The Baack Paack

Day 2 – Dallas Beast – Sunday

I would do a disservice to the race review if I didn’t acknowledge some of the issues that transpired at the end of the first day of racing in Dallas. Saturday, I ran the course by myself. Ended strong and Vicki and I left the venue. However, many racers did not have the same experience. Reports of racers waiting HOURS in line to park, only to be told when parked “The last heat has left for the day”. Dozens of others were getting stuck parking and had to get towed out of the muddy fields. Just think, you fight the lines to park, get to the venue, race the course, and then end up needing to get a tow before you can leave.   Parking was a major issue at this race for a lot of spectators as well as racers. I didn’t experience this either day (Sat or Sun) but I also ran in the 8 AM heats both days – and I arrived on site over 90 minutes early. There were a lot of unhappy racers posting on social media. I cannot comment on their situations directly, just on what I witnessed, which was a lot of stuck vehicles and upset individuals.

Upon leaving the venue on Saturday, we were directed to leave via the road that had the” flooded out bridge” from the morning reports.   A steady stream of cars were crossing this bridge which had a good 8 – 12” of water flowing over it. The blue shirt directing traffic had but one word of caution when crossing the bridge.

“Stay to the right”

Here in AZ, when roads are flooded, you don’t cross them. As little as 5” of moving water is enough to float a car down the road. As Vicki was heading to the flooded bridge, I was concerned that our tiny, tin can, plastic and aluminum compact rental would have serious issues with this crossing and either leave us stranded, or worse, pushed over the side of the bridge and into a serious situation.

I gave Vicki some quick advice.

“Keep the pace steady, keep straight and do NOT stop”.

She hit the water and did a great job plowing through water flowing over the bridge. We emerged from the other side unscathed, and I was relieved. That crossing was the most stressful event of the entire day, and I was glad it was over.   The rest of the commute back to the hotel was uneventful.

 

4:15 Wake up

The alarm went off at 4:15 AM to start getting dressed and packed for the second day of racing. I added a few more food items today (extra Cliff bars) in case Vicki might need them, as well as my standard Amino Energy blend and Cliff Shot Bloks. Some Salt tabs and ibuprofen rounded out the items in the pack. Vicki has developed her own eating style for races as well, going with things like pretzel thins, mango slices, protein power bars, and raisins.   She carries cliff Shot Bloks as well, however, I think the taste and the consistency wears on her compared to the fruit options that she carries. Her Camelbak with 2L bladder (and missing bite valve) stored all of the food items with room to spare.

Having printed out the Spartan race waivers before we left AZ, we picked up the venue specific waiver on Saturday so we were ready with all the paperwork come Sunday am.

Looking at the weather, we both opted to skip the long sleeve compression shirt and just went with race shirts, X-Racewear arm sleeves and wrist bands to help with the bucket carry. Hitting the hotel lobby, I brought all the gear to the car while Vicki fixed us a few coffees for the ride. The checked bag had the usual towel, two trash bags (for clothes, backpack and shoes) a few extra snacks, $ for parking and our IDs for registration.   The drive to the venue was uneventful and we elected to just head to the entrance that we used on Saturday (the eastern entrance) vs. checking to see if the bridge was passable.   Turning on to the dirt road, we could see the illumination of the spot and flood lights at the race venue in the distance, however, we were the only ones on the road. By the time we turned on the main property, we were one of maybe 15 cars in line. The early birds were a lot fewer than that of the day before.   When we pulled up to pay for parking, Vicki asked the volunteer if we could park farther back, up on the hill closer to the pre-venue bathrooms, for we didn’t want to have to deal with getting stuck trying to leave after racing all day. The volunteer said:

“Don’t worry we can tow you out if needed”.

“Great, that is a comfort” I thought.

Parking turned out to be a non-issue as we ended up parking higher up on the hill than the day before, and there were no ruts to deal with in front of or behind us in the parking lanes. It was a solid spot and would be easy to leave. The next step was registration, which had a bit of confusion as all of the lane signs were not up, so folks were not sure what lane they should be standing in. Spartan Race has the competitors line up based upon bib # to register. So bib number 6213 would be in the 6000-7000 line, 4439 would be in the 4000-5000 line, etc. However, when the first line number posted was 3500-5000 and you and dozens others have numbers in the 2000’s, it leads to some confusion. In a few minutes Vicki had it all figured out for the 20 or so of us and we were registered quickly and we had our race packets, then headed back to the car to warm up and get all of our timing chips on, starting wave wrist bands, and double checked our race packs as well as the checked bag pack. On the way back to the car I checked my phone and saw that I had a text from Kristine, who had raced yesterday and was volunteering today.

The message was short and sweet: “BTW: Full course today”

Sitting in the car I made a point to show Vicki. I could tell by her face, it wasn’t the news that she wanted to hear.

One of the things that Vicki had told me after the race was the logic that she was trying to apply before the race on Sunday.

