A fun few answers

I was going through my blogs (which are tending to be running related recently) and Christine of Dream BIG Runner posted a few questions reviewing her running in 2012. I thought it would be fun to answer the same.

Best Race Experience:

This is going to sound like an oxymoron, but I would have to say the Spartan Race in July. Yea. I know. I felt like I was going to die on that race. It took me over 5 hours to finish. But, here's why I say it was my best race experience. For the first time in my running career (really, is it a career?) I got to run a race with hubby. He promised to run the whole thing with me. I knew I would be holding him back, but he said he wouldn't leave me. And we ran all 5 hours together. He encouraged me and didn't make me feel like I was the worst.runner.ever. It was an amazing feeling having someone beside me the whole time.

The other reason I say it was my best race experience is because it showed me that I am better than I thought. I did 150 burpees, but you know? That means I missed 5 obstacles, but I did all the rest. I managed to climb all the walls (well, alright not the traverse wall), but all the walls that you had to go up and over. I had no illusions I would get over those. I knew I would be doing burpees after them and yet, I got over them. I had help from hubby and other racers, but I got over them. I completed the Spartan Race up a mountain and organized as a mini Beast. Me. The person who can't run a 10 minute mile. I did it. It really is my best race experience for what it taught me about myself.

Best Run:

I have a feeling a race isn't necessarily what this means, but I will be honest this run is the best run I had all year. I had a goal for the Shamrock Half Marathon of running it between 3:05:00 and 3:10:00. Nothing too crazy, between a 5 and 10 minute faster pace than Philly in November. On the run, I realized I was going to smash my goal. I can't even tell you what a good mood I was in during the last few miles of this race. Miles 10-13.1 were amazing. I've never felt so happy and excited to run those miles as I did in this race. I crossed the finish line feeling like I could run another several miles. I was in such a great mood. I came across the finish line at 2:51:15. Yes, I completed this race over 25 minutes faster than Philly in November. I crushed my goal for the race by 14-19 minutes. Insane. I still think about this race as the best I have ever run. Oh and did I mention I ran the 8k the day before? And during that realized about halfway through I needed to slow down because I was running faster than I thought and didn't want to mess up my half the next day? It was a fantastic run.

Best New Piece of Gear:

Ummm...Honestly, I have no idea on this one. I didn't get new piece of gear that transformed my running this year. I got a few new pieces of running clothes, but no piece of gear that I feel did much for my running. I suppose I'll go with my new sneakers. I had to trade in my Brooks Adrenalized in September due to shin splints and moved onto Asics. So far, so good. Used the for a few training runs, then AC Half Marathon, and now onto Shamrock Half Marathon training. I will probably get a new pair before Shamrock in March, but for now the new gear I got this year are these Asics.

Best piece of running advice you received:

Most Inspirational Runner:

My friend Kim. In 2011 she had to undergo basically emergency hip surgery in September. Then wait months to get the go ahead to exercise again. Small steps in her recovery had her on a bike and doing strength training workouts. Eventually, she was cleared to start running this spring. And then she kicked ass! She worked her way up from 5ks to 10ks to ultimately half marathons, winning age group medals along the way. She didn't let her injury stop her from doing what she loves. She spent hours/weeks/months healing her body so she could go on. She didn't let her injury stop her and she didn't let those who said "Why would you run again after it broke your hip?" influence her. She kept going and realized she had to live her life by her loves. She is incredible and I admire her dedication to her passion. She is the best role model for running I know.

If you could sum up this year in a couple of words, what would they be: Break throughs and reconsidering life

How about you? What would you say? How was your year?

Post- Spartan Sprint

After the race, I took stock of how the body responded to the race.  Overall, I was feeling good.  Legs weren't too bad, the arms weren't too wobbly.  Though, as time moved forward I found all sorts of interesting injuries.

The biggest one occurred on this obstacle

You might remember I slipped on this incline and cut my finger.  I somehow ran it down the rope as I slid down.  I've tried to remember how it happened, but I guess the brain was too concerned with not falling off the wall than knowing how I injured myself.  Isn't it pretty?

