My Lazy Ass and the Spartan Race World Championship Vermont Beast

 

There will come a time in your life when you are faced with a decision that you may or may not really want to deal with.  You will be forced to though.  And, it's going to suck.
  Like most of our road trips, the week of, I was anxious, excited, and slightly overwhelmed.  I couldn't concentrate on anything and just wanted to get on the road.  There always seems like so much to do and this time we were hosting a house full of 15 Corn Fed Spartans. WTF?  How can I pack everything I need plus make sure I have everything for everyone else?  I think I did a pretty ok job, only forgetting extra socks.  The trip truly commenced once I got to Fort Wayne to collect Jon and Heather.  We talked and laughed practically the whole way there which made time go by quickly.  Much needed in a 16 hour road trip!  Pineapples!  When we finally hit Vermont, I could already feel our excitement turn into pure electricity.  It was in the air.  We stopped at the race site and volunteers were still planning and prepping.  It was before 7am on Friday.  Shit.  We're really here.  That whole day was one of unpacking and settling in.  Throughout the day our guests started to arrive and I started to cook.  And cook.  I think I made 10 pounds of pasta.  I did have a quiet moment when everyone left to check out the race site.  That gave me some time to really think about what the weekend had in store for me.  I came to the realization that I may have bitten off more than I could chew, or climb.  I had a positive outlook though and knew that i would do my best.  Friends came and went most of the evening until we finally shut it down.  We all had a big weekend ahead of us and needed a good night's sleep.
  Honestly, most of the weekend is already a blur to me.  We woke up with plenty of time to hang out, socialize, help each other get ready, logo up and get over to the venue.  We were super close which was awesome, seriously a 10 minute walk!  As excited as I was, I felt a little off that morning.  I was a little irritable and short tempered which is very unlike me.  I had No patience at the merch tent when they couldn't get a signal to run credit cards, so I grabbed my friend Amy to help.  Maybe I was just ready to get on that mountain?  Heather and I wandered our nomadic butts around a bit hitting 2 merch tents, the street team tent and the Wall of Valor.  NEED to sign the Wall!  To me it signifies the beginning and the end.  Sign at the beginning and old Walls get burned at the finish of other races or turned into other obstacles.  Either way it is a sign of continuation or completion to me.

We take our team picture and head over to the start.  There is a wall to get over to even get you into the starting corral.  I haven't had problems with walls in quite some time, but this one took me a few attempts to get over.  Not a good way to start this race.  Lined up at the start, laughing, smiling, taking pictures, hugging, high fives... it all kind of blurred together.  Then we were off!  Wait, I'm not ready for this!  My workouts have been slacking, my diet has gone to shit, who the hell am I fooling?  I don't belong out here!  Heather and I kept the same pace and jogged for a bit, then elevation hit early as did an allergy attack.  So not only could I not breathe, well, I couldn't breathe!  Fuck!  We slowed down to a nice mountain hike pace and I tried to catch my breath. I think Jon finally realized I was no where near him because he stopped, turned around and waited for us to catch up with a big smile on his face.  The first 2 miles were killer.  Seriously.  That is where I broke.

Somewhere in that first 2 miles, I snapped my knee and it felt like a had a huge muscle strain in my hip/ass area.  Oh sweet Jesus did it hurt.  I kept stopping and tried stretching it to no avail.  So, I kept climbing up and butt scooting down.  I tried not to let on how much  pain I was really in, but damn did it hurt.  I tried not to complain, but for once, I was the hurt one.  The slow one.  The one that caused everyone else to wait.  I felt awful making everyone wait. I Quasimodo'd my way up that mountain and kept trying to push past once I caught up to everyone.  Many times they had been resting for 10+ minutes, I could not make them wait any longer.  Heather kept asking if I needed to rest and my response was usually, "Nope, I'm good.  I'm just going to keep going."  About mile 6 was where my spirits had completely broken and I knew there was no way I could do the Ultra the next day.  I felt like I was letting my friends down, myself down, and mostly, Jon.  He and I were going to do that together.  We had been looking forward to it.  Now, here I was unsure if I would even finish this race, let alone go out for another 30 miles the next day.  Mile 7 and I really had to fight the urge to exit the course.  I was literally chewing on extra strength Motrin hoping it would dull the pain.  Nothing was helping.  The entire course was a blur.  I don't remember much at all.  I do remember hating the bucket carry and talking to said bucket all the way up and back down the mountain.  I remember seeing men poke holes in sandbags while I carried a full 60# bag all the way up and then all the way down.  I remember dreading walls because I could barely bend my knee.  Barbed wire?  Even rolling hurt.  Herc Hoist and Atlas carry that i normally excel at, I struggled with.  The sun started going down and I started to get worried.

