Race Recap: Spartan Beast - Utah

Race: Reebok Spartan Beast

Location: Soldier's Hollow, UT

Race Date: Saturday, June 29, 2013

A little late than never...Well, first off, I survived...that's good isn't it? lol! This was a killer race so here we go with the recap...

Day 1 - Travel Day - Thursday, June 27, 2013

Jeff, my race traveling companion, and I left home at about 5:30am while the hubs stayed with the K9s. The drive which was supposed to be 13 hours turned out to be 14 or so hours due to massive construction on the roads that we were traveling. We went up through Albuquerque, Farmington, thru Canyonlands National Park, Provo, Utah and finally to our final destination, Heber City, UT. The town is small and cute but there's not a whole lot to do here. Once we arrived, we unpacked and headed out for dinner since we had arrived at about 8pm. The first place we ended up at stopped taking patrons for seating at 8:30pm...it was 8:31pm. We ended up just going back to the motel (Swiss Alps Inn...nice place, older furniture but great owner and just nice overall. They do have pet friendly rooms (we were in one) and they don't smell and from what I can tell the rooms are all fairly large. We ended up ordering Domino's and then watched some TV and/or played on the  computers before bed.

Day 2 - Free Day - Friday, June 28, 2013

I woke up early and Jeff slept in so since I wasn't able to get my mile in yesterday for my run streak I had to start over and went to the local high school track to get my mile in. Afterwards I decided to drive up to the venue just to check it out. OMG! Was my first thought was, "It's all f*cking hills and mountains!" Here's some exapmles of the area...

Yup, we were knee deep in that sh*t. See the mountain on the left?
Yeah, we climbed the trail to the top.That was a b*tch

We were on mostly single track trails through this area.

Parking area, view 1.

Parking area, view 2.

We ate breakfast at a bakery/deli called Kneaders, great food! We've had breakfast there 2 days and are planning to go back today (Sunday) for more! We then headed up to Salt Lake City and visited Temple Square which houses the first Latter Day Saints buildings and which is the oldest area of the city.

The Temple from the west entrance.

Jeff in front of the Temple from the west entrance.

As much of the Temple that I could get in one shot.
Granite was quarried from 20 miles away by ox and cart
and took 4 days to transport until they built a railroad
which lowered the time to 4 hours.

Selfie in front of the Temple.

Assembly Hall, the oldest building and first building of worship.
Original pews are still being used.

Fountain in front of the Assembly Hall has plate murals
depicting the trek of the original settlers.

After the visit to Temple Square I made my first visit to a Lululemon store...just to say I've been in one!

We then headed to Gateway Center (shopping) to look around to kill some time. Jeff was looking for new mud shoes and I was trying not to spend any money. We then headed to REI where Jeff finally (we won't say how long this took!) found some shoes but they were out of his size so we waited for a friend of his from Clovis who now lives north of SLC who was going to join us for dinner and some impromptu shopping at the REI in Sandy, UT which had the shoes that Jeff was looking for.

We then headed out to Olive Garden, which luckily was pretty much around the corner and had dinner (I still have leftovers that are probably going in the trash). Megan, Jeff's friend, was a pleasant young lady who obviously had a great relationship with Jeff. After dinner we dropped Megan off at her truck at the SLC REI and headed back "home." We tried to turn in early so that we could be ready for the morning.

Race Day - Saturday, June 29, 2013

We were up by 7am and headed back to Kneaders for breakfast. We then headed out to the venue to get everything necessary for the race AKA packet pickup. We got everything together and found the small group of the Weeple Army that we were going to run with (more on that later). I didn't even think to take any pre-race pics of myself and Jeff but I did get some of the 10am heat at the starting line and of some of the Weeples as we waited in the corral for the 10:15 heat.

10am heat at the starting corral, 200 racers at a time.

Flags marking the start.

Bryce carrying the Weeple flag and wearing his GoPro.

Weeple people.

To the rear of the 10:15am heat.

Dave (our illustrious leader) and Bryce.

Weeple chicks.

Weeples preparing for the start.

To the front of the starting corral.