Sorry, some of the band aid put on at the med tent wouldn't come off

That sucker hurts!  It is totally swollen and painful.  I'm just letting it do it's thing, but you'd think by now that the swelling would have gone down...

But wait!  That's not all.  I have some nice bruises and scrapes on my elbows and knees.  I also have some bruises in places that I'm not photographing.  

 My left elbow took a beating! And apparently, I use my forearm all the time to open the driver's side door when I drive.  Can I tell you how painful that has been this week?

Right arm. Not as bad.  More scrapes than bruising on this arm.  Not the most pleasant, but it hasn't really bugged me too much.

Left knee.  It isn't too bad, but the bruising above the knee cap is worse than the knee cap itself.  It hasn't been too bad.  And it's been healing quickly.  Happy about that.

Right knee.  More bruising and scrapes than the left.  Odd.  The purple mark in the middle of the knee is not from Spartan Race.  I've had that scar since high school.  LOL!  

What I'm thrilled about is that the race didn't bother my back.  Phew!  I was a little nervous about that, especially at the slip and slide.  But, I managed the whole race without aggravating it.  That's a win right there!  

Hopefully the random assortment of injuries I've acquired heal quickly.  Though, I really just want the darn finger to heal.  It HURTS!

PA Spartan Sprint - Race Review

Alright.  Race review time.  What did I think of the PA Spartan Sprint?  Good question.  In no particular order:

1. The race is billed as a 3+ mile race.  Ok.  I anticipated a 3 to 3.5 mile race.  Then the week before we were told it was going to be 5 miles.  Oooookayyyyyy.  And then rumors swirled that it was designed to be a mini-Beast - the second hardest obstacle course they run.  Ummm...what happened to being accessible to the uninitiated?  I wasn't thrilled about all the changes at the last minute.

2. Runners say that good runners, people who love running are open to all levels of runners and encourage them to go out there and try.  I have never felt a more encouraging group of people than I did at this race.  I'm dead serious.  As you saw in my race report, the volunteers on the course were really helpful in giving you hints on the obstacles or helping you do them.  For me, it was the walls. 

And fellow participants were just as open to helping and encouraging you!  I had help at the second set of walls by a gentleman who just came up out of nowhere to help the volunteer get me over the wall.  As soon as I was over, so was he and off he went.  I never got to thank him.  And then, when we got to the rope wall, everyone helped everyone else by holding the rope wall taught so it was easier to climb.  The lady and gentleman that held it for me didn't complain when I freaked out at the top and stopped for a full 2ish minutes.  Thank you to you as well!

3. As much as I hated several obstacles, there were many I thought were fun.  I loved a lot of the rope ones - rope up the mountain, rope wall, cement pulley, cement block pull, rock carry, barbed wire crawl, slip and slide (sorry hubby!), tire flip.  These were great!  I even liked the walls, though I needed help.  I didn't even think I could get over them with help!  It really did give me a sense of accomplishment when I crossed the line knowing I conquered quite a few of the obstacles along the way.

4. This is going to sound odd and maybe it's from my years of regular ole road races, but there was only 1 bathroom on this 5 mile course.  There was one port-a-pottie that I saw and I believe it was somewhere around mile 3.5.  Ummm...really?  I'll admit right here I started this race out totally dehydrated.  I did that on purpose.  I had no idea the bathroom situation.  And in one sense, I'm glad I did that.  As a woman it's not as easy to just quickly go to the bathroom.  Sure the race tips strongly in favor of the boys, but come on!  There are women in the race!

5. The finish area.  This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine.  I am a slow runner in general and I'm ok with that.  I'm used to finishing off a race and not having many spectators around, but the end of the Spartan Sprint was horrendous.  We crossed the finish line and while I didn't care that there weren't many people around, I was upset that all the food areas had closed, the merchandise tent had closed, it was dark (very little lighting in the festival area), and no beer for purchase (I didn't want more than my free one, but it's the principle).  I paid my registration fee.  I completed the race.  It took me 5+ hours to do it, meaning A MILE AN HOUR.  I think I deserve to have the same finish line experience as those who finished earlier in the day. 

