Today was officially my first Spartan Race! And what a race it was!
My team, Nerd Herd is made up for entirely Scientists & Engineers from Clarkson University. None of us have ever raced an OCR or more specifically a Spartan. We have heard lots of rumors about this being the "mini beast" and the "hardest sprint Spartan offers", so we were all pretty nervous.
I could barely sleep (and I wasn't the only one); me and my team awoke in my tiny apartment before any of our alarms went off. We all went downstairs for an excited team excited and anxiety-filled healthy breakfast of eggs, toast, and fruit. We packed our coolers full of beer, ice, lunch, and snacks, packed our bags full of clothes, and mud-removal accessories, and all crammed in the car.
Location:
The race itself was at Blue Mountain in Palmerton, PA which is about an hour and a half from my apartment in Philadelphia. This is a ski center. This translates to a relatively big mountain with over 2,000 vertical feet of Spartan terrain and lots of hiking rather than running. The course was 4.9 miles long, up down, and zigzagging all over. It was a beautiful location and the venue seemed perfectly set-up for this type of event.
GO TIME!
Okay, not really. It was time to get ready to go. We grabbed our waivers, gloves, coated up on sunscreen and headed to the registration tents. We got our bibs and head bands, suited up and headed into the festival zone. The energy was INTENSE. The loudspeaker was pumping up the racers prior to every heat (they go off every 15 minutes), the DJ was getting everyone excited for the day, excitement absolutely everywhere. We checked our bags, practiced some obstacles (wall traverse and rope climb were there), walked around, got free Rock Tape applications, did our last minute pee breaks and headed to the start line.
The Race/Obstacles:
- Wall
- There was a 5 foot wall to climb/jump/hoist over just to make it to the starting coral!
- This one totally pumped me up before we even got to go!
- LETS GO!
- The music pumped, the announcer excited, the crowed jumped and danced. The alarm sounded and we all ran off up the hill into the smoke. EPIC!
- Over Under
- 3 Sets of walls, followed by 3 net crawls (over, under, over....)
- As you went on, the "over"s kept getting taller, and the "under"s kept getting longer
- Pretty easy obstacle but proved to be difficult due to so many people (close to the start line)!
- OUT (Over Under Though)
- This is exactly as it sounds: One wall to go over, one wall to go under, one wall to go through
- By this point the crowd had thinned out and I was able to execute the obstacles faster without fear of kicking someone in the head.
- Cargo Net
- A-frame cargo net that went up/down 30 feet.
- Liked this one, very easy for me, especially in my vibram five fingers (yay toes!)
- Inverted Wall
- This obstacle sent you into waist deep water and had you climb up a wall angled about 45 degrees (towards you) it had some slats along the way to help you grip and once at the top you could slide down the back onto the ground.
- This one was difficult to start since you were stuck in mud, but once I got out of the water it wasn't too difficult. Then again, I am a climbing instructor, I might be biased.
- 8 foot walls
- Two different 8 foot walls, the first one had no assistance, the second had a small block overhanging on both sides at about 2 feet up.
- The first wall was easily done with teamwork: Mike let us use his bend knee as a boost! The second wall I was able to do myself by using the little block, but I noticed some other people repeat the method from the first wall (go teamwork!).
- Water Station
- This water station was strategically placed right before almost a solid mile of rocky UPHILL in the narrow path of the woods.
- Rock Slides
- The uphill section was long, arduous, and very difficult to move quickly on for many reasons: you lost your team constantly, and you could pretty much only walk in a single file line.
- Some sections got so steep that you needed to pull yourself up with a rope, there were 3 of these steep rock slide sections, but many more steep ups (and the occasional down).
- Sandbag Carry
- At the very top of the hike was the sandbag carry which was about an 1/8th of a mile down and back up a steep hill carrying a sandbag. The bag is 20lbs for ladies and 40 lbs for men.
- Spear Throw
- Throw a spear about 20 feet into a bail of hay about as tall as you. It must stick to count.
- Only 9% of all people who do the spear throw make it. This was the one obstacle I was going to be totally okay failing... and I did. Only one of our 6 made it. 30 burpees for everyone!
- Water Station
- Hercules Hoist
- I was very confident about this one since I built it last week and was able to practice. I decided to not be cocky and do the women's one (even though I know I can do the men's!). I got it no problem and was excited to see some struggle from even some stronger men.
- Downhill!
- The Hercules Hoist was at the tallest portion of the course right near the chair lift, the rest was all down hill from here. (ha!)
- Mud Hills Into Water
- After much slow downhill hiking and almost busting my ass by sliding in mud. The next obstacle was big mud puddles and mud hills. It was alternating and there were 5 of each.
- These were fun, but it was hard to tell how deep or what the terrain was like in the water. I was cautious so I wouldn't over/under judge and hurt myself.
