May 2019 Race #2 - Obstacle Course Event

The second event of my 3 consecutive races over three weeks is my “A race”  — an  obstacle course race encompassing  25 obstacles over 13 kilometers on a relatively runnable course (versus the earlier obstacle event). 

This is my third obstacle course race, and I am determined to improve on earlier efforts.  

Unfortunately I don’t get off to a flying start — as you can see here I am a bit boxed in and unable to take advantage of the early runnable section of course.  

I come off the first few obstacles gasping and struggling to get back into a running rhythm.  Things improve as I conquer the plate pull, the Hercules hoist and the Olympus -- obstacles I struggled with in my previous events.  I overtake numerous “gym rats” on some long, flat sections of the course and am feeling pretty chuffed.  

However the long bucket brigade takes a toll on my forearms, not to mention the general fatigue of constantly needing to surge and summon "explosive strength" to get over the obstacles, and toward the final third of the race I find myself trudging behind some slower runners on some narrow twisting climbs.  Then I am completely flummoxed by the Twister obstacle  -- which I have obsessed over in the weeks since the event.  

Every other Spartan “warrior” seems to be holding hands and smiling for pictures as they hurdle over the fire jump photo-op at the course finish.  Not me - as I approach the final 500 meters I spot another old looking guy, and feel compelled to sprint until crossing the finish line.  

It turns out this guy was 10 years younger than me and like last September’s Spartan race, there are few other geriatric athletes competing - only 9 guys among the 500 age-group competitors are in my age division.  I manage to outrun all 9 of them and win the division by close to 30 minutes — my finishing time is roughly 1 hour and 36 minutes.  

You can see how jubilant I am to win the prize — a box of laundry detergent - a very suitable prize for after a muddy obstacle event…

…however my box of detergent is still serving as a trophy on a bookshelf.