“After you showed me the text from Kristine, a big part of me wished I would have run with you on Saturday, with the shorter course. But, I needed to get my head around the fact that I was going to be running on Sunday. I woke up and started thinking on Sunday, hoping that the course was still the cut course. But then I realized that if I thought that way, and it was the full course, I would be disappointed. I needed to get my head around that the course WOULD be the full 14.2 mile distance, and if it was shorter, that would be an extra bonus”.

Vicki looked at me from the driver’s seat of the car and let out a sigh.

“Well..” she said, “it is what it is, I gotta get my head around that.”

She had made a promise to me that she would stay positive during this race, like she did with Temecula months earlier. She knew that if she stayed positive, it would help her overcome some of the lack of preparedness that she faced going into this race. I agreed. Sitting in the car we set a goal for when we wanted to finish, as well as an average pace to maintain. I thought it would be possible, but Vicki was going to have to really put in a SOLID effort to make it happen. Knowing how bad the mud was on the course, I made a conscious decision NOT to tell her.   I could already tell that while she was working on getting prepared for the distance and time on the course, telling her about the mud was just going to be an extra mental hurdle for her to have to think about. I didn’t want to burden her with it now, figuring that she would experience it herself soon enough.

Soon it was time to head down to the starting area and check the bag for the race. We promptly stripped off our trifecta jackets and my hat and stuffed them into the check bag, and then headed for the staging area for the 8 am heat.

Arriving there just as they opened up the 8 AM time, we made our way to the 6’ wall, where I gave her a knee and Vicki pushed off and got up on top and then over the wall. I went to stand up and caught the eye of another female racer who was staring at me if to say “please let me use your leg as well”. I knelt back down without saying anything and tapped the top of my leg. She stepped on it went over the wall. I stood up and followed her over to the starting corral.

“You’re so nice..” said Vicki

I smirked. You gotta do what you gotta do.

 

GOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

As we stood in line, the MC was getting the sparsely populated crowd compared to yesterday excited for the race.
“If you were here yesterday, you know the course was cut to eliminate the water obstacles. Good news is, today, the course is the full distance. Fourteen plus miles, with a ton of water and mud to get dirty in. You will get the full Norm course! Can I get an AROO?”

I looked over at Vicki and give her a nod. She rolled her eyes at me.

A few minutes later the smoke popped and we were on the course.   Sunday’s Spartan Beast was underway!

Coming up to the first obstacle, the hay bale log, I was prepared to offer Vicki help, however, she found a route over the log that had been beaten down a bit more than the others and scampered up and over the log fairly easily.   I went with the same belly flop-dig-my-fingers-in technique to get over it. Once we dropped down the backside of the bales, the course was different than that of yesterday. We ended up crossing several streams as well as some longer runs on harder packed trails.   During one of these runs I looked down at my watch. We were pacing an 18 min mile.

“Hey, how is this pace?” I asked, looking to my left.

“It’s OK, but don’t go much faster, I don’t want to blow my wad” she replied.

“Blowing your wad” is a Crossfit term which means too much intensity too fast in the workout, which leads to the competitor ‘bonking’ at a later stage in the event, completely exhausted.

“No problem” I replied, this is a great pace for us to hold. “You are doing great”.

Soon we were back to the woods as I was yesterday then out to the field where the balance beam was located. Vicki and I partnered up and crossed the beam easily knowing we had someone there to spot us. From there we headed to another hay bale, where again, Vicki climbed over a section that was worn from previous racers and kept on jogging.

Then we hit the mud.

While the mud yesterday was soupy and wet, the mud today was much thicker and much more abundant. The trail on Saturday was 5-8’ wide of mud. Today, it was 40’ wide of mud. People looked to run through the grass to get out of the mud, which after several hundred racers thinking and doing the same thing, only extended the width of the mud on the trail.     Our pace dropped from 18 min miles to 26 min miles in a matter of minutes. We were resigned to a slow walk due to the effort it took to step and move on the course.

 

The next obstacle was the A-Frame Cargo net, which I quickly scaled up and over, then waited for Vicki who was a bit more cautious in her approach, due in part to the amount of mud that her shoes had collected. Cheering her on as she climbed, a familiar face ran over to me and threw me a high five.

“Hey Jay!”

It was Gail!   Another over 40+, multi trifecta earner and Arizona resident. (Gail is going after 9 Trifectas this year, one more than me, which still burns a bit..)

“Hey Gail! Have a good race!” I replied.

We smacked hands and she was gone – off running down the trail.

Passing several other obstacles we ended up coming up to the Atlas stone carry.

While this obstacle was muddy yesterday, today is was very difficult. The mud had become so thick that you literally had to dig out the stone, break the suction from the mud, then try to lift it, then walk – and do it all again to bring it back.

I ended up helping the guy in front of me get the stone off the ground and carry it, before doing my burpees and handing it off.

