SPARTAN!!!

Yeah, I'd say that's about right

This was much harder than last year's Warrior Dash. My god.

I'd heard this was more challenging and have been kind of terrified since signing up - but tried to console myself with the fact that we finished Warrior and I'm a bit fitter than I was last summer.

I was still pretty intimidated heading into this, though.

Me, Elissa, Laura, Rachel - waiting to start

And with good reason, as it turns out!

Warrior was 12 obstacles in 5K. We finished in 1:04.

Spartan was 22 obstacles and feats of strength in 7K.

We finished in 1:31, minus time spent waiting through a few significant bottlenecks at a couple of the stations - so let's say 1:15.

On paper, it looks like we knocked it out of the park. But this race kicked my butt!

What did we face on the course? Let's see...

7K trail run through a forest of rolling steep hills. Beautiful and shady, would have been great for a family hike!

Belly crawl up a sandy hill under low nets.

Crawl through a long narrow tube. I seriously would not have fit in this 80lbs ago.

Climb up and over a high (wobbly) rope net.

Belly crawl though about 30 feet of mud under low barbed wire.

Wade through a mud pond - almost waist deep.

Pull kettle bells 20 feet up in the air.

Up and down a 20+ foot high twisty rope ladder (thanks to my girls for trying to steady it for me!!)

Belly crawl 30 feet or so through dirt under low boards - think of a blackout pit.

Up and over a 90-degree climbing wall.

Carry a 20+-lb sand bag through the forest.

Javelin throw.

Push a wheelbarrow containing a big cement block through the forest - each handle weighed down by a 20-lb sandbag.

Hold a dowel at chest height, parallel to the ground, and spin it to wind a rope (tied to a 20-lb sandbag) from the ground up. Twice.

Balance beams.

Run through tires.

Jump over fire.

20 reps on a rowing machine.

Belly crawl through ICE CUBES under insanely low strung barbed wire. We had maybe 15" between the ice and the wire. Keep your head - and your butt - down!

Run up 45-degree ramp and jump off the end. Twice.

Up and over the hay bales.

Dodge a trio of Spartans - they want to knock you off your feet.

Up and over a long, slipperly ramp. I bailed on this one and took a 10-burpee penalty.

FINISH.

Just to give you an idea, here's a few pics from the course - none of these are of me:

 

Medals, drink of water, photo op...

...sprayed off with an icy cold blast from the fire hose, another photo op...

Don't actually look much cleaner after the fire hose - just wetter

...ordered a massive poutine to share with the family, then headed back to the car.

Seems so calm and peaceful from over here.

Wrapped up in a tarp, headed back to my mother's for a shower and lunch.

Sweet tech shirt, excellent medal

And a vow to never, ever do this race again.

Warrior Dash? Mayyyybe....