6. And speaking of finishing...turns out I have no official race time.  I checked the results page and I'm not listed...and neither is hubby.  So, it's like we went through hell and it's not even recorded.  Sure, I have my medal and t-shirt (which you do not receive until you finish the race), but I would have liked to know how long it took me to go through the course.  I'm pretty ticked about that.

Overall, I'm a little more dissatisfied with the experience than I thought I would be.  They say the last thing you experience will color your opinion of something and that is definitely true in this case.  Having no chip time recorded and the festival village basically closed when we finally finished really puts a bad taste in your mouth.  I'm not sure I would do another one.  I'm proud of what I accomplished, but it might be a bucket list type thing.  Don't hold me to that...I'm a girl and prone to changing my mind.  But, right now, I'll admit I'm glad that the only races I have on the radar are road races...a possible 5k at the end of the month, one in August, the anticipated Sasquatch race in September, and then the Atlantic City Half Marathon in October.

Spartan Sprint PA - Race Report

Here it is.  The long awaited (right???) race report of the Spartan Sprint.  It was honestly the hardest thing I have ever done physically.  I'll be honest.  Before the race started, as we stood waiting for our wave to go off, I was crying.  I was that scared.  But, I'll get to that in a moment.  I'm going to start at the beginning and go from there.

Hubby and I hit the road about 11:00 a.m.  I was thrilled our start time was later since it was a 2.5 hour drive to Palmerton and I'm not a morning person.  We hit no traffic, no delays, and even had a bathroom stop and made it on time to the parking area at 1:30 p.m.  We lucked out in that parking was right at the village/registration area.  We parked the car and headed off to get our stuff.  We got what we needed, then got back to the car to pin our bibs and write our race numbers on ourselves.

I was really thrilled that the temperatures were decent Saturday.  It's been insanely hot lately and I wasn't sure if we were going to be in for another 90+ day.  We weren't.  It was mid-80s, I think.  It was best when the sun went behind the clouds, but overall we sure could have had a worse day.  Which I believe Sunday was.  It sure was hotter at home Sunday than it was Saturday!

We waited a bit for the rest of our team, as we were members of the For The Love Of The Run team.  They got there a bit later than us, but no biggie.  While they were getting ready we kept watching the hill.  From the parking lot this is what we saw

To the far upper right you can see the top of the mountain.  We could see people walking up there, but we had no idea what they were doing.  I think if I knew in the parking lot, I might have bailed.  But, I didn't and we headed off to the start line.  We grabbed all our team members together and got a before picture

We walked over to the start line and waited.  As we got close to 3:30 p.m. (our start time), we learned about Chris Davis (not unmarried me or the Orioles outfielder) and his training to run the Spartan Beast in the fall.  Dude looks good for having lost all that weight!  Then the Spartan came out onto the platform and tried to get us all riled up and ready.  All it did was make me cry.  Yes.  I kept tearing up because I was so scared.  I don't think anybody saw, but man was I terrified.  They cued up the Dropkick Murphy's Shipping Off to Boston (why?  This was totally un-Spartanesque to me.  Couldn't they have used something from the movie 300?) and then we were off.

We headed up a fairly steep hill and through some overhead water sprayers.  Not really sure the point of those to be honest.  It did feel nice...  And then we headed into the woods for a nice uphill climb.  For me, there was no running now.  It was trail climbing at it's worst and just walk up the hill without killing myself.  We lost our team about this time as they are in better shape and can handle hills better.  I'm glad they went on because we knew we couldn't hang.  And it was ok.  No hard feelings at all.  Each person has to run their own race.

We got up the hill, then turned sideways across the mountain, and back into some woods.  It was nice to be out of the sun.  At one point as we criss-crossed the mountain, someone on the ski lift yelled our encouraging words.  We chatted and they asked how long we had been out.  I said four hours.  They were shocked and said No!  I told them 3:30 p.m. and they said we were doing fine.

