Spartan Beast Sacramento

Back on Nov 17^th, 2012 I did my first Spartan Race series and it had to be the 13+ Miles aka Spartan Beast.  I was unaware that this was one of the toughest mud runs that you can join. For those of you who don’t know what the Spartan Races are all about, they are tough obstacle mud runs that will test your strength, endurance, stamina, and your train of thought.

If you can’t do an obstacle, you have to do 30 BURPEES

Spartan Races have 3 categories:

• Spartan Sprint 3+ Miles with about 15+ Obstacles

• Super Spartan 10+ Miles at 20+ Obstacles

• Spartan Beast 13+ Miles and 25+ Obstacles

They have special ones that are really hardcore called the “Death Race”. Its invite only and a 48 hour race that accepts only 200 people. I personally wouldn’t go this far but if you’re willing to do it, be my guest and I’d like to give you an interview here.

Main website: www.youmaydie.com

They are also known internationally so it’s not just a US thing.

Spartan Race’s 2012 trailer here :

Quick Tip: You can’t be a gym rat because the distance will kill you. If you’re a runner you will pass the distance but the obstacles will push you down. You need to be in between both worlds.

My Spartan Beast Experience:

We got to the race just before 10am along with our group of 100+ and had no idea who was who. I only knew the people that were actively providing support on our Facebook Group.

JOIN ME : https://www.facebook.com/groups/179870395483380/

Coming from the SF Bay Area, was already a 2 hour commute.

Our heat was supposed to be at 1:30pm but being a Spartan, but instead did 11am. Unfortunately my Garmin GPS Watch somehow was shut off at 0.53 Miles which really made me angry and I had no idea until the end when I took it out of my Camelbak.

We started running when the gun went off. To make things even tougher, mother nature thought it would be great if she made a storm.

Weather Condition:

Imagine the rain pouring with high winds and you’re doing a 13+Mile Mud run. That’s pretty tough!

Pretty much it was raining for about 3hours straight with the wind piercing through my tech shirts. On your face, it felt like someone was throwing tiny needles.

The atmosphere was nice and humbling since all around, people were just talking to everyone. I didn’t encounter anyone who was being snobby and did not want to talk to you.

If you went alone, you’re finishing with new friends 🙂

I wish I had data to track but I was pretty much lost on pace/tracking.

+RACE INJURY Mile 7+:

My left leg cramped up again like what happened to me in the US Half Marathon back on Nov 4th, 2012 in San Francisco,CA. This time it wasn’t as painful because I drank pickle juice a whole week before.

Wrapped my leg with athletic tape and went on my way.

**Bought the waterproof ones to ensure it will stick and I put it on too tight that I had scars from the wrapping.

We noticed a lot of people had leg cramps too.

How to prevent leg cramps :

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update0105a.shtml

NIGHTFALL:

I didn’t think I would need my headlamp but I ended up using it, remember that we started around 11am and the sun goes down at 5pm.

A headlamp will be required gear to continue on the course starting as

early as 4:00pm. YOU WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE COURSE IF YOU DON’T HAVE A HEADLAMP

AT ONE OF OUR CHECKPOINTS.

It took us about 7 hours but we waited a lot (I MEAN A LOT!) and helped out a lot of people. Besides, this isn’t a race to be whose faster. Be my guest pass me up, I could care less, all I wanted to do was to finish.

Sacramento Spartan Beast Obstacle:

I’m only going to highlight some of the ones I have comments on.

This is in no particular order of the race and this is NOT all of it!

Note: All photography credit goes to Nuvision Action. They collaborated with Spartan Race for 2012 to get our images for free. HIGH respect for them for not being a money hungry company. If there’s a donation box, I’d put my share in.

Originals can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151097530821861.431139.251061411860&type=3

High Wall

Everyone helps each other out and not a lot of people did Burpees. If you did, that’s fine I don’t judge 🙂

Vertical Rope Climb

Personally for me, this was my biggest fear. I wanted to ring the bell so bad, but I just did not have enough training and I was penalized with 30 Burpees. But that’s OK, I need to learn how to climb and I’ll make sure I beat this one next time.

Sandbag Hill

Before the end you had to carry this sandbag up this hill and back. It was around 50lbs+ and I did not want to admit defeat. It took me at least 10+ minutes because the hill was so muddy I couldn’t even stand up without slipping. I dropped the sandbag at least 5 times since my shoes barley had any tread and it was dark!

Spartan Barbwire Crawl

The first few were fun but they surprise you with a very long one.

Do a barrel roll and you’ll get there faster vs if you crawl.

No really, ROLL!

Spartan Firepit

It was already nightfall by the time we got to this part. We met up with some other Spartans and stayed for a good 5 mins to dry/warm ourselves up.

COUNTDOWN: ONE..TWO..THREE.. GO!!

The ladies actually had a few steps ahead start since I wasn’t exactly paying attention and ran a second late. Guess who took the beating from the Gladiators with the Q Tips? 3x on the head.

Rope Climb up a hill

This was my all time favorite obstacle! We spent about 30 extra mins here since our team was dedicated so everyone can get up. I must have helped at least 10 people to pull them up. You see the guy in the black shirt almost to the top?

That’s the hardest part because you couldn’t reach the next knot.

Mud pits

One of the few pits and believe me, there was a lot! But these ones are easy since all you do is swim. Don’t worry its waist deep only.

Slippery Wall

This was near the end and I hated it so much! It was slippery so I used my upper-body to propel me up.

 

Unfortunately I’m not in the video since we all got separated. But this is what had to face, notice the weather. For those of you training or trying to figure out what you will do, this is a great video to watch.

Before Spartan Race

Wooo I’m still clean!

Barbwire Picture

I’m pretty stoked from crawling in the mud. I felt alive!

FINISHED!

That’s the smile of success after not being able to believe yourself, after you did something dumb 🙂

Final from @RunningMileCom Jason

I would do it again! I felt very proud of the team and I personally did not think I could do it. Thank you everyone for the support. I’d also like to thank one of my friends who dragged me into this horrible mess. It took that MUCH to get me to join 🙂 but it was well worth it!