Super Spartan Race 2011 Recap!

Aren't you all lucky ducks? 2 recaps in a row!?! What is this craziness!?

The day didn't start as early as I had imagined. Thankfully, Joann lives pretty darn close to Rawhide (this cute western town with a steakhouse, but it's twice as big as Pinnacle Peak/Trail Dust Town for you Tucson townies). So we woke up a little later than usual (I ♥ sleeping in).

We got to Rawhide and wandered through the town to the start line/to find the group Joann signed up with. We walked past one of the obstacles. It was a wall with little planks of wood nailed on to it. Very intimidating. I was only a little worried at that point. Then, we walked past a dry wash with stacks of Duraflame lined up neatly. I asked Joann what the Duraflame was for. And then...oh. 

We finally found our group, put our stuff in a car and got pumped. Joann and I wrote our numbers on each others arms. We walked around to see some free samples we could score. I grabbed a free 5 Hour Energy for later. 

Then we saw this wall. We joined in and wrote our names on it.

Then, it was time to start the race! I made a poor decision and downed the 5 Hour Energy before our wave was about to start. So. Freaking. Gross. I had this cough medicine taste in my mouth for quite awhile.

People started to move. Then some broke into a run and then there was smoke. Everywhere. Apparently, being a Spartan means you have to run though a cloud of smoke. And I'm not talking bearable smoke here. It was so hard to breathe. I already have a lot of trouble with cigarette smoke. This was awful.

Here, we think, is Joann and I. She found this on a website covering the race. You can sort of see my orange shirt, black pants, maybe? And Joann is to my left? Tell me what you think. Anyway, this was the smoke. 

Next, we ran over some hay steps. Not too bad, I'm thinking. But after we rounded a building we saw more smoke. Uh-oh. We rounded the corner and realized we're going to jump the fire NOW! Holy Crap!

That was one of the scariest things I have ever experienced. Seriously. That fire looks small. But when you face it head on, it's a HUGE WALL OF FIRE. For a split second, I told myself I couldn't do it. But then realized the men with the fire hoses wouldn't let me catch fire and die. 

We jumped, survived, then almost was knocked over by the intense pressure of the hoses. We ran though a tunnel, and along a path for a while. I was doing good, until I saw the water. As in "river" water (man made).

It was a big man made river! It felt like it took forever to cross it. And it was cold. The cold knocked it out of me. My shoes were weighing me down. So were my shorts. Good thing I told Joann not to wear pants this morning, I was thinking. Finally, we made it across, but we had to walk because the cold was so shocking. Finally, we got our groove back...for a little while. Then we saw we have to cross the river again.

We ran for awhile on a small desert trail. People were starting to break up and it gave us a little more room to run. I really like when that happens. :) Got some water (finally). Seriously. If it's one thing this race needed more of, it was water. You know, to drink. Not to swim through, there was enough of that.  I may have to suggest that. I know, I know, it's not very Spartan of me...

From that, we did some more crazy stuff.
We ran though a very small tarp covered river, through tunnels, and then crawled though a mud pit with barbed wire. Fun. NOT. Look at my face. It tells all. That was not nice mud either. It was rough, rocky, hard, not fun mud! I'm pretty sure I got a mud burn. 

After that, we climbed some walls, jumped through tires, and pulled some cinder blocks. Yup. Sure did. Just before that we had the option of solving a 4-square Rubik's cube or 30 push-ups. Guess who did the push-ups as soon as she heard she had to solve that hellacious thing. ME. I will not deny it. 

We ran some more, almost died of thirst. We had to climb a very tall wall. Painful. Ran some more. Almost died of thirst...again. Finally, we neared the little town of Rawhide. We had to cross the cold, little river again (but this time it felt amazing!) and climb a slippery wall. I think this obstacle is where I got an ugly bruise on my leg.

Yay! Finally a battle scar. Can you believe I have never gotten a bruise, scratch, black toenail, etc from a race? But now. It's all changing. I'm actually proud of myself. 

We got to Rawride, ran though the town, reached the walls we had to climb across (if you fall you have to do 30 burpees!). So tired at this point. Then we had to throw a spear at a target. But I missed so I did 50 push-ups. Yay push-ups. We had one more mud pit to cross and we were done! Of course, we had to get past the gladiators first. 

Thankfully, I got past them without being knocked over and finished! 

Not sure about my time yet, but when I do find out I will update. 

We both got our medals, and used our meal ticket to get our burgers and beer/soda. LOVE that we get food after. Every race should do that. No matter the distance. 

You can check out some awesome photos of my sister from this race HERE. (her blog)

Hope you enjoyed it! I loved the challenging aspects of this race. It really pushed me to try harder and go farther.  I also liked the fact we were in a team because yes, it was cheaper but I liked meeting the other people who ran as well. They had some good stories. And runners are usually awesome people. :)

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I have so many things to tell you about! I got new shoes, new medals, a new bike, new races in my future and I met a new group of people that I was welcomed into and would love to  get involved with! I'm so excited! You should be too. Also because I'm sort of close to my 100th post. That probably means a giveaway!! Get ready, it's approaching. :)