First Road Marathon: A Little Freaked Out

OK, so on Saturday I do my very first road marathon. I've done the Bataan Memorial Death March but it was literally how I approached it...as a march on dirt/rock/sand trails, no running. This race The M.A.D. Marathon starts out at nearly 5,200 feet in elevation and according to what I saw on the elevation map was mostly downhill with only one big hill climb. So yesterday the hubs and I went and drove the course and I wanted to cry...literally. I don't like hills and it was like the first 7-8 miles are constant rolling hills and 3 (yes, three) huge hill climbs. They aren't little, low laying hills they are steep! If I did the math right the biggest and steepest hill is a 55% grade..yes, 55%. I have a 60 foot difference in elevation over 109 feet.

        60/109 = 0.5504 x 100 = 55.04%

Joy.

I had recorded the first half of the course after which the course is pretty much flat. Aside from my current, but quiet, internal (occasional external) freak out my plan is to start slow and finish slower. I sure as heck am not running all the way up the hills but I'll try to run up as far as possible. Remember, I'm a flat lander we have very few hills where I live. Am I panicking for nothing or am I right to be a little freaked? Either way, I won't quit and will crawl (and cry) if I have to...because this will be the beginning of my quest to join the Marathon Maniacs. So I was going to post the video but it's too long to post on YouTube and I don't know where else to post it. So, instead, here's the elevation chart. I don't know why I focused only on the downhill and totally disregarded the uphills. Well, wish me luck and confidence please...Saturday is coming way too soon!

Race Recap: Super Spartan & the Weeple Army

Race Day: Saturday, April 6, 2013
Location: Lake Las Vegas, Henderson, Nevada


Race Day -1: Travel day

Nothing special happened during the drive. After a 13 hour drive, including stops to eat and pick up snacks for the drive, we arrived in Henderson around 4:30pm or so. By "we" I'm referring to my friend, Jeff, who is 20 years old and the one who got me into doing these crazy races. We drove out to the venue for the next day's race to make sure we knew where we were going and then I took him down to the Strip for a quick tour and some dinner. By they time we got done it was about 9:30pm so we headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night since he had the volunteer heat at 8:45am.

Race Day: 

Let me start off with I survived! :D I've now done my second Spartan race and truthfully I feel a lot more comfortable and happy after doing Super Spartan than I did doing Spartan Sprint. When I did Sprint in AZ it was myself,  my son's female friend, my son and my local friend who kinda got the idea of doing an obstacle course race (OCR) into my head in the first place. At that race I ended up cramping up severely in my calf and told my son's friend to go on without me so that I could stretch out the cramp for a while. I then went through the rest of the course on my own with the occasional help of complete strangers. By the time I hit the fire jump (the last obstacle on both races other than the Spartans with the pugil sticks at the very end) I was totally spent.

In comparison at Super I had signed up through one of my TinkerBell Half Marathon friends to run with the Weeple Army. What is the Weeple Army you ask? They are a group of extreme/OCR racers ranging from beginners (like myself) to elite Death Race athletes. This is a true team...no one is left behind. I can't tell you how many times they saved me from having to do punishment burpees or helping me by sharing my punishment burpees when I did receive them. To me, the burpees are possibly the worst thing of the whole race! I love the camaraderie, support and motivation that these guys and gals provided! Enough so, that I have joined their ranks and hope to meet up with some of them at the Military Sprint in Colorado next month and then Spartan Beast in Utah at the end of June.

So, let's get to the race already...

Jeff and I got to the venue at about 7:45am and picked up our bibs and just hung around until his heat at 8:45. After I saw him off I went to my car to try to take a nap because I was having some dizziness that had been an issue since I started getting sick on the previous Thursday. When I couldn't sleep, I sent a message to my friend Jessica who had posted that they were on their way and she said to meet her at the "Biggest Team" tent. After a few more minutes trying to nap, I gave up and headed back to the festival area to meet up with Jessica and the Weeple Army for the first time.

At the start of the race the Weeple Army was recognized as the largest team. This resulted in a tent/canopy just for the team to use. The heat started at 11:15 and you could feel the anticipation in the tent as time was counted down until about 11 o'clock when everyone started heading to the start. With the traditional battle cry of "I am a Spartan! Aroo! Aroo! Aroo!" the race began with the throwing of a smoke bomb through which you had to run. Now, I hadn't been feeling well for the 2 days prior to the race and was really questioning if I should race or not due to some dizziness that I was feeling. I decided to go for it and just drop out if I needed to.  So this early into the race I was still feeling the dizziness until we came to the first obstacle...the moats. These were 3 dug out holes of muddy, slickness that you either jumped across or waded through. It seemed that they started our narrow enough to just jump over then progressed a little wider which I jumped but one leg slipped into the muddy water and the final one I just said "Screw it!" and waded through the muck. So early on I was wet and muddy but the dizziness had disappeared, maybe because I had something else to focus on.

Next came a hike on hills...never ending hills. I thought Bataan was bad but this race came pretty close to that! The next obstacle was the under and over repeated 3 times. You basically crawl under some netting then go over a wall I think it was probably a 6 foot wall.  After that we continued on, I should mention we weren't going for time and there were several of us newbies so the pace was slow and steady and finally passed the one mile marker...only 7 1/2 more to go. The next obstacle came up the over-under-through...basically another wall to go over than the guys helped the girls get over by providing a step/lift, then crawl under a wall, then climb through a square hole in another wall easiest done by going feet first.

