Dig Deep

So midway through last week my sister asked me if I would join her in place of her coworker in the Spartan run in a few days.  I haven't gotten back into running after injurying my IT band and then getting pregnant.  Post pregnant workouts had me seeking low impact exercise to not further injure my IT band that still bothers me.  Over the past month with JA done school and non stop rain I haven't gotten off the couch (WR and I were getting into a good habit of short runs and walks during that time).  To say I was nervous was an understatement.  I tried a 4km run on thursday just to see if I still knew how to run and it left my knee hurting (double nervous).
When we went to pick up our race packages the day before we found out my sister's coworker wasn't allowed to transfer her bib to me and so I had to pay a full price last minute entry fee of $75 instead of $45.  I was trying to decide if I had actually lost my mind at that point!

We got to the race several hrs before our heat time started so that my nephew could run in the kids race.  He blew us away with how fast he was and how he passed kids left and right.  Amazing.

The sun was out in full force and it was a HOT 30+C.  The race took place at one of the local ski hills and let me tell you those are some steep hills.  The race is 5km and included 17 obstacles.  We had a bit of time to glance around at a few of the visible parts of the race.  My heart started pounding pretty fast when I watched heats run off the start line and straight up the ski hill (it looked brutal).  It is truly a good thing that I couldn't observe more then just a tiny bit of the race or I may have headed home....lol.

Oh that hill was steep

Observing a few heats and planning our strategy

The big snag in the day was that the parking lot filled up and the rest of the runners were forced to park several kms away and then be bussed in.  Our friends and my sister's coworkers and team mates got stuck in a line up for several hrs waiting for 6000 people to get on 6 buses.  They weren't able to make it for our start time but we decided to just go ahead without them rather then sit in the hot sun any longer.

As the race started they played "Highway to Hell" and I can now assure you with all confidence that hell is made up of these hills.  Racing (walking) up that hill was brutal and I have actually done some mountain running in the past!  We ended up going up and down the ski hill a good 6 times over the course, we went in mud pits, climbed monkey bars (attempted), went over and under walls and barb wire, we dragged cinder blocks up and down hill, carried sand bags up and down, flipped enormous tires, threw javelins, jumped over fire, etc etc and did 30 burpees for every obstacle we couldn't complete.  We lucked out and were surrounded by a couple groups of amazing people that were hilarious, helpful and encouraging.  There wasn't a mud pit that we didn't enter that a strangers hand wasn't reaching out to pull us out.  Some how through the burning knee and muscles we had so much fun.

Heading down to the first mud pit

I'm deep in there some where

Mud on my teeth (funny thing, I didn't even notice)

Stopping for a quick pic before heading back up the hill

We bonded and we survived and can't wait to try again next year (with some training of course).

Finish line was in sight

The impossible rope (for the average person)

Felt like gold at that point

Shoes weighing in at 200lbs each

Amazing team