This is Sparta!

Good morning, Readers!

Image courtesy of drinkthirstybuddha.com. Click for link.

Okay, so, Sunday I ran my first ever Spartan Race.

I say "ran."  What I meant is I jogged halfway up the first hill and walked forever after.  Ahem...

To be perfectly honest, I'm not all that thrilled with my performance.  My time crossing the finish line was 2:06:58.  I reckon I could've done a better time.

I also failed most of the obstacles.  Climbing the nets and crawling through the mud under barbed wires was fine.  Jumping over hay bales?  Fine.  I had help with the tall walls, so... fine... I guess?  I made it over in any case.  Throwing a spear?  Nope.  Crossing the monkey bars?  Nope.  Getting across the rings?  Nope.  Horizontal rock climbing?  Nope.  The rope climb?  Nope.

I did the sandbag carry well enough.  The jerry can carry was alright, but I opted for the less difficult option.  The parallel bars was done, but I cheated and did it the "girly way."

I did a lot of burpees.  A lot.

I did rock the shit out of the tyre flipping, though.

I'm not really all that proud of myself.

Yes, I finished the race.  Woot!  That's a good thing.  I know a fair few people don't.  I just... I don't know.  I don't feel like I accomplished anything.

I did get good and dirty, though!

Before.

After.

I detest having my photo taken, and so will rarely have one done properly... Also... what is my thumb doing in the first one?!

What the race did do was show me how far I need to go in order to complete the race to my satisfaction.  I have two new goals:

1. Complete all the obstacles at the same level of difficulty as the guys.  I'm not proud that I played my gender card here.  Also, I don't think it should have been an option for girls only - at least on the bodyweight stuff.  Either get rid of that, or let the guys have an easy option as well.

2. Run the distance between each obstacle.  Or at least jog.  NO WALKING.

I intend to run three more Spartan races.  Next year's race, I will be jogging the course.  That is my goal.  If I manage that, than even if I don't complete all the obstacles, I'll at least have achieved one of my goals.

The following Spartan Race I intend to jog between each obstacle as well as complete each obstacle.  It doesn't have to be fast, but it does have to be done right.

If I manage to get all of my goals, I'll stop running the race.

All that aside, the race was fun.  I ran with my Kung Fu brother Jerry.  Even getting muddy was really fun.  The funnest part about that was hearing the races behind me complain about it.  The loudest complaints came from the guys.  It was pretty damned funny.

I'm glad I did it.  I will be doing it again (I have things to achieve, damn it!).  I'm not quite sure why I don't feel as if I did much.  It's a huge accomplishment, isn't it?

I don't know what's going on.  I will try and figure it out as I work on my Welsh today.

Ciao!