In a nutshell . . . I was NO WHERE NEAR ready for this race . . . BUT . . . I had SO much fun!!!! Seriously though, my upper body needs some major work! Four years ago in this race I was able to take 2nd overall woman with a time almost 30 minutes faster than this year. Four years ago I also was able to do all the obstacles but two. For those who may not be versed in Spartan races there is a 30 burpee penalty for each obstacle you cannot complete on your first attempt! So 4 years ago I only had to do 60 burpees. Guess how many I had to do this year? 180 freaking burpees!!!!! HA!!!! Hence the 30 minutes slower!! By the end my burpees were a very pathetic attempt at raising my hands above my head before falling straight to the ground followed by toothpick arms struggling to push my muddy abdominal area off of the dirt (in a pathetic attempt at a push-up) only then to have my quivering legs barely succeed in returning me upright only to have to do it again. VERY SAD!!!! Ha!!!! The funniest thing about it all is that Shelbey in I registered for the Elite section because it was $10.00 cheaper and you got to start earlier!!! Shelbey definitely belonged there but I definitely did not!!!! I think when I figured out the numbers I came in about 76th place out of roughly 1100 females all together but only 72nd out of 100 elite females!!!! HA HA HA!!! Someone had to bring in the pack!! Hee Hee! But Shelbey killed it!!! There is something to be said about being 25 and a collegiate soccer player. She had no idea what she was getting herself into but she also does not know how to lose! So she pushed like a mad woman and came in 19th woman overall!! Which is CRAZY good now a days! When I did it 4 years ago the competition was not nearly what it is now! Seriously, some of the women that show up to these things are unreal and travel the world competing in these races. It was amazing. Shelbey literally killed it! She is a rock star!!! Best of all is that Ry ran this race too! He did it the smart way though! He did not sign up for the Elite section and hence was not monitored nor recorded on camera when he failed an obstacle and hence could choose to not do the burpees!!! He just pushed until he no longer wanted to push. Towards the final third as we were watching for him to come in we saw him fail an obstacle and not do any burpees. Afterwards we said, "What the heck? Why didn't you do your burpees?" He laughed and said he was trying to get disqualified so that he didn't have to finish!!!!! That boy!!! I love him!!!! (And yet he finished and looked good doing so!) :-) | 
