Amesbury Sprint- Triumph and Camaraderie

"People fail to get along because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they have not communicated with each other." - Martin Luther King Jr.

Carrabassett Valley Academy kids representing at the Amesbury Spartan sprint.

This weekend's Amesbury Spartan Sprint was more than just another race for me. It was a memorable event filled with challenges, surprises and great people. I came with hopes of a little more practice on Spartan obstacles for some of the upcoming endurance challenges and left with a new sense of renewed energy for the sport of obstacle racing.

My day started at 5 am with a wakeup on an amazingly comfortable featherbed couch at my aunt and uncle's  house in Gorham, Maine, about 1 1/2 hours from the venue in Amesbury (I should add that the featherbed couch is worthy of an entirely separate post). I shook off the urge to stay in bed and made my way south while sun made it's way over the horizon as a thick layer of fog hung on to the lowlands and rivers. As the sun's rays blanketed the August landscape, I began to feel the energy of what would be an exciting day.

I arrived at Amesbury just in time for a quick warm up and visit with some of my Spartan friends. My first heat of the day, the elite heat, went off at 8 am as planned. While I enjoy the shorter obstacle racing distances, my long distance training has certainly taken its toll on my short game. My personal goal for the day was simply to focus on being uncomfortable. The idea of a sprint distance, after all, isn't to feel like I can maintain the effort all day. This would not be easy for me.

For the most part, mission accomplished. Despite the temptation to ease into my familiar comfortable pace, I made a deliberate effort to push my pace harder with the knowledge that the effort would likely last less than an hour. Where I continue to struggle is slowing my heart rate quickly for focus on the obstacles. This is responsible for the vast majority of my spear throw misses, and delivered as usual on this day. Part poor technique, part failure to bring myself down fast enough to focus, I have missed this obstacle on all efforts save one. This was no exception, but thankfully, the only obstacle that would give me any trouble.

Me, emerging from the mud at the end of the elite heat.

In the end, the result was my best sprint distance yet. I was greeted at the finish line with hugs from the amazing Chris Davis and Andi Hardy, which made the finish just a little more special. With an age group win and 6th overall female finish, I am thrilled to see my shorter distance effort pay off. While I can't say that I finished feeling like dropping to the ground, I am happy to say that I was grateful that my next heat wouldn't begin until noon.

Maria, Me, Sam, Sean, Briggs, Matt and Max before the race.

The second heat of the day was the one I that would prove to transform the day from great to amazing. Six of my students from Carrabassett Valley Academy had decided to join in the fun for a day of Spartan racing. For today's race, the kids would compete in the Open event, meaning that they would compete against the field of over 4,600 finishers and 821 teams. We started the morning with some fun in the Air National Guard pull up challenge a little warm up on the turf. My original plan was to run with the kids in their heat and provide assistance and support along the way. It was evident early on, however, that I was gassed enough from round 1 of the day that I would be rendered useless to our kids, as they are all talented athletes. As the gun went off and all six kids disappeared over the first hill, I decided that my adventure would be a little different than the one I had planned.

Although I have done a half-dozen or so Spartan style obstacle races, this was the first time I had run with no plan: no companion, no agenda, and with no regard to time or placement. I was free to cover the course on a whim, take my time when I wanted to, and stop to chat or help as I pleased. Always having some kind of distraction or focus, I never before realized what I have missed in all of these races:  a chance to glimpse the worlds of the thousands of other people on the course, each on their own journey on that day. Along the way, I made new friends. I had the privilege of helping others when they needed a hand and heard the stories of what brought them out to a Spartan Race. I pulled two people out of waist deep, black mud. I got to help Steve-o Opie Bones (whom I had met at a Death Race) encourage one of his teammates who had taken several nasty falls on the slippery wally to give it one more shot after she had decided to quit: she made it with two more attempts. I came across Nele

Nele and Reload Fitness getting ready for their heat.

Schulz, a fellow Death Racer, with her team Reload Fitness. Despite a suspected stress fracture, Nele was part of a team showing an unwavering commitment to help a disabled friend and teammate complete the entire course. The group dynamic was powerful and made me proud to be amongst the family of Spartans who don't leave people behind. I helped a dozen people complete the inclined wall obstacle and waited with an injured athlete for EMS to arrive. I watched a fellow Spartan fall from the top of the rope climb and emerge from the swampy water with a smile on his face. I convinced two guys to let a woman help them over the 8-foot wall after they had made several unsuccessful attempts on their own. On this lap, I witnessed courage, leadership, fear, composure, triumph and humility. Some of these people I know, some were strangers. All were part of making this day remarkable. I am pleased to say that I finally slowed down to take in all that I have missed.

I arrived in the festival area to the sight of 6 mud caked smiling familiar faces, all of whom blew my

Matt and Briggs celebrating a great race.

socks off with an effort of true Spartans. Each of them had their own stories of success on the course (2   of them hit the spear throw that continues to plague me), failures and burpees, and stories of how they

were empowered by others around them on the course. The final results revealed that all of the kids finished in the top 10% of the entire field of Open competitors and the Carrabassett Valley Academy team represented with a finish of 18th out of 821 teams. I couldn't be more proud of these guys and look forward to doing it all over again when given the chance.

So for this one, I say thanks to everyone for giving me the privilege of sharing your day and stories. Next time, I'll be sure to pay more attention.

Happy trails.

Ultra Beast?