After our chat we went back into the woods and headed down.  Yea!  It was pretty treacherous at this point as there were lots of trees down and across the path.  I recently learned a woman fractured her leg around this area tripping over the tree branches.  I'm glad I didn't know this.

When we came out of here, we met our first obstacle - a set of walls to go over, under and through.  I freaked at going over the first wall and anticipated burpees, but the volunteer helped me get over the first one and I got under the next wall, through the window wall, and finished the rest of the obstacle no problem!  I was shocked.  I didn't think I could get over the wall.  The other two things were easy though.

I believe the next obstacle, though I'll be honest, these may not be 100% in order, was the climb up a steep incline with a rope.  It was FUN!  This may have been my favorite of all the obstacles.

 Photo taken from the Spartan Race Facebook page

Sometime shortly after this we came to the rope climb.  I knew going in I couldn't manage this obstacle.  What do you think?

Photo taken from the Spartan Race Facebook page

I tried the rope on the far right on the photo.  The one next to the wall.  It didn't go well.  I couldn't get my feet around the knot on the bottom of the rope, which was in the water.  Hubby and I missed it and ended up with burpees.  Fun times.

We finished those up and came around a corner to water.  Glorious water.  So excited for water.  I drank 2.5 cups of water.  Hubby thought drinking too much would make him sick, but I was all for the water.  LOL!  We headed off and I think his was the next obstacle

Photo taken from the Spartan Race Facebook page

I have no upper body strength for stuff  like this.  I anticipated burpees.  I also had no idea how to get my butt over it.  The male volunteer came over and explained how we could do it and helped boost me over the first one.  I was shocked.  Then I tried twice to get over the second wall and nothing.  I started to walk to the side to do my burpees when the male volunteer came over and said you're not doing burpees on my watch!  And just as he went to help boost me a gentleman in a blue shirt ran over and looked at the volunteer saying, "We're helping her over the wall?"  And they both boosted me over the wall.  Thank you whoever you were sir.  I wouldn't have gotten over it without you!  I shook hands with the volunteer and headed off to the next challenge.

Which I thought was fairly easy. Someone noted it might have been stolen from the Spartan Beast races.  I thought it was awkward, but not hard.  Basically, you fill a bucket halfway (girl) or 3/4 (boy) and take it around a loop.  

Taken from Spartan Race Facebook page

Then it was up another rope hill and back into the woods to wander the trails.  Uphill.  And when we came out of the woods, it was uphill.  Like ridiculously uphill. I lost all sorts of time on this part of the race.  I walked about 10-12 feet, stopped for a rest.  Walked 10-12 steps, stopped for a rest.  It was awful.  And we were all struggling.  When we hit a flat bit there was a spectator waiting for friends.  He told us at that point it was 5:15 p.m.  I had thoughts of actually being finished at 5:30 p.m.  Wow.  

We wandered back into the woods and hit the rope wall climb.  We had kinda practiced this at the local park on a metal "net."  I knew we could do this.  And it was amazing.  The people who climbed before you stayed to pull the wall taught to make it easier to climb over.  Thank you to the lady and gentleman who held for me and didn't kill me when I freaked at the top about going over the top.

 Photo taken from Spartan Race Facebook page

I think it was around this point we finally reached the peak of the mountain.  We were told there was water waiting for us...after the next two obstacles.  Ugh.  The first one was the pancake carry.  This is the obstacle that everyone says was the worst.  Uhhh, yea.  Apparently both the up and downhill portions of this obstacle were on a double diamond ski slope

These trails are even more difficult than Black Diamond, due to exceptionally steep slopes and other hazards such as narrow trails, exposure to wind, and the presence of obstacles such as steep drop-offs or trees. They are intended only for the most experienced skiers.

The pancake carry had the women taking 20 pound "pancakes" and the men 40 pounders, down Nightmare, around a curve and then up Razor's Edge.  The downhill was fine.  I could have run that area.  The up hill was diabolical.

