Category Archives: Spartan Race

Spartan Camp Summary Video

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The 20 week summary video


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Spartan Race: 2012 Fenway

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I can remember sitting in Spartan HQ, when Joe started talking about doing a race inThe Green Monster Fenway Park, I knew at that moment, that no mater what happened  I was going to find a way to go to this race.  Why would this race be so important to me?  Two words… Green Monster… I can remember my beloved Detroit Tiger playing games in Fenway Park, and I fell in love with the Green Monster.  So getting the chance to see it in real life, count me in!

When I arrived into Boston, and stopped by to see my good friends over at Inov-8.  I Inov-8had not see them since the Vermont Beast, and I needed some advice on what shoes I should get next, to help me transition into a more natural shoes.   After some discussion we agreed on the Road-X Lite 155.  They are designed for roads and well maintained trails, they are a lot thinner and lighter then my trail shoes.   The other thing we noticed is the size 13 we just to big, so we tried on a pair of 12, and they fit like a glove.   This is the second time in my weight loss journey I have had to change my shoe size, I use to ware 14’s when I weight 696 lbs.

When I arrived at Fenway Park, it was like walking into a magical place.  I could not stop Welcomemy self from walking up to the building and putting my hand on the brick wall… I could not believe it, I am really here.  I walked around to the back gate and went in, this is where it helps being a staff member for so long.  After checking in.  I started to walk around the park and I could just feel the energy that the stadium gave off, I have never experienced anything like it before.   My heart started to race, and I could not stop my self I headed straight to the stands.  That is where I had the biggest omgwtf moments… I am really here.

After sitting there for a bit, I saw that the door to the warning track was open, so I ran back into the corridors and headed over the gate, I could not believe it was open so I The Green Monster 2walked down and onto the warning track.  This was the first time I have ever been on an actual professional baseball field.   I can admit, I stood there and took a deep breath, and took it all in.   I could not believe I was actually standing on the field, as I looked over to my left, there it was as big as life…. The Green Monster!   It is so much larger in real life than on TV.   As I started to walk over, I found my self looking at the small details, like the dents from all the baseballs that had hit it over the years.  I can not tell you how long I just stood there.  It was completely overwhelming.

On Saturday, I got to spend the morning with my friend Leah Hilton, we meet back in August at the New EnLeah Hilton and Chris Davisgland Spartan Race.  Since then, we have become good friends.   We spent the morning walking around the stadium cheering people on and just hanging out talking.   I am very lucky to have met her, as she has become one of a small group of people, that I turn to when I am having a bad day.   People ask me all the time how I have been able to keep going even on the bad days, Its simple, I have great friends that support me, even when I want to go back to the days of hiding behind a keyboard and monitor.

For this race, I decided I was going to try something different.  Instead of running the normal spartan race, I was going to help out with The Biggest Looser Run/Walk Off Road Challenge heat their whole purpose is to get people out and to try something new.   For most of these racers, this will be there first experience trying an obstacle course.  To help these first time racers out, the rules are a little different than a normal heat.   First off obstacle are optional, but we encourage everyone to try, Biggest Loosers especially if you think that it is scary.  Second, there are no timing chips,  this heat is about completing the course, not how look it took you.  So it is a perfect fit for me, because I have fallen in love with helping first time races find a way to get across the finish line.  That is what I am really good at.  So I meet up with Dan Evans from Season 5 of The Biggest Looser, and we headed off.  I stayed towards the back of the group and helped keep everyone motivated, and looking towards the finish line.  There were a couple of people that wanted to quit, especially during the sand bag carry, but we were able to get everyone who started across the finish line.

Looking back on this race, It is a real turning point for me.   This was the first race where I went out not to race for my self, but to help get others across the finish line.  Other than the Vermont Beast, this was one of the most rewarding races, I have ever experienced.

Spartan Race: 2012 Gulf Coast Spartan Sprint

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Since coming home to Atlanta, I have felt like I was so far behind on everything,   There are several projects at work that I am behind on, most of my stuff is still in boxes, and I still have not taken any time to relax, so I was not planing on going to the Gulf Coast Sprint, instead I was going to hang out and try to make some progress on these projects.   But what I plan and what happens are usually two different things,  my plans started to fall apart when I got a text message from Andi Hardy, asking me if I wanted to join her and Ang Reynolds on a road trip to the Race.   I told her that I would think about it and get back to her.  Later that day I got an email from my boss reminding me schedule the reset of my vacation time so that I do not take it all at the end of year.   So what can you do but just say OK… I get the message, and Go for it.