I went over to the women’s section to find Vicki looking at me with a “I can’t do it look on her face”.

I walked over and she started in on “Jay.. I can’t..”
I didn’t let her finish.

“Grab it” I replied.
Vicki bent down to grab the stone. I worked my hands under it to break it from the suction.

“Lift it!” I commanded.

Vicki, struggled to get the stone off the ground, her small hands slipping on the side of the stone from the thick mud covering it.
Seeing this, with my hands still under it, I picked the stone up and we started to move sideways to the ½ way point, to where I dropped it and she flung off her pack and did her 5 burpees in the driest section of mud she could find. Completing them, we did the same steps in reverse, before handing the stone off to another female racer who was waiting in Vicki’s line.

If Vicki wasn’t mentally prepared for the terrain, this obstacle was the awakening of what was in store for the rest of the day.

 

It’s Jen and Chica!

When you are out racing you meet all sorts of people.   Jen and Chica (her real name was Gina but Jen kept calling her Chica, so I went with it) were a pair of twenty something female racers who were wearing neon orange tanks and matching compression socks. At this point in the race, they were pretty covered in thick mud, but the neon orange was a stark contrast to the battleship grey color of the mud splattered all over them. We all ended up at the 7 and 8’ wall series together, and the two of them needed help getting over them. Vicki and I obliged in helping them get over the walls, and then helping Vicki with both of the walls, and then giving me a leg push on the 8’ wall. For the rest of the race we would trade places back and forth as they needed help on obstacles and or we would catch them on the runs / power walks between the obstacles.   These two were out to have a good time on the course and didn’t seem to care about how long it took them, finishing was the goal for them.

Vicki and I hit the water station after the walls at mile 3, and she wanted to eat, so we paused for a few minutes. Fishing out the mangos from her pack, she proceeded to eat them, one small bite at a time, holding the zip lock back and fishing out one piece with her mouth.

I looked at her and said,

“Just use your fingers!”

“No way” she said between chews, “I don’t want to touch the food with those fingers” (Which were covered in all sorts of dried mud).

“Just grab it” I replied, “Even if you did get sick, you wouldn’t notice it until tomorrow”

“Yeah, just in time for the flight home, no thanks!” she replied.

A few minutes later she was done, we slammed a few cups of water as well from the water station, then headed back out on the course.

Soon after we were heading up to the Stairway to Spartan, and I knew that our goal to be done the race in 5 hours was now out the window.   We were just over 4 miles and close to 2 hours on the course. From here on I needed to shift my motivation directed at Vicki from time to finishing, thinking about the long term goal. Racing smart, staying positive, and making it to the end of the race.   Reaching the Stairway to Spartan, looking back, I could say it was honestly the most stressful point of the race.   This obstacle is very high at the peak. Close to 20’ up in the air, where you have to transfer your body from one side of the stairway, up and over the peak, then to the other side where you climb down. I helped Vicki up to get on top of the solid wall, where she took quite a while to get comfortable with the fact that her feet were sliding left and right, standing there on the edge of the 2×6 board.   At one point she was straddling the full width of this section of the obstacle, her left and right foot braced on the support sides of the stairway going up. The problem was, that in this “stance” her legs were so wide apart that she could not step up to the next rung. When she brought her feet closer together to then step up to the next rung, they would start to slide, and she would hesitate, which would put her back into the wide stable stance again. After a few minutes, she had managed to get one level up, and I was still on the ground trying to coach her, as there was not room for both of us on the obstacle based upon how she was standing.   I could tell she was stressed and unsure as she kept on trying different hand positions over and over again without moving forward.

Then, in Vicki’s words an angel appeared.

“Hey – you’ll be fine….watch my feet. Bring them close together, like mine, and shimmy with baby steps all the way over to the right side where you can brace your right foot. Then hold onto the post for dear life…do not let go. Just grab the shit out of it. You can do this.” I had no idea who this woman was, had not seen her on the course before, and never saw her after. She helped me zone in on the obstacle…focus in on the mission….which helped me stop thinking about falling. I went into “work” mode, and followed her instructions perfectly. Making my way all the way to the right side of the stairway, I “grabbed the shit out of the post” and with my right foot braced up against the same post, I lifted my left foot up to the next rung…SUCCESS! Then ensuring I had 3 points of contact (2 hands and 1 leg), I had to move my bracing leg up to the next level. Taking a deep breath, looking into her eyes….I didn’t over think it, I just moved….and SUCCESS….I was safely up to the next level. I continued these same exact steps until I got up and over the 20’ wall. When I took the final step off the ladder, she was nowhere to be found.

 

 

Once Vicki was on the back side, I quickly scaled the solid part of the wall and climbed up to the top, transferred over to the back side, (and experienced just how slick this really was) then climbed down to meet Vicki.

“Hey, where is my angel?” asked Vicki, looking around.

