Sparta!

I ran the Spartan Race last weekend, and it was a whole lot tougher than the year before. The obstacles were a LOT more brutal, I think the one that really killed me was where you fill a 5 gallon bucket with gravel and carry it up the ski slope, and then back down. A second most miserable challenge was the three 20-yard sections of crawling in the mud underneath barbed wire, the last section crawling uphill. An indication of how much tougher it was this year: the fastest runner last year took 23 minutes to run the 5 kilometers. This year the fastest time was 35 minutes. It took me an hour twenty-five. I placed about the same this year as last, about in the top 40%. For some reason, this year I felt more competitive, which is weird because I’ve always been the least competitive person ever. But I guess it different when you have a race with time and placement and everything, it’s very exciting. I kept focusing on this chick Number 977, because she’d pull ahead of me, and then I’d get ahead of her, then she’d pass me again. I lost track of her about ¾ through the race, no idea if she beat me or not. You know who did beat me across the finish line by about 10 yards? A dude with one arm. Oh, speaking of bib numbers, my number was 889! The number 8 is considered lucky in Chinese culture, dammit I was 1 away from being 888, you could have put me on the cover of Chinese Runner Magazine! Anyway. I think this was the toughest physical challenge I’ve ever done in my life. Which is an interesting thought.