On Friday I took a half day off, and headed up to meet with Andi and Aug.  When I gotthere, they were all ready getting the car ready for the road trip.   When I saw what they were doing I knew this was going to be a totally different experience for me compared to the other Spartan Races I have been to.   I jumped into the back seat and we were off.  If was funny how many people would look and point as we drove past them.   It was a really fun and it reminded me of driving to Rode Island in the Spartan RV.   A couple of hours into our drive we decided to pull over and get some gas.   But being Spartans  we could not just simply fill the tank and go, oh no that is not the way this crew rolls.

Our first adventure started out as we walked in the door to the gas station,  I can not forget the look on Andi, and Ang faces when they saw there was a mini football display set up.   Before I knew it they had jumped into the display and we trying to do pull ups on the mini field goal post.  So you know I had to jump in and join them.   This is when
 for the first time in a long time I started to feel my inner kid scream… LET ME OUT AND LET ME PLAY!!!!   So it was on…  My kid mode was out in full force, after taking a killer Epic Racing Arena Application Video for Ang and Andi, we headed outside to continued our adventure.

Once we were outside and found a push cart next to the truck scales.   When we turned it over we were shocked to find 6 black widow spiders had decided to make the cart there home.   Most people I know when they come across things like this back up slowly and walk away, but not these two, both of them just wanted to sit back and and check them out.   I mean how often do you really see black widow spiders.  After that we deiced that it was time to move on so we got back in the car and we were off.

The next stop was at a Winn Dixie, and after our little adventure at the gas station, Iknew this was going to be the most interesting trip to a grocery store I had ever had. For the most part everything was quite and normal until they headed to the back of the store when they found an empty goldfish display.   The next thing I know I am helping Ang get up and into to it and Andy starts to push her around the back of the store.   I could not stop laughing,  I ended up laughing so hard that the back of my head started to hurt.  Then the store manager showed up, and in my head I thought oh no… this is were we get in trouble, but no not these two, the next thing I know they have not only talked there way out of the situation but has talked the store manager into selling us the display.   So “Uncle Cracker” has now joined our little adventure and joined us for the rest of the trip.

Once we got to the cabin we meet up with the rest of our party, this included Melinda Branch, Jeff Bent, Joe Kauder. It was getting late for a race night so it was a very quite night, When I work up there it was crazy as everyone is getting ready and had started to do there per-race rituals.  Around 6:45 am we head off to the race,   I signed up for the 9:00 o’clock head and started to get ready.   It was great seeing all of my friends including Joe Desenasetting things up and getting ready for the day.Once my heat started I teamed with one few of my fellow 9:00 am racers name Britney and we headed down the course, this was her first Spartan Race.    It was not to long before we found a third member of our team, but for the life of me I can not think of his name, I think it was Rick, but I am not sure. He had sprained his ankle but did not want to quit so we move on though the course supporting and helping each other.   This is one of the things I love about Spartan Races, 3 strangers meeting up and helping each other get though the course.  Being a founders race, most of the designed for the local terrain  this was very true for this race, It was full of Pitts, and river crossings.   Most of the man made obstacles were walls, including a couple of them built for Joe.  They were over 10 feet tall.   I have always feared the walls so these were very tough for me, but asI started to go over them, I keep hearing Margaret Schlachter from Dirt in Your Skirt telling me use your arms and lower your self down, and for the first time I had enough strength in my arms to do it with out falling flat on my face.  Finally all the time I had spend with her on her training wall at Dirt in Your Skirt HQ had payed off.  I still can not believe I was able to get up and over one of Joe’s monster walls.As we finished the last of 3 barbed wire crawls,  Andy, Ang, and Jeff found me.  Seeing them gave me a new burst of energy, and it helped to get though the last few obstacles.  Since there were no gladiators at this race they deiced to spice it up and make everyone do 30 burpees at the end.  I can not tell you how badly that sucked… I would rather take on 10 gladiators then do burpees covered in mud,  I was so grateful when  Andy, decided to jump in and do burpees with me to keep me motivated   Also Amy Sadd, jumped in and joined me as well… It was so nice to have all there support, then in the back

On the way back to Atlanta, Andi, Jeff, Ang and I stopped back the Winn Dixie to share our stores and photos with the store manager that had sold us Uncle Cracker.  It is funny what happens when you start asking the employees if the store manager is around, they automatically think they have done something wrong, and then when you ask them for his email address the looks get even better.   Its is a shame he was not there I would have loved to seen the look in his face when he heard the adventure Uncle Cracker had been thought in just 3 days. ground I hear Joe on the megaphone making fun of my Burpees, that was just the icing on the cake!   This was by far the funnest Spartan Race I have ever been to.

Click Here To see all the photos from the 2012 Gulf Coast Spartan Race