Ah the arizona Spartan - I knew that if I had to do one set of burpees that I probably wouldn't win this race. I was going up against the best who had a lot more experience than me on these obstacles. April Luu was to be my biggest competitor I'm sure. Because of how much she was beating the girls in other races, I knew that she was a good runner, and strong. I tried to not let any of that get to my head though. Heck I'm strong and fast too!:)
So I got to stay with my sister in Pheonix - we left the boys at home but had to bring Ivy along cause she is uber attached to her Mommy. My hubby was also going to run his first Spartan for his birthday and I was sooo excited for him.
When I arrived, I was already freezing - it was prob 40s at the starting line. I went through my warm up and got to meet a few people along the way. It was crazy cause people recognized me from the Socal spartan video, and would strike up a conversation. It was nice to help calm my nerves.
The start was a single track, so I knew the ladies would jump the gate and try to jockey for position early. I decided to let them do it. I knew I was a faster runner than most, and that I would go ahead and let tire themselves out.
Well I was right, and was in about 6 place through the first half mile. And then they started to drop like flies. The pace was too much for them (and had tired them out). It was great for me to move right up to first.
April was staying with me for a while through the obstacles. i made it past the monkey bars (hallelujah!!!) - I was not going to do burpees there. Over walls, under walls - a group of 3 or 4 was sticking with me. After the first mile and a half, they started to drop back. I was honestly wheezing from a cold I had showed up with. I know it was affecting my speed and stamina. But I pushed on.
I led for the next 3 miles. The obstacles werent bad at all. April did catch back up to me by the sandbag carry, and then pass me for a sec. By the wall traverse, I was right back in the lead. She definitely took a lot longer than me on that. I'm glad something is easy for me in this race.
I had maybe a 20 sec lead by the time we reached the rope climb - Honestly I was exhausted. I knew that I had less than a mile to go, and I just had to stick the rest of the obstacles. So on the rope climb, I got half way up and noticed that I had chosen one with very few knots at the top. Crap! I never learned how to climb it, and my arms were too dead to muscle it. I tried and couldn't make it. So i came down and started my burpees. That decision lost me my lead. (I did however learn how to climb it later - it's so easy!) # 3 girl, Ella, was able to catch me a bit - I had maybe 30 sec on her.
After the muddy hill climbs, I got down to the spear throw. April was doing burpees! This was my chance - I had practiced all week. All I had to do was nail it and I would get my lead back. And.... I missed:( Crap. And worst of all, 3rd place Ella came in, threw and nailed it. She ran it in and April just missed catching her. I ran (well rolled through a rediculously long barbed wire crawl) in feeling dejected. I hate losing at the end!
I still did walk away with $750 - not bad not bad. i knew this race was going to go to experience and I've got to be able to run a clean race. With the longer distrances my running will be more of an advantage, I don't think Ella has a chance. April will still be a challenge to beat I think. And I think I'll be able to come back from mistakes like that. Still loving the challenge that this race provides and am looking forward to the next one.
The bus ride back to the car was going to take a while, so we just waited around for the awards at 11. Well that was not the best decision for my cold. By the time Jim's heat came around I was plenty chilled. For his bday I promised to run it with him though not the obstacles. When I got started, my back acted up immediately. Then 2 miles into it, my chest was honestly burning (not a good sign) from my cold. So I did 4 miles of it with him, and then stood around (again more in the cold). Needless to say I was pretty sick afterwards:(
Jim did so awesome, and even said that it wasn't that hard - well he didn't even get to run all out cause there were so many slower people at that time. There was actually times he was standing around. Can't wait for him to try a longer race with more obstacles with a faster heat!
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