Spartan Race Report

I did it! I ran the Super Spartan in Squamish, BC (Canada) on Saturday. It was about 12km/8mi(ish) in length and gained some pretty killer elevation... lots of up and then some down and more up... and down again. It was HUGE chunks of trail running (one single 5km stretch between obstacles if I understood correctly). Anyway, I went with a girlfriend I'm not super close with and a friend of hers along with a friend of the friend and about a dozen others that she knew.

Now, the website clearly said no aid stations until the end of the race so I bit the bullet and wore my hydration pack. I'd never run with one before but I only planned on putting 1L of water in there so it was only about 4 lbs once I put in a couple other things (tissues, energy chews, Tylenol etc. - I figured as long as I'm taking a pack...). Turns out NONE of the other 14 people or so knew there were no aid stations. No one brought water or nutrition

My girlfriend and her friend were at the back of the pack. My friend did the half marathon with me in August so I knew she could do the distance but she was slower than I am. That was fine though... but her friend was a 5mo post-partum nursing mom who hadn't run more than 8km before. I decided to throw an extra half liter of water in my pack and share. Glad I did. While the nursing mom put in a valiant effort and she pretty much ran the whole thing, she was in a little over her head and my hydration pack was the only thing that kept her going. No joke. I think she just underestimated how many calories and how much water nursing takes up.

To be honest I didn't find the race that hard... the hardest element for me was the stopping and starting. My abdomen cramped up really good twice and I had to work it out while running. I also turned my ankle about 4km in. I could feel it swelling later on in the race but I could still run on it. I also got a little rope burn on my face from one of the cargo nets.

We ended up finishing as a group at around 2 hours and 45 minutes. I estimate if I'd done it alone I would have done about 2 hours. As it turned out, I didn't really need assistance with any of the obstacles. If you can't do an obstacle you just have to do 25 burpees. I did 100 burpees during the course of the race: you start with 25, then I almost made it to the end of the wall traverse (like rock climbing on pieces of 2x4 stuck to a wall) but didn't make it, then my javelin didn't stick in the target though it did hit and, lastly, I couldn't climb the slick muddy rope at the end - even with gloves... so 100 burpees penalty.

But I did it. And I'm proud of myself. And my friends are alive :bigsmile:

... and I'm DEFINITELY in for Tough Mudder next summer.