So today, I ran a Spartan Sprint in S.C..  Does that even sound possible?  And it felt great!  One thing I have learned is that if I feel good, enjoy it and embrace it.  I never know when I might not be able to do the things I love.   lots of prayers and support have help me get to this point.

My experience today started with a 6:30am pickup time by my friends to get us to the race in Winnsboro, SC.

We were told to be there at least 2 hours in advance, suggested up to 4 hours early, but turned out, things were running smoothly when we arrived So we were plenty good on time.  Changed into our clothes, got registered and got our bibs- checked out the map.  Walked around enjoying our free time and getting pre-race photos.

This race was approximately 4.5 miles long.

So that wall in the photo above is the first technical obstacle… although its not counted.  Its how you get into the starter’s chute 🙂
At 11:15am we were off.  All runners in the Sprint however during our race the Beast runners join and add into our race for the rest of their race.
First 3 obstacles were essentially jumping over 5 foot walls like that.  We did a bit of jogging in the beginning through the woods and on dirt and gravel road.  It wasn’t very wet for the first bit.  Further along, obstacles included 10 foot walls, monkey bars, plate pull, and sandbag carry up the hill and back down to drop back off.

The walls were hard, but we used each other as a team to get us up them and over.  Us females had to carry 20lbs sandbags while the men had 40lbs.  One of our team was able to do the monkey bars, but the rest of us went straight to burpees.  30 burpees for each obstacle that we couldn’t complete.
By the end of the day we only had to do burpees at 3 obstacles- the monkey bars, the rings, and the climbing rope.

We finally got to a point where there were a handful of obstacles that spectators could watch.  So we had a cheer squad since some family of several of our team attended (Thanks Pete and Caitlyn and family).  They got to watch us do the z-wall (essentially a lateral climbing wall), the inverted wall, rolling under barbwire, the rope climb (ok- so  burpees), and the bag pull.  It was great having a cheer team there with us through these!  We also had to duck under the wall in one of these and my eyes got muddy water in them.  That left me battling a very irritated eye for the remaining mile of the race.

We took advantage of all water breaks.  Finished at least 2 more 10 foot wall climbs, rope climb, rings, javelin throw…to the final climbing wall that we literally got to the top of but almost failed to get over… until an awesome fellow Spartan helped us get over.  We finished the race running over flames before we headed into the finish line.

Time for our awesome medals, post race snacks and more pictures!

I’m definitely glad we did this and it felt great at the end.  We rinsed off the mud in the water hoses by the changing stations.  And after checking a few more things out headed on out.

Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.