Spartan Race Amesbury report and 2 SPARTAN RACE GIVEAWAYS!!

Morgan Mckay and I having some festival fun after our 8:30 AM heat.
 

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's the stuff life is made of."

-Benjamin Franklin

Even though I generally go to great lengths to avoid short distance races of any kind, 2014 marks the third year in a row I have made the trip to Amesbury, MA for the Spartan Sprint. This race seems to be one of the exceptions to my "no running fast" philosophy that dominates my racing calendar. One of the most compelling reasons that I return to this event year after year is that I really enjoy having the opportunity to get back out on course for a second lap after the elite heat to give back a little to the community that has given so much to me. I love that I can complete the course with athletes new to the sport, lend a hand over a wall or a little advice and encouragement from within the trenches instead of just on the sidelines. The Amesbury race was my first ever Spartan Obstacle race two years ago and one I can't resist simply because I can cram in a weekend's worth of fun in a 24-hour period and get home to my family at the end of the day.

For anyone who reads this blog, it probably isn't a surprise that I generally try to find some lesson or meaning in every adventure I undertake. Some of the lessons teach me about better training, race preparation, nutrition or race etiquette; others are pretty spiritual and powerful lessons. The Amesbury race always provides a reminder of the first commandment of racing; it isn't worth doing if it isn't fun.

Jeffrey Bent attempted to teach Mogan and I how to do one-arm handstands. I think we need to keep working on it!

I arrived at the venue before my 8:30 AM start solo and warmed up for the women's elite in plenty of time. I was initially a little concerned that the elite heat would generate a bit of a circus now that NBCSN was there filming for their new Spartan TV series, but I was happy to find that it didn't feel much different than last year's event. I visited with some old friends, but most were all-business as the evolution of the ladies' heat

Spartan testing my SPANDITS! shorts and top at the Amesbury Sprint. They
rock! Not a single snag or pull after two laps of the course!
Pink hair would have been a nice touch too. 

has become extremely competitive. Since I have reviewed this event in years past, I won't give a synopsis of the obstacles at Amesbury this year. However, there were few twists and added challenges to the traditional obstacles to keep things interesting. For one, Spartan is done messing around with the elite heat. New to 2014: double sandbags and tractor pulls for all elite racers (meaning that we needed to carry two sandbags at a time as well as pull two chained cinderblocks, rather than one). The bucket carry up the Amesbury Sports Park required elites to carry a bucket of gravel 7/8 full with gravel up the steep slopes of the Amesbury Sports Park, compared to the 2/3 full of the open heats. An awkward 60-70 pounds in a 5-gallon bucket with no handles was pretty brutal. In a 100m ascent, I am pretty certain I had to stop to rest with my bucket balanced precariously on my thighs no less than 5 times. When I arrived at the bottom and dumped my bucket into the gravel pile, my fingers were nearly seized up from loss of grip strength. Spartan Race also tossed in a few challenges for all heats such as increasing the course length to 5 miles, monkey bars with varying heights, and thin, slippery climbing ropes with no knots, which increased the difficulty ten-fold for many. Although I fared well, I missed the spear toss (shocker) and the rope climb resulting in a whopping 60-burpee penalty. Ouch.

Happy with a top 20 finishing time out of 3,800
women to run the course, but
the real fun had yet to come.

My favorite part of this race is all of the familiar faces and fun at the festival and post-race shenanigans. I met up with my Canadian pal Morgan Mckay, whom I met nearly 2 years ago at my first Death Race where we became instant friends. Since then, we have raced and played together many times and have witnessed one another have both great successes as well as suffer spectacularly on course. Along with her friend Jen and fellow Reload Ambassador Freddy Rodriguez, we jumped into an open heat to tackle the course a second time, this time on our own terms. We stopped to socialize and made new friends, buddy-carried one another, fell into the deepest depths of each mud pit and attempted every obstacle with as much added difficulty as we could create for one another. We stopped to help strangers, flopped in the sand turning ourselves into sugar-coated doughnuts (oh wait, that was just Morgan), and we laughed a lot.

