May 5, 2012 - Ft. Carson, CO - zero hour…

The time had come to run the first of what I imagine will be a long list of real obstacle races over the next, oh I don’t know, 50 years or so.  I had very little idea of what to expect.  Kimberly, my girlfriend, was asking people around us how it was.  They were kind of psyching her out, telling her the race would take upwards of 3 hours to complete.  I said, no way.  Yes, there were a lot of unknown obstacle in this race, since it was not a typical Spartan Race Sprint, but still, there is no way it would take a person in even reasonable shape that long to make it through 4-5 miles of obstacles. 

So, we lined up with 300 of our closest friends.  Screamed “We are Sparta” a few times while a dude dressed as a Spartan spurred us on…and then…we were off - through a cloud of smoke running toward who knows what…

An hour and a half later, Kimberly and I looked back on the course and stood kind of in awe.  I was right, we would have had to crawl for that race to take anywhere near 3 hours, but we just completed a CRAZY race!  We sat and tried to recap all the obstacles, and count them.  I think we came up with around 28, but I bet we missed some.  I’ll try to list them here.

1. Mud pits - 3 of them, about 4’ wide.  Just wide enough that you really had to jump, or you were getting muddy right off the bat.  The poor girl next to me hit the far wall of the first pit like a fly on a windshield.

2. Mosquito netting crawls - I think about 4 of these short a-frame structures with mosquito netting draped over them that we crawled under - had to grab it in bunches or it stretched way out kind of trapping you.

3. Ruck-Sack march - I’m sure the guys’ ruck sacks were at least 70#.  We did about a 1/4 mile march uphill and 1/4 steep downhill.  It was rough, but all I could think about was the army guys who did this stuff for MILES.  Didn’t complain.

4. Post walks - various height 6” diameter posts in the ground - you had to walk/run across them without falling off - probably 20 of them

5. 2 wall jumps - 6’ and 8’

6. Tire Flip - Flip a giant tractor tire - with wheel intact - over once and back to the same spot so an orange block on the ground showed through the rim hole.

7. Slippery wall with rope - 45 degree or more climb up a slick wall with a rope to assist.

8. Grenade toss - 10’ grenade toss into a 50 gallon drum (my first set of 30 burpees for missing)

9. Rope climb out of a mud pit - the rope had knots in it, which you’d think would make it easier but it was so dang slick, I did the burpees. 

10. DEEP mud pits - 3 - getting out was a serious challenge as the walls were pretty sheer.

11. Mud crawl under barbed wire with a M-16 in hand.  3 sections with hay bale obstacles in between for a total of at least 100 yards of crawling.  Fortunately someone told us before the race to roll, so we blew through this about as fast as you can.  Kimberly claims this was her favorite obstacle.  Oh, and the rifles got REALLY heavy with mud.

12. Sandbag carry up a REALLY steep hill and back down.  I’d guess the guys’ sandbags were 30# maybe, not bad and I got kind of a loose one so it would sit across the back of my neck -cruised up this and down not having to hold the bag in place.

13. Cement block drag - drag a chain hooked to a cement block up a hill and back down.  Maybe 100 yards total.  Block was probably 40#

14. Tall wall climbs 8’ and 10’

15. Monkey bars - 20’ or so hand over hand

16. Over, Under, Through walls; 5’ over, roll under, jump through - 3 each.

17. Muddy river run 100 yards

18. Mud wall climb - 20’ out of the river

19. Over-Under A-frame - 4x4’s spaced every 24” or so going up about 8’ and then back down.  The process was basically sit on the first 4x4 then swing under the second, without touching the ground, pull yourself back up on top of the 3rd 4x4 and monkey swing under the 4th, etc. up over the top and back down the other side.  Tore me up! (there was another way to just climb up and over like a ladder, but that was not the Spartan way.  Any guys who went that route need to turn in their dude cards.)