Another hike of seemingly never ending hills and we came to the monkey bars. Now these are not the typical school or park playground monkey bars. These are thicker and the spacing is uneven...mostly too wide for my short arms. Thankfully, my friend's husband was kind enough to give me a lift on his shoulders (yes, this kind of teamwork is allowed) and as long as I touched each bar I was good to go...thank you Mike!

More hills followed on rougher terrain that was marked as non-drivable by the race map. Next came the Rolling Mud which in this case were big mounds of mud that you literally had to slide down and wade across to yet another mound for a total of 3 if I remember correctly. Obviously, it involved mud but I can't remember if we just had to wade through it or what. A nice hike over some smoother terrain landed us at the Hobie Hop. OMG. I wasn't expecting anything like this...you had to put a rubber exercise band on both legs between your ankles and knees then could only hop to get around. To make it even more challenging, you had to jump over or on/off hay bales. Let me tell you, I need to start going to CrossFit more regularly and do some box jumps! Unfortunately, some of the bales were already falling apart from previous heats and the baling string holding them together posed a tripping hazard if your foot happened to get caught in them. One Weeple did go down with either a cramp or sprain and several of the more experienced Weeples stayed with him.

Back over some more rough terrain we landed at the Tractor Pull. This is basically a weight attached to a chain that you have to drag behind you up a hill and back down to the starting point.  This wasn't too bad and I was familiar with it from the Arizona race. After a mix of continued hills over both smooth and rough terrain we passed the 3 mile marker and landed at the tire flip. Nope, these are not little car tires. These are tractor tires, slightly smaller for females, that you literally had to flip over 3 times if you did it alone or 6 times if you had a partner. You did this out and back to the starting point where you had to center the tire on top of a block. There was absolutely no way that I could do this alone, so my friend, Jessica, helped me with it...let me tell you, Jess is a beast and probably could have done hers alone fairly easily compared to my t-rex upper body/arm strength!

Again, more hills over smooth and rough terrain and we landed at the Sandbag Carry. I thought that this was actually easier than at Arizona because if I remember correctly we actually used sandbags at that race compared to the "pancakes" that we used at Super...but then I could be wrong too. So up a hill with the sand pancake on my shoulder shifting it to the other shoulder every so often just to keep from getting too tired on either side. We continued on then hit the Tire Drag which is exactly what it sounds like. It's a tractor tire tied to a rope and you had to drag it out to the length of the rope and then pull it with the rope back to the start. Yup, no way I was able to do this alone so one of the other Weeple ladies and I worked together to pull it inch by inch over the sand that would pile up in front of the tire (did I mention that you couldn't lift the tire up?) which took us forever and Jess had finished hers (alone) and came to help us get the tire all the way out and the three of us pulled it back in. Thank you Jess and I think it was Ursula  (?)  for the teamwork! :)

More hills over rough terrain...you guys know how much I love hills! Not! and we ended up at probably the worst obstacle to date...the Bucket Carry. You take a bucket and fill it with dirt to the marked line and carry the damned thing over some rough terrain, slightly uphill and then back over the same kind of terrain which in this case involved a bunch of small hills one right after the other. You couldn't lift the bucket over your shoulder (not that I could anyway) so you end up holding it close to the body...there were no handles on the bucket..that would be too easy!! LOL! I managed to get almost to the end with about 3 of the little hills left when I slipped or tripped falling forward with the bucket but landing so as to not spill any of the dirt. I got back up and continued on to the end but was so tired that I couldn't climb the hill of dirt to dump it down to the people filling their buckets, I just ended up dumping it where I was basically laying.

Just a little bit more rough terrain before some easier hiking still on some hills and then we came to the Atlas Lift. This is a weight that you carry across to a marked point, do 5 burpees and carry it back to the starting point. Not really too bad other than your arms being a little tired from carrying the weight then having to get the burpees done. It could be worse..but I don't want to give Spartan Race any new ideas. LOL!

Onward we went hitting mile marker 6...and let me tell you at each mile we were counting down, "only x miles to go!" Then came my most hated obstacle from Arizona...the Traverse Wall. Basically it's a climbing wall using blocks instead of climbing holds to hang onto. There's no helping on this, although at Arizona you could, and I couldn't even get onto the first set of blocks...so more burpees to do. Wait, now that I think about it that was the first set of burpees I actually had to do. I think I had gotten to about 10 total when some of the guys came over and did some burpees for me and the other ladies that needed them. I can't thank these guys for all the burpees they did for us in this last portion of the course!

Not very far from the traverse wall came the Barb Wire Crawl. Would it be wrong of me to say that I actually love this obstacle? The wire was lower in Arizona but the bottom there was truly mud. Here at the Nevada race it literally was like a stone covered bottom...not smooth stones either. I wished at this point that I had worn my neoprene knee sleeves just for some extra cushioning, but I kept going no matter how much my knee were hurting. Finally towards the end the muddy water was deep enough that you could float and pull yourself along with your hands. Thankfully one of the other Weeples who had already gone through had taken a bunch of our hydration packs at the start and carried them to the end for us. Once you got out of the mud there was a pool of still muddy water that you could at least rinse off some of thicker mud on your body and clothes.

The next obstacle is another of my most hated ones...the Log Hop. I have no sense of balance and when I tried to do this on my own in Arizona I failed miserably. This time Mike again came to my rescue and guided me with each step. All the guys were knights in shining armor during this race! As we continued on, we had to wade through a knee high swampy area which wasn't bad at all...I was thinking it would be a lot worse.