 Photo taken from Phl17's website

It was insane.  You would walk a few feet and just collapse on the ground.  I decided sitting on my pancake during these stops were a good idea.  It was nice to sit on something soft.  And it was here that I saw I was not the only one struggling.  Men in peak physical conditioning were panting and stopping.  We were all equals on this obstacle.  Get up it anyway you could.  We estimate it took us anywhere from 30-45 minutes  just on the uphill of this.  Hubby made the summit before me, but not too much before. 

Then it was off to the monkey bars.  Yea, no.  We were told all you had to do was touch the last bar with your foot and you were good.  Hubby didn't think he could make it across and then he did.  He got across all of the monkey bars, then hit the foot bar, and fell.  The volunteer saw it and told him 30 burpees.  He cursed her out.  And rightfully so in my opinion.  I didn't bother trying.  30 burpees were easier at this point.

Photo taken from Phl17's website

And then it was glorious water.  I had another 2.5 cups of it.  It was the best hot water I have ever had.  Delicious.  We took a few minute break here and then moved onto the next obstacle - the weight pulley.  Loved this one!  Totally easy in my opinion.  Not sure the weight, but I had no troubles with it.

Photo taken from Spartan Race Facebook page

And now we were on the downhill.  It was rough.  Very steep and at times we actually crawled down because it was easier.  I really liked this part.  I know that sounds weird, but I felt much more comfortable on it.  

We came out of the woods to see tall walls again.  Much taller than any of the ones before. We figure they might have been 8-10 feet each.  I knew burpees were in my future.  Then I watched people find a way to climb the wall.  And with the help of the female volunteer and hubby I got across the first one!  The second wall was taller and again, I wasn't thinking I was getting over it.  Hubby went first using two boards nailed horizontally on the wall.  Then I saw if you used a cross-bar on the end used to keep the wall up you could get over it.  So, hubby tried it.  Then another racer tried it.  And then I did.  And got over!  Amazing to me!!  We high-fived and headed back into the woods.  See a pattern?

When we came out of the woods this time, it was time to do the balance pillars.  I had a feeling this would be easy.  I thought I would be fine and move on.  

Photo taken from Spartan Race Facebook page

And no.  I tried.  Barely touched the second pillar and fell off.  Ugh.  If you were tall, this would be an easy obstacle.  Shorter?  Then you needed balance.  Apparently I didn't have it.  I did burpees.  Bah!

Back into the woods again.  The trail wasn't well marked, but we found our way to the mud pits.  Basically, you have mud hills with big mud pits in-between.  It wasn't hard at all.  Though I did hear that earlier in the day, the volunteers were shooting people with power hoses.

Photo taken from Spartan Race Facebook page

We got through this one fairly easily and moved on.  Then we came to the obstacle hubby had been waiting all day for - the slip and slide.  It seemed pretty straight forward.  Slide down a white thick plastic sheet into the lake, then walk through it going under three sets of barrels before getting out.  We were told to take a fast running start, jump onto the slide and just have fun.  Hubby went first and when he hit the bottom, I could see he hit something.  What, I didn't know. Two other racers came by and went down before me.  Then I hit the left one, ran up, jump onto it, and down I went.  Hit the water, hydroplaned into the deeper water and got up.  I looked over and hubby was hurting.  He was off the course on the shore with an EMT.

I gave hubby the option of bailing, but he said no.  Onward and upward.  We kept going.  We came out of the water, up the hill, and onto the next obstacle almost immediately.  This time, we were given a 30 pound cement weight with a chain wrapped around it.  You took the chain, dragged the weight down a hill, through a small bit of pond, then up a hill.  Oh fun.  It honestly wasn't too bad overall.  Awkward, but not bad.

We did it and then off to the next obstacle - the barbed wire crawl.  I had been looking forward to this one!  I don't know why, but I thought it would be a cool obstacle.  And I had no problems with it.  I did get stuck behind a woman who would roll a few feet, then stop.  It was frustrating.  Finally, she let me pass her and I got moving.  Hubby helped me over the 4' hurdle between the two barbed wire areas, then it was off to the last 100 feet to successfully get through it.  