Saturday morning on Killington Mtn. Photo courtesy of Spartan Race.

“People say that what we're all seeking is a meaning for life. I don't think that's what we're really seeking. I think what we're seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonance within our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive. That's what it's all finally about. " - Joseph Campbell

Third barbed wire crawl at about mile 17 (lap 2). Rolling over the camelback = a little awkward.

Going forward preparing for the Spartan Ultra Beast, I was asked several times by my friends and family why I choose to take part in what appears to be an incredibly masochistic hobby- obstacle and adventure racing. It is not unusual for one of these self-inflicted sufferfests to take on 10, 15, 24 or even up to 58 hours leaving me in a dehydrated, bruised, sore, marginally functioning haze for the better part of a week.Truthfully, until being directly confronted with the question, I have never really felt a need to come up with an answer. It has always just seemed like the thing to do. In the last few months, however, the answer to the question has alluded me and a lack of cognizant awareness of my own inner motives has eaten at me. While I continue to be a work in progress, I have begun to find clarity on the matter through some insightful conversations and a little old-fashioned introspection.

This past weekend offered me some unique insight. At Killington Mtn. I competed in the Spartan Ultra Beast. The Ultra has been heavily hyped as it was to be the inaugural marathon-distance (actually 28 miles) military-style obstacle course competition covering 70+ legit obstacles and 12,000 feet in elevation gain over the course of one day. The best of the endurance obstacle racers from all over the country applied months ago to be selected to face off against each other and see where everyone stacked up. As I normally do, I signed up without thinking twice about it. I mean, what could be more fun?

Maybe I am simply enticed by all the mud? Photo courtesy of Spartan Race

It would be easy to say that I am enticed by the competitive spirit of it all. It is true, in fact, that there is a part of me that is a competitor; however, competition alone is not enough to motivate me through long, grueling workouts day after day, month after month, year after year. Worrying about how others are training or preparing for the next event would be utterly exhausting. Unbearable.

It would be easy to say that I seek to find my own limits; however, I am still not entirely sure that I want to define them. Limits are, well, limits. Who wants those?

Still smiling and chatting at mile 9 at the first sandbag carry.

What I seek is something far more personal: something far more powerful than the celebration of a win or the devastation of a loss. As the hours wear on and my body enters the red zone I begin to find these answers. In these moments, all of the clutter disappears forcing me to focus on the moment. Not the next moment, not the moment before. There is no energy for that. Every twig snapping underneath my feet is there for a reason- to remind me that I am alive and that every moment is here for the taking. I just need to take it.

As the mountain takes my strength, it empowers me to find strength in new places. Places I normally don’t need to tap into that force me to dig deep into myself. It is then that I realize that the human body is stronger than I have imagined. Physical strength eventually fades to emotional strength forcing me to focus in a way that is so difficult to seize on a daily basis. One step at a time. One moment at a time. Limits are only self-imposed.

Mile 23 with my Spartan sandbag friend. We hugged a lot.

In these moments time stands still. Perhaps crazy hallucinations and endorphins are responsible for this euphoria? I don’t know. But I know that I am not the only one to experience it. The connections that exist between once-competitors and the mountain are lifelong. Each interaction carries with it new connections that embed themselves somewhere in your soul, only to be revealed in time.

This is what I seek. To those of you who shared this one with me, thank you. Finisher or not, we all came to learn a little something to take with us into the next one. There is no finish line.

Happily representing Simple Brandz and coaching my CVA athletes at the Teen Challenge on Sunday. Photo courtesy of CVA.

Why blog?

I want to start out this first post with an apology of sorts. I am not really a blogger. I don't read very many blogs and it appears that I am on my way to a solid D in Blogger 101 so far. I feel a little like an imposter in the world of bloggers.  Oh, did I mention that I am not much of a writer? So, the logical question appears to be-  why do it?

What I hope to gain from this blog is to become more of a contributing member to a community that has given so much to me. Over the last 5 years or so, I have ventured into the world of adventure racing, endurance and ultra trail running, and most recently obstacle racing and mud runs. While personal fitness and healthy living have always been important to me, it has always been a very personal, almost private, part of my life. I have always run alone. I have always ventured into the outdoors as a means of escape from daily stress, to clear my mind and share my clarity with very few. This experience has always been spiritual and physically cleansing, but very personal.

Hurricane heat @ Spartan sprint

In these last few years, I have come to realize that the camaraderie that exists between training partners, fellow competitors, and even the support crews and volunteers at ultra-endurance races, obstacle mud runs, and other military style challenges holds another piece of my existence that I have never explored before. It is one that holds an equal value to all of those long runs spent alone over the years. When all hope is lost and the thought of taking another step seems impossible, there is nothing more powerful than a fellow competitor extending their hand to you, offering you a their last bite of food. Equally rewarding is the rare opportunity to be present in another's moment of despair and be able to empower them to go beyond self-imposed boundaries. It is in these moments that I am leaning to understand my own self more deeply and push my limits more than I ever have before. It is these experiences I hope to share, and how to best prepare for them, and the opportunities to recruit the next crop of athletes to these amazing adventure sports.

My training partner Lani and I finishing our first Tough Mudder

I welcome your feedback. Please feel free to make suggestions of topics that you would be interested in seeing posts on, questions you might have, or ideas. I hope that with my co-blogger Aaron's expertise as a coach and trainer and my experiences on the trail and as a working mom, we can help build this incredible community.