Becoming a Spartan

In 2014, I decided to enter one of the most challenging events of my life. A Spartan Race. It was a 5 mile, 20 plus obstacle course going right through the heart of the Pocono Mountains in Palmerton, PA. Over 1,500 ft elevation on a hot summer day in the middle of July. What was I thinking?

Oh, right, I was thinking it would be fun. At least, that’s what my cousins told me.

Some parts were fun, and some were so hard I wanted to quit halfway through. But I had my family to cheer me on.

You see, I suffer from asthma, and most of it is exercise-induced. And if it’s not exercise, it’s my allergies. And let me tell you, a hot, dry day in the mountains definitely messes with my allergies. If I didn’t have my family with me, I don’t really think I would have finished it.

THE BEGINING

Ok moving on, let’s start with the morning registration and warm-up. Everything went smoothly and quickly. We got our numbers and finished getting prepped before our group was set to line up. We took our clean group pictures and did some more stretching. Then we heard the call. AROO! And it was time to get ready to move. But before we could run we needed to climb our first wall. Once we were over that we were off.

So, let’s talk about how the race started. Uphill.

I don’t remember exactly how long the first sprint was, but I am thinking it was close to a mile. This slope was where we had to use our stored-up energy and blast through it. However, my stored-up energy died two-thirds into the hill. Yay! I realized I burned too much too fast. I didn’t pace myself. Once I got to the top, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. I caught my breath and trekked on to the next part of the race, obstacle number 1.

THE OBSTACLES

Obstacle 1 was the high hurdles. This consisted of horizontal logs at different heights that we had to jump/climb over. This was one of the easier challenges. After that, it was a combination of more uphill running, obstacles, and then finally downhill running.

Here is a list of some of the obstacles we had to complete. If you could not complete an obstacle or chose to skip it, you had to substitute it with burpees. I don’t remember the exact amount. But a burpee at any time is never fun. Other obstacles that are not listed here were surprises. Watch the obstacles, the way Spartans were meant to do them, visit Spartan Race Obstacles.

High Hurdles
Spear Throw
Barbed Wire Crawl
Bucket Carry
Multi-Rig

Tyrolean Traverse
Monkey Bars
Rope Climb
Sled Drag

Wall Climb
Inverted Wall
A-Frame Cargo Net
Hercules Hoist

THE STRUGGLE WAS REAL

During the rest of the race, all that kept running through my mind was, “I am not a quitter” and “I can’t fail. I will not fail.”

I always struggled with sports and my strength, I grew up super lanky. No meat on my bones, as my grandma would say. Every time I would join a sport, I always managed to injure myself. And never just a small injury. I would either break an ankle, a wrist, an elbow even, as well as dislocate a shoulder. It wasn’t until I entered college, I had put on more weight, and I was able to work out without the fear of getting hurt.

I was running more and even joined my school’s women’s lacrosse team. I worked out hard, and when my cousins asked me to join them in the Spartan Race, I thought I was in good enough shape to compete. Well, I was half right. One thing I realized was that when I thought I was trained for incline, I wasn’t trained for incline and definitely not a high elevation.

But putting all that aside, I pushed through and finished the race at 3:49:56. It was 85 degrees and super sunny. I was 4929/6160 overall, 1534/2133 female, 306/404 F 20-24, and my pace 1:16:39 min/mi. Now I know these are not the greatest numbers, but for me, these were great. And my family was all around the same amount since we waited for each other. So those of them that were fully prepared and probably could have finished in under 3 hours sacrificed a better time to stick together as a team. Thanks, fam.

THE FINISH LINE

Once we crossed that finish line, the full weight of what we had done hit us. The adrenaline was running through us, and the joy and happiness we felt were amazing.

We were covered in sweat, mud, and we smelled so bad. But, we had our medals, our beer, and life was good.

After we soaked up the fact that we finished the race, we moved on to the Wall of Valor, where we signed our names and our team name.

After we all settled down, it was time to shower. Now I say shower lightly. We hosed off and got as much mud out of places we didn’t even know existed before we changed into clean clothes and began our two-hour drive back home. It felt so good, the cold water. Peeling my muddy socks off was probably the best feeling ever.

On the car ride home, we were all still a bit excited, but that only lasted about 20 minutes before we all fell asleep. The next thing we knew, we were home. We all said our goodbyes and I love yous. None of us mentioned doing the race again. We did it, and that was enough for us.

I WAS WRONG

Or so I thought. The following year my sister and her girlfriend wanted to do it and asked me to join again. And like a fool, I said yes.

2015 was a lot harder, and that wasn’t only my opinion. Spartan, as a company, had said the 2015 Palmerton Sprint was harder than most Supers around the country. The Super is a 10K, 25 obstacle course. Today Spartan has six different races you can compete in. From easiest/shorted to hardest/longest, they are The Stadion, The Sprint, The City, The Super, The Beast, The Ultra.

About Spartan

Spartan also has a new kind of race, a no obstacle race. The Spartan Trail races consist of all-natural runs in the most incredible locations around the world. They range from 10k to 50k, with 40 plus races across the globe.

A personal goal or bucket list item of mine is to be in the best shape of my life and get a trifecta. To get a trifecta, I must conquer the Sprint, Super, and Beast in one calendar year, and I would join the Spartan Elite. It is a goal that I have unfortunately put off to the side. Hopefully, I can get my life back in order and start training again.

If you are interested in becoming a Spartan, find your race here, and get training. I promise you it is an experience like no other. Join by yourself or join with a team, either way, you won’t regret it.

Aroo!

spar•tan adj.