I am a SPARTAN!

I am a SPARTAN! I think that's what they had us chanting at the starting line. I had registered for the Super Spartan (an 8+ mile obstacle course) on September 8th and was planning for that to be my first race. But, I got a Living Social deal a few weeks before the Spartan Sprint in PA and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get a sneak peak at some of the obstacles in July.

Spartan Sprints are 3+ mile obstacle courses, so I thought it would be a "lite" version of the 12 mile Tough Mudder course I did back in April. But, I was wrong. I got an email from Spartan right before the event, saying the course was 5 miles and the terrain was steep and treacherous. That scared me a little bit, but it was less than half the distance of Tough Mudder, so it shouldn't be a problem.

We got to Blue Mountain and it looked beautiful. I was excited to get my medal and become a real Spartan that day. The announcer at the starting line was bashing Tough Mudder and saying this course was harder than a Tough Mudder, and I thought that was rude. I personally don't like it when anyone bashes their competition, but I was still excited for the race.

The first half of the race was uphill...up some very steep hills. I started running and felt like quitting about 5 minutes into it. I was getting winded running up an expert ski slope. Those slopes were tough! I just kept telling myself to keep going and just put one foot in front of the other. I knew I would eventually get up that mountain if I didn't give up. I didn't have to be a superstar...I just had to keep going.

At one point, after climbing up a steep hill, they had us go down again, and I started running. That was a big mistake, because I was going so fast down that hill, I almost lost control. I felt like I was skiing downhill on ice and couldn't stop. I forced myself to stop before I got to the wooden Spartan wall, but it was a little dicey! Thankfully, I didn't barrel right into that wall.

I don't remember the order of all of the obstacles and I honestly don't know any of their official names, so I'll just talk about each one as I remember them:

• The Walls: Some walls were short and some were tall, and they were all over the course. At Tough Mudder, I needed a boost to get over all of the walls, but at Spartan, I could get over most of them and only needed a boost for 2 of them. So, I think the Spartan walls were easier. I remembered seeing pieces of wood nailed to the walls on Spartan videos and pictures, but none of these walls seemed to have them. So, you either had to pull yourself up and over, or find someone to give you a little boost. We also had to go under some walls and through the middle of some walls that had holes in the middle.
• The Bucket Carry: They gave us big orange buckets (like the kind you find at Home Depot) and told the guys to fill them 3/4 of the way with rocks and the girls to fill them 1/2 way with rocks. Then, we had to carry the buckets without setting them down all the way up a hill, and then down the hill, and then dump the rocks back onto this big pile. I put the bucket up on my left shoulder and held it steady with both of my hands over my head. This seemed to work well for me. I saw people shifting from shoulder to shoulder, but I didn't want to risk dropping the bucket, so I just kept it where it was. This wasn't too terribly hard, but my shoulder was getting sore by the end.
• The Rope Climb: We had to walk down into a ditch of muddy water and climb up a rope tied with knots and then ring a bell at the top. I'd guess it was about 20 feet high, but I'm not 100% sure. I didn't make it to the top. I fell and had to do 30 burpees as a penalty.
• The Concrete Pulley: They had a pulley set up with rope tied to a concrete block. The girls had to pull the pink striped blocks and the guys had to pull the red striped blocks in a controlled manner, all the way to the top and then slowly lower the block to the bottom in a controlled manner, without letting the block drop. This obstacle was really easy for me.
• The Sandbag Carry: Once we got to the top of the mountain, we were starting to celebrate. I gave one of my teammates (Matt) a high five for making it to the top with me. Then, they gave us a sandbag to carry (40 lbs. for the girls and I can't remember how heavy the guys' sandbags were - but they were bigger.) We had to carry the sandbag down a double black diamond ski slope and then back up another double black diamond slope. Going down wasn't so bad. I carried my sandbag in front of myself like a baby, and did pretty well. The way up was a different story. This was probably my most difficult obstacle. I moved the sandbag to the top of my neck and back and started making my way up the mountain. There were people dropping like flies all around me, and big, muscular men sitting down on the mountain and looking like they were going to pass out. This hill was so steep, that I almost fell backwards when I tried to stand up straight. I had to make my way up the entire slope bent forward to keep myself from falling. This would have been hard to walk up, even without the sandbag. But with the sandbag, I couldn't use my hands to help balance myself or event to grab onto the side of the mountain so I wouldn't fall. Oh, and there were rocks all over the hill. So, you really had to watch your footing, or you'd fall. I slipped once, but caught myself before I fell. I made it through this obstacle, but felt very drained afterwards...and we still had another 2.5 miles to go after that one.

• The Rope Pull Up a Cliff: We had to make our way up a cliff (almost vertical slope) using a rope and our feet. This was challenging, but I was able to make my way up quickly. Note to self on this one. Don't put the rope in between your legs when doing this obstacle, because when the person below you pulls on the rope before you get to the top, that big rope in between your legs is no longer your friend! I'm pretty sure we had two of these obstacles, because I remember making sure I held the rope to the side of my legs the 2nd time.
• Cargo Nets: They tied cargo nets to the trees and we had to climb up and over and then back down them. We had to do this at Tough Mudder too, but one thing that was different is that the cargo net part stopped much lower than the one at Tough Mudder. At Tough Mudder, I could climb to the very top and then flip my legs over. At Spartan, the little squares of rope stopped, when the top of the cargo net wall was at my chin, so I had to use arm strength to pull my body over the top. That was a bit harder than just climbing to the top and going over to the other side.
• Mud Pits: We had to climb up and back down 6 little muddy hills with water pits in between them, while someone sprayed us with a fire hose. The water pits were anywhere from shin deep to chest deep, and they were nice and cool and the fire hose felt great. I loved cooling off during that obstacle, especially since it was so hot out. That is, until I heard a guy shout: "Are these the porta potties?" Uggh...
• Monkey Bars: The monkey bars are my weakness. I can get across the monkey bars at the kids' playground, but I have trouble doing ones that are wider apart, especially after I've been running and doing other obstacles. I think I fell at the second bar and had to do 30 burpees as my penalty.
• Cement Block Chain Pull: We had to pull a cement block attached to a chain down a hill, through the edge of a lake and then back up the hill. Downhill wasn't bad at all. The water in the lake gave me some resistance, but pulling that cement block out of the lake and back up that hill was tough. I was glad I was wearing gloves. I held the chain as close as I could to the cement block so it wasn't dragging too far behind me, and just pulled it as hard as I could.
• Rock/(Wood) Wall: This was set up like a rock wall, but with blocks of 2/4's nailed to a wooden wall where the "rocks" would be. You had to go sideways across the wall, holding onto the wooden "rocks" and stepping on them all the way across. This one looked so easy, but it was actually very hard for me. I couldn't get a good balance on those wooden "rocks" and fell about a quarter of the way across. I had to do 30 burpees as a penalty.
• Vertical Logs: They had a bunch of rows of logs sticking vertically out of the ground. They were different heights and widths, and you had to step or hop to each log until you got across to the other side. This one was easier than it looked for me. I went slowly, but made it across to the other side without falling.
• Crossing The Lake: This was probably my favorite obstacle. We got to go on a man-made slip 'n slide down a hill, which landed into a lake. The water wasn't too deep (up to my chest at the deepest point) and we had to get across to the other side of the lake, going under about 4-5 barrels. It was nice and cool, and I just walked across the lake, enjoying every minute of it. It was my easiest obstacle, and the most fun, because of the slip 'n slide!
• Barbed Wire Crawl: This was the 2nd hardest obstacle, because it was so very, very long! It was probably 4 times as long as the barbed wire crawl I did at Tough Mudder, and it felt like I was crawling over rocks and cement, rather than mud and a few stones. We had to crawl, roll or slide under a long path of barbed wire. I tried the "rolling" technique, which I saw lots of people doing at Tough Mudder. The rolling definitely made it easier, and saved my knees and elbows from being too scraped up from crawling on my stomach. But, the rolling made me so very dizzy. I could only do a few rolls, and then I would have to crawl for a while, until the dizziness went away. At some points, I just went on my back and shimmied sideways, rather than rolling. I did this when I was too dizzy to roll, and my elbows and knees were hurting too much to crawl. The horseflies kept landing on us and biting us during this obstacle too! I saw lots of blood on people during this obstacle, but I made it through with just some minor scratches. I don't think I touched the barbed wire at all though...my scratches were all from the rocks and cement on the ground.
• Tire Flip: We had to flip a tire off a peg and then flip it back on - 2 times. The guys had huge tractor tires to flip, but the girls had much smaller tires (maybe half the size). This obstacle wasn't too hard for me. I tried to flip the tire slowly so that it wouldn't flip too far away from the peg. That way, I could flip it right back onto the peg, without having to push it closer. Other than that, it wasn't too hard. I might like to try flipping the guy tires next time!
• Running Through Fire: This was a very small patch of fire on each side and one line of fire, which we had to jump over. The fire at Tough Mudder was much longer...so long that I couldn't hold my breath for the entire time, and I choked on the smoke. The Spartan fire was a piece of cake. I just held my breath so I didn't breathe in the smoke and jumped easily over the fire.
• Rope Climb Up A Wall: This one was much easier than I expected. You climb up a slanted wall, while holding a rope and while people are shooting fire hoses at you. I thought it was going to be much slipperier than it was. Maybe my shoes were just good, but I didn't slip at all. I felt like water was constantly being sprayed at me, so it was difficult to see sometimes, but I got over it without a problem. The back of the wall is like a ladder (kind of like the other side of the half pipe wall at Tough Mudder and wasn't too hard to get down.

• Spear Throws: We had to throw a spear at a bundle of hay and get it to stick in. I had never thrown a spear before, and didn't hit the hay. So, I had to do 30 burpees as a penalty.
• Gladiators: Right before the finish line, we had to run through 3 big guys with gladiator sticks. Each of the 3 guys wacked me right in the middle of the stomach with their sticks. It didn't hurt too badly, but it did stop me in my tracks when they wacked me.

A few of my team members made it to the finish line before me and were there to cheer for me as I crossed. That was so nice! We hosed ourselves down, changed, and sat at a table wearing our Spartan Finisher medals, while drinking our much deserved (and free) Long Trail beers. It was so nice sitting there and looking up at that mountain, realizing that we had made it all the way to the top and then back down again in one piece.

I noticed that there seemed to be a much larger percentage of men at the Spartan race than I saw at Tough Mudder. I don't know if that's just the distribution of male/female in the wave I happened to run in or if less women run in Spartan races. I didn't really mind that there were fewer women, but it did surprise me because it was noticeably different than Tough Mudder...at least in my eyes.

I wonder what the Super Spartan has in store for me in September. I'm sure it will be tough, especially since this next one is even longer than the Spartan Sprint, at 8+ miles. But, I know I can get through it if I just keep putting one foot in front of the other and promise myself that I won't give up.

9 years younger in just 5 months!

I think I've finally discovered the fountain of youth. I started my journey in January of 2012 at the ripe old age of 37. Just 5 months later, I turned 28. I never thought I'd see my 20's again. Actually, I never even thought it was possible.

A couple of months before, my chiropractor diagnosed me with arthritis in my neck and lower spine. I couldn't believe it...Arthritis was for old people! Was I really getting that old? I also had constant pain in my right shoulder and constant carpal tunnel syndrome. You get older and older, and your body starts hurting more and more, and there's really not much you can do about it, right? WRONG! So very, very wrong!

You see, my goal in January was to train for the Central Bucks Family YMCA Tough Mudder team event being held on April 29th. Up until January, the most I'd ever done exercise-wise was walking on the treadmill at a whopping 3.8 mph and watching TV to escape the insanity of being home with 3 very young children, and to satisfy my chiropractor, who told me I should start exercising to help my arthritis.

One day in December, I saw some videos in the gym of people crawling through mud, running through fire, and climbing over huge walls. I was completely amazed by their strength, and thought it looked like so much fun! I decided to start training for it. I had left my full time job earlier that year, and really needed a goal to work towards...a BIG one! This was it.

I asked my husband for some personal training sessions for Christmas and started working towards my goal in January. I went to a Tough Mudder (now called AMPed) class every Saturday morning, worked with Marsha Hughes (my awesome personal trainer) every Wednesday, and ran on the treadmill 1-2 days a week.

I was so sore after those initial Tough Mudder classes, but I stuck with it, and after a while, it got easier and easier for me. When I was on the treadmill, I would tell myself that I just needed to run for a minute, and then I would start walking again until I caught my breath. Once I got comfortable with one minute of running, I started increasing my time running. Little by little, I started running more and walking less, until I could run an entire 5K on the treadmill without slowing down to a walk.

When our YMCA team did the Tough Mudder on April 29th, I've never felt healthier. I was running up a mountain, and couldn't believe that I was barely even winded. Not only could I do it, I felt AMAZING! After Tough Mudder, I finished the Broad Street Run and my first half marathon. Then, I went back to the Y for another fitness evaluation.

In January, the Y calculated my "polar age" (physical age) to be....drum roll please...37 - my exact chronological age. It wasn't that surprising to me, because I was 37, after all! After Tough Mudder, my trainer kept telling me to get my fitness evaluation done again, because she could see the change in my body fat and was excited to see my results.

I went into that fitness evaluation with very low expectations. I was hoping that maybe my new polar age would be a year younger. After I finished all of the tests, I was completely amazed when Chris Learn (my evaluator) told me that my polar age was now 28. I think I may have even had a tear in my eye. I was thrilled! I seriously couldn't believe it! But, then I thought about it a bit, and it really wasn't surprising at all. I had worked very hard over the past 5 months.

It all started out because I wanted to be strong enough to climb over walls and crawl through mud, but I wound up getting so much more, and I feel amazing! My shoulder pain is completely gone and I rarely experience any carpal tunnel syndrome. My body fat was 25.5% back in January, and now it's 19.5%. That's a huge difference! And the best part is that it wasn't from dieting. I ate whatever I wanted to eat and wasn't even trying to lose weight. I was just doing strength training and cardio training. Most importantly, I was getting stronger and healthier.

But, my journey isn't over yet. I'm doing my first Spartan Race in a couple of weeks, and I have a ton of races on my schedule for the fall. I'm registered for another Spartan race in September, the Philadelphia Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon and the Philadelphia Marathon. Admittedly, I am a bit nervous about running 26.2 miles all at once. There was an option to sign up for the half marathon on that day instead, but I already know I can run 13.1 miles. I'd rather try to run 26.2 and not finish, but know I've pushed myself to the max.

The one thing this journey has taught me is that we are physically capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for. My entire outlook has changed. Now, when I pick up something that's heavy around the house, I'm not saying "Ugh" in my mind anymore. I'm thinking about how lifting something heavy is strengthening me. I was at a church function recently, and at the end, it was me and the janitor folding, lifting and carrying the heavy tables during clean up, while all of the other ladies stood to the side and watched. So what if I'm middle-aged and a mom of 3? I could still carry those tables!

I feel so blessed by this wonderful gift that the Central Bucks Family YMCA has given to me. It's a strength I never knew I had and never even thought existed. I feel stronger than ever now, both physically and mentally. This experience has taught me that I can get through anything, and come out of it even stronger than before. And for that, I am forever grateful.

I still got it!

It's been over two months since Tough Mudder, and I have to say I have been really lazy when it comes to working out. I've dropped my exercise down to 1-2 days a week, which I know is not enough. Sometimes, I'll do a bunch of push-ups or plank for a little bit, because I feel guilty that I haven't exercised in a while, but that's about it. I haven't been gaining weight, but I've been worried that I'm losing my strength and muscle. My first Spartan Race is less than 2 weeks away, and I'm not sure I'm ready for it anymore.

I'm part of a Facebook group called Spartan Chicked, which is a group of amazing women who support each other as they reach their goals. it's focused around obstacle racing, but there are other athletes who are a part of this group as well. July is "monkey bar month" in this group, and everyone's been posting videos of their monkey bar attempts. That's what inspired me to test out my monkey bar skills - one of my greatest challenges!

Yesterday, I took my kids to the park and attempted to go across these monkey bars. The first time I tried, I think I only got to the 2nd or 3rd bar, and then I fell. The 2nd time, it was the same thing. But the 3rd time, I made it all the way across, with my daughter cheering me on, saying "Mom, you can do it! You're a Tough Mudder!" She really is my little cheerleader!

So, what did I do differently that 3rd time? I think it was a combination of technique and mental grit. The third time, I gripped the bars from the very top, so my hands wouldn't slip down to the sides. I found it was much easier to hold the bars that way, because my wrists were killing me when they would slip down to the side. I was also swinging my body from front to back. I found that the momentum helped me get from one bar to another more easily.

I also remember telling myself not to give up or let go, no matter what and no matter how much it hurt. Believe it or not, I think that helped me even more than the technique. When I did the Tough Mudder back in April, I was in peak physical condition, but I only made it to the first monkey bar and then fell into the water. I remember saying something like "I can't do it." before I dropped. It was towards the end of the race, and I was exhausted, but I remember not believing I could do it. Here's a link to the video of me attempting the monkey bars at Tough Mudder: http://qik.com/50574930/a03d91f0

I know I need to step up my exercising. After all, I have a Super Spartan coming up on September 8th, and I just won a free entry to the Hardcore Mud Run on September 9th. I'm probably crazy for doing 2 big obstacle courses in the same weekend, but in my mind, it's just another challenge to conquer. This monkey bar experience reminded me of one of my favorite quotes:

"If you think you can, or if you think you can't, either way, you're right." Henry Ford