when I signed up for my first ever Spartan Race. It was also my first ever OCR. I was not a runner, nor I had a great upper body strength. What I had was hunger and curiosity. Hunger for new adventures in life and curiosity about what I can do.
Sprint, Super or Beast? I had to decide which race will I sign up for as my first race. I found out the differences between the three races were mainly the distance and number of obstacles. I had 4 weeks to train. I never ran more than 2km at a time. I had no idea what to expect and after some deep thoughts, I decided that I will trully challenge myself and I will run the "harder" distance - the Super.
Sprint, which starts from 5km would surely be challenging, but would it be challenging enough? At that time I thought could just dream about the Beast which is a half marathon distance with loads of obstacles. Super which was from 12km was the answer.
So I made a little research and I began training. With only 4 weeks left I focused on my biggest weaknesses which was my upper body strength, running and burpees. I used my little boys, who were then aged 2 and 3 years, as my weights. (Who needs to go to the gym when you have kids at home?) I slowly upped my distance to 5km running with a buggy, but that was about it. My ultimate goal was to finish this race. No matter how fast or slow will I run or how many burpees I will need to perform, I just wanted to get to the finish line.
The race day arrived and I was super nervous. I hardly had any sleep. But I was excited. I met some new fellow spartans which made me feel very welcome and very quickly made new friends. I will never forget how nervous I felt when I got to the start line! I was shaking! Quick warm up, shouted few AROOs and off we went!
I pushed myself the hardest I could. I found something in me that I never knew about and it was my hunger for competitiveness! I found my pace and even thought I was not the fastest, it was a good pace I could sustain for longer periods. Oh yes I did fail many obstacles. I did so many burpees too! Every burpee I counted I knew this is helping me to get stronger so I enjoyed doing them.
I surprised myself when I found my second breath, after I thought I can't go any longer. I reached about three quarters of the race and there were a few racers overtaking me. I had none of it! You should see me how fast I sprinted through the forest, jumping and doing all sorts of ninja moves between the bushes, trees and branches! I felt like a badass.
When I finally reached the finish line, Wow! What a feeling! I finished the race! I proudly accepted my medal and T shirt and I was the most buzzing bee around the field that day. When I checked my results later on, I found out I placed 3rd in my age category and 9th out of all females who ran that day! I could not believe it! 9th female out of some odd 900?
The amount of positive energy I had after finishing, I knew I need to run the Beast the next week! (I know, crazy right!) There. Signed up. Yes it was challenging. Yes it was hard. But I did it. I did it! And I was proud to find my new love for amazing sport and a new family of most fantastic and supportive people I could possibly wish for.
For all you Super People, Super Heroes, Super Mums, Super Dads
Don't be satisfied with just Sprint. Be hungry for more. Go Super! Because you are Super! Next level: Beast.
AROO!
Dashee
Spartan Race Ambassador
