On Losing Your Mojo...

 

"MO·JO noun \ˈmō-(ˌ)jō\

: a magic spell, hex, or charm; broadly : magical power 

<works his mojo on the tennis court>"

                                        ~ Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

What mojo am I getting ready to talk about? My running mojo. For a couple of weeks now I haven't felt the love of the run that I normally do. It seems that my enthusiasm has gone out the door making it impossible for me to run and enjoy it. For instance, yesterday was supposed to be a long run and for the first 5K I was feeling good but by the time I hit about 5 miles that had all drained from me and I was dreading the rest of the run. By mile 5 1/2 I was feeling nauseated and actually ended up doing the whole vomiting scenario by the time I stopped the run at 6 1/4 miles. Now, the whole stomach issue may have been due to going out too soon after eating, but at the same time I can help to think that I made myself physically ill just by all the negative thinking I was doing. As I had stated in my previous post, I had been perceiving my lack of progress basically as a fault in myself, but now I think the negative thinking had it origins elsewhere.

A couple of weeks ago I had gone to see an ART (Active Release Therapy) chiropractor whom I had seen once in the past and had gotten good results from. This particular time, I had left my KT Tape on for my ankle and knee support. He then went into a pseudo-psychologist persona and was telling me at my age (I'm 2 years older than him) that my body will start breaking down in 10-15 years and I'd eventually need knee replacements, etc. Then he started about asking why and of course being as open as I am about my bipolar disorder I talked about using running as a way of helping me deal with the depressions. I mean I was in tears by the time I had finished talking and he kept saying that I needed to find some other hobby that wouldn't be so hard on my body. Who was he to say what my body could handle or not? I use the KT Tape as a means of supporting my knees so that they don't hurt after runs, I use the tape to stabilize weak ankles from spraining them so many times as a kid.

He finally did the treatment and I felt good and walked out thinking that what he had said hadn't affected me, but as I think about it I can't help thinking that that whole discussion is playing with my head causing the negative thinking and the poor perception of progress. I need to change my mindset and get back into a positive frame of mind. I need to get to the point that a 10 mile run, no matter how slow, still felt good and was relatively easy to do. Screw what that chiro had to say. I'm now looking at another ART chiro south of me in New Mexico and hopefully she will not be as intrusive as this other guy was. I can only hope because I really want to get my love of the sport back and continue on with my marathon training. Upon the recommendation of a Twitter acquaintance, I'll be backing off my training and just running for fun before this marathon in  5  weeks, why? Because it is walker friendly and a downhill course. So, please wish me luck in finding my mojo because in a similar way as Austin Powers needing his mojo for his love life, I really need it back to have a running life.

Perspective: Lack of progress...

I'm a slow runner, but since I started coming out of a severe 6-7 month depression at the beginning of the year I've become slower than I have ever been. I'm talking 3:15 - 3:30 finish for a half marathon. I used to finish in the 2:35-2:50 range and I really can't put my finger on why I'm so slow. I know my endurance has gone to pot and I put on at least 10 pounds during the depression (that I am working on losing, plus an additional 15 pound). I'm running, swimming...finally fixed my bike tire so hopefully will start riding that again and yet I see no progression in my running.

I think part of it is that I started running again too early with no training doing a double in August. My times sucked then but I just attributed that to still having to deal with the depression. I raced a few more times until the end of the year with no training whatsoever just because I needed to get away and be by myself. I think I actually started training again in February or March...whenever the weather changed and got warmer.

I feel like a total newbie when it comes to running again. I'm just working on endurance like I did when I first started training for my first half marathon. Once I get that down I'll start some speed work, but right now I'm concentrating on marathon training (just to cross the finish line within time) due to the sheer stupidity of registering for 6 full marathons with two sets of back to backs.

Not seeing any progress is quite disheartening but as some friends pointed out I am out there running still, finishing is the goal and I am quite lucky to still be around after last year. It's easy to hear/read but believing is a totally different thing. All I know is that I'm not giving up, if I have to resort to walking these races I will. All I want is to cross the finish and get my medal...yes, it is about the bling collecting. So, I'm taking a deep breath and trying to put this situation into perspective (hard to do if you're a born pessimist). I saw this quote today and it says it all:

Museum, Shopping, OCR: Oh My!

