I chose to try to swim. Last year, I was able to touch the bottom the entire time without any issues. This year, we had a lot more rain. Just before going under the first set up tubes, I could touch. When I went under, I swallowed some water and tried to stand up when I came up. I started to panic, because I could no longer reach the ground, and I was choking on the water I swallowed. I finally got myself (a little bit) together, and floated on my back to the next set of tubes. I could not touch the entire time except for when first walking into the water and after the last set of tubes. I am not a swimmer, so this took quite a while. Felt like an eternity. I was never so happy to be on solid ground as I was after stepping out of that water.
At some point during the race, my husband and I both agreed that we WOULD NOT do the Palmerton Race ever again. It was probably around this time.
Last year, going down the mountain was so hard for me. I was overly cautious and afraid of falling. I did end up falling right on a rock and had a nasty bruise in my butt crack. This year, I tried to go a little faster down the mountain, and it seemed to have helped. I didn't fall, so that made me happy.
When we reached the bucket carry, my bad attitude came out again. I kind of took my time getting there, drinking my water slowly at the water station then opting to use the porta potty. When I finally forced myself to go fill up my bucket, I tried really hard not to stop often. That didn't work though. While the bucket was much easier for me to carry this year, it was more of a mental game for me. If I saw someone in front of me stop, I felt like I had to stop. I made it through it though, and didn't have bruised up arms as a result like I did last year.
Up next was the rope climb. This guy is doing exactly what I did. I just stood there and stared at it for a few minutes, trying to convince myself to try it. This was the one thing I wanted the most. I wanted to accomplish this damn rope climb. Last year, I tried using the knots to climb to the top and my fear of heights and tired arms got the best of me half way up. I didn't want that to happen this year.
I finally convinced myself to jump in the water, wrapped my foot around the rope, and climbed. I was over halfway and felt that panic come over me again. I heard Bart telling me to keep going, and I knew I couldn't give up. Two more pulls, and I made it and rang that damn bell. I was so proud of myself. I said to Bart when I got off the rope, "I fucking did it!". Excuse the language, but it was at that time that I knew I was stronger than I thought, and that I could finish the rest of the race.
Little did I know that the log jump/balance obstacle was up next. This is another one that I have visions of me falling off and spraining/breaking an ankle. I tried once, but it was super slippery, and I fell. The volunteers told me I could try again, so I did. Again, I fell. So off to do my burpees while Bart completed it. 15 burpees in, I saw someone getting help on the obstacle. I was like, "What, he could have helped me?!?!" The volunteers were like, "Yeah, you can do it again". I was already 15 burpees in so I opted to finish the last 15. If I would have known Bart could be there to catch me if I fell, I know I would have been able to focus better and I could have done it. Oh well, 30 burpees never hurt anybody!
I can't remember where the barbed wire crawl was, but I know it was towards the end, and it was crazy long! First, we had to go downhill, get in some muddy water, go over a wall, then go to the other side and go back up hill. It would have been a lot better if there weren't so many people trying to get through it at once.
Towards the end of the race was the ring monkey bars to straight bar. Bart stayed by my side here just in case I fell, but I surprised myself by being able to complete it. This was one that I was afraid of going into the race. It ended up being one of my favorite obstacles. If I didn't have the core strength to lift my legs and kick the bell when I got to the straight bar, I'm not sure I would have been able to complete it. It was the end of the race, and my arms were more than done.
After this, we just had to make our way through some muddy water, swim under a wall in the muddy water, then make our way to the fire jump and finish line!
Overall, I'd definitely say this course was a lot tougher than it was last year. However, I felt much better after the race this year than I did last year. And the next day, I was back at the gym. My legs weren't sore at all other than my calves. My left arm still hurt a bit, but overall my upper body wasn't sore. I feel like I was stronger this year than I was last year. And of course, that night, we were already looking up other races close to us. And we're pretty sure we'll be back at Palmerton next year. They say, "You'll know at the finish line.". That is definitely the truth.
I was disappointed that they didn't have any protein shakes at the end of the race this year. I would have even purchased one if I they had them for sale. But the chicken gyro I had made me forget about that for a little while. It was so good! Overall, Spartan did an awesome job with this race.
Sometimes I read the negativity on the Spartan Facebook page, and it makes me question if I want to consider myself a Spartan. However, both years on the course, I didn't encounter that negativity at all. We raced along some pretty great, friendly people. I honestly can't wait to do it again. In order to be more prepared, I need to work on getting over my fear of certain obstacles. I'm hoping to find somewhere that I can train to get used to the uneven monkey bars and something like the log jump.
I was so happy that my Polar M400 and heart rate monitor held up so well during the race. Here, you can see our route according to my Polar watch.
Bart and I do not race this event. We don't worry about our time, we just worry about making it to the end. We wait for each other, and if one of us needs to stop for a few minutes, we stop without worrying about adding minutes to our end time. Could we race it? Possibly. But we need to train harder for it. For me, I need to train on obstacles better, and for him, he needs to train his legs better to get him up the mountain. I'm not so sure I want to make it about the race though. For me, it's all about overcoming my fears and proving to myself that I can do things that I never would have imagined trying. If you want to challenge yourself, I say go ahead and head to
www.spartan.com and sign up for a race. I guarantee it will NOT be easy, but you will feel like a badass when you cross that finish line.