- Swim
- The swim was across what I assume was their snow-making retention pond. You had to swim across the lake and swim under lines of tubes. Their was a current since all racers traveled in the same direction and some people cheated and lifted up the tubes which made swimming difficult at times.
- This was so fun, very refreshing, and welcomed after all the mud and sweat.
- Tractor Pull
- This obstacle requires pulling a cinder block around on a chain. It was a overly muddy downhill & uphill loop. On the way back up there were TONS of obstacles to prevent you form keeping your momentum (abandoned blocks, stopped people, etc).
- I saw this as a weird thing: like taking a cinder block for a nice stroll. I named mine Frank. People looked at me funny while I said "come along, Frank", who cares? I was having a blast!
- Gamble Split: Monkey Bars or Log Balance/Jump
- The "gamble split" allows you to pick one obstacle, this had monkey bars or log stumps to jump across.
- The one other obstacle I was worried about was the monkey bars so I skipped that in a heartbeat. I was able to make my way across the stumps with not much trouble.
- Water Break
- Barbed Wire
- This was a long stretch of barbed wire to crawl under, there were big water holes and hills along the way. The stretch ended and you climbed up a big mud hill only to discover MORE barbed wire to climb under, after you slipped off the giant hill into a big muddy pool.
- This was fine, I was a little afraid to nick my ass on the barbed wire though. The first section was crowded so I slowly inched my way along. The second section I rolled through: much faster and easier, but it did make me very dizzy. My friend Richard got to the top of the hill and recited the speech from the movie "300"... what a nerd.
- Tire Pull
- This had two weights: guys tires and girls tires: I have no idea how much they weighed. You had to pull a tire up the hill along the ground via a rope and then grab the tire and drag it back to the end of the rope again.
- This was hard to get started, but then I got a tip from a friendly passer-by. Sit down and push against the metal pole (the rope is tied to) to pull it up. After that friendly tip I got it done in no time!
- Rope Climb
- Climb up a 30 foot rope, ring the bell, and come down.
- I was a little nervous about this, but I totally nailed it! This is where my only battle scar came from: rope burn on my ankles! Who cares? I nailed it!
- Rock Bucket Carry
- Carry a Home Depot bucket full of rocks up the hill and back down. It had no handle.
- This was my least favorite obstacle. It wasn't particularly difficult, but the bottom rim of the bucket was very unpleasantly pressuring my hands. Oh well.. I did it.
- Traverse Wall
- Climb across a 20-30 foot wall that has 1 inch blocks of wood for your hands and feet. Ring the bell at the end, don't fall off.
- This one I am very upset about. I WORK AT A ROCK WALL! I could have sworn that if there was one thing I would be able to do, it would be this. The wall was wet, and I later found out was at an angle, I slipped off half way.
- Tip: Choose a wall in the sun, it will be drier, also next time I will take my gloves off and scope out the walls before committing.
- Cargo Net Monkey Bars
- This is about 20 feet of cargo net suspended above a pool of mud that you had to swing across like monkey bars to reach the bell at the end, ring it, drop down, and get out.
- I was a little nervous about this one, but again, my fear was for naught. The key for me was to hold the net with fists facing towards each other (rather than like monkey bars). Doing this I was able to keep a side to side swing going which kept me on and moving forward.
- Barbed Wire
- Like 10 more feet of barbed wire with the finish line in sight!
- Slippery Wall
- A wall up/down at about 45 degrees, its super muddy and you have to climb up it, there is a rope provided.
- This was not so slippery and quite easy to get over.
- Fire hop
- Everyone's favorite photo opportunity. Jump over a line of fire to the finish!
- Very hard to keep your eyes open, I was choking at the finish. But SO worth it!
The Good:
WE FINISHED! I know it wasn't the best or the fastest! But we finished! I LOVED IT! I AM ADDICTED!
The Bad:
I failed TWO obstacles! The spear throw I was okay with (only 9% success total), but the traverse wall? I WORK AT A ROCK WALL! I was super upset by this and actually thew a hissy fit (embarrassing!). Next time I will only have 30 burpees, I swear!
The Ugly:
I have rope burn on my ankles and we all have severe sunburn! Taking my shirt off was painful! OUCH!
Celebrate!
Me and my team celebrated by grabbing our free beers (ShockTop YUM!), our free shirts (super soft!), and a little merch (stickers and patches!) and then headed to the car for lunch! Super late lunch, but lunch. A sandwich has never tasted so good in my life.
After cleaning up enough, we got in the cars and headed back to the apartment. After we all finally cleaned up (my poor shower!) we stuffed our faces full of sushi and other Asian fusion foods. We then stuffed a bag full of brews and sat under the city skyline. What an absolutely perfect day.
Did anyone race this PA Sprint? How did you do? How did you like it?