So yesterday the hubs and I went up to Albuquerque specifically to have lunch and see the Titanic exhibition at the New Mexico Natural History and Science Museum. Getting there and immediately heading to Pappadeaux's was no big deal, but during the drive I mentioned that I wanted to stop at REI just to look at hydration vests (I wanted an easier access one with hip pockets for when I do Spartan Beast in Utah so that I didn't have to take it off to get stuff out), trail shoes for mud runs (my current ones are too small and are causing black toenails, I ended up getting the Salomon Speed Cross 3) and some wicking under garments. I really didn't want to buy everything, I just wanted to look. By the time I looked I had picked up everything that I wanted and a tire repair kit for my bike. I kept hinting to the old man if he wanted to buy me any of these items, but he non-chalantly said no (or just downright didn't  answer) so it was all on me. Keep in mind I'm on disability through the VA and am no longer able to work due to that disability and get pad once a month. Sometimes that once a month can last for a very short time, especially if I'm feeling a little hypomanic which results in excess spending. I can't fault him though because he had bought me some new Saucony Rides and Zensah compression calf sleeves for Mother's Day.

REI and Heart & Sole Sports purchases.
Top left, clockwise: Salomon Speed Cross 3, Gregory Dipsea 6 Pack for Women
(70 oz bladder sold separately, I'm just pulling the one out of  my Nathan
 vest to use in both this and the Nathan...Saved $33 that way), Brooks Dyad 7,
 Xtrainer fingerless gloves with leather grips & iBungee Speed Laces
for  my Saucony Ride's.

Our next stop was the Titanic exhibit. Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures at all as that was part of the agreement with the exhibitors. What was cool that they actually had an iceberg (real or mechanically made) that you could touch to see how cold the real one was...brrrr! The items for display were cool, but I really wish they had had more of them. One thing that really got me was that as you entered they gave you a random card with information about a real passenger. At the end of the exhibit, there were lists of those lost and those saved. You were to find your persons name to find out if they survived or not. My person was a little girl who survived but her father did not (see the identifying card below). There was no mention of a mother/wife or siblings). Also as you entered you got a photo take on the false front end of a ship (a la Jack and Rose in Titanic)and at the end of the exhibit in the gift shop you could see the picture and purchase it if you wanted. I saw ours and immediately headed for the exit...I hate how most of those pictures come out.

 

The next stop was Heart & Sole Sports. I really just wanted to go there to buy some #RunNow for Boston silicone wristbands but they were out. Instead I started trying on shoes, I know...bad idea, that included Hoka One Bondis which felt too strange to me, Brooks Dyad 7's (which I ended up getting), Brooks Ghost 6 which were my second choice and one other pair that I can't remember that I couldn't even put my foot in with my custom orthotics. So again I dropped hints to the husband and again he ignored them (can't say I didn't try)! So I ended up buying the Dyad's and some iBungee laces (have to find a different color to match my new Dyad's) for my Rides and we were done. They had sold out of the wristbands...the real reason I had decided to stop there! Ugh!

We stopped at Coronado Mall briefly to see if I could find a different cover for my Note 2, one that had a backside that you could open and store a couple of bucks or a couple of cards but it looks like the only way I'll be able to do that is to order through eBay. While we were there I had a craving for a drink and so we stopped at Keva Juice (similar to Jamba Juice) to get some smoothies.

Pier/deck block for dragging behind on a chain/rope,
I'm planning on pulling 2 at a time..

One last stop was Home Depot to see if they had any of the deck pier blocks that Spartan Race uses on one of their obstacles but with no luck. Every store I've been to has been out of them. I'll just have to keep hunting so that I can add that training to all the other OCR training goodies I have now. After this we headed home for the nearly four hour trip and arrive home around 10pm. I immediately started cleaning and doing laundry eventually falling asleep sitting up in bed with the laptop on my lap and my head bobbing up and down (I would guess). I woke up around 3am and started working on the laundry again and I have been awake since.

This trip was supposed to be a quick out and back trip but as you can see even the best laid plans don't always work...especially where running is involved! :)

I was supposed to be on the road on a run an hour ago but I'm postponing it until I eat so I don't bonk during an 8-10 run like I did on Thurdsay and I still need to wake up the old man so he can do his 6 mile run. So, with that said, I bid you adieu as I eat or procrastinate some more...whichever comes first!! LOL!