“I think she ran off to the spear throw” I replied, however I really didn’t know as my focus was on Vicki and not those other racers who were coaching her on her traverse of the obstacle.

Crossing the access road (which didn’t have any traffic on it, unlike the day before) we made our way to the spear throw station.   It was the same situation as the day before. No one was making the spear throw and a lot of racers were covered in mud doing burpees. I headed to the same station as I did the day before, the farthest on the left. Vicki followed right behind me. Getting to the station I pulled the tether back to find about a dozen knots in the rope all taking about 4 – 6” of tether line with each knot. No wonder no one was hitting this station – the darn tether rope was all knotted up. I spent about three minutes untying all of the knots in the line, then proceeded to clean the spear with my race shirt as best as I could. Unlike yesterday, when I stood to throw the spear, I was not sinking. However, once I planted my feet, I could not move them. It was like I was literally standing in dried cement. Using the same technique as I did yesterday, I let the spear fly, hitting the spear right in the middle of the lower bale.

 

No burpees for me!

The racer after me pulled the spear back and threw it low left, but managed to drill the spear into the 2×4 support beam that was holding up the bales of hay.   He looked at the volunteer overseeing the obstacle. The volunteer looked at him, smiled and said;

“You’re outta here!” Translation = No burpees for him.

Vicki’s turn at the spear started off with her now trying to get the spear out of the 2”x4” by pulling on the tether, which was not doing anything.   She eventually had to call the volunteer over to go forward and pull out the spear from the 2×4. It was really buried in there.   Freeing the spear, Vicki gave her best effort as she couldn’t do a run up and tossed it at the bale. She was on the mark, but fell short with effort, the spear landing in front of the bale and skidding underneath it.

30 Burpees for Vicki.

As she did them I gave her a break, completing 10 burpees for her and then she finished up with another 10. Then we were off again, this time heading towards the shooting ranges and the hill that we would climb several times.

Climbing the hill for the first time I caught Vicki doing a lot of looking at the top of the hill, sighing, then looking at her feet, then looking back to the top. With each look to the top, it was almost as if a little motivation was lost. I waited for her at one point, walking next to her and said:

“Look at your feet, or right in front of them, don’t worry about the top”

I don’t know if this helped, but she did start to maintain a consistent pace as we climbed up the hills. After the first climb up, I noticed that the descent was very worn and slick as compared to the day before. This meant that Vicki went to a seated position to slide down some of the more precarious sections that have 3- 5’ drops. This also added to the delay in the pace that we were keeping, and I knew she was self-conscious about it, as she was frustrated with how long it was taking.   After the second round of up and down, we ended up at the memory challenge wall.   I found that the phrase number combination that I was responsible for and it was one I had been issued before in another race this year! Wahoo! (Foxtrot, 066-6003). I looked over to Vicki and asked if she was all set. She raised one finger from her right hand at me as if to say “hold on, not ready yet” while not taking her eyes off the board. A minute or two later she was ready and we were back on the course.   Hiking up the hills, then sliding down them.

Vicki’s thoughts:

You’ve got to be shitting me! Where the hell did this waterfall come from? And – to top if off the memory challenge is upon us. Not only was the challenge wall hung in an awkward location, it was upside down hanging from the edge of a waterfall with a fairly steep climb right beside it. People were crammed up against one another as there wasn’t a lot of space to get your footing and get a good view of your alpha numeric challenge. Jay got there a few minutes before me, so as I approached, within seconds he asked, “VB – you good to go?”. “Ahhh….not exactly”, I thought to myself as I held my index finger in the air as if to say “just 1 minute, dear”. I quickly got my code into the memory bank Echo 973-2295…..my thought process was 9, 10 (7+3 is 10), my brother was 22 years old the year that Jay hiked the AT (in 1995). It helps me to connect people and dates with these numeric challenges. It wasn’t until the next day I realized that Scott actually turned 21 in 1995….oh well! It helped me with the challenge.

 

Buckets of Trouble

The next obstacle that we faced was the Bucket carry. Getting at this obstacle I saw a friendly face, Luke, Kristine’s husband was the volunteer at this obstacle, standing atop the gravel pile, shouting out directions and rules to the racers. We chatted it up for a min or so, and I have to say he looked quite dapper in his rain paints and jacket.   Soon Vicki arrived as well and I pointed out Luke to her.

“Hey Luke”

“Hi Vicki, how is it going” Luke replied.

“I am here!” was her response.

Having done this obstacle the day before, I knew exactly how much effort I needed to apply to get to the top, over the ridge and down the other side. I think I stopped 5 times for a quick breather, setting my bucket on my thigh as opposed to the ground each time. My goal was to run through it quickly and be available to help Vicki if she needed it.

Finishing the carry and dumping the rocks, I waited at the bottom of the course for what seemed to be 5-6 minutes to get sight of Vicki starting to come down. Not seeing her, I started to head up the downhill section of the course, making sure I was well out of the way of the racers who were coming down with their heavy buckets. As I climbed, I took mental notes.

