Valor of a Spartan

On Saturday, April 30, I (along with Miguel Lebanon and MLT) completed the Spartan Sprint in Conyers, Georgia at the Georgia International Horse Park. The Spartan Sprint is a 3.7 mile trail race with multiple difficult and challenging obstacles.

The first obstacle was a a series of traffic barriers stuck in mud. As you attempted to hurdle the barrier, a group of three men shot you with a high-power fire hose. My vision went white and my nose filled with fire hydrant water. The water was so strong that it knocked me face first into to mud. Muddy and wet is always a good way to start a race.

The second obstacle was going over and under a series of wooden barricades. The over barricades were approximately five feet high and the under barricades left a gap off the ground of approximately two feet. After clearing the barricades, you had to jump threw elevated car tires which were approximately five feet off the ground.

The third obstacle was a 35 yard mud crawl under barbwire positioned two feet off the ground. Honestly, this was one of the hardest obstacles in the race, mainly because I didn't practice crawling on my stomach. Initially, I pick the left course only to find out that the barbwire sagged to approximately one foot above ground, so I had slide horizontally.

The fourth obstacle was a river run. The water was knee high in parts and river bed sand was unstable and filled with holes. Luckily, no ankles were twisted and big up to the guy in front of us called out the forthcoming holes.

The fifth obstacle was a eight foot wall climb. We did our good deed of the day by helping a team of women clear the wall. I hate to brag, but I "beasted" up the wall.

The sixth obstacle was a ten foot cargo net climb. After the mud climb and wall jump, this was welcome obstacle. The only potential issue was missing the net and falling through holes. I'm sure that never happens.

The seventh obstacle was walking a multi-segment balance beam. My balance was horrible abs I fell early. As a result, I had to do 30 burpies, a kind of jump push up.

The eight obstacle almost broke my spirits, a 100 plus yard hill climb carrying a ten gallon bucket filled with black dirt. You had fill your bucket with dirt, carry the bucket and dirt up the hill and the walk back down the hill with your bucket and dump your dirt. Big up to MLT who "beasted" up and down the hill.

The ninth obstacle was pulling a cider block around a circle with a diameter of approximately 25 feet. This obstacle was easier than it looked.

The tenth obstacle was another crawling event. This time we crawled through a dark and hot plastic tent.

The eleventh obstacle was climbing another cargo net. This time the net was approximately twenty five feet. I wish I'd taken the time to take in the view.

The twelfth obstacle was another mud crawl under barbwire and through a fire ant colony. Luckily, I didn't encounter the fire ants. The major difference between this crawl and the previous one was that it was in front of the gallery, so your family and friends could see you wallow in the mud.

The thirteenth obstacle was an incline rope climb, which was really easy.

The fourteenth obstacle was a horizontal wall climb. I fell off the wall before I even got on good. As a result, 30 more burpies.

The fifteenth obstacle was a spear throw into a spartan dummy. I hit the dummy, but my spear didn't stick. As a result, 30 more burpies.

The sixteenth and final obstacle was combat with two spartan warriors with giant joust sticks. As there were three of us and two of them, we served our battle with the spartans.

Overall, the race was a ton of fun and I'm glad I was able to participate. I'm definitely interested in doing a Super Spartan, an 8 plus mile trail race. I've never been one to play in the mud, but this was definitely worth the extra dirt, loose of running shoes and extra laundry.