by Tyler Movsessian
I have run two Spartan Races in the past
year. A Spartan Race is an intense military style endurance obstacle course
race which has mud, fire, and water. I have done the Killington and Fenway
races which were both the Spartan Sprint, the starter race for Spartan Races.
In the Killington Race the first mile was not too
bad at all, as we only had to jump over a few starter walls and there was a lot
of space to open up and run, which was a mistake as I failed to conserve my
energy for later parts of the race. Then we got to the foot of a ski slope
called the Devil’s Fiddle where we were required to climb from the bottom up to
the very top. I raced with a few of my dad’s workers but had passed them early
on. I looked behind me to see if they were close and all I saw were hundreds of
people slowly dragging up the mountain, like zombies.
After we had to go down
the mountain and threw the woods where we got to the second half of the course
where we encountered obstacle after obstacle. We had walls to jump over, monkey
bars, crawl through mud under barbed wire that was only about 9 inches from the
ground. All the competitors had to get covered in mud from head to toe, and
finish the race like that.
Then there was
the Hercules’ Hoist, where we had to lift up a 100 pound bucket of cement using
a rope and pulley system. I failed that obstacle as well as the spear throw,
where we were given a spear and had to hit a board with hay on it that was
about 20 yards away. Because of this I was required to do 60 burpees (30 at
each failed obstacle) before moving on. Then I had to traverse a rock climbing
wall which was easy for me, as a rock climb regularly, and then we had to run
down a small slope for about a quarter of a mile until we faced the gladiators,
two large men with joust sticks, guarding the finish line. I got past them and
finished the race in 1:57:12, about 40 minutes ahead of my dad’s coworkers. At
the end, I felt very accomplished and tired, but I was proud of myself for
finishing, especially faster than about 50% of the competitors.
In
Fenway, I wouldn’t even consider it a Spartan Sprint; it would be better to
call it a Spartan Time Trial because there was no mud, which in my opinion,
does not make it a full experience. It was still a challenging course, but not
nearly as challenging as Vermont. We did a lot of stairs and a
lot of snaking in between the bleachers of Fenway Park. It was more like a marine
style work out as we did 40 jump rope, 30 medicine ball slams and we climbed a
rope, much like one in middle school gym class. I was able to
stick the spear throw, something I was very proud of, and I got to run right by
the other competitors who were required to do burpees for missing the target. I also had to do 60 burpees for once again failing the Hercules’
Hoist, an obstacle that I have made so little progress on that I have accepted
the fact that I will probably never successfully complete it. I also failed the
rowing machine obstacle where we had to use a rowing machine to accumulate 500
meters of rowing. I was still about 150 meters away after the two minutes was
up an on my number countdown screen a little graphic popped up and said
“Burpees for You!” and I had to get off the machine and do more reps of the
horrendous exercise. At the end of each race, I felt completely spent but
accomplished. Both were such a great experience because I had fun, made some
new friends along the way and got an amazing adventure.
I
am totally hooked on obstacle course racing and I am doing the Super Hero
Scramble in June as well as all three levels of Spartan Racing which includes
another Sprint as well as a Super and a Beast and that will earn me a
‘Trifecta’ which is the biggest achievement in Spartan Racing, earned by
completing all three levels of Spartan Racing in one year.
If
you don’t mind getting dirty and enjoy an adventure where you will earn a
finisher medal, a t-shirt, stories to tell, bragging rights, and lots of
scrapes and bruises, then a Spartan Race is for you. Go to spartanrace.com for
event dates and other additional information
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