When the race started of course we were going up hill...and you know how much I love hills...NOT! (Yes,  I know I have to train for them for NWM 26.2!) It was this early point that I fell behind and rather than have them wait for me I just let them go and continued on  my own. I was able to do the race at my pace and asked for help from total strangers at obstacles that I needed it. I met several other women close to my age who I walked with for varying amounts of time  plus a young lady who was a tired of the crap we were dealing with and we were going to go through this together...until she got called to the medical tent for an emergency. So I trudged along and met a few other women and some men that I walked and chatted with throughout the race. One inspiring person was a young man named Lemoni (apparently a name from the Book of Mormon) who had lost a leg and had broken a spring so I let him use my phone (yes, I had it sealed in a ziplock bag) so he could contact his wife to meet him with a new part. I believe he had lost his leg in the war, but I'm not positive. The last time that I passed him, he had met his wife and was fixing the piece but also had to do some gerry rigging with athletic tape so that he could continue on. He passed me again and I saw him at the spear throw doing bupees with his prosthetic off...the man was a freakin' BEAST!! So as I continued on through some mud/water obstacles I worried that I should have taken my FitBit Flex off, but it handled the mud/water like a champ and is still working (only water resistant no proof). It was totally submerged several times for several minutes and it's going great today (Sunday). I also had bought a new waterproof, dustproof, shock proof camera that ended up totally covered in a thick layer of mud but is also working like a champ. Needless to say, I was unable to take any pics with it though.

I started the race at 10:15am and finished around 5:30pm, according to Jeff only about 30 minutes after the Weeples finished, if that's true I'm pretty proud of myself! That's a little over 7 hours for a killer race and we had finished a Super in just over 5 hours and that was an 8 mile or so race. I was so tired that I didn't even want to think about taking pics, just wanted to wash all the mud off and get into the pool at the motel! So when we got back to the motel we showered, rinsed out our clothes/shoes some more, sat in the pool and hot tub then went next door to Dairy Keen to have some burgers and a shake (Yummy, thick shakes). We then came back to the room and although we wanted to go to sleep early we ended up finally going to bed at 11pm or so. Ugh.

Day 4 - Travel Day - Sunday, June 30, 2013

Well, I was up at 4:30am so I'm going to have to stock up on some 5 Hour Energy before we leave. Jeff woke up for a few minutes at 5am but is now back asleep. I'm considering another shower or to lay back down in bed. We managed to get on the road around 11am after having been disappointed that Kneaders, our fave breakfast/bakery joint was closed. We ended up eating at a cafe across the street before beginning the 15+ hour drive home. The drive was uneventful other than more frequent stops to stretch, gas up and nature breaks but we did stop to eat 3 times adding on another hour or so to the trip. Note to self...don't have the patty melt at Whataburger, it just didn't sit well with me. We finally made it home at almost 2am exactly. Another Spartan race done. A week of soreness to look forward to!

The Aftermath:
Bruised on every body part except neck and face. Bruises ranged from 10" to variously sized spots. Sore for 5 days after...ran/walked 5K on July 4th and soreness went away the next day.

What I liked about this race...
I finished, it was a bruiser but it can be done by a not so in shape 48 year old female.

What I didn't like about this race...
Hills, steep hills, loose rock...the 100 yard barb wire crawl roll...usually one of my fave obstacles. Didn't like my normal disliked obstacles...traverse wall, monkey bars, rope climb...took burpees for all those.

Would I do this race again?
Yes, just because I am a glutton for punishment and it would give me a reason to eat a Kneaders and have a shake at Dairy Keen.

Recommendations in Heber City, UT (about 10 minutes from Soldier's Hollow venue):
Swiss Alps Inn - Clean, roomy motel w/ pool, hot tub and sauna.
Kneaders Bakery - Great baked goods and breakfasts.
Dairy Keen - Right next door to the Inn, great burgers and shakes.

Race Recap: The Color Run 5K - Lubbock, TX

Race Date: Saturday, March 23, 2013
Race Location: Lubbock, TX

Wow! This was the first race, or rather fun run, that was within a decent driving distance from home. After a rough night with allergies and only a little over 2 hours of sleep I was up and at 'em getting ready to do a nearly 2 hour drive to Lubbock to get to The Color Run 5K which was an inaugural event for the area. The hubs and two local running/racing friends joined us for the trip which began at 5am MDT since we were losing an hour driving across the state line into Texas.

Race outfit, but I decided to wear the official
The Color Run 5K t-shirt on top of the tank.

We were on the road pretty much on time and a little worried about the weather since we had been getting wind advisories for a few days. As luck would have it the weather was perfect, just a tad chilly early on, and winds were pretty minimal for the area. We arrived in Lubbock to a line of traffic trying to get into the parking lot, so I followed my GPS instructions and we ended up parking on the street not too far from the parking lot where we'd have ended up parking anyway...without having to wait in line!

