Spartan World Championship Part II: The Race/Aftermath So I am the first person to the wall just before the start line and I anxiously await the start. I get my pre- race bear hug from MC TC Carson and I talk to a bunch of friends and make a few new ones. Some of the top contenders are announced and they hop over the wall, then there is a mad rush to get over. I tried to be careful and not get injured in a mad rush just to get to the start line. I am maybe 3 rows back, but this means nothing since I planned to go out at my pace and not crush myself up the first climb. Off we go and I settle in maybe 100th place, guys I know, some foreign athletes jet on by. I start to gain some positions at the first sand bag carry and first bucket carry. I get to the dreaded tarzan swing and fall. I do my 30 burpees and soon pass Alec Blenis who actually made the obstacle. I run with Alec for a bit and he warms up from the cold water (it didn’t affect me at all) and he takes off. I pass him again at the log carry and we head into the log hop together. I struggle but after borrowing Alec’s technique of putting your hands on one plank make it across and take my sweet time standing up so I don’t fall off. I gain my balance and hop safely across the last four logs. Wow that was a challenge. I reach the summit of the mountain and see the memorization board and spear on a rope which I got to help demo a few weeks back in New Jersey. It is very windy and I miss to the left. After my 30 burpees I make a decent and I see a women there, not seeing her pass me I tell her she’s lost. It turns out she is from Quebec and her English is hard to understand. I try to tell her she’s either in first place or lost. She backtracks a little and then she passes me again. Then more women start to pass me on the decent. I only recognize a few and I cheer my friends Claude Godbout and Corinna Coffin on. At the second bucket carry I begin to think boy this race is probably the easiest Beast I have done in Killington. Boy was I about to eat my words. I little bit after the second bucket we get to the second sand bag carry. I begin to think wow I’m about to crush some dudes. But we have to carry two bags which I’ve heard were around 45 lbs. each. I throw one on each shoulder but I do not get very far before I have to stop. Next I try one on the shoulder and one I grab by the duct tape and hold like a purse. I get to the section where it gets the steepest and the tape breaks. I resort to throwing one at a time up the mountain. I run into my good friend Mr. Ricciardi and he cheers me on and really gives me a lift seeing a friendly face at my darkest moment of the race. I start to drag one of the bags like a tractor pull by it now exposed long neck and the other I put on my shoulder. I reach the top of the carry and make good time down the mountain to the end of the carry. My watch is saying 2.5 miles more if the 14.5 mile course is truthfully. It is not, at this point I really am not racing for anything. My only goal is to finish. Jenny Tobin passes me and cheers me on but I don’t have any drive to keep up with her. I get to the tyrolean traverse and breeze across it, but then I get the memorization test and miss it by one. My alpha letter was Tango then it was my birthday 827, so I only really had to memorize the last 4 numbers but I was one off. The volunteer said I was good when I was at 25 burpees, but I don’t cut corners and I knock at my last five. The rope climb is challenging with the thin rope that hangs out of the water. I make it up with no problem, but then I miss the spear again. My good buddy Alexander Nicolaus does the same I we have a few words of encouragement after the burpees. He says rough race or something but then I think, I have nothing to be mad about, I have full use of both my legs, I am not injured, I have the love and support of my family and friends, I just got offered a box ticket to Derek Jeter’s last home game ever, and I am doing what I love to do in the beautiful state of Vermont in the fall (technically it was still summer, but not so in reality) which is one of the most majestic times of the year. I proceed to fall off the pole traverse and at the 10 ft wall just before the barb wire a staff member asks me “Elliott did you run in the open heat today?” I reply no and continue on. It is really funny that someone thinks that, but it also indicates wow I am really stinking up the joint. I get the herculean hoist up and down then my calf locks up. Luckily I used to this happening in bed or driving and I’m able to work it out in seconds. Up the container climb and then on to the monkey bars. They are slippery and my grip is shot from the 2nd sand bag experience. I fall off and do my 30 burpees. One last climb and I see the finish line I start to run and then I hear someone coming up on me. I start to pick up my speed and I see some ignorant spectator walking right across my path, I yell at them and proceed to get beat out at the fire jump. I don’t really care it was a battle for what turned out to be 67th place. I don’t feel like getting my picture taken (sorry Rory Doyle) and give a few friends hugs and congratulate a few people before I head up to the athlete room. Boy am I beat but I am healthy and I finished. After an hour or so I bum a ride off some friends and say they can use the showers at my condo. However we are locked out when we get there. I tell them just to leave me and I hop in the jacuzzi for some much needed soaking. I happen to have my car keys and decide to head back to the venue. There Joe De Sena asks me to do the short course and I tell him yes only if I can get a free pair of shoes since I am wearing my dress shoes. It turns out there is no room in the men’s heat and Alex, Alec, myself, and a few others are regulated to the JV/scrub heat. I am excited to race by now after watching my friends and teammates in the men’s/women’s race. The scrub heat actually has around 80 or so podiums between the three of us, but they bail and by the end of the women’s heat I am the only one that wants to race. I take off by myself I get one lap in before they take the spears. I mock throwing the spears the last 3 laps and complete my 4 laps earn my shoes. Outback Pizza, more hot tub, and quick DD duty to the Pickle Barn to see some friends. During the race I had come to the conclusion that I had no desire to do even the charity sprint and that the only safe thing was to drive home Sunday morning after a good night’s sleep. That’s what I did, nothing notable other than getting honked at by a Virginia state trooper and yelled at to slow down. Then I go out to Hooter’s (never been there but I’ve got a gift card and I want a burger, fries, and cheese cake!) for dinner and I am in a bad mood. I ask the guy at the bar to move over so I’m not against the barrier. He does and he starts making fun of me for ordering chocolate milk and water at a bar. We get to talking and he is an E3 medic in the Navy, I tell him my story about just getting off active duty. We talk some more as the Seahawks hold on in overtime to beat the Broncos. Then I ask for my bill and the bartender tells me there is no bill. I think she’s joking and then after minutes of playing with my card impatiently to get her attention she tells me the dude next to me bought my meal. Never before has anyone I didn’t know bought my meal, what I nice gesture. I thank him and tell him he shouldn’t have done that. Wow what a roller coaster of emotions. Questions linger, I am emailed/blindsided that I need to move out by Dec 31 from where I’m living the Friday before the race, do I really want to continue I job that has long hours and pay so dependent on commission where days go by you don’t sell anything, do I want to train harder to get back to the podium? The questions remain unanswered but I am still going to race. My next Spartan Race in the Winnsboro Beast/Super around a month from now. Then the next week I just bought my ticket last night for the Glen Rose Beast/Sprint. If you are still reading thank you and I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks to my sponsors Spartan Race, VPX Sports/Team Xtreme, and Mud Gear! Also to all the staff, volunteers, and spectators that cheered me on and helped build an amazing course! Oh and congrats to my new friend Jon Albon for pulling out a huge upset, Ryan Atkins, and Cody Moat for rounding out the podium. Claude Godbout, Corinna Coffin, and April Dee for being the women winners. Hunter McIntyre and Cassidy Walton for winning the short courses. And Isaiah Vidal, Cody, and April for podiuming in the Ultra Beast the day after running in the Beast you guys are unbelievable!
Posted on: Wed, 24 Sep 2014 04:03:55 +0000
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