Spartan Race Hawaii 2013 | Recap

As I'm sitting here next to my stack of tissues, remnants of DayQuill, glass of water, and my bottle of Zicam.. it's hard to believe that I was this "warrior" just a few days ago:

Although I'm bogged down with a nasty cold... I'm still strong enough to smile whenever I past my Spartan Medal dangling in my computer room.

What can I say about my first ever Spartan experience?
"Powerful"
"Life-Changing"
"Confidence Builder"
"Invincible"
"Alive"

Some adjectives that should describe ones way to live a life, right?

I'm so "proud" of myself, that I can't even deflate my head from the clouds that it's floating on right now. This race challenged every aspect of my life, not only physically, but mentally as well. To understand where I'm coming from, you need to understand where I've been.

(I've mentioned my lack of enthusiasm for anything that required much physical strength growing up). In fact, I was that "fat" kid that hurt to run because my T-Shirt was too tight and my inner thighs would rub together so bad that my shorts would bunch up that the kids would laugh at me every time I took a step. From early on, I detested the word "P.E." I did not join any sports, couldn't stand jumping jacks, picking up pineapples, or running. But a few years ago, I found running and the rest is history.

I joined this event thinking, well, at least I got the running part down. But little did I know, it was more obstacles (over 20 of them) than running. I'm not gonna lie, the night before, my nerves were at an all time high, I could not sleep, restless, worried that I would suck at every single obstacle. On the drive over, I was so quiet, expecting nothing but the worst. I imagined doing burpees the entire time. I didn't even think I would "try" to do the obstacles. But when that horn went off, I ran those fears to the ground or dirt or mud.

The Obstacles.

Those damn walls. I've read about them, I've seen the video recaps on these Spartan races, and I know for a fact, that a 5ft wall is a bit to high for me to "hop" over.

In this race, they staggered their walls starting from 4ft till the ultimate 8ft.

But every competitor that day, had one thing in common, and that was to see that everyone accomplished their obstacle. There were so many "helpful" people, the spirit of "Aloha" was definitely apparent.

WATER.
You can bet they were not gonna keep you dry. We dredged through a lot that day.

RUNNING.
There was a lot of running, lots of uphills and downhills.

 

MUD & CRAWLING UNDER BARBWIRE.

We got into this muddy pitt early on in th race. That way we would conviently be drenched in mud while running through the course.

Not my favorite obstacle, but you gotta admit, this was kind of fun to get, literally down and dirty. You had to stay low or else that barbwire will get you. This was the first barbwire course, the second one was much harder and much lower. 

This side wall climbing thingy.. was the first obstacle that I "fell" off. I was doing well, hanging on and moving through, but realized that I started too quickly following the other competitor to closely so when she stalled, it stopped my rhythym, and I fell. Then it was off to do my 30 burpees!

But this obstacle, The Monkey Bars.

 

I honestly didn't think I could do it. I could never do one before (not in elementary school, middle school, or any school..) But the adrenaline kicked in, and I did it! I'm still so proud of myself on that one. Glad to capture the last bit of it on video.

In between running. There was the sandbag carry, the tire pull, the cement blocks... all of which I didn't really have a video or pic of. I can't wait to see the official Spartan photos! But the one photo or vid that we didn't have that I wish we did was the slippery wall. The GoPro died just as it was my turn.

(So I nabbed a photo online):

This course created a mini debate in my head for the next 10 minutes. I saw Erick get in line for it, but Rudy stepped aside to do burpees cause his leg cramped real bad on that rope climb that a bunch of guys had to carry him out. So I knew he wasn't going to do this challenge. But as I stood in line, debating wheter I should just go ahead and start on my 30 burpees, I watched the people before me climb over. Some with ease, some slipping away barely hanging on. Then the guy behind me was telling his wife, to wrap the rope around her wrist and use her upper body strength to get her up. I thought, that's what I'll do. So as I looked over at my brother who made it over he kept yelling "I got you Ronalyn!" It was finally my turn. I wrapped that muddy rope over my wrist. I hoisted myself up, at an angle and pulled. I pulled as if my life depended on it. I felt like I was getting closer to Erick, then I felt like I was slipping so I pulled harder till he grabbed my arms and pulled me over! I can't even begin to tell you the feeling of accomplishment I had. I was so proud of myself, I didn't care that there was dry mud in my eyes. I was a freakin warrior that day!

The one obstacle that I did not do was the rope climb... We were in line for it when Rudy had a really bad leg cramp that a bunch of nice guys helped me carry him out. But my brother in law did it and he kicked ass doing so.

We got a lot of goPro footage that day, some were just covered in mud so you could barely see anything :) Hoping to make a cool video of it. Still waiitng on the official Spartan Photos... Till then, you can bet I'll be wearing my medal to the grocery store, to put gas, or even for a walk with Kai. I am not taking that thing off, I deserved it :)

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