Not again.  I can't be out here at night again.  I need to try and hurry and get done.  My pace would pick up on the straightaways and I tried to jog as fast as I could.  Over and over I was informed, "This is the last uphill", until we hit another one.  It was drizzling, I was cold, I hurt, my pride was destroyed and my spirits were demolished.  Just finish!  I knew we were dangerously close to getting pulled for time cut offs too so I tried to go as fast as I could.  All of my teammates were so wonderful.  Literally catching me, boosting me, pulling and pushing me.  At one point, Michael informed me my issue was more than likely what is called, "Lazy Ass Syndrome" which was good for some much needed comic relief!  We laughed about my Lazy Ass through the rest of the course!  Finish.  That's all I need to do.  Finally we heard we were about 1/4 mile from the end.  I had never been so excited to finish a race.  Fire jump, gladiators, medal, banana!  We made it.  I may or may not have cried a little in relief that it was over!  We saw Stephanie, Missy and Chad at the finish and gave hugs all around.  I recall looking at Chad and saying, "I don't think I can do the Ultra tomorrow."  The look in his eyes said it all and I knew he was hurting somewhere too.  Overall, it was an amazing course.  Tougher than I could have ever imagined.  Definitely showed my many weaknesses and that I have a lot of work to do.  I left this race feeling like a failure.  My performance and attitude were amazingly awful.  I felt like I let everyone down and my pride was crushed.  I had people question my ability to do both days and I proved them right.  Typically being the eternal optimist, this was really, really hard to take in.  I wanted a pity party.  I wanted to scream and cry.  Instead, I smiled.  I had work to do.  I had a house full of people to get to, stories to hear, and most important, I had to get Jon ready for the Ultra.  I chewed down another Motrin and got to hobbling!
  We get back to the house to the scent of bacon and that electrical buzz of happiness, excitement and anger.  Different stories of DNF or completion.  All I knew was the pain in my Lazy Ass.  I literally could not concentrate on anything other than the pain.  I walked room to room in a fog.  Thank goodness Megan stepped up and started cooking for everyone.  At one point, Jon rushed past me saying, "I thought you were going to help, but obviously you aren't."  That snapped me out of my own selfish world and back to the task at hand.  Get bin ready and dropped off.  Well, I fucked that all up too.  We got the bin packed, got his pack packed and headed out the door in the cold rain.  I had Wobbly Barn on the brain because that is the last thing I remember before the Motrin cloud took over.  Guess what?  Wrong.  We did see the amazing Ms Carrie Adams for 2 seconds, but we were on a mission.  Sorry I couldn't chat Carrie, I really wanted to.  Back to the house for instruction and then on to Snow Shed Lodge.  Looks like we were too late.  We were told to be at Bear Mountain at 5am the next day.  Time to go back home.
  We snuck off to bed early and tried to get some sleep.  4am came very quickly.  Jon mentioned that he really did not want to go out, but he had to.  In typical Spartan Race fashion, we covered much ground before we got where we needed to be.  Can you say cluster fuck?  Anyway, I got Jon to the start line and then had to attempt a bin drop, for the 3rd time.  Denise was there ready and willing to help which was much appreciated since I could barely walk.  We ran into Todd and he told me he would help.  Were things finally going my way?  I hobbled over to my Jeep and cruised over to the venue to meet Todd.  He kept driving.  I figured Denise was with him and that was the signal to just follow.  This would be my 2nd trip to Bear Mountain that day.  Bin dropped and back to the house to make real food to bring to Todd and put in the bin.  I felt bad as I was cooking because I think our guests thought I was cooking for them.  There was plenty of food for them, they just had to cook it.  Getting real food in that bin was my top priority at that moment.  I headed to the venue to visit Heather and ran into some other friends along the way!  I got to see Katie and Craig and Minions which always makes me smile and a few others.  Unfortunately, I was in go mode and couldn't stick around.  Back to Bear Mountain.  The rest was a blur.  Talking with volunteers, talking to Ultra Racers, meeting new people, hugging old friends.  Waiting, and waiting....and waiting!  Back to the venue, maybe I can volunteer somewhere for a bit?  Nope, can't be away in case he shows up.  Final trip to Bear Mountain.  There he is!  Flipping a log like its nothing.  I was at the end of his lane, snapping pictures for a bit before he noticed me.  "Hey baby! How are you?" he says with a big smile on his face.  I said, "I'm fine!  I'm warm and dry, how are you?"  We exchange quick kisses and he heads out again.  Opting to not do burpees and hit his bin.  More waiting.....  Finally I see Todd and Paul at the bin drop.  They are in great spirits and look fantastic.  Jon shows up a short time later.  He changes socks, grabs a full bladder, gets some food and refills his pack.  Then he's off again.  I grab the bin and coffee pot that I brought and start hobbling back to the Jeep.  At least he is making good time and seems to be in good spirits!  Back to the house, back to the venue.  More Motrin and more friends.  After a bit, we see Todd, Jon and Paul all together coming down the hill, headed toward the under water wall, then the rope climb.  Through a pipe, barb wire crawl, cargo net, more water, traverse wall and he's off again.  This was where Heather and I deemed ourselves his number 1 fans!  President and Vice President right here.  We may have buttons made!  We knew we had some time to warm up so we headed back over to the house.  We gave ourselves 45 minutes. Back at the Tyrolean Traverse and more waiting.  he sun was going down quickly, the wind was picking up and it temps were dropping.  The Medics shut down the obstacle for safety reasons and the 7pm time cut was quickly gaining on everyone.  We saw  Todd cross.  Then comes Paul.  Wait, they pull Paul back.  As he walks up to us he said they took his chip.  He didn't make the cutoff.  He said Jon was behind him.  Fuck!  Not again!  Not another DNF with only 4 miles to go.  How could that be?  Jon was way ahead of them.  There had to be a mistake.  Heather and I listened to Norm tell countless racers that they missed the cutoff and he needed to take their chip.  It was devastating.  Norm asked us over and over, "Are you sure Jon has not passed? God, I really don't want to have to tell him again that I need to take his chip!"  We weren't sure, we were just going by what we had been told.  It didn't feel right standing there, but we couldn't leave.  Chad messaged me that he was with Paul and was Jon with us?  Fuck, where was he???  After what seemed like eternity, Chad messaged me that Jon had finished!  I was ecstatic and so proud of him!  I tried to run/ walk/ hobble over there as fast as I could!  I was also pissed at myself for not being there for him.  He told me he would see me at the finish, and I was not there!  I let him down again!  It seemed like it took forever to get there.  The bridge we had to go over appeared to be getting longer like out of a bad, scary movie!  Chad informed me he sent Jon to the lodge to warm up so that is where we headed.  Heather exclaimed, "There he is!"  I ran into his arms and almost cried with the overwhelming amount of pride I felt for him!  He was cold, hungry and exhausted!  Time to go...