Helping 10-year-old Alex Hulme overcome apprehension of the razor sharp barbs of the barbed-wire crawl, assisting Spartans on the monkey bars and inverted walls, and pulling strangers suctioned waist deep in mud was particularly rewarding. Smiles and laughter are contagious, and I am honored to he in a position to celebrate the successes of each of these strangers in their moment of triumph.

The spirit of our second lap on the course reminded me of my first Tough Mudder back in 2011 and why I have spent the better part of the last 3 years running through the mud and under barbed wire. Back in 2011, I distinctly remember a moment where Lani and I looked at one another's mud-caked faces and instantly broke into uncontrollable laughter at the absurdity of it all; the kind of laughter that brings you to your knees gasping for air. This was one of the defining moments that changed it all for both of us. Somewhere on the hills of the Amesbury Sports Park, Morgan and Jen helped me find that moment again. Thank you ladies for that. There is nothing more important than finding opportunities to laugh at the ridiculousness that is this life. It is an even greater treasure to be able laugh in the face of enormous challenges. When obstacle racing ceases to be fun or challenging, I'll move on. Until then, I'll train like hell for the next one.

We collected lots of friends, both new and old, along the course. I am guessing that it was the two beautiful 25-year old women that drew the following, but it was spectacularly fun anyway!

Nope, don't know the name of the guy holding both my hand and Jen's, but as you can see, neither of us seem to care.

Life is short. If there is ever a time to get out there and chase fun, it is now.

Want some awesome, fun, Spartan Race-tested shorts like the ones I wore? You can customize your own material and length and support a small company. Made in the USA! Check out SPANDITS! and tell them Shelley sent you (and use my code SPANDITSLOVE for 10% off your order).

A huge THANK YOU to Hammer Nutrition for Hammer Gels, Mito Caps, Race Caps Supreme and Recoverite that fueled my awesome race and great day! The code in the upper right of this page will give you 15% off your entire first order with Hammer.

Check out the NBCSN coverage of this event Tues Sept 23 at 10pm EST. Now for the FREE Spartan raffles!

GIVEAWAY #1

Here is where you can enter the Reebok Spartan Race Cruise Sweepstakes! No purchase necessary. Open to US residents only. Winner will receive a trip for two including airfare, a 3-day Spartan cruise, and an entry to the ultimate tropical island Spartan Race. Click here to enter! Sweepstakes ends Sept 22.

GIVEAWAY #2

Click here to win an entry to any US 2014 or 2015 Spartan Race through Shelley's blog, Filthy Clean Living. Raffle drawing is Aug 25, 2014

Thanks to Reload Fitness and Mud and Adventure for you support!

Fenway Sprint- How do we measure success anyway? Also another chance for you to win free US Spartan race!

Dad and Yaz. As a kid, I never could pronounce his name.

"Do not go gentle into that good night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light." Dylan Thomas.

Rather than braving the World's Toughest Mudder this year- a race that promised to be cold, miserable, and grueling- I opted to return from my injury at the Fenway Park Spartan Sprint. Just two weeks after the Red Sox World Series win, this was guaranteed to be a more pleasant return to the sport of self-inflicted punishment that I have missed so much for the last 2.5 months.

yeah, that is the World Series trophy. Bummed I missed that.

What I love so much about the Fenway race is the energy. Rex Sox fans and huge masses of people flooding into Fenway Park from the city of Boston (over 8,000 competitors in one day) guarantee a day of people-watching like no other. Men in Superman thongs,

While it might appear that the dude on the left is... well.. inappropriate- 
I am pretty sure this is a case of a misplaced, synthetic Red Sox beard. Photo Laura Messner

bearded ladies, superhero outfits and disguised superstars

(Andy Weinberg's daughter
 caught up with  Red Sox 3rd baseman
in his Spartan debut disguised in
body paint- Photo Sloan Weinberg) 

all guarantee that the day can never be boring. The race is FAST. Up stadium stairs jumping over dozens and dozens of rows of bungy cords suspended 12 inches off the floor, dozens of plyometric exercises squeezed between traditional Spartan monkey bars, rope climbs, sandbag carrys and wall ascents provide a high intensity frenzy that takes the athlete over every inch of the stadium in under an hour.