20. Thick, nasty, black swamp mud - amazing I didn’t lose a shoe!  At least it didn’t stink.

21. Spear throw - 15’ into a hay bale, I missed high - 30 more burpees

22. Stand up 200m row - getting balance and squatting to get that full pull was the secret here.

23. Bucket Pull - 20’ pulley set up with a 50# bucket pulled hand over hand to the top and then controlled down.

24. Mud trench crawl - 50 yards of water and mud filled trench under camo netting, could not get up and walk, had to “swim” crawl.

25. Peg Wall - wooden blocks for hand holds and foot holds to traverse a wall about 20’ long - line was too long for this as it was very slow so I did the burpees

26. Fire jump

27. 20’ Cargo net climb and descent

28. Pugil stick smash - four guys crush you with pugil sticks before you finish.

I’m pretty sure I’m missing some obstacles, so feel free to comment and let me know.  Regardless, this was a crazy fun race.  I felt good, Kimberly was amazing and finished first in her age group and 4th woman overall in our heat and as I mentioned, didn’t take anywhere near 3 hours to finish - 1:32 I believe - total beast mode!  She credited her excellent result to doing Crossfit 5 days a week, and I agree!  The people who Crossfit or of the daily Spartan WODs are going to have a distinct advantage over just runners or weight-lifters.  Being able to string together the various challenges with running, as you do every day in Crossfit, was a big help!  She goes to Crossfit Timpanogos in Lehi, UT and I go to Crossfit Draper in Draper, UT.

Our heat was at 1:30, the day was KIND of hot but not too bad.  We both got way bad dry mouth after the mud crawl, but they did have a water station right after that, so that helped a TON.  I was rejuvenated for sure.  We both wore weight-lifting style gloves, but ditched them at the monkey bars, they just got too muddy.  I’d say you don’t need them at all.  I’d say they hindered the rope climb too.  Anyway, when we got done, there were things to do but it was so dry and dusty, we just took a few pictures, got cleaned up a little and busted out.  Then we went to see Avengers - killer movie :-D

I would totally recommend Spartan Races to anyone who wants to accomplish something a little crazy and a lot challenging.  This is no Dirty Dash, this is a serious race and you better be ready and good at burpees.  :-)  For a list of races simply go to www.spartanrace.com and look under events.  Hope to see you at the Utah Beast on June 30!  1/2 marathon with obstacles?  Crazy!!!   Aroo!!!

This is from my friend (who happens to be my boss at work as well) Cy Waldron who tried out the Sole Spikes over the last week:

Ryan,

Thanks for the Goat Head Sole Spikes.  I have now finished my 3rd run and have ran over 22 miles on the Goat Heads.  I have used them on dry trails and Yesterday I ran 8 miles in the snow.  They have worked flawlessly.  I am a huge fan of them.  Thanks again for turning me onto them, 

Regards,

Cy

Cy isn’t much of a writer, but he also mentioned he really liked how the spikes were so easy to install and after 22 miles of running on them they haven’t even loosened up at all.  Additionally he mentioned to me he liked the additional traction going down hills, he felt more confident once he realized the extra bite he got from the spikes.

He did say to NOT wear the spikes into Walmart as he almost slipped and ate it on the tile floors :-D

**This review is actually from Marcee Christian, a local Utah County Ultra-marathoner/Trail runner/Crossfit athlete extraordinaire!  These are her words unedited:

“I have had an opportunity to use this product on a few of my recent trail runs. I enjoy getting up in the mountains as much as possible and felt like the snow spikes were a hassle free, light weight, easy to use option. They increased my ability to travel across the snow without slipping while increasing my feeling of being secure. I liked that I didn’t feel weighted down and also noticed that whether I was in snow or on a patch of trail, I couldn’t feel the spikes underneath me. They didn’t get caked with mud either. I would definately recommend these to my trail running friends. 

My past experience with running on trails during the winter season has included using devices such as Yak Traks which are always inconvenient to carry and a pain to put on. They also required that you take them on or off depending on the amount of snow or lack of snow that is on the trail. They get all clogged up with mud too.. I think these would be much better in a race, unless the terrain is really steep.. Then I might have to resort to the Yak Tracks.”

For more info or to order go to www.solespikes.com