‘Nope, not on the down hill, ok, she will be at the top.’ I thought

Reaching the top, I looked around.

‘Nope, not here, maybe she is stuck in the muddy middle section’ I thought

Reaching the middle, I looked around.

‘Nope, not here.. where the hell is she?’

Then I spied her, about 10 yards past the top of the ascent, pulled off to the right. We locked eyes and she had this defeated look on her face.

I walked over to her.

“Jay… I can’…” she started to say. I cut her off quickly.

“What was the promise you made to me?” I asked, knowing full well the answer.

“To stay positive” she replied meekly.

“So let’s get it done then” I said.
Grabbing the bucket up I started to carry it for her.

“Hang on to the lip and walk next to me” I told her.   ”Then I will pause and you carry it 40 steps, then we will switch… OK?” I asked.

“Ok” she replied.

So, we team carried the bucket the rest of the ridge and down the descent. We paused when we needed to, switched off when she wanted to. As we got closer to the end her confidence in this obstacle improved as I knew she wanted to finish strong. She ended up carrying the load for about 80% of the final descent to the pile.   Dumping the bucket she was met with cheers from Luke.

“Way to go Vicki!”

I think she might have even smiled a bit as I took the bucket from her and put it back in the pile.
10 yards down the course was the water station, where we paused to grab a snack and some water. Manning this station was Kristine. Who was full of excitement for Vicki.

“Hey Vicki, how are you doing?” “How is the Beast treating you?” asked Kristine, all the while handing out cups of water to other racers.

“Tired, that carry sucked.“ Vicki replied, as she dug into her pack to grab some raisins and a power crunch bar.

Vicki’s comments:

That carry did suck! Unlike many of the racers, I filled my bucket with p-stone about 2 inches past the “fill line”, as we were clearly told to overfill the bucket because the rock will settle. Spartan rules on the bucket carry are simple…put the rocks in the bucket, be sure to cover the holes so you can’t see day light. As I grabbed my overloaded bucket and started to make the ascent up the steep, muddy, rocky hill, I noticed a few men moving quickly past me. They were moving at a good clip, but not too fast that I couldn’t see the inside of their bucket. CHEATERS! My bucket had more rocks than theirs….some had only filled the bucket to the ½ way point! Meanwhile I am struggling to move 10 steps, take a 30 second break, then 10 more steps. My heart was pumping, my legs were like jello, and all I could think about was – “where is jay?”. I made it almost to the top with my 10 steps, 30 second break routine, and heard music to my ears….Jay’s voice saying, “VeeeeeBeeee!” I was so glad to see him. I needed his mental and physical strength at that moment…and he didn’t disappoint.

 

The three of us chatted for a bit and Vicki snacked and I focused on cleaning the end of her bladder suck tube.   In the last obstacle it had gotten covered in mud and muck and Vicki was refusing to drink from it, and at the same time not wanting to put in the effort to clean it, which was a sign to me that she was starting to fade, so we needed to get some more fluids as well as food in her. We were close to mile 7, but not quite there, and I knew if I hit her with a; “We are half way done!” It would have crushed her spirits. I needed to see at least 8 miles so I could hit her with the “We are closer to the finish than the start!” comment, however, in order for that to happen I needed to get her mind off what she was doing, which was fixating on her GPS watch and how long it was taking us on this course. Little did I know but her mental salvation would not come from me, but from another racer we last saw months ago.

HEY… That is Nancy!

We were past the bucket carry, had climbed back up the hill and was starting on the ridge line that twisted and turned through the various 5’ bushes and trees. I was about 5 yards in front of Vicki, trying to maintain a consistent pace at 19 min / mile to keep Vicki moving forward. I happened to look up and caught just a fleeting moment of another racer, female, a little older than me, with a very distinctive walking pattern and arm swing about 50 yards ahead of us.   I saw Nancy.

Nancy was a racer that joined Vicki and me when we were in Austin when Vicki was doing her second Spartan Super race in May. We were about 10 minutes in when our similar paces synced up and she ended up racing with us for the rest of the day. She jogged when we did, walked when we did, and even helped out with burpees for the obstacles that I was able to help her accomplish but Vicki could not. Vicki and her had become FB friends and have conversed back and forth a few times, especially in the last 24 hours, as Nancy was one of the racers who after being stuck in traffic on the access road for over three hours, decided to bail on the race on Saturday.

Turning around, I yelled to Vicki.

“Hey, I just saw Nancy… get up here, we can catch her!”

“No you didn’t” She replied. “She isn’t racing today”.

“I am telling you, I did. Let’s catch her!” I replied as I picked up my pace. Knowing full well that seeing and having Vicki hang out with Nancy could be the shot in the arm that she needed for the rest of this race.

