Spartan Sprint Race Recap

I never had any intention of running the Spartan Sprint this year as I am already signed up for the Spartan Super in Red Deer in September and I didn't know anyone who was running the race in Calgary. But then I attended the Spartan Race Workout Tour a few weeks ago, and I started thinking maybe the sprint would be good "training" for the super. The sprint also happened to fall on the weekend my sister would be visiting me and it's always been my dream to do an obstacle course race with her. It just seemed like it was meant to be. And then to sweeten the deal even more, Jen and Laura were kind and generous enough to gift us their extra race entries that they weren't able to use. Laura was running the race on Sunday too, but we ran in different heats which didn't allow us to meet up afterwards.

Friday night and all day Saturday, it poured rain in Calgary. And the temperatures from the hot week we had plummeted drastically. We were scheduled to run on Sunday and we crossed our fingers all day Saturday that the rain would stop and the weather would improve. When we woke up on Sunday, the rain had finally stopped, and although the sun was out, it was still pretty chilly.

We were scheduled to run at 10:30 and left the house at 9 a.m. so that we would have ample time to park and check our bags. We had an hour to spare once we arrived which was plenty of time. We had picked up our race packages the day before and applied our bib number tattoos to our arms before we left the house. It wasn't nearly as busy on the grounds as I expected and we were even able to watch the 10 a.m. heat start. McDonald's was on site with free coffee and while I don't usually drink coffee before a race, we gladly accepted one just to warm ourselves up! We checked our bags at the last possible minute so that we could keep our sweaters on as long as we could.

 

{"before"} 

I'm not going to lie, I was getting pretty nervous watching the competitors around the course. It was muddy as hell out there and I was so worried about being cold. But once we started running, I quickly realized that the temperature was perfect for running in. Not too hot, and not too cold. In fact, the watery-mud pits were almost refreshing! There wasn't actually a lot of running involved, or at least, not as much as I had anticipated. The paths and trails in between the obstacles were complete mud trenches and you really had to focus on where you were placing your feet. The first part of the course weaves up and down a big hill. We would half-sprint up the hills using our toes to catch grip, and then slide halfway down the next part of the hill on our bums to help eliminate bailing. It was pretty fun, but also a little nerve-wracking!

The obstacles were tough. I have weak arms, and the majority of them require a strong upper body. On the first wall we had to scale, I slipped lowering myself down on the other side and hit the top of my arm on it. I am now sporting the biggest, ugliest bruise ever! There were some obstacles we didn't even attempt, choosing to do burpees instead. Obstacles like the rope climb (why even bother - we knew we couldn't have done it even if the ropes had been dry), the spear throw (the line-up was way too long), and the monkey bars (ya right!). I tried to do the monkey bars at the park before the race and I couldn't even do one! Oh, childhood Brie, you were so much stronger, ha ha!

 

{photos ℅ spartan race canada} 

In the days leading up to the race, I was terrified of the number of burpees I would most likely have to do. I knew from the Spartan Race Workout Tour that I couldn't do thirty burpees in a row without wanting to die, so I wasn't sure how I was going to survive them at the race. Luckily, the course marshals weren't paying very close attention and some even told us to just do "10" or "15". We basically did as many as we could and then moved on.

I think the biggest thing that surprised me about the race was how friendly the other competitors were. I was expecting everyone else that was there to be super competitive in a "get out of my way!" way. But from the moment we lined up, people were so nice. We were cracking jokes with other racers all throughout the course and random people offered to help us at every obstacle. I love when there's camaraderie at an event like this. It makes you feel like you're all in it together like one big team.

We were by no means running this race to achieve a certain finishing time. I figured it would take us about an hour, give or take, but due to the mud, we officially crossed the finish line at 1:48:59, which didn't surprise us at all! It felt like we had been out there forever! It was so incredibly awesome to cross the finish line with my sister. She has never ever ran any type of race before (despite her very active lifestyle), so it was honour to be a part of her first event!

One of my biggest fears about running the Spartan Sprint was that it would scare me off from the Spartan Super I'm signed up for next month. But it did quite the opposite. Yes, I'm still trying to figure out how in the world I'm physically going to complete an obstacle course race that is more than double this one, but I'm really excited to push myself further than I've ever pushed myself before, and I'm also really looking forward to doing the Super Spartan with an awesome group of women! If you've never ran an obstacle course race before, Laura wrote a great post on how to prepare for your first one, but most importantly, don't be afraid! I promise you will have a great time!

Do you run obstacle course races? 

Have you ran a Spartan race before?