Photo taken from Spartan Race Facebook page

Just a few feet away was the next obstacle, the tire flip.  I felt bad for hubby.  My tire was a joke.  Flipped it without a struggle at all.  He tried flipping his and nothing.  Down he went for 30 burpees.  The volunteer said he did the course earlier in the day and thought the male tire weighed between 200-250 pounds.  Ugh.

Photo taken from Spartan Race Facebook page

 Photo taken from Spartan Race Facebook page

From here, there weren't too many more obstacles.  It was getting dark and we were getting tired.  The next one we came to was the traverse wall.  I had thoughts of being able to do this one, but no go.  For either of us.  30 burpees.

Photo taken from Spartan Race Facebook page

We went down the hill and came to the javelin throw.  Ugh.  I had high hopes here too.  And again a no go.  As I let go of my javelin, the back of it hit my back and it went about 5 feet.  Talk about embarrassing.  Bah!  30 more burpees.  Total of 150 for me.

Two more obstacles to go.  First one is the water wall with ropes.  This one you walk through a mud pit, climb up an incline wall using a rope while volunteers shoot a fire house at you.  I was scared and didn't think I could do it.

I made it up to the top, then realized the rope was around my left ankle.  Ugh.  Got it away without falling, then slipped when trying to get my right foot over the top.  I slid down the rope, slicing the nail bed of my right middle finger.  I stopped myself just before the pit and looked at the volunteer.  She said she wasn't going to make me do burpees, try again.  With my finger bleeding, I climbed the rope again.  Hubby was at the top, waiting to help me.  We got me over this time (thank God!) and down the other side.  

All that was left was the fire pit.  I had looked forward to this too.  It was slightly disappointing as it was really small, but it was still kinda fun.  We got over the fire and off to the gladiators who were supposed to give us a hard time.  They were kinda lazy and barely tapped us as we crossed their paths.  

And we were DONE!  Over the finish line and having our medals, t-shirt, and a banana handed to us.  It was a crazy feeling knowing we had conquered the race.  I asked the volunteer where the med tent was.  I wanted that sliced finger checked out since I was covered in mud and wanted it professionally cleaned.  

After cleaning and band-aid, we got rinsed off (not cleaned!), grabbed our free beer and chilled.  It was insane.  We figure it took us about 5 hours to finish it.  I don't know the official time because we are not listed on the race results pages.  Not happy about that.

We headed home, stopped at Red Robin for dinner, and made it back home about 1:00 a.m.  Insane!  Stay tuned for my actual thoughts on the race.

Oh yes.  I finished the Spartan Race.  It took about 5 hours.  It was uphill for more miles than I would like to count.  There were multiple obstacles, some fun some brutal.  I would never have completed this race without my hubby who stayed by my side the whole race. I offered him the chance to go ahead, but he declined.  He sometimes finished an obstacle before me, but he always waited for me.

I will say that several years ago I could not have completed this race.  I honestly couldn't have gotten up the hills.  I would have died.  I wouldn't have had the mental capacity to see it through.  I would have thrown in the towel and been the .01% of people who do not complete it.  Just 6 months ago I wouldn't have been able to do many of the upper body obstacles I did do - climb a rope up the mountain; pull a 30 pound cement block by a chain down a hill, through water, and back again; using a rope, lift a 30ish pound weight straight up in the air and put it down; climb up an inclined wall by rope with someone spraying a fire house at you.  I know I am in the best shape of my life.  But, I also know I am still woefully overweight and under trained.  If nothing else, Spartan Race gave me a measure of where I am.

I will do a race review.  It's going to take awhile to get it together.  It was a long race.  Check out For The Love Of The Run's review here.  She doesn't talk too much about the course itself or the obstacles, but the mental thought process.  It's a good review and she makes multiple points that I agree with.

Think of me fondly

Yea.  This is today.  At 3:30 p.m.  Our race is 5 miles. 

 The course is around 5.0 miles of hills. This is our hardest sprint race because of how steep and treacherous the terrain is. It’s harder and longer than last year.

Yea, it was nice knowing you.  Thanks for being such great blog followers.  If I somehow manage to survive, I will post all about our adventures.  Until we meet again...