  After a hot shower and some warm, dry clothes then a bit of driving around, we settled at Jax for dinner!  Food, beer and the best waitress ever!  We headed back home and settled in.  Honestly, nothing really matters after this moment.  I failed.  He did not.  I do believe had I gone out, he would not have finished.  He would have stuck with me and I would have held him back.  Funny how things happen.  After cleaning up the house and packing up, Jon, Maggie, Heather and I went to breakfast.  I felt an overwhelming sense of pride for our team.  Corn Fed was everywhere.  Running the Sprint, running the Beast, running the Ultra, rabbit and sweeper for the Kid's race, a Team for the Charity Race, support for Danny, support for Amanda... we were everywhere!  Some running 2 and 3 races!  Then I felt that pity party coming on again.  With tears in my eyes, I blurted out, "I feel like I didn't do anything this weekend!  I just did the Beast!"  Yes, I do understand how ridiculous that sounds.  I do understand that there was a 60% failure rate.  I do understand I should be proud of what I did accomplish.  I still feel like a failure.  Did I learn a lot?  Yes.  Will I try again next year?  Yes.  Do I have a shit ton of work to do before then?  Hell Yes!  Killington... I'll be back...

I Will Always Place the Mission First… Miami Super

Amazing things happen to ordinary people every day.  Amazingly enough, I woke up and made it to work on time today.  A bit scraped, a good amount bruised, rather sore, but glowing in pride to have been called the “workhorse” of my amazing team, The Corn Fed Spartans, this past weekend.  (thanks Rick)  Like with most races, I sign up and then kind of wing it until I actually have to prepare to leave.  I bring new meaning to “Don’t sweat the small stuff” as I usually don’t know how I am even getting to a race until a few weeks (days) before it.  The Miami Super was no different.  So much happened over the course of just a few days, so I will try to keep this short and sweet.  The ride to Miami was pretty awesome.  I actually slept a bit!  First Corn Fed road trip I was able to sleep during!  We laughed a lot and truly just enjoyed being together for the whole 25ish? hours down to Miami!  Once we got checked in, we met up with some of the rest of our Corn Fed Family for a pre race celebratory dinner!  I hit a brick wall and had some shit to deal with around 11pm, so I headed up to the room and went to sleep in the most comfortable bed in the world.  Surely made from the feathered wings of angels.  My alarm clock went off… Race Day!  We all got ready and loaded up the truck as we were to head back home after the race.  Once we arrived at the race site, the adrenaline started pumping.  It was a gorgeous day in paradise.  Sunshine, palm trees, sand, warm temps, the animalistic smell of adrenaline and sweat, and music and cheering in the background.  Picked up our bibs and proceeded to marker up.  We headed over to the Race Site and met up with a few other Corn Fed Brothers and Sisters and then made our way to the Start.  Everything else was kind of blurred… music, announcements, silly little start line dance that I always do, cloud of smoke and GO!  They even announced our team!  I love that!  I felt good, I felt strong…took off running with the team and then realized I was missing one.  Where did my Belle go?  I immediately dropped back to find her.  I told her I would never leave her and grabbed her hand and we walked hand in hand while everyone else went to run their own race.  This girl, so full of fight and power, was determined to make it through to the finish.  Her story is not mine to tell, however knowing everything she had been through up to this point, makes her a true inspiration to me.  We laughed and pushed onward.  A few others fell back and walked with us.  We made our own little group and chatted and laughed under the sun.  We rounded a bend and were welcomed by the oceans embrace in our first water crossing.  I could see the rest of the team up ahead and smiled, knowing they were having a great time.  One of my Girls stopped and waited for us, with her man, and we went on together for a bit.  Then it was just us 4 again.  Friendships are strengthened during circumstance and I would never trade the amazing day I had.  Before I knew it, there was Ricky Booby waiting for us!  