We made our way to the race area which was probably a good half mile walk. Packet pick up was way too easy in that there was absolutely no waiting line at all. We all had our packets in less than 5 minutes! We all changed into our shirts, some went to use the port-a-pots which had absolutely no lines at any of them and then we made our way to the start.

Pre-run: Jeff (my SRPIC), Teresa (my local running/racing friend), me and the hubs, Troy.

Walgreen's provided bottles of water at the start, but oddly enough there were no trash cans anywhere near the starting line so you can imagine the collection of bottles and other trash that began accumulating along the fence line. As the weather warmed up I discarded an old throwaway sweatshirt and gloves that I had brought to get read for the run to start. I was kind of disappointed the the energy level wasn't higher than it was, but as with any race/run it's what you make of it. Maybe it was just because I'm used to larger races now but whatever. My friend, Jeff and I danced around to the music, we all jumped for the freebies that were being thrown or shot out of an air cannon and basically just enjoyed ourselves as much as we wanted until the start at 9am.

The "corrals" to the rear of us...

We ended up being the 3rd or 4th wave out...

Color runners heading to the starting area...

Waiting...waiting...waiting...

The run was in an area park with the course consisting of nearly constant rolling hills. Teresa took the lead and was off (she's finished the Bataan Memorial Death March in 4th place in her division before and has finished a full before I even finished a half that started an hour later!) while Jeff and I took middle ground. The hubs started falling back so I told Jeff to go ahead and I waited to run/walk with the hubs. He then started having some issues with his shins and told me to to ahead so I reluctantly headed out at a comfortable pace interspersed with my intervals...usually consisting of walking up the hills and through the color stations. As I made my way through the different color stations I made sure to get up close and personal to the volunteers for a good dousing while raising my hands above my head to ensure good coverage.

I finished...having no idea of time or anything because I hadn't bothered to check the time when we started or when I finished...and waited for the hubs at the finish line. He came in a little bit after me and was fairly well covered in paint.

Photo of the yellow station through a Ziplock bag
used to protect my phone.

Waiting for the old man who thought I had a bloody nose
because I was sweating and had red paint on my face.

Post modern Color Run abstract.

Jeff and I post race.

Certainly an entertaining part (taken through a Ziplock bag)...
getting excess paint blown off with leaf blowers.

We met up with Teresa at our designated meeting place while Jeff met with some of his younger friends for a bit. Just as a note, there were supposed to be about 7K runners...when we left at 10:50am local time, they were just releasing the last of the runners to start! We headed down to the Festival area to take part in one of the color throws and then met back up with Jeff to head out for lunch at Texas Roadhouse. Unfortunately my phone's battery died during the run...stupid GPS eating the battery...so not any pics of the food. I had a great ribeye and baby back ribs combo with loaded mashed potatoes, buttered corn, 4 hot/fresh rolls and most of a plate of potato skins. I did end up taking the ribs and most of the sides home as leftover though...but the rib eye was done in a flash! We then stopped at Cake Cupcake Shop and I got a Snickerdoodle cupcake (courtesy of Teresa) which was delish! So not a good thing that I know where a good cupcake shop is now in both Amarillo and Lubbock!! Oy vey!

The weather for the race an the early part of our trip home was great. We left Jeff in Lubbock (on purpose) since he was going to stay with friends to go party like any normal 20 year old would do. The nearly 2 hour drive home looked mostly like this with strong winds...

Gotta thank a former student, Staci for this photo!

We did make it home safe although I had to have the hubs take over the driving about 30 miles from home since I was getting drowsy from only 2 hours of sleep the previous night.

UPDATE @ 11:06pm: 
Just a note...the powdered paint managed to get through my tutu and capris to my legs and through two shirts to my skin. I don't recommend holding your arms up as you go through the paint stations...I was able to scrub away most of the color except for some reason the paint in my underams (of all places) is really not coming off well. I'll have blue armpits for a few days! LOL!

What I liked about this race:
The fact that it wasn't a race, just a fun run. Haven't done one in a long while and the pressure of time was not a factor. Plus, it was just plain fun!! How often prior to this race had I been able to let loose and get crap thrown, sprayed or wiped all over me?? Not often enough!! lol!

What I didn't like about this race:
Would I be a wimp if I complained about the hills? lol! Ya'll know how much I dislike hills!! LOL!

Would I do this race again?
Definitely. Actually planning to do The Color Run in Amarillo in June and the Color Me Rad 5K in Lubbock in October. I so need to do more relaxing short runs just for fun!