The next obstacle was both fun and a bit scary at the same time. It was the Cargo Net Bridge. At Arizona you basically climbed up a cargo net, got over the top and climbed back down. Not in Vegas! You had to go up about a 20 foot net, get on top of the tower, then cross another cargo net about another 20 feet to another tower and then climb down. Climbing up and down was no problem for me, it was getting across. Basically I just sat down and scooted across using by butt crack...yes, that's what I said, to perch on the ropes scooting over one at a time until I got across. When I was on the towers all I could think of was "If someone falls between the holes in the cargo net, there's nothing to catch them" and "I wonder if too many people get on these towers will it topple overs?" I think that was enough incentive to try to get down as soon as possible.

Then we came upon the next obstacle...the Herc Hoist. Basically this is a weight tied to a rope with the rope going through a pulley at least 20 feet above. You basically had to just pull on the rope to get the weight all the way up to the pulley then bring it back down in a controlled manner. I didn't find this too difficult, it was just a matter of digging in and pulling in a controlled, short manner. The men's weights were about twice as heavy as the ladies, and one of the guys who was fairly small almost went flying as the weight was coming down until some of the other guys grabbed him and the rope saving him from what could have been a bad situation.

Some more hiking and we hit the last of the walls. First a set of two 7 foot walls and then a little further down a set of 8 foot walls. Again Mike, Dave and the other guys came to the ladies rescue and helped hoist us up until we could get our footing and swing over the walls. There are some 2' x 4' screwed into the right side of the wall on both sides but they're even hard to climb onto by yourself. Finally, we were almost at the end...

The next hurdle was the Water Crossing. Now, if any of you know me personally, you know that I've been taking swimming lessons for the last month trying to get over my fear of deep water and drowning. Thankfully it's worked enough that I had no issue getting into the deep water, with a life preserver. The hardest part was getting on top of the floating platforms. The guys were again helping everyone up and Dave had me and just when I thought I had a grip I slipped off and under the water. Surprisingly, I didn't freak out and just tried again. The second time I managed to drag myself over with Dave's help and slid into the water on the other side. I didn't try to swim with the PFD on because it just wanted to do it's own thing so I grabbed the rope they had buoys on and dragged myself across. Then came the attempt to climb onto the second platform which also took a couple of tries but I eventually just took off the PFD since I could stand in the water and was able to get dragged up by Jessica and Ursula. I had survived the water crossing without freaking out! That was a huge deal to me! Again I wouldn't have been able to without the help of the Weeple Army!

There's just certain obstacles that you know you can't do and for me one of them is the Rope Climb. You get one try at climbing a knotted rope about 20 feet high, ringing the cow bell at the top and then climb back down. Heck, I couldn't even get my feet onto the lowest knot. I did try, fell in the water below and proceeded to the burpee area. Again the guys had finished and came and helped all the ladies with our burpees...I'm telling you, these guys are great! :D

Next came the Slip Wall...basically and incline wall that is slippery as all heck. I managed to get near the top and had my fingers over the edge when my feet went out from under me and I started sliding down. Again the Weeple Army was there to save my ass! The guys at the top had grabbed me and were pulling me up, Dave was at the bottom hanging onto a rope himself and helping to push me up from there and with some effort I finally made it over! These guys are so awesome!

Yup! That's me that the Weeple guys are saving!

The Spearman was next and another obstacle that I hate because I can't figure out how to get the form right. Basically it's literally a sharp pointed spear that you throw at a bale of hay. If it sticks you're good to go...if not, it's burpee time. Needless to say that It was burpee time again. And once again the team came to the rescue and helped those of us doing burpees by sharing the burpees and doing some for each of us.

Burpee time after the Spearman...that's me bent over on the right.

Finally, it was the last two challenges the Fire Jump and the Gladiator Pit. As the Weeple Army gathered together to make the final charge, I kinda stayed back because I was just a visitor amongst the Army and not a true member but Dave said to join in and while I still remained at the back of the pack I crossed the finish with these awesome band of people.

Weeple Army charge to the finish, I'm standing on the
left but eventually joined the group.

Now, let me clarify something here. The Weeple Army is all about teamwork. I didn't matter if you were a Weeple or not, they stayed back as long as anyone needed help and then we went on together or the slower of us moved on knowing that the guys would catch up sooner than later. The Weeples define the true spirit of teamwork and I am now glad to be counted among their ranks. It's going to be an honor and a lot of fun to be going through these extreme races with these folk!

At the end of the day I couldn't find Jeff who was supposed to be working at the registration area which was being broken down. My phone had died so I ended up just hanging around until I thought of moving the car to the parking area directly in front of the entrance to charge my phone and finally got to see an text from him. He had been moved to the Spearman obstacle, evidently I had looked directly at him 3 times while I was there and didn't recognize him, and hadn't eaten all day so I got us both some BBQ sandwiches and he took a break to eat then returned for the rest of his shift. Once he finished we headed back to the hotel to shower (we had "showered" at the race using garden hoses and sprayers) and then headed out to find a Fatburger to eat at. Luckily the hotel clerk knew of one that wasn't on the Strip, the only one I knew of, and we grabbed some burgers and fries there for dinner before heading back to the hotel. I stayed up doing laundry having to wash the clothes twice to get most of the dirt/sand out but still would be needing to wash them again at home. Jeff had already crashed out and I finally finished the laundry and fell asleep around 2am.