Running Couple: Training with the a Reluctant Runner

Well, the husband and I have finally fished his third half marathon and now he is Half Fanatic #4235. This means that I should be working on my marathon training while the hubs continues his half marathon training since my very first road marathon and both of us will be doing half marathons in July 21 in Idaho. We'll be visiting my mother in law and staying with her since both the races are about 30 minutes away from her house.

10K in Albuquerque back in 2011 when he was training.

The Color Run 2013 had not been hardly training.

Now, the hubs while finishing his first 3 half marathons was not well trained. He had trained and run shorter runs 5K and 10K back in 2011 but since then he's only done  The Color Run this year and he walked for most of it. For months he knew that these was coming and he chose to sleep in more times than not and when he did "train" it mostly consisted of a 3-5 mile walk on the treadmill. His longest outdoor runs were about 3 miles up until about 2 weeks prior to the Oklahoma City Half Marathon. At that point, about 2 weeks out, I wanted to see how far he would get on at 12 mile run and he actually gave up at mile 6.5. I was really worried that he wouldn't finish so I never got too far ahead so that I go back an push him if he did give up. I only had to push him a little and by the time the last mile happened we were both slow for me due to cramping while he was complaining about his knees. He finished so that was good, but he was pretty much dying the next day. I think it was then that he realized that he had to actually train.

OKC Half Marathon, his first road race/2nd half marathon.
I really think he would finish due to poor training.

His second road half, he had done the Bataan Memorial Death March as his first,  wasn't much better. Again his knees began bothering him and he slowed down much more that he did at the previous race. I finally got tired of waiting for him to catch up with me that I let him get about 2 blocks before me so that I could get a longer interval in. We both ended up walking the last 5K due to his knees and my accursed cramping at mile 10. I've offered to tape him up but he's refused because he would have to shave his legs.

So, for him to train I have to be awake and either going on my runs in the dark/barely light (see next paragraph) or chasing him out the door. He's always been one of those guys who wants to do everything with me, I on the other hand am usually a very independent sort who likes to go on adventures by myself. He's gotten particularly worse about being a bit glued to me since he retired. I know that I told him I'd train with him, but I didn't realize that he was quite a bit slower than I am! That's saying a lot because I am slow. So, what I do now is wake him up and make sure he's out of bed before I go run or leave early come back home when he's supposed to be awake getting ready just to make sure that he is doing so then return to my run sometimes running a few miles with him. That's really not very convenient since my longer runs take me miles away from home. Instead I end up doing loops until it's time to ensure that he's awake. This helps a little because sometimes he wants to do a run and actually gets up other times it's like trying to wake up a 10 year old. I even told him that he needs to wake up on his own because I won't always be around such as when I'm gone to a race. His training when I'm gone is hit and miss.

Right now in the late spring/early summer it's not bad because he only works 2 days a week and is out of school, but when school is in session he has to run when it's barely light or still dark. I, on the other hand, have to run during the day due to medical reasons...an almost non-existent Vitamin D level. I don't know why I have that problem considering that I take a multivitamin with double the recommended dose of Vitamin D and the amount of dairy I digest but I have to run during daylight most of the time.

I've started telling him how many miles he has to run and even give him the routes since I now have short runs of 8+ miles (aside from "rest" days when I do a mile for the Runners World Streak Challenge). Once he is able to meet my short runs, I'll let him start running with me until he gets to 10 or 11 miles then he's on his own to continue training. I on the other hand need to step up my game so that I can be on track to finish my marathon training by mid-July. I do wish he'd start using his MotoACTV so that we can track the actual mileage and get other stats to see how he's doing, but so far he hasn't used it (he's had it for probably 5-6 months).

So for now, we'll stay with what we're doing and hope for the best for him. Myself, I'm finally back up to 12 mile long runs and short runs of 6-10 miles. Hopefully, I'll be ready to go by July.

Have you trained with someone who was slower than you or who just didn't seem to have the drive to train? Or who just didn't seem to have the necessary commitment? What did you do? I'm looking for ways to motivate him but at the same time my training cannot be sidetracked trying to get him where he needs to be. Help!

