Spartan Race: Colorado Military Sprint

Today I did my first Spartan Race. The Colorado Military Sprint was held at Fort Carson, about an hour outside of Denver. It was a really well-organized event but it took a while to clear security and enter the race area. Oh, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Rachel and Tammy had planned on doing this event with their friends Scott and Andy. They all know each other from Equinox in New York. They now live in Denver. I'm pretty positive I took one of Scott's classes before he moved out here. Andy generously offered to drive us all out to Fort Carson.

Andy and Scott holding down the front seat.

CFHK ladies holding down the backseat.

We parked the car and took a school bus across the base. We mentally prepared for the task at hand.

This was my first obstacle mud run and I was a little nervous. Although it was only 4.5 miles, there were 25 obstacles. I did pretty well with getting over the vertical walls, but I was pretty terrified of any of the incline stuff. I didn't realize that I was scared of heights since I have gone skydiving, but it turns out that I am. A lot of great people helped me complete obstacles that I was scared to do because I was afraid I'd fall off. There were a lot of CrossFitters out there and they brought the community spirit. There were men who straight up spent at least 30 minutes helping others get over the tougher walls, including the incline wall. I couldn't have gotten over that without them.

At one point I said that this felt like CrossFit on crack and that's how I met a fellow CrossFitter named Danielle. Danielle was in the Air Force and her husband is currently in Afghanistan. She and I spent about 2 miles together on the course and it was really fun to have someone to do the course with. We got separated when I had to do 30 burpees because I slipped off the bouldering wall. The people I came with had agreed to all go at their own pace, which was cool. I'd prefer to go with a group that wants to stay together if I do another Spartan, but we were at varying abilities so it made sense not to wait around for one another.

My favorite obstacles were dragging the cement block up the hill, picking up and carrying the atlas stone, and the ruck up the hill. Basically I liked anything that enabled me to show off my pack horse prowess. The rest of my group finished about a half an hour before me and they were all waiting to cheer me on across the finish line.

Today was a great day of fun, mud, scrapes, scratches, and bruises. We ate delicious burrito bowls at Illegal Pete's after the race and I've never had a shower as nice as the one I had this afternoon. Now I'm waiting for my laundry to finish and eating beef jerkey. My best advice is to stay in a hotel after a mud run because then you don't have to clean your own bathroom.