I scampered up to where I had seen her last, and looking down the trail, I saw plenty of other racers, just not Nancy. For a moment I doubted myself. Did I really see her? I ran a quick self-diagnostic with some multiplication tables and my memory challenge backwards and forwards.   ‘Yep, I am thinking clearly’ I thought, it had to be her. By this time Vicki was at the same point on the course that I was, and looking down the trail she didn’t see her either.

Vicki looked up at me with her eyes, not raising her head. “Uh huh…see” she said, as she continued down the course. A few minutes later we were at the large wide descent and field run where you could see back to the west and parts of the course that were cut from yesterday.   I looked at Vicki and said,

“Ok, we can make up some time here. Let’s shoot for 3 miles per hour. We have at least a 1 mile run, it will be a good break and a quick way to knock it out.”

She agreed, and we headed down the hill, and into the flats, I was jogging slowly at 3 mph vs fast walking as I didn’t want to give off the impression that we were moving slow enough for me to walk. If Vicki saw me running, in her unconscious she would start to run as well. If I walked, she would walk.. So, I made it look like I was jogging, I just happen to do it at walking speeds. We made it down the hill and across the first field faster than I planned, pacing an 18 min mile, which I was excited about, for after the next turn we would be back into the mud and muck at the 10’ wall – an obstacle that I had made a point not to tell Vicki about ahead of time, as I didn’t want her thinking about it.

Getting through the muddy section we started to approach the 10’ wall, when I saw that familiar gait, arm swing and hair again.   I jogged up and put my hand on her shoulder.

“Hey Nancy!” I exclaimed.

“Hey Jay! Hey, nice to see you!” She replied. “Is Vicki with you?”

“Yeah, right behind me” as I turned and pointed. Vicki had yet to see Nancy.

“Vic! Look who I found!” I shouted.

Vicki looked up and smiled.

‘Good’ I thought, ‘this might just be what she needed’.

I think Nancy was as surprised to see us as Vicki was to see her. We chatted for a few minutes as we slogged through the mud, heading to the 10’ wall obstacle.   Vicki took one look at it and headed to the burpee area. She was tired and didn’t have the confidence to take on this obstacle, after her fall in Austin off the 8’ wall.   I helped Nancy as well as a few others get up on the wall, and then using those that I helped, got up and over the top as well.
Full disclosure, I have major respect for those who run in this mud, jump up and grab the top of a 10’ wall, then do a pull up to get them over the top. It is something that I really need to work on, and I have no excuses not to.

Moving past the 10’ wall was another water station which we paused to slam some shot bloks and pretzels for Vicki as well as a few cups of water. Then it was off to the sand bag carry.   This obstacle, like the herc hoist I could do all day. Yes, 40# is heavy, but when you have lost over 4x that amount, I just keep reminding myself of that accomplishment with every step. Up and down the course with zero stops or drops, passing several folks who were ½ my age. (I really like doing that!)

 

The descent of the course was as slick, if not slicker that that of the bucket carry and I thought for a min that I would have to go down to my butt and slide down some of the course. However, I found that if I hugged the left side of the trail, I could get just enough traction as I slid / stepped down the course without face planting with a 40# sandbag on my shoulder.

Reaching the bottom I dumped the bag and overheard another racer asking if anyone had taken two bags yet. She replied he would be the first. DAMN!   I should have asked that question. I could have totally rocked two bags on this course, I guess I was feeling quite good at that moment to have all that additional energy.   Looking back to the top I started to see Vicki and Nancy rounding the corner to the descent, then the move down to the ground where they were sliding on their butt. Several others around them followed suit. Yeah, it was the safer way to go, due to the angle and the slick mud. On their butt or on their feet, it was all good. We were moving forward.

Several minutes later they dropped off their bags and we headed back up the hill for the last time before coming back down to the sled drag.

*Blog tip: When doing the sled drag, find a lane that has not seen a lot of use, or does not have a lot of ruts. Those ruts really sap your strength when trying to pull through them, or having to go down and adjust the sled, then back to the rope.

Coming down the hill first, I quickly attacked the sled drag, making short work of it, then dragging it back. I spent the next couple of minutes scoping out the female drag areas to find a couple of “cleaner” ones for Vicki and Nancy, which they jumped into when they arrived. From there we headed to the barb wire crawl, which had quite low barb wire, but soft mud, so it was not too terrible. Scoot some, roll some, done.

 

Past the barbwire crawll was the rolling mud pits that we all easily got through, then we headed to the stream walk and the slip wall. I made a point to pull ahead so I could get the wall done and get to the top to support Vicki and Nancy. The wall as wet as yesterday, but not overly slick. I scaled up to the top, transferred over then turned around laying on the back side of the wall ready to help other racers.   First up was Vicki, who got about a third of the way up, but lack of arm strength halted her progress.   She slid back down to the ground, and making her way to the burpee area, was told by a volunteer:

“burpee free obstacle, you are all set”

Vicki looked at him and said: “ What? Really?”