Race Day +1: Travel Day

We had decided to sleep in and woke up just in time for the last 30 minutes of breakfast. We were both a bit stiff but I was moving much easier than I had been the day after Sprint. The trip home involved eating...a lot. I think we made three stops just to eat with the final stop in Albuquerque at Texas Road House for a nice ribeye steak. I swear, that last 3 1/2 hours seemed to take forever! We finally arrived home at about 1am and after some calming down of my pack of K9s and a viewing of my obsession, the movie Pitch Perfect. I pretty much died not waking up until noon today. All in all it was a great weekend!

What I Liked About This Race:

The camaraderie of the Weeple Army was by far my favorite thing about the race. Finishing was also great and especially finishing with a group rather than alone was a big plus. The course was challenging but not too technical even on the rough terrain. The fact that I got through the water crossing without freaking out was a bonus as well.

What I Did Not Like About This Race:

Other than those obstacles that I truly dislike or can't do, the race was great. A couple more water stations would be useful because of the heat people were finishing the fluids in their packs before getting to a water station. Other than that I did see anything that needed fixing.

Would I Do This Race Again?

Well, considering hat I'm signed up to volunteer for both days at Military Sprint in Colorado next month and race on one day, plus planning to do Spartan Beast in Utah for my Trifecta...I'd say, yes...I would do this (or some other Super) race again.

NOTE: All photos courtesy of Sandy Erb

Race Recap: Bataan Memorial Death March - My 1st Full Marathon

Race Location: White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), New Mexico

Race Date: Sunday, March 17, 2013

Race day - 2:
Well, the day had finally come. It was time to get ready to head towards my very first full marathon. Admittedly, I hadn't trained anywhere near as much as I should have. I had a case of nerves that I hadn't really felt since my first half marathon or the first time I did Spartan Sprint last month. In late February I had received an injection of confidence and purpose when a Facebook friend told me the story about her great-aunt who was a military nurse taken as a POW after the surrender at Bataan. I decided to dedicate this race to her and the other female military and civilian nurses and healthcare workers taken prisoner after Bataan. However, even with this new sense of purpose I had a recurring sense that I was about to fail at probably the most meaningful race I could have entered to date. I actually considered paying the $50 fee to change to the short route, but I had dedicated 26.2 to the Angels...so 26.2 miles it would be.

My veterans dedication bib and my special dedication bib
for the Angels of Bataan.

The bib I printed to wear during the race dedicating it to the Angels of Bataan.

The husband was on Spring Break from the college and university so the timing couldn't be much better. I had managed to get almost all of my pre-race ritual housecleaning done on Thursday and just had a few things I needed to do plus get my packing done. We finally left at about 12:30pm or so for the roughly 5 hour trip to White Sands Missile Range...an operating Army missile base that you may have seen parts of on Mythbusters. We stopped in Roswell to get the husband a boonie hat for the race as well as something quick to eat. Why is it that I only seem to eat at McDonald's when I travel for races?? Yuck! (And I used to be a huge McD's fan!) After that it was pretty much a straight shot to WSMR. We got to the Community Center on base where they were doing the marchers in processing. You have to go through a series of rooms to get everything done but it wasn't too bad since we arrived for the first day of registration. I think, IMHO, that in the future they should move it to a more open area but this was still workable. We picked up our packets, hubs was doing the 14.2 Honorary March) and looked around at the race merchandise for a bit. I really wish I was paying more attention because if I had seen the "I Survived the Bataan Memorial Death March" decal I would have bought one for sure (just in case).

Race packet swag.

Commemorative timing chip.

Commemorative dog tag...no bling except for those who place.

Certificate of participation.

We headed back to Holloman AFB just about 40 minutes east of WSMR where we were going to be staying for the next two nights. After we got into our room we headed into Alamogordo to eat at Carino's to continue the carb loading that is my habit for the week prior to a race. We got back to the room around 10pm and started getting our race gear together and made plans to make a trip into Las Cruces for breakfast, to buy some tech shorts for the hubs and watch  21 & Over (5th time for me, 2nd time for the hubs).

Race Day -1:

We got out the door and headed for Las Cruces at about 9am and stopped at The Village Inn for breakfast...great timing because the place filled up just after we were seated. We then stopped at Dick's Sporting goods before heading over to the Telshor theater to watch my 2nd favorite movie after Pitch Perfect! LOL! After the trip to Las Cruces we had to run back to the room to pick up some virtual race medals for the team from West Point Military Academy who would be competing in the Military - Heavy Division (full uniform with packs > 35 pounds. After we picked up the medals, we headed back to WSMR to attend the meet and greet for the survivors. The meet and greet was in the Professional Development Center and broken out into several different rooms with a survivor speaking in each one. There were no survivor's names assigned to the rooms so it was kind of a pot shot as to who we'd be hearing from. We ended up in the auditorium where Col. Ben Skardon was scheduled to speak. The man, 94 years old now, had a sense of humor about surviving the March and captivity, along with a deep reverence for his comrades who were no longer living as well as a sly, sparkle in his eye when talking about the Angels of Bataan (whom I had asked about) as well as the nurses who cared for him after liberation from a Japanese POW camp. After his talk I went up to thank him for his time and asked if he knew Lt Thor, the Angel that I was dedicating my race to. Unfortunately, he didn't know her but he saw that I was Filipina and he went on to talk about working with the Philippine Scouts in the region of Cebu where some of my family hails from. I cannot tell you how many times I had tears in my eyes during his talk, nor the amount of laughter that he was able to elicit while talking about such a deep subject. This man would be walking 9 miles of the route the following day with the help of his family.