Additionally, this year was something special for me. My dad, who had planned to come to the World Championships in Vermont back in September before I had to bag out, finally got a chance to tag along with me to witness the madness. To add to the coolness of it all, dad has been a huge Red Sox fan as long as I can remember but has not been to Fenway Park in over 30 years. This event was one for the history books as far as I was concerned.

The race was as perfect as I had hoped. Even though I am still recovering from my injury, I made up for any lack in fitness with determination. After ball slams, water carries, stairs, walls, and more stadium stairs... I nailed the erg (rowing machine) that plagued me last year. Last year, this obstacle seemed unsurmountable to me. What I have learned since then is that simply rowing back and forth quickly does nothing to make the machine "row" faster. To row faster, you have to pull harder. Forcibly. While I suspect I was probably pretty close to the 2 minute/500 meters limit, I'll never know as I did not receive the 30 burpee penalty at this obstacle. I did miss the spear throw, but somehow I have come to expect that. Self-fulfilling prophecy, I suppose.

I finished the race feeling great. A perfect end to a perfect day. Oh, wait, it was still before 8am. But a perfect ending anyway... until I made the only mistake I made all day. I checked the results before I left.

When I entered my name and bib number hoping for a top-10 finish, the computer screen came back with a placing of 18th elite female. Eighteenth? How could this be? I replayed my race in my head. I ran as fast as I could. I nailed every obstacle save the spear toss. I executed each of the plyometric exercises with precision and strong form. Eighteenth place? This was my worst placing EVER in a Spartan Race. For a moment, I felt like the day had been a failure.

I shook it off and dad and I went about our business of being tourists. Pictures on the Red Sox dugout. Dad imitating Yaz outside of Fenway Park. Being with one of my favorite people on our own adventure together unlike any we had had in years quickly brought me back to my happiest place and we enjoyed our day together as if I had won. But I didn't want to think about the race.

Red Sox fans out in full force

But didn't I win? I mean, I ran my best, nailed the strength part of the contest, and kept my focus in an all-out-sprint effort, which is always my kryptonite. I was SEVEN minutes faster than I was last year (in which I placed 7th place in the event). It may be that this year's course was shorter? Likely, it was. However, my effort was nearly 2 1/2 minutes faster per mile than last year, so clearly, I HAD improved (last year I took two penalties since I failed the erg challenge). In comparison, the winner of last year's event was only about 2.5 minutes faster or 40 sec/mile faster this year. Clearly, my impression that I had improved was not totally misguided.

But why did I allow myself to determine my own success relative to the competition? Is being beaten a failure if you have improved? This begs the question, would I rather win a race because the competition never made it to the starting line or have a PR and be beaten? Which progresses me more as an athlete?

Well, I wasn't prepared to answer that myself until the following day. One of my favorite OCR friends and 2X reigning World's Toughest Mudder, Junyong Pak, was beaten for the first time in 3 years at his title event. He didn't fall short, in fact, he went further than he ever had on a course that was arguably harder. He simply was bettered by someone who either had better training, a better plan, or was just better for the day. It was as simple as that.

Do I respect Junyong less because someone out there beat him? Absolutely not. His athletic endeavor is no less impressive to me than if he had been untouchable.  I know him well enough to know that his concessions to the winner after the event are genuine and honest. His sportsmanship, however, is one that may be unmatched in the sport and for that I am in awe.

Junyong, conceding the win.

So, it looks like if I am going to be in the top 10, I am going to need to step up my game as more athletes rise to the challenge. But really, I have no one to answer to but me.





And I killed it this weekend.








So, if you haven't raced a Spartan Race, or are totally hooked already, don't miss the airing of the World Championships on NBC Dec 7 from 4-5 pm. Also, enter here for my free giveaway for any US Spartan Race in 2013 or 2014 @

Spartan Race giveaway raffle

Giveaway ends Sat Nov 23, 2013.