He looked at her, “Yeah, you are all set”.

While all of that was going on below me, I was helping other racers transfer over the top of the obstacle as I was waiting for Nancy to get there.   She started up on the slip wall strong with good footwork, and once I was able to get my hands on her left antecubital space (inside of the elbow) I knew she was going over the wall as well. Even if she slipped, she was not going to pull me back over. I helped her with the assistance of another racer to get her left leg hooked on the top, then climbed down the back side.

 

Soon we were jogging across the access road (that have ZERO) traffic on it, over the barbed wire fence and turning left, heading into the “water section” of the course that was cut out of the race the day before.

 

Tires, Z’s, Overhangs and Whoops!

At this point we were closing in on mile 9, and officially a lot closer to the end than the start. After navigating some rolling terrain and a few stream crossings we passed the mile 9 sign.

Nancy and Vicki were talking it up behind me, as I was keeping the lead and trying to set the pace.
Vicki’s comments:

I was feeling good here. I stopped worrying about how long we were on the course, and instead focusing on how lucky I am to BE ABLE to conquer this course. Three years ago I couldn’t have dreamed I’d be able to complete a race like this – and here I was in Dallas, TX, making it happen. When Nancy saw the Mile 9 sign, she says, “What? Mile 9? You’ve got to be kidding me?!?” I turned around and said in my most encouraging tone, “Yes – Mile 9, we’re almost in double digits (10 mile marker is next). Isn’t this awesome?” She replied, “Yeah, I guess”.. and onward we went.

Just after mile 9 was the tire flip. This was missing out of the race yesterday, I got to see just how big the team tires were (that they never flipped). Hearing the directions for the tire flip from the volunteer, I had to flip a tire 4 times, but it had to end up back on the ‘rock’. The rock was a red painted stone that served as a marker for the start of the tire flip. Basically we had to flip the tire out twice, then back twice. Not terribly difficult.

*Blog tip: The fatter larger tires are generally lighter than the thinner longer tires. Most think the opposite is true and struggle with the “thinner” tires. I always look for one of the fattest tires on the course, for they have the best tread to grab, and generally are lighter than the others.

I found the tire I liked and flipped it out and back quickly.   Nancy arrived next, and seeing the female tires, decided to go for the men’s tires and started flipping one of those unassisted. Bad ass! I kept cheering her on as she pushed the tire over and over.

Vicki found a female tire she liked and flipped it over with ease once then twice. On her third flip is when things started to go south. The look on her face told the story, she tweaked something.. bad.

 

Vicki’s comments:

The dumb must suffer!

At every other race this year, I’ve required assistance at the tire flip. Not this time! I was so psyched that I could flip it on my own, I executed on 2 flips with perfect form…. squatting, straight back, lift with the legs, and push the tire forward. My first 2 flips were powerful. Then – I lost focus, and on the 3^rd flip, my form went to shit and I bent over and just heaved the tire with my back. What was I thinking? As soon as I got the top of the tire up to my waist, my lower left back tweaked and it took my breath away and stopped me in my tracks. Jay saw my facial expression change quickly and knew I was in pain. He offered to help me finish the tire flip, and I told him I could finish and needed to walk off this pain for a minute before proceeding down the trail. I spent 2-3 minutes walking around, Jay applied pressure to help relieve the back pain, and I assessed the situation. I was approaching 10 miles, 4 miles left to go – could I continue? The answer….. “hell yeah, I can continue”….but it won’t be without some pain. But after completing 5 Spartan races this year, as well as all of the training to prepare, my tolerance for pain has increased. At this point, unless I was bundled up in the fetal position on the ground writhing in pain – I was going to keep moving and finish this race.

 

I cheered her on for the last flip, which she did, but I knew she was in agony.   She came over and had me rub a section of her lower back. Somewhere around her Illiocostais lumborum, felt as hard as a rock, and she was wincing and pushing air hard when I was trying to work on it. This was really bothering her, but I knew it would not be a race ender for her. She had worked too hard to get to this point on the course. She would grind it out.

Mile ten brought us to the Z walls and the inverted wall. Using team work, we all past the Z walls, (and I still need to practice those damn blind corners) and after some more field running made it to the inverted wall.   At this point in the year, I have climbed close to 15 inverted walls during the 2015 season. This one was different. Different in that the angle was much more acute, or at least it felt like it.

What does that mean? Well, it means that the wall felt like it was “more” inverted that usual, as in you were not climbing up the backside of a 45 degree wall, but rather a 40 or 38 degree, more of an overhang. I say this as I could jump up and grab the top of the wall (which thankfully was dry!) and then use my feet to scale up the slats, hook my leg, and roll over the top. Vicki arrived next and elected to do burpees due to how tight her back had become, and I gave Nancy a boost to get her started up and over.   On the backside Nancy offered to throw 10 burpees to Vicki for help off the back of the wall, to which I obliged without question. I think her knees or ankle was starting to bother her, and the 4’ jump to the ground was going to bother them. I hugged her around the waist with my right arm and carried her down to the ground.
With Vicki finishing up her burpees, we made our way to another water station, that had a hand written “Mile 11” sign posted on the table.   Mile 11! That meant that we had less than a 5K to go!