OCR Toys: Practice Spears & Tires

I, with just a little help from the hubs, made a new obstacle course race (OCR) training toy today and I'm so excited! Ya'll know that I started doing Spartan races this year, at first reluctantly but now I'm enjoying them...a lot. So much so that I've already planned 6 Spartan races for next year in hopes of earning 2 Trifectas (completing a Sprint, Super and Beast in one calendar year). But enough about that...back to my toys...

One of the obstacles that I have never succeeded at at a Spartan race is the spear throw ("Spearman"). In fact, when I did my first Spartan Sprint in Arizona my right leg cramped up so bad after throwing the spear that I couldn't even catch my balance and landed on my back screaming and cursing bloody murder. The poor volunteers at first didn't know what was going on and then they came and asked if I needed the medics and I was like, "NO! Cramp! Cramp! I just need to stretch my f*#$(@&g leg out!!"  I finally got most of the cramp out, did my 30 burpees (they weren't pretty) and hobbled along on my way. Needless to say that throw was an epic fail...I don't think it even got near the straw bales. At Super it was just a bad throw period...did my 30 burpees with the help of the Weeples and finished up. At Military Sprint I got the closest of all with the spear skimming too low on the bottom of the target. I'm hoping that with the ability to practice that I'll be able to nail the spear throw at Beast at the end of June!

So, here's the video that I followed but I'll also be putting step by step instructions in this post as well.

Let's talk price first. There are kits that you can purchase online that have everything that you need to make a spear. These run approximately $35. For my spears - yes, I made two - here are my costs:

One Time Use Items:
3/8" by 12" bridge nails - 2 each x 67¢
60" Rake handle with ferrule - 1 each x $14.99
60" Rake handle with ferrule - 1 each x $10.44

Multiple Use Items:
Mini Hacksaw - 1 each x $6.28
3/8" by 12" drill bit - $11.22
Liquid Nails - 1 10oz tube  x $2.27

We had to go to three different stores until we found the rake handles and I didn't realize that when we finally did get them that they were 2 different/types (the store we ended up had merged with another store thus the difference in price). So, for one spear (most expensive) the final cost of having to buy everything the first time was $34.50. The second spear (less expensive) came out to $11.11. Based on that price I may have my own little arsenal of OCR spears in the near future! lol!

So here's what I did:

1. Collected all the items and tools I needed. The battery for the drill was charging so that is missing.

2. Used the hacksaw to cut off the head of the nail. It helped having two of us to stabilize the nail but you could do it yourself with it clamped in a vice.

3. Used the drill and drill bit to deepen the hole at the lower end of the handle so that I could sink the cut end of the nail to the depth of the ferrule.

4. Removed the staples that were used as display hangers.

5. Insert some of the Liquid Nail putty into the drilled end of the handle and inserted the cut end of the nail.

6. Tap the end of the nail on the ground or use a hammer and repeat until you no longer get excess Liquid Nail putty coming out. Clean off the excess.

7. That's it! Just need to let the Liquid Nail to cure and they'll be ready to go! Now I just need to find some straw bales to put up as a target!! Woot!

All in all, the whole project for both spears only took about 20-25 minutes total. The hardest part was sawing off the nail heads but even then that only took about 5 minutes. If you were to use an electric reciprocating saw it would probably take half as long.

I'm adding these to my current OCR toys tires to flip, drag, push, whatever... Meet Momma (right, 95#) and Daddy (left, 113#)...

I'm hoping to add to the family of tires with Granddad (top, ~140#) and Great Grandad  (bottom, ~200#) this week...

Two new toys to play/practice with...easy peasy. Hopefully, 2 more free toys to play with too!! AROO! AROO! AROO! (Spartan battle cry...)

Running for Boston

I woke up today at 2:30am just because I had gone to bed way earlier than I normally do. Over the last 2 days since the events at the Boston Marathon unfolded I've been doing some thinking and having the reaction of horror as other have at hearing about the injured and the dead. News footage and photos for the bombed area once cleared clearly showed the amount of blood left from the injuries sustained by the spectators. Those same spectators that cheer on we runners even if we're total strangers to them. The spectators are no less part of the running community than any runner is.