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Blurry cell phone shot of Col. Ben Skardon during his talk.
Click here for a video of Col. Skardon talking about his captivity in 2012.

After the presentation we headed over to the Frontier Club for the pasta buffet. I looked around for some of the Team Red, White & Blue members and knew that the West Point cadets would be with them. This is when I presented their medals to them. I spoke for a while with one of the national leaders and took the photo of the West Point-ers. While eating we also met a couple of Marathon Maniacs (I had purposefully planned to wear my Half Fanatics shirt to meet other HFs or MMs) one of whom was an active duty colonel at Wright-Patterson AFB and another girl from San Jose plus her friend who was from San Leandro (both some of my NorCal SF Bay area neighbors). We had a great time just chatting about races, doing Bataan for the first time and encouraging each other...

The four cadets from West Point, there was a last minute addition from
Annapolis Naval Academy to round out the team who is not in the picture.

My new Marathon Maniac running friends on race morning.
Dan-O was competing in the Individual Military Light Division.

More Marathon Maniacs and I. I'm the only true Half Fanatic.
Some of the Maniacs are Double Agents, meaning that they are both
Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs...I'll be one of them by fall.

We were going to watch the movie Forgotten Soldiers which was about the men of the Death March, but we wanted to try to get to bed early since we would have to be heading to the base at 3:30-4am the next morning. Instead we headed back to HAFB at about 7:30pm to finish getting our gear ready and try to get some sleep. I popped a milligram of Xanax hoping for some decent sleep since 26.2 miles was going to be a distance that I'd never done and I wanted to be rested...I'd find out the next morning if it was a good idea or not.



Race Day:
Well, as always on race day the alarm went off too soon...this time at 2:30am. I was a little slow to wake up and by the time I did the hubs was already out of the shower. I had just a slight Xanax hangover which was quickly washed away after a nice, hot shower...yes, I'm one of those people who has to take a shower in the morning to wake up even on race day. Taped up my knees, calves and shins for what I truly expected to be a long and rough day then got dressed. We got everything packed into the car since we would be making...or rather the hubs...the nearly 5 hour drive home right after the race. We checked out of lodging and were on the road for the 30 minute or so drive back to WSMR.

We got there at about 5am and traffic was slow but not painful. We managed to park right across from the staging area and get everything set up. We headed over to the Team Red, White and Blue RV to meet up with some of the members and see if a "before" pic were to be had. Unfortunately there wasn't so we headed across the street to get in line for the call of nature before heading over to the fire truck that was flying the gigantic Stars and Stripes to find the group pic for the Marathon Maniacs and the one lone Half Fanatic (me). By the time we got the pics taken, it was time to get to our separate staging areas for the start. Hubs made his way to the back end of the group where the Honorary (Short Course) marchers were while I took my place among the Civilian - Light marchers.

The temp was in the low 50°'s and the wind was fairly calm. The local high school choir sang The Star Spangled Banner and a bagpipe regiment played after the names of the most recently deceased survivors were announced. Prior to the names of the recently deceased, the survivors in attendance were identified in a roll call with their voices strong over the sound system. The poem written by journalist Frank Hewlett during the war to call attention to the men of Bataan was read:

The Battling Bastards of Bataan emblem
with the Philippine Defense medal.

We're the Battling Bastards of Bataan,

No Mama, No Papa, No Uncle Sam,

No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no nieces,

No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces,

And nobody gives a damn!

It was after this that the tone of the start focused solely on why this race was happening...to remember those men who suffered through the 80+ mile forced march with little in the way of provisions, medical care and in the worst possible conditions during their days as POWs. This race is to be sure that their courage, bravery in the face of adversity will never be forgotten.

There was a multi-wave start with the Wounded Warriors leading the way. With each different wave a cannon announced their start. There were the survivors at the sides of the start shaking hands with those of us who went towards them. There were 15 total survivors in attendance and I had the opportunity to shake hands with 3 of them as I headed out on the course.

The first part of the course was on the roadways of the base, by mile 3 we were on groomed/bulldozed trails  out past the sports complex. Things were a bit crowded, but the course was flat. I found it necessary to jog past people occasionally to get past slower groups or to simply get away from the dust being kicked up by so many people in one place. The sand as never too bad here and most of the course was fairly well packed.

Around mile 3 or 4...

By water/aid stop #3 we were back on the asphalt. This was also where the two different routes diverged and I headed off the base towards the "hills." We remained on the roadway for a few miles with some slight inclines and then came this view...

Water/Aid stop #3/#9...the point where the two routes split up.
Not too long after I was passed by the 3rd runner headed
back to the finish...his mile 19!

Around mile 9...the hills begin.

At about mile 10 they had set up some misters...to bad the wind was blowing one side of the mist back onto the desert instead of the marchers! By about mile 11 we were back on groomed trail although it was quite a bit sandier than the previous portion of trial...

Back on the trails at around mile 11. The sand isn't too deep, but it's there. 

