This event was held at Wicomico Motorsports Park, near Bud's Creek, MD. It wasn't hard to get to...we went down the night before and stayed with friends. They'd set up a huge parking area, which was easy to get in and out of, and buses took everyone on a short ride to the event area. The buses pulled up right in front of one of the obstacles later in the course, which has a tendency to get everyone excited. As you get off of the buses, you can hear the bass from the music at the venue, and as you round the corner to the venue, you could see the kid's event course, so the kids in our group got really excited. To get everyone really pumped up, there were things to practice on (a traverse wall, tire flip, etc.) and you could see a steady stream of adult participants climbing over the cargo net, completely covered in mud. All of this served to create anticipation, with parents looking at the muddy mass and thinking, "Oh, no...", and the kids saying out loud, "I want to do that!"
We started off the day by watching and cheering the kids in our group as they ran the kid's course. This was a shorter version of what the adults would be doing later, and the proctor took the kids through warm-up exercises, go them pumped up, and then led them through the course. Not all of the kids were of the same ability, with some running the entire way, and others walking for a good part. What I thought was great was that even at a young age, some of the kids were all about helping a fellow Spartan who was having trouble, and there were even a couple of groups of kids that made sure that they did everything together. It was great to see kids at that age who had seemed to have learned those lessons already. I think it's great that Spartan Race and other events like BattleFrog are offering events for kids; it's one thing for the kids to develop a sense of fitness by watching their parents, but it's another thing entirely for them to have their own events, goals, and achievements to strive (and struggle) for.
The day started out cloudy with intermittent breezes, and we kicked off our run with the 11am wave. Shortly after getting started, we got some light rain...not enough to clean the dirt off but just enough to cool things off slightly. Later after we came out of the woods, the sun had come out and it was a bit warmer, but not overpoweringly so.
The course was tough. Yes, it was billed at 4 1/2 miles, but I'm thinking it was just a bit longer than that. I only mention that because it wasn't a 5K, and on the bus ride back to the parking area, the guy sitting in the seat in front of my told his girlfriend that if he'd known it was close to 5 miles, he would've trained for 7. I wanted to say, "You should've trained for 7, and crushed 5." The course had plenty of wooded trail running and there were obstacles early on that just sapped most folks. For me, having those obstacles early in the event is great, with the exception that a lot of participants stop in the middle of the course right after the obstacle. Whenever I wanted to watch out for someone in my group, I'd pull off to the side and get out of people's path. You're going to have your tortoises, and you're going to have your hares...and you can bet that you'll see the hares again later!
I will say that in a lot of ways, many of the obstacles were some of the toughest I'd seen in these events. But again, keep in mind that each event has it's own flavor, so in many ways, you're not going to have an apples-to-apples comparison. The Spartan Sprint had a number of obstacles that will sap you...crawling through mud the consistency of peanut butter, climbing, a heavy tire drag (drag the tire the length of the rope that it's connected to, then go back to the beginning, sit down and pull it back). Most of the pushing on the course involved pushing yourself over a wall, or helping the person in front of you up a mud wall. There was also the pulling involved in turning around once you got to the top of a mud wall and helping someone up. I did pretty well on most of the obstacles...the walls, the rope climb, etc...are all things I'd done during my college days and initial military training. The ones I had trouble on (by "trouble", I mean burpees...) were the sandbag lift and the traverse wall. This time around, the traverse wall was so muddy that I just couldn't get any purchase on the blocks...and a lot of the folks all around me were using the top of the obstacle, which they weren't supposed to be doing. I did my 30 burpees and moved on. The evening before the event, we'd spent time with some friends who were also running the event, and there was a mud run magazine that they'd picked up from another event. One of the articles was all about how to do the spear throw. At this point, I've done two Super Spartan events and hadn't mastered this one...this time around, it was different. Not only did I hit the target squarely, but the spear went deep enough to be sticking straight out of the hay bale. One less soldier for King Xerxes.
Overall Impressions
Parking - Parking was well organized. Very much like the Tough Mudder event run out of Gerrardstown, WV, you park in a large, dry field, and take a short bus ride to the venue. We didn't have to wait for a bus at all, going or coming.
Venue - Well-laid out, and the courses (adults and kids) were designed so that they wound back and forth in a way that allowed the spectators to see a lot of what was going on. This is important for the participants that bring kids for the kid's events; if you're going to make a day of it like that, you want to the kids to be able to see mom and dad.
Obstacles - Tough. Challenging. Well worth it. Like they say, "if it were easy, everyone would be doing it." If you're looking for a physical and mental challenge, this event was one that would fit the bill.
Pros - This was a tough event, and a tough course. At the concrete block drag, they had a guy monitoring the obstacle that must have been a former drill instructor...the guy was tough, but fair. A lot of the stuff he said was really motivating. There was a lot of running, but almost all of just-running was in the woods. Some of the obstacles were in the woods, which while it wasn't the greatest for the spectators, it was a bit cooler when you were really burning calories.
Cons - There really weren't a lot of cons for this event. They could have included more shaded areas, for the spectators and the kids.
Final Thoughts
In the words of one of my SPCs from TBS, "...just two things, gents." First, if you're out to do one of these events as an elite runner, go in the first, or one of the first waves. These events attract all sorts of athletes, at different levels. Some folks are fit, but not specifically for these events. Others have struggled to loose a lot of weight to get to the point where they could do...nor "run", just _do_...one of these events. One the sandbag carry, there were only two routes back up the hill, and both were muddy and slick. You can get upset about the person in front of you going slower than you'd like, or you could keep your mouth shut and be patient. Or you could help them. I think that one of the biggest challenges of these events isn't so much the physicality, as it is the mental part. When dragging the concrete block on a chain, or crawling through mud, are you going to only be concerned about yourself, narrowing your vision and shutting yourself off to everyone else, or are you going to be cognizant of what's going on around you? You're going to have the people who cheat on obstacles, don't do the burpees, etc. But you know what? You're there for one reason, and you have to decide what that reason is, and don't let what anyone else does or doesn't do deter you from that path.
Second, magazines...the OCR events are getting to the point where there are magazines available for the sport. They all have pictures of ripped, elite athletes on their covers, and they have "how-to" articles that cover a gamut of topics...how to throw the spear, how to prepare, etc. Watch out folks, these magazines are going to be just like the muscle magazines, where one month you'll have an article about the "ultimate" exercise, and the next month that same exercise will be a "never do". Events are different, goals are different, people are different. My hope is that there's more inspirational stuff in future editions of these magazines...sure, show me an elite athlete and their training program, something that I could never attain...but for each one of those, tell me about three truly inspirational people, like Amanda Sullivan or Todd Love. Tell me the story of a mother who survived cancer, or the guy who lost 200 lbs just to get to the point of doing (again, not "running") one of these events. Don't tell me about the person who has the time and lifestyle that lets them train to an elite level...tell me about the person who overcame such adversity that would have knocked most of us out of the fight, just to get the point of joining me at the starting line to begin yet another struggle.
Next up...VA Super Spartan.
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