On Monday the national office of Team Red, White & Blue (Team RBW) called for members to don our team jersey's and run with a flag on Tuesday. I was already scheduled to do a 10 mile training run so I wore my Team RWB shirt, grabbed our one and only flag which is 2.5' x 4' (kinda hilarious since I'm just over 5'3"), printed out one of the Runners United to Remember Boston bibs "laminating" it with packing tape on both sides and pinned it to the back of my shirt. In my eyes this was the right thing to do, to show the solidarity of Team RWB in supporting Boston and to also show the solidarity of the running/walking community as whole for those affected by this act of terrorism. I am positive that I am not the only Team RWB member to do this...there's a run tonight in Albuquerque and nationwide through at least Saturday. I am also sure that I will not be the only team member to run solo because we have members all across the nation.

I ran my usual long run route along a couple of the main roads near the outskirts of town. This is a military community, my husband is a USAF retiree from the base here and I have my own connections as a veteran. My husband didn't run with me because he had to work and truthfully, he's not ready for a 10 miler. The wind for most of the run was in the 20+mph range especially in the open areas that are unprotected by buildings...which is most of the route. I had several people honking as they drove by a few actually stopped and took pictures or took pictures as they drove by. I had one lady, who had just started to follow the local club FB that I manage, actually stop and we chatted for a few minutes as to how she had seen me a couple of times and was just compelled to stop and thank me for doing the run.

One of the people who had taken a picture had posted it to the local newspaper's FB page and they were trying to figure out who I was. One of my former students identified me as did someone who apparently found my posts on Twitter. I made a couple of posts of why I did the run focusing on Team RWB and the running community's support for Boston. These are my posts:

Beth Hardy Yes, that is me. The national office of Team Red, White and Blue asked members to don their team jerseys and run with a flag today. The bib on my back is from an online movement by the running community over the next couple of months to honor the Boston community. This was a planned 10 mile run for me (although the wind wasn't) as part of my training for the OKC Memorial Half Marathon. When I ran it last year I dedicated my run to the victims of the OKC bombing and all veterans (I am an 80's era veteran). Unfortunately this year besides the OKC victims and vets I will be wearing the Boston bib as well and dedicating my 13.1 miles to the Newtown victims in honor of those runners who didn't have the chance to run the 26th mile which was dedicated to Newtown.

For more information on Team Red, White and Blue go to: http://teamrwb.com You don't have to be a vet or an athlete to support the organization. Veteran athletes can apply through the website. My husband and I are the only members in the Clovis area (as far as I know) so we affiliate with the ABQ chapter...we did the Bataan Memorial Death March as a group as well as other races.

If you're a runner/walker, please consider doing some miles or your next race for the running community at large but more specifically the whole of Boston.
I will post the bib that can be printed out on the Clovis Area Run/Walk Club page (http://facebook.com/CARWC).
Thank you.

Beth Hardy As an aside from my windy run this morning...there is one more online movement going on today. If you have ever run/walked a race, please wear a race shirt to honor Boston. If you can't due to dress code please try to wear blue and yellow. Thanks again.

Beth Hardy XXXXX XXXXX, I really don't want to draw attention away from the reason for this run. I've explained it in my posts above. I am simply a runner supporting the running community in Boston and as a whole. Thank you, but that is all I really have to say on the matter...I just ask all to remember those affected by yesterday's events and every other act of terrorism (homegrown or foreign). Any other info is in my earlier posts in this thread.

Somehow the reporter whose name I have "X" out found out where I live and came ringing my doorbell. I was trying to nap and ignored the first ring but at the second ring I answered the door in my robe and tactfully (I hope) told him I had nothing more to say and that everything he needed to know was in my comments to the picture as well as the fact that I was exhausted and trying to nap. The run for me was just a normal training run/walk due to the winds...not that I'm fast anyway...with the added touch of representing Team RWB and teaming up with the running community nationwide and internationally to remember those affected by the bombing. Nothing more. I ran to remember, I ran to support Team RWB's actions to remember. It was not about me, I was just training and remembering those in Boston.

Me after my windy 10 miles with the flag
I carried in the background.

The back of my Team RWB jersey.
That's a full page (8.5" x 11") bib.

One last thing, if you post on Twitter please try to keep using the hashtag #UnitedWeRun...

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.