At this point in the race it became mostly an uphill climb...near constant. Those of you who know me know that I am not a fan of hills, but I persevered often wondering to myself if this climb will ever end. I made it to mile 13 and was elated that I was almost at the halfway point. I also thought that I was at the top of the climb, but WRONG!! There was still more to go...I stopped at the mile 14 water/aid station (and hot dogs, hamburgers, chips station) to empty the sand out of my shoes for the first of many times during the remainder of the race. By mile 15 or 16 I had reached what I think is the pinnacle for the climb...

The Canadians had been here!

Yeah, that's WSMR way down yonder!

I was fooled again into thinking that it was all downhill from here. It was downhill for a bit and then the climb started again. At about mile 16 or 17 they had a clock up and this is my time as of then...

I didn't think that was too bad for hiking the course.

By the time I got back on the asphalt at about mile 18 or 19 I was never so happy to be on solid ground. I had stopped at least 6 times since my first stop to empty the sand from my shoes. My feet were tender from forcing myself to keep going with the sand/pebbles in my shoes and I was tired from all the climbing. Lesson learned from this first experience...next year and thereafter I would wear gaiters or running boots!

I was happy to be back on the asphalt for even just the few miles before we ended up back on a trail. My feet were tender and tingling like pins and needles. About a mile past the #3/#9 water and aid stop where the two courses had split up, we turned across the road and back onto groomed PT/marching trails. The sand in some points was terrible, especially in the region of mile 21 where I'm told that the man made "sand pit" is. The sand did seem slightly deeper here than in other places, but I didn't think it was as bad as people were saying...until I went in nearly ankle deep and got a bunch of sand in my shoe again! I stopped at the mile 22 water/aid station and literally sat there for 10 minutes emptying out my shoes and just long enough for the med techs to come and check that I was okay. I was just dreading putting my shoes back on because since I had rested them there was blood flowing freely again and I knew that as soon as I stood up the pins and needles sensation would start all over again.

I had received a text from the hubs saying that he had finished and to let him know when I got to mile 24 so he could meet me. From that point on all I could think about was my cold post race chocolate milk, teriyaki beef jerky and the ability to take of my shoes and put on my Birkenstocks! I kept moving on listening to my music with a lot of Pitbull and David Guetta in these last few miles. That beat really kept me going and still singing to myself (aloud if no one was around) taking one step at a time. By the time we hit the backside of base housing the wind had whipped up and was probably well into the 20+mph range. A few times I actually had to use my bandana to keep from breathing in the thick dust. Then I saw it...that magic mile 26 marker. There were a bunch of active duty Army women there doing the Military Light Division resting and just getting up to try to keep going. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one moaning and groaning about my tender feet! I took a group pic for them and they returned the favor and took my first pic at mile 26 (hopefully one of many to come).

Hot damn! I'm actually doing this!! Only 0.2 miles to go!

We all pretty much headed out to the finish together. In the last 100 feet or so each of the Army ladies took off in a jog to finish (teams had to finish within 20 seconds of each member) and once they were all there they crossed the line together. I started a strong jog about 75 feet from the finish...I didn't even really look at the time but I think it was about an 8:31 clock time (my MotoACTV had died along the course so I had no real idea of my time). I went straight for the med tent just to get some ice to ice up my calves but you had to go through and get seen and checked out even if all you wanted was ice. Along the way I reassured one of the other Team Red, White & Blue females that I was just wanting to ice my legs and that nothing else was wrong. So because of all the red tape I skipped that and headed ever so slowly back to the car. 

After we got settled we drove by and saw that most of the Team RWB camp was broken down already so we headed back to Holloman AFB so I could go to the gym to take a shower and so that we could stop at Popeye's for dinner. I could've gone to the base on WSMR but they had people sleeping in there for the race so I thought it would be less of a hassle at HAFB. Once at Holloman I had the hubs drive me to the door of the gym and I slowly made my way to the women's locker room. I knew I was going to have a crazy suntan between my compression shorts, KT Tape and compression socks and this is what I ended up with...

I'll never have an even tan this summer unless it's fake!!
Unfortunately, I didn't have any baby oil to loosen the adhesive
so I ended up taking a layer of skin off while removing the tape in the shower...

After I finally finished my shower we headed over to Popeye's to eat only to find out that they close early on Sundays. We ended up at Denny's where I ordered fish and chips but barely at any of it. It may have been the quart and a half of chocolate milk I drank, plus nearly half a liter of Gatorade but this was the first time in many races that I wasn't anywhere near being starving at the end of a run! So odd!

All in all it was a great, inspiring and challenging weekend. This is a race to do for all the right reasons...not necessarily a race to complete for time or a new personal record. This is a race to remember the sacrifice of the men and women of Bataan/Corregidor.

What I liked (loved) about this race?

Everything!! Seriously...the reason and importance of the memorial...to remember those that suffered through the Bataan Death March. I'm honored to have had the chance to meet and/or shake hands with some of them. This race touches me on so many different levels from being a female military veteran, to being a nurse having worked in the Air Force and Veterans Affairs healthcare systems to being a full blooded American born Filipina. The story of the "Angels of Bataan" or "Battling Belles of Bataan" is something that I will not let die and be forgotten! I also thank Col. Skardon for telling me "...the Philippine Scouts/Army doesn't get the recognition it deserves..." in reference to the Death March and WWII. That truly means a lot to me.  Course support is OUTSTANDING even though it's primarily a closed course.

What I did not like about this race?

The only thing really is the in processing...everything else was great! Well...I wouldn't mind the hills not being there but that's what this race is all about...being uncomfortable in a controlled situation unlike the veterans of Bataan.

Will I do this race again?
I will be here annually from now on...possibly at the expense of the Virginia Beach Shamrock Marathon which has been on my radar since I started racing. It'll be on my calendar for the rest of my racing/running life!! :D

Results:
Not too far off of the middle of the pack...totally happy with that!! :D


BETH HARDY
Gender: 376/668 
Clock Time: 8:29:18 
Chip Time: 8:19:47 
Pace: 19:04 
Bib: 1502

Race Recap: Spartan Sprint - Arizona

Race Day: Saturday, February 9, 2013
Location: McDowell Mt. Regional Park, Ft. McDowell, AZ (Venue change)

Race Day -1 (Friday, Feb 8, 2013)

I've driven to Arizona on my own and with the old man several times, but this time was the first time I've driven for a race. And it wasn't just for any race...this was Spartan Sprint my first obstacle course since USAF basic training some 30 odd years ago! My nerves were already on edge wondering why the hell I actually chose to do this on my own...no coercing from anyone. If anything, I coerced my team mates to do it with me! lol! So I picked up my friend, Jeff who I met at the YMCA a little over a year ago and who is less than half my age, to make what I had thought would be an 11-12 hour drive to Phoenix. Instead we made it in about 10 hours through the hellacious wind of eastern Arizona along I-40, the beautiful melting snow and mountains of northeastern Arizona and the beautiful desert of the Phoenix area. I simply love Phoenix and wouldn't mind living here if it wasn't for the blasted guaranteed triple digits in the summer! Some 20+ years ago we could've been assigned to Luke AFB here, but it never came to pass and we ended up in New Mexico instead...just not the same. The trip went smoothly with just a couple of stops for breakfast and gassing up. Jeff had pulled one of those "young people" all nighters...I do the "old people" version, lol! So he slept almost the whole trip.

Clear roads in the Arizona mountains.

What a view! What are those green things?
And those tall things in the background?

We arrived in Phoenix at about 4:30pm, checked into the hotel and since we hadn't had lunch I promptly took him to Ono Hawaiian BBQ for a mini meal...one of my must do places to eat anywhere...any kind of Hawaiian BBQ joint. We then headed over to my son's place (the only reason I'd drive 10 hours for a short, supposedly 5K race...to visit family/friends) sat around for a bit and then headed to dinner at Buca de Beppo's within 2 hours of having our last meal.

After a meal of lasagna and baked rigattoni we indulged in a super sized hot fudge brownie sundae...3 scoops of chocolate, 3 scoops of vanilla, 12 brownie pieces, hot fudge and plenty of whipped cream and sprinkles. Yum!! Out of the five of us eating 4 of us had lactose intolerance issues so it was a good thing that I had plenty of generic Lactaid in my purse! It would not have been pretty otherwise, lol!

I was forced to participate in the infamous phone stack. :(

 

Really, we ALL shared this...

Way too full after dinner!

To kill time and not rest before what was sure to be a grueling race the next day we headed over to Dave & Busters at Tempe Marketplace. This was a first time venture for myself, Noemi and Jeff. I felt like I was back in junior high/high school hanging out at the local video arcade or with my kids at Chuck E. Cheese's. We played for about 1-2 hours and instead of keeping the tickets from the games I gave them to Jeff as did Noemi. It's been so long since I've played any video games (I think the last console we had at home was an old Nintendo that actually belonged to the son) in over a decade...if not two. It was really fun to get back into that frame of mind and not have any worries for a few minutes.

Happy winner!

End of the night...

I think we finally called it a night about midnight and headed out to drop everyone off at the apartment to make final plans for the next day and finally Jeff and I headed back to the hotel to crash for the night.

Race Day

I didn't sleep well as usual getting only about 3-4 hours of sleep waking up at around 4:30 am. I did my usual hotel routine when I have a roomie of playing on the computer/phone/tablet and watching Pitch Perfect until it was a decent time to start getting ready. I did take off for a few to head to Target to look for some energy snacks for the race and maybe a small backpack or waist pack to carry some stuff during the race. That plan pretty much fell through but I did manage to get a couple of packs of Shotz Bloks and a quart of chocolate milk for my post race drink.

My race gear.

By the time I got back to the hotel it was time to start getting ready so that we could go grab some breakfast before heading out to the race. Just about the time I had finished getting dressed the son called and recommended just eating locally instead of going out for dim sum since the race venue had been changed to a location north of Pheonix instead of in Chandler. We ended up at a little sandwich shop not too far from the apartment and then headed out to the race around noon-ish.

The weather wasn't all that great...and it only got worse. It was cold, windy, overcast and just blah. The line to get on the shuttle didn't take too long (parking was a few miles away from the venue) and it was kind of surreal watching all the people who had already finished in various states of wet, muddiness. Some looked like they had even barely gotten wet or muddy while others were just totally
drenched/filthy. By the time we got checked in, numbers marked on our bodies and gear turned in we had about 20 minutes to kill before our heat started. We did some weak attempts at warming up, I was acting like an idiot trying to get the others hyped up but mostly we were just freezing our butts off.

Cold, windy and totally oblivious to what's in store!