I knew he would eventually, he always does.  And he even said, “I went out there today to run my own race, but then it just didn’t feel right.”  I knew Belle was safe with the girls, so he and I would run and then wait and help at the next obstacle until the girls caught up.  I probably did over 60 burpees with fallen Spartans to push them through, while Rick cheered motivation to those crossing the monkey bars.  I knew better than to attempt those due to my shoulder and that was justified when I saw one guy drop and scream out in agony as he had dislocated his shoulder.  Then we ran.  The trail was twisty and turny, up and down and around and it was exhilarating!  Around mile 4 I got pissed because my energy was starting to waver and I realized I gave my Shot Blocks to a teammate, because we were all supposed to stick together.  Silly me, I know better.  Always be prepared!  I got over it and kept running.  Each obstacle, we helped, we waited, we ran.  No one failed at an obstacle with team Beast and Booby nearby!  It’s hard to remember every detail of this race, but I do recall the look of gratitude in the eyes of everyone we helped.  The one that stands out the most was at the cargo net climb.  A very fit woman had run past us a bit earlier, but there she stood at the bottom, looking up, terrified.  I shook her hand, told her my name and said, “There, now we are friends and I will help you up this!”  She started the climb and I stayed right by her side, to the top.  We got to the top and she gave my the biggest hug, which crumbled as soon as she saw how we had to get across and down.  The poor girl started shaking, crying and hyperventilating.  Literally could not catch her breath.  I promised her I wouldn’t let anything happen to her and I would keep anyone from bumping into her.  I got her to lay down on her back and just inch her way over to the other side, very slowly, while I bear crawled over the net behind her, making a wall so no one would bump her or hurt her.  Once she made it across, I got another huge hug… until she looked down.  Same thing, I told her, we will go down together.  Step by step until we hit the ground.  She then cried in pure joy that it was over and she did it!  I have never been hugged so tight!  I told her I was super proud of her and then my little team and I ran off.  The rest of that race I’m sure was easy for her after that.  We came up to some walls, lifted some heavy shit, lifted more heavy shit, and ran a bit more.  I, of course, carried the men’s sandbag, flipped the men’s tire, and finally lifted the men’s stone in the Hercules Hoist.  Well, with the help of Ricky Booby on the Hoist!  Scale down the side of a wall, pull up and dump buckets of water, and then scale the wall back up.  The final mile!  I could hear the music and practically smell the finish line.  Ran into a Weeple and The Main Man from MUDRUNFUN.  Finally met the Legend, Andi Hardy and was blessed enough to have her cheer me up the rope and across the traverse wall.  How lucky was I?  Honestly, if it weren’t for Rick though, again, I’m sure I wouldn’t have made that wall either.  Thanks so much Rick… I owe you!  Barbed wire roll, slippery wall and then Gladiator Pit!  Ricky Booby to the rescue again to grab my foot as it started to slide down the slippery wall right when I was at the top!  We did end up dropping Belle on her head… Sorry Honey!!!!  Then I put an arm around her to try to shield her from the Gladiators.  One hit her pretty hard, so then I wrapped practically my whole body around her as a shield.  ”Don’t you touch her!” I shouted.  Then we finished!!!! Darling Andrea put my medal around my neck and then we hit the final walk… t-shirt, banana, water, shower area.  Now I need a beer!  Looked for my team and then realized I really wanted to get my trifecta medal!  It was well-earned!  As I was leaving the tent, with both medals clanging off my chest, there was Ricky Booby again!  He knows me too well!  Next stop… beer!  I wouldn’t let myself be rushed, so I enjoyed the post race atmosphere for a bit, gave hugs, took pictures and then we had to head out.  The usual burger and fries with a beer or two and then we all piled in the truck to trek back home.  Great memories made, with the most amazing people I could ever know.  Strangers, turned teammates, turned family.  I love you guys!  Until we meet again…CORN FED!