THE CRUCIBLE
So Today I wore the "new to me yet so last year" Brooks Pure Grit's. It's a semi minimalist trail shoe that I recently decided would be my "go to" for trail racing. I like that they have a modest heel stack height, paper thin mesh upper, flexibility, and most importantly protection from my sloppy gait. I find anything beyond 12 miles causes me to run like an unsure baby just learning to walk (stomping around and what not). The Brooks took good care of me in the Spartan Sprint this weekend, if only I could have changed out the dude wearing them.
Brooks Pure Grit $60.00 at EMS!
AMESBURY SPARTAN SPRINT 8-12-12
So Now that I am done voluntarily advertising for Brooks Running (As if anyone reads this shit), I'll tell all about the killer 22nd place performance on Monday. I decided after Tough Mudder Vermont I won't be entering any obstacle/adventure races unless to be competitive. This comes after standing in long lines of beer runners in Tough Mudder, Rugged Maniac, & Spartan Races. I hope it doesn't sound arrogant, because I understand that not everyone has a competitive drive, and paying customers are just that... paying customers. I signed up in November for the Sunday "Elite Heat". This Heat is the first group to toe the line so the course is completely clear. The Spartan Sprint may not be suited to my longer distance style, but I wanted to really do well to prove to myself that I deserve a shot at the Ultra in September. While waiting in the gates to take off I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow "Ultra Beaster" George, who like me wanted to be in the 40-45minute range. I promised to bullshit with him after and we took off running. The first 300ish yards were a relatively steep uphill. I really like to climb and have this terrific habit of burning myself out trying to gain position on starts like this one. At the Tough Mudder in May, I decided I was superman and climbed the first black diamond hill fast enough to wait 4 or 5 minutes, dying mind you, for Randall and Matt who were (at the time) 2nd and 3rd for the heat with nobody in sight. I have since learned that this does me NO good whatsoever, so I was Conservative for this race. I decided that the "follow the leader" approach would do me well at conserving energy and keeping the leaders within sight. One of the first obstacles were "over-under walls". Pushing shoulder to shoulder with the front of the pack, I caught my right shoulder on one of the "under walls" causing a fist sized bleeding scrape. "Great! first half mile and I'm already bleeding!" The next obstacle was weighted pulleys strung across the trees, in last years event my entire body weight wasn't enough to lift the weight off the ground so I was expecting to do my 30 burpees and move on. For whatever reason, I had no trouble this year and carried on with same pack. I lost the most time at an obstacle that was a lilly pad of logs about 5' apart stuck into the ground. The objective was to balance from log to log for about 75 yards. I fell off the first log and started my 30 burpees and watched the leaders disappear. The same thing would happen at the "wall traverse" (i made it the whole way and got overexcited and missed the bell at the end) and the "spear throw". After a total of 90 Burpees, a barbed wire cut (yeah another wound) and vomiting the contents of my stomach around the halfway point I crossed the line in 51:20 good enough for 22nd MALE (I got what's called "Spartan Chick'd, in the Barbed Wire by the eventual women's winner, and I have no shame in regards to it, especially after watching her DESTROY the tractor tire flip!)overall and 7th for 25-29 year olds.
Sad Face after a discouraging Finish
Yep.
ALL WAS NOT LOST...
Even though I wasn't happy about my lackluster performance I had a great time. I got to meet some awesome people, including a group of guys who jokingly made barf sounds when I caught back up and passed them...apparently they had witnessed my momentary step off the trail, and were extremely encouraging even as i was opening the gap between us. "We're gonna try and get you a trophy!" said one of them . At the start Chris Davis, the man who WAS 650+lbs before Joe Dessena and Spartan HQ got him into shape, gave a quick motivating speech about his battle with weight loss. Alisha was at the event and she spent the following hour or so trying to convince me i had done well. On top of her encouraging words she also served as a taxi driver, event photographer and my personal bag drop, luxuries that surely only I had!
BACK TO WORK!
My response to this rough day at the sports park was to, on the next day, put on my 20lb weighted vest and crank the incline up on the treadmill (on duty at work I usually can't stray far from the station so being a mouse on a wheel it is) and jog uphill for an hour. The rise/run calculation told me I had climbed in excess of 2,300'. Getting smoked in a game of volleyball on Tuesday would be my only workout, keeping in mind that I had planned to "go long" today. That's it for now.
I probably gained 4-5 spots on the final downhill this was the last Obstacle before the Finish
"Mr. Grumpypants"
Thanks for your help Alisha! here's a $6 Beer for your troubles!
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