When we did finally take off the guys basically left Noemi and I in the dust. So we just hung together and walked/jogged until we started hitting the obstacles. Now, I'm not going to do a play by play of the obstacles so here's a quick breakdown of what I can remember:

• Upright walls x3 ...5-6' high
• Monkey bars...fail (too far apart for my short arms, instead carried each other across touching each rung as we went) no burpees for punishement
• Upright walls...8' high used "cheater" steps (2 tiny 2x4 strips) and worked as a team to get over by giving a hand/shoulder to step on and a push on the backside
• Weight carry ~15-20# for females + 5 burpees and carry weight back to starting pt
• Crawl under barbed wire fences x 2 or 3
• Rock drag...up hill and back down
• Wall bouldering going sideways...worked as a team to support each other so we wouldn't fall
• Sandbag carry...up/down hill
• Javelin throw...fail (severe rt calf cramping...ended up on ground in pain had to stretch for about 5 minutes and kept going still cramping) = 30 punishment burpees
• Rope climb ~20' w/ water pit underneath...fail = 30 punishment burpees
• Barb wire mud crawl ~100-150' FAVORITE OBSTACLE!! Lost bib, went back to find it!
• Mud hills/pits x 5 - Slid down the mud hills on my rear...fastest way down
• Rope net climb up and over
• Angled wall/rope climb (3rd favorite)
• Fire pit jump

Numerous steep uphill and downhill climbs, single track trail/washouts primarily and plenty of cacti...just seriously hardcore! I'm not a trail runner so I ended up walking most of the race which was just fine with me. All I wanted to do was finish with minimal injuries and get the bling!

The aftermath!

Jeff came in first on the team in something like 1:21, Darryl was at 2:05 or so, Noemi at 2:23 or so and I came in at 2:39.01 which actually included me walking up and down the length of the barb wire crawl looking for my lost bib for about 10 minutes. Most of us weren't fast, but we all finished...in a standing position even!

Finisher's medal and my bibs...

We hung around a little bit to take pictures and grab gear but for the most part we just headed back to the shuttles to get back to a warm heater in the car. A quick stop at In-n-Out to pick up some burgers for lunch and then we dropped the others off at the apartment while Jeff and I went back to the hotel to get cleaned up. We were supposed to get together again in the evening to head out to City Center to go to the Mardi Gras Festival, but by the time I was cleaned up I was way too tired to do anything else. I arranged for Jeff to hang out with the others while I played the old fogie roll and stayed at the hotel to wash the race gear and go to sleep early. I was so tired that I didn't even have the energy to eat the burger that we had brought for lunch and just barely managed to stay awake to run the gear through the wash cycle a couple of times and through the dryer. In order to stay awake during that time I relied on watching Pitch Perfect (go figure) and starting this write up while conversing on Facebook and Twitter. I'm pretty sure that as soon as my head finally hit the pillow I was out like a light. I don't even remember when Jeff got back to the room and I'm usually a very light sleeper...Yup, I guess I was freakin' tired! lol!

Race Day +1

Well, the original plan had been to be on the road home by about 8am but even though I woke up at 6am I was just not in the mood to be driving that early because I was so sore. Instead we had homemade Eggs Benedict that my son made at about 10am and then we headed out to C-Fu Gourmet to pick up some dim sum to celebrate Chinese New Year when I got home (hubs and I love dim sum and we can't get any decent dim sum here in New Mexico). After waiting close to an hour for the food (the place was packed because of it being Chinese New Year) we were finally on our way back home.

Offering for Year of the Snake

Not quite San Francisco Chinatown, but close enough for now.

As we hit the mountains there was a pretty significant amount of snow that hadn't been there on the drive in. The higher the more heavy the snowfall got. We finally hit Heber -Odegaard where the snow almost stopped and the drive became pretty easy again. Just before the AZ-NM border the weather changed and there was a point around Gallup that I really thought that we'd have to pull over and hunker down for the night because the snow was starting to come down pretty heavy. Luckily, after about 75 miles the snow cleared up and it was smooth sailing again.

Um, yeah...there was very little snow here on the trip up to Phoenix.

Snow on I-40 west of Gallup...and this wasn't the worst of it!

We stopped for dinner and gas in Albuqerque originally planning to eat at a Japanese place on Central Ave that I had been to once, but they were close so we ended up at Fuddrucker's instead. A quick stop in a book store and to gas up and we were back on the road or the last leg of the trip home. A little over 3 hours later we arrived back in town just before midnight and the quick and somewhat painful weekend trip was over. Goal of completing Spartan Sprint accomplished, new bling, plans to move up the Spartan Race ladder to the next level...Super Spartan, an 8+ mile mud/obstacle course, is now in the planning. A weekend of good food, fun, new/old friends and family and a bunch of  "firsts" for Jeff (Spartan race, trip to Pheonix, In-n-Out meal, etc.)...all in all it was a resounding success.

What did I like about this race?
The main thing is that this race was a serious challenge. The last time I even did anything resembling it was the obstacle course in USAF basic training which was only 1.5 miles long and actually quite easy. This race really put me up against a wall to see how well I could push myself to reach the goal I wanted. I succeeded so it's all good.

What did I not like about this race?
I am not a fan of trail running, in fact I hate it. So I trail walked/hiked instead for most of the race. If only it could be a nicely packed wide trail without the loose rocks, steep hills and such I probably would have been a very happy camper! lol.

Would I do this race again?
Ummmm...YES!! In fact, I just signed the husband and I up for the 2014 race this afternoon, so I definitely WILL be doing it again! The big difference will be that I will train for it next time! lol.