Weekend Warrior

I may have the wrong definition for the phrase Weekend Warrior. I competed in my first (and possibly my last) Super Spartan race. What exactly is a Super Spartan race you might ask - technically it is an 8 mile obstacle race, but it is almost one of those things that you have to see to believe.

It started with a nice one mile jog along the river. Not much different that a normal run for me, except there was dirt and not a boardwalk. The first "obstacle" was a small creek that we had to wade across. It was no more than calf deep, so easy enough to maneuver. The hard part was running with wet shoes afterwards.

After sloshing for another half mile, we had to crawl through a low tent for a 1/4 mile. As soon as you exited the tent, you had to immediately scale an 8 foot vertical flat wall. We had to help each other up and over. Luckily, I was given a knee up to the top, and then could reach down and pull my knee assist up. Then we both were able to drop the eight feet down the other side. Another half mile, and we reached an inlet of the bay. We were assured that it was only waist high, but my chin would disagree. Another 1 1/2 mile run, and we had to scale a twenty-five foot cargo net. I felt a little like Spider man.

At each obstacle station, you were warned that if you couldn't complete the obstacle the punishment was 30 burpees. I HATE burpees, so I had lots of motivation to complete the challenges. The next obstacle was a Rubik's cube. Finally, an obstacle that made use of my nerdy side. You only had to complete one side, and you are talking to the girl who wasted countless hours of her youth solving the cube. I was in and out in seconds, and must say I gloated a little as I walked by all the fit athletes doing burpees.

Another jog, and then we hit "the walls" - literally. There were six total: two you had to climb over, two to climb under, and two to climb through. Another jog along the water, and then the balance beam. Balance - no one said anything about balance. I fell off less than half way through, and did my burpees. (Will go on record as still hating burpees.) The next part was a 5 mile run through the woods. Let's just say that my nice runs along the marina did not adequately prepare me for a trail run, but I survived to the other side.

It went pretty quickly from there. We had to lug a cement block up a hill and down the other side. Climb a 50 foot cargo net, scale down a bridge on a rope, and then climb back up the other side, hit a target with a stone, crawl through mud on our stomach with barbed wire over head, "rock" climb along a wall, climb a water and detergent slicked wall using rope, and last get pummeled by Gladiators as we tried to cross the finish line. Proud to say that I had to do no more burpees.

All in all a pretty typical Saturday - right? My trainer Keri - who was the one that actually talked me into this crazy thing - started in a much earlier heat, but stuck around to cheer me on. If I had the energy, I would have killed her, but alas all I could do was smile.