The race is in the books. Simply put, it was harder than I thought and my body is still sore 48 hours after finishing. Although I knew the race was in Killington, it didn’t occur to me that we’d actually just run up the mountain but that’s exactly how the race started (I know; I’m bright). The course was very difficult and this was the site of the Spartan Race World Championships. After about a 200-yard decent to the base, we turned a corner and the course went straight up for about the next three-quarters of a mile. That wiped out a lot of people and most didn’t try to run at all and just walked it to the top.
The hardest part of the race for me was the repeated climbs in the course, but the second hardest part was actually the descent. Usually we were descending through the woods in very narrow trails. The terrain was so difficult to navigate with roots, rocks, water and people walking as you tried to run past them. It took a lot to not face-plant or roll an ankle too badly, but I made it through.
The obstacles were really the fun part of the race for me. Most of them were backloaded on the course. The first mile or two was just running up/down the mountain with simple obstacles that you had to jump over/under. After that the obstacles became more complex. If you fell off or did not complete them you had to do a 30-burpee penalty, which took a lot of valuable time and energy to compete.
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The course was just over 4 miles and I ran it in an hour and 31 minutes. The fastest time was an hour and 10 minutes. I finished 49th out of 801 runners, not bad but definitely think I could have shaved time by completing two obstacles and not suffering the burpee penalty. Also, not knowing the course or having run a race previously made it tougher. Many obstacles are the same or similar to past races, so having the experience and knowing the best technique to attack certain obstacles would have helped. Lastly, I should have altered my training for even more hill/incline work. My training included a lot of hill sprints but I would have been better served to do long, slow runs up serious inclines to prepare for the mountain terrain.
Overall, I really enjoyed the experience from the preparation to the actual race. My girlfriend, Adrienne, actually ran it as well. The night before she was vomiting until 4 a.m. from something she ate, but not only did she finish the race but completed it in an hour and 52 minutes . . . very impressive.
This race tested everyone that ran it and congratulations to all that did. I want to give a big thank-you to the folks at NBCSN and CSNNE for allowing us to run the race. It was a tremendous experience and I don’t think this will be the last Spartan Race I run. There’s actually one in Fenway on November 15 that would be unique. You might find me at the starting line for that one too . . . Spartan Up!