Last year, Chris and I became warriors. This year, we became Spartans! The spartan sprint is a 5K race with about 15+ obstacles along the way. Very similar to Warrior dash but apparently harder. If you fail an obstacle, you do 20 burpees.

Chris and I were more prepared this year! We had our gadorade, a high fibre breakfast and a good night’s rest. I had been practicing running twice a week.

We weren’t late this year and we were ready! I even bought a cheap mp3 player to keep me pumped during the run. Noon came around and we were off!

It was about 2K run with no obstacles. It was a good run, shades and slight incline. I was little tired already before we hit the first obstacle but in a strong mental state.

A low canopy climb

This one forces you to squat and bend forward while running/walking uphill.

A rope/ladder climb

Men had to climb a rope without knots and ladies a rope ladder. It was at least 15 feet high! Lots of men failed and were doing the burpees.

Pulling weight on a rope pulley system

No problem here. Trick is to step on the rope you’ve pulled each time and use you full body.

Tunnel Crawl

Small tube tunnel to crawl through.

Rope Wall

Shaky about 8ft wall to climb over.

4 ft wall

Just have to get over it nothing to put your feet on. I though I wouldn’t make it but I copied this girl in front of me and use arms to climb over it. She was constantly going about my speed and she was about my size/age. She became the “rival” to beat.

Rope twist with weight on it

I copied my rival and we lifted our arms above our heads 180 and had to twist this stick to pull up a rope hanging a heavy sandbag at the bottom. Chris said i did it wrong and I’m suppose to lift your arms in front of you at 90 though.

Low Crawl

Very low about 1 ft crawl under a wooden table. I started and finished the crawl with my “rival” at this point lol.

Get over the 8ft wall

Some tall people didn’t use the steps but I sure did. Lol my friend, Ryan tried it first and failed but he didn’t used the loop hole block, an extra block used to hold the wall up. I showed him how it was done.

Javalin Throw

Thank god it doesn’t need to stay attached… I missed the hay, which was the body of my victim but hit the poles holding the hay up and that count… Woot no burpees for me! *Phew

Sandbag Carry

No advantage for girls, we all had to carry a bag of sand weighing about 40lb for a small loop trail. This guy just plops it on my left shoulder and I didn’t even get to adjust or anything. I had to switch to holding it like a baby midway. I tripped on a damn sticking twig here but I got right back up and finished it.

~ Woo! We got a water stop! Somewhere in the middle, my order of the obstacles in the middle could be off. Refreshed and ready to go.

We were lucky with the cloudy weather, nice and cool with small drips. It wasn’t under after our race it really rained.

Mud Crawl & Bath

Starts off with a thick muddy crawl with barb wire above you. Stay low!! The wire ends and the mud gets deeper and more goopy. It gets about 3ft to my rib cage. Everyone is slow at this point and helping others behind telling them when there are sudden drops are — 1 ft dropping to 3ft holes. A face plant would suck ass here.

Wheelbarrow

No lighter option for girls here. It was heavy and hard to drive around a bunch of trees. Quite tired at this point.

Balancing Act

There was a 1/2 foot tall wooden zigzag on the floor that you have to wall through without “falling off” twice. I “slipped” a few times on this damn muddy shaky thing but I kept one foot on. I was like screw the burpees at this point. And no one bothered me to do them.

Fire leap

About a one foot high fire obstacle to leap over. No problem!

Rowing

Do 20 rows on the row machines. Easy!!!

Ice Crawl

They were refilling the ice so I got a free pass! Sweet!

Hay Climb

Climbing a large hay stack with rope ladder. Not too tough but I was pretty exhausted of climbing now.

Gladiators attack

Gladitors try to knock you down with their giant qtips. Got a light shove but I know they go easy on girls and they saw my poor “omg I’m tired” face.

Slippery wall rope climb

I was ahead of a few of our group and tied with my rival. So ready for this last obstacle… I can see the finish line.

My rival did it and so I followed and damn, it was tough. It was a intentional slippery 45 angle ramp with a rope covered in slippery mud. I made it almost to the top but it only got slipperier. I couldn’t do it. I stayed there for a good 30 seconds, holding on and just trying to get over. Slipped two more times but still kept pulling and trying. I knew if I slid down, I wouldn’t have the energy to climb back up. The rest of the group caught up and were cheering me but my arms gave in and I slid all the way down. I was beat, the others tried and finished. I was half determined to do it but I wanted to finish. I tried agian after 3 mins of rest and I had no more arm strength. It was whether I rest for another 5-10 mins and tackle it or I do burpees and finish. I decide to do the burpees because I was scared I’d get hurt and maybe fall off the wall on the other side. I did my 20 burpees and finished.

My final time was 1:21:04. Was it tough? Yes! Challenging? Yup! Fun? Absolutely! You get a sense of accomplishment in the end even if you weren’t the fastest. My time sucked and I wished I did better but I’m pretty proud at myself that not once did I feel like giving up or think is this over yet? I’m kinda feeling like damn I could have ran faster now when I look back… Oh well, next time… in the meantime, I have my battle scars to remind me how hard core I went and my finisher medal.

Warrior Dash vs. Spartan Race

Spartan Race was less efficient and organized than Warrior Dash in my opinion.

Spartan Race

• No bibs, we had to write the number on our face!
• Spectators costs about $15
• Long lines to get into the venue, to get race chips, to drop off bag, to be rinsed etc.
• After rinsing and getting bags, you’re outside of the venue boundaries and have to walk around or back through registration again
• Free finisher photo from Training Mods

Warrior Dash

• Free bananas and beer at the end
• Costumes to see because there are prize for it
• Way better hosing down and bag drop/pickup system
• More open area chilling space and no boundaries because spectators were free
• Live music

In terms of the actual race, Spartan Race’s obstacles were much harder but the run was easier and less incline. Warrior Dash’s obstacles were easy but the run was tougher (one obstacle is running up the ski hill at horsehoe)

Until our next race, where Chris and I become zombies and chase the living. Mwhahhha!