“5K to go Vicki! We are almost done this thing!” I yelled.

She smiled, and I knew she was happy to be almost done with this race, with the throbbing pain in her back bothering her with each step.

Looking back towards the venue, we could see that we had a lake crossing, then a run around the water’s edge, then the dunk wall. From there my memory jumped to the last mile of obstacles, which would be a mistake that I would realize soon.. whoops.. sorry Vicki.

 

Water, Hills and Cliff Climbs

Soon after the water station we dropped down into the water to cross the “pond” that was adjacent to the main lodge building at the ranch. We walked the edge of the pond that was 3-4’ deep in parts, as well as some of the flooding overflow before you got to the pond that on Saturday would have easily been 5-6’ deep in sections, with nothing to stop you before you got to the dam (the one we drove over that was flooded with water flowing over the top).
CORRECT CALL ON ELIMINATING THIS WATER OBSTACLE SPARTAN RACE!!

The water was nothing compared to the mountain water we faced in Tahoe, however, it was cool enough that you wanted to keep moving. Nancy and I had a similar pace, and Vicki had grouped together with a few other racers about 15 yards behind us. Several minutes later we were out of the water and running along the shore, passing a sign which was posted on the shore.  I wish I had taken a picture of it.

“No swimming or wading in the water”

HA! It should have been amended with “unless you are a Spartan!”

Rounding the front of the curving shoreline, we could see the next obstacle, the swim and dunk wall. Saturday, we did this obstacle in reverse, where you hit the dunk wall first, then the swim, then make our way to the herc hoist and then the last mile of the course. In my mind, that is what I was expecting.

Upon arriving at the obstacle, we hit the swim / wade first, then the dunk wall.

 

Vicki was laughing and smiling as she hit the wade section, and then popped up from under the dunk wall with her signature “hang loose” hands looking at the camera guy, who seemed busy checking something on his phone and not taking photos.

Vicki yelled over to him..

“Hey, double trifecta right here pal..” pausing as she walked out of the water.

He didn’t look up

“Yo, camera dude. You got me? Right here! Boom!”

He still didn’t look up.

“OK, your loss” she chirped and shot me a smile as I helped her out of the water.

Getting out of the water we then turned right, not left as I was expected.

Whoops… Sorry Vicki.

 

Hey look, a hill.. Hey look a stream!

From the dunk wall to mile 13 we embarked on a classic EFF-Norm section of course. Climb down a slick ridge to a stream. Cross the stream. Climb up the other side. Climb down a slick ridge, skirt the edge of the stream while in it, then back up another ridge, only to turn around to end up back in the stream again. We did this several times. A few of the descents were very steep and very slick. Several folks who tried to stay on their feet ended up in this uncontrolled fall / slide where they would crash into other racers or trees at the bottom. The saving grace being all the mud for cushion – however, I know that they felt that out of control maneuver come Monday. We are talking major slips where their feet are up over their head and they go skidding down this 40’ drop on their back and butt, feet and hands nowhere near the ground. I ended up taking a route through the trees to get out of the slickest parts, which was slower, but a lot safer, as at this point in the race, a few extra seconds saved by charging down the hill was not going to mean anything compared to a busted ankle or blown out knee.   Vicki and Nancy followed suit in taking the same path through the trees and the brush. On one of these up / down / cross a stream events we hit the log carry, that all of us crushed easily, however, I know that must have really bothered Vicki’s back, and then faced yet another descent into the stream only to find an exposed cliff face with ropes dangling from the top to use to climb up. Similar to what we had in Temecula. From the far ridge, it looked imposing. I knew Vicki and Nancy both were thinking no freaking way.

Crossing the stream and looking up from the bottom of the obstacle you have 4 ropes to choose from, with the easiest traverse on the far left and right sides, with the ropes in the middle a bit harder. Most were queueing up to use the left most rope. I was in front of Nancy and Vicki and I didn’t want to wait for the left rope so I took one of the middle ropes. Footing was a little sketchy on some of the steps, but being over 6’ tall and having my mud eating Speed Cross Three’s shoes on, gave me plenty of grip to make it up the face. It was more legs than arms, I would say 60/40 on the percentage.

Vicki and Nancy both took the left rope, and I know both were fearing it a little. I coached them as I could from the top on where to step, and then both did a great job getting to the top quickly. Both commented to me after that it looked a lot harder than it was.

Yep, that was on purpose.

Vicki’s comments:

Once we got through the dunk wall, I was convinced we’d be heading right for the herc hoist that I could see in the near field. I knