Worst Introductory Post Ever

Any influencer or blogger will tell you that the first post on a blog should introduce yourself, your unique perspective, and quickly lay out reasons the reader should keep looking at your blog. 

I’m definitely not influential, and the only unique perspective I have is what people’s shoes look like as they run past me in the burpee pit of the Olympus Wall. So you should TOTALLY keep reading…right?

Maybe. Up to you.

I’m writing this blog as much for myself as anyone who might come across it—Spartan Races have quickly become a big part of my life, dinner conversation with my wife, Instagram feed, and parenting style so I wanted an outlet for things that usually make Sara’s eyes glaze over. 

One of those things is revisiting my year of races. I did two races (both sprints) in 2018, so this was my first “real” season of racing. 

My first ever exposure to Spartan was the 2018 Dallas Stadium (now Stadion) Sprint. Like their marketing says, I definitely knew at the finish line. I was hooked. I had a group of five buddies signed up to race with me at the Dallas sprint in October. Both of those races were fun and reinforced that this is something I wanted to lean more into. 

…but they also showed that I was slow, weak, out of shape, and a burpee magnet. 

With two kids and a work addiction, I don’t work out as regularly as I want. But in 2019 I focused on grip strength and being able to do a sprint without hating myself. I tried four or five different workout methods (not to mention how many plans I went through), but after trudging through a Super in San Antonio, almost quitting and dying during the Beast in Big Bear, I got my first trifecta at the Stadion Sprint in Dallas and was doing way less burpees than the year before. Cardio wasn’t where I wanted, but obstacles were better. 

My double race weekend—Beast and Sprint—in Dallas in October (long story) saw some cardio improvement, but still getting passed by AARP racers two heats after me. 

But to complete my double trifecta in Laughlin, Nevada I put together my most complete race—and more importantly, one I never thought I could do when running my first Super in March. Because everyone loves reading race reviews, I’ll have more on that in another post. 

My point is that even in a short year, people like us who have jobs, marriages, kids, and life can still get better at this sport and make progress. It can be easy to get discouraged by the Robert Killians and Nicole Mericles of the world because they workout for a living so of course they can keep up this ambitious training schedule. But “open racers” like us can still be better over a year. 

This blog is for me and any other Spartan who has to plan a workout in between work, soccer practice, and a Costco run. The Spartan who has beaten themselves up for eating food that came in a bag because we were craving it. If you’ve laid awake the night before a race terrified, wishing you’d done extra training sessions instead of staying caught up on The Mandalorian, I’m with you. 

San Antonio Super Race Review: Best Venue Ever

Race Review – 2019 San Antonio Super

Favorite Venue, Hard Race

“Clothes make the man” is an ancient quote that we’ve all heard and probably believe to some degree. Spartan would argue that it should say “Craft Sportswear clothes make the man.” Sponsorship jokes aside, if clothes can (in some circumstances) make a man, can a venue make a race?

My first race of 2019 was a Super, my first ever, near San Antonio—Boerne, to be exact. It’s about a four-and-a-half hour drive from suburban Dallas, and Sara had agreed to go with me. We left early enough to drive into Boerne for dinner at Cypress Grille. I’m not the most knowledgable on racing/fitness nutrition, so I can tell you that this place had the best homemade cookies/ice cream I’ve ever had. The steaks were perfectly cooked, yes. Our appetizers delicious, sure. But, the ice cream. The ice cream…

But I digress.

This was the first time doing a distance besides the Sprint, so I was nervous (maybe it was all the ice cream in my belly?). I’d never been a distance runner, even in high school, so 8 miles was going to set a personal record…assuming I finished. 

The venue at Don Strange Ranch was amazing—very close to the Interstate, lots of elevation changes (at least for Texas) to give great running and obstacle views. I’m still bummed that I didn’t have my phone with me to capture the “hills” and “valleys” I could see from the top of Stairway to Sparta. In the first mile we ran through an old tunnel—I was already breathing hard, but wondering what it had been used for and where it had led distracted me from the pain. 

The best part about the course though, was that there was very little mud. There were the usual creeks to run and walk through but nothing excessive. I hate getting dirty (yeah, I’m in the wrong activity), so that was a huge bonus for me.

I’d never run a race alone before, so I was very apprehensive about what that would be like. I often find it difficult to push myself to keep going when I have a workout partner, how easy would it be to get distracted and/or quit when it’s just me out there? 

It wasn’t horrible, but for someone who hates being alone it was similar to an extra obstacle. At least there’s not a burpee penalty for that one.

…because there definitely were for others. 

Here’s how I stacked up against failable obstacles (needing help counts as a fail in my quest to run clean):

  • Vertical Cargo = no
    • At the end of 2019, I’m still trying to figure out which muscles I need to strengthen to be 5’7” and get up on the table without falling flat on my back in front of everyone
  • Stairway to Sparta = no
  • Twister = no
  • Olympus = no
  • Beater = yes
    • First time seeing this obstacle, and the time I spent watching YouTubes paid off and made me look way smoother than I actually was
  • Multi-rig = yes
    • It was rings/horizontal bar/rings, but I was still so pumped to do a grip obstacle that had killed me in the previous races…and of course it wasn’t part of the gauntlet so no one saw. Alas.
  • Rope = no
  • Spear = no
  • Hercules Hoist = yes
  • Monkey bars = no
    • I was really pissed to fail this one because it was the last thing before the fire jump and after getting the rig, I thought I had a chance to show off for Sara. Instead, she got to see my crappy burpee form. 

Cardio

Not great. There were definitely long stretches of walking—and not just in the technical parts of the trail. But it was the longest I’d ever run/walked in my life, so I was happy to finish. To me, this was a proof of concept that I could do more than a Sprint. 

Conclusion:

No matter how you feel about haberdashery and character, the venue is what I think of most when I look back on this race. I’d already be signed up in 2020 if it was in the same spot. I didn’t die, and completed a “bucket list” obstacle. All in all, not a horrible way to spend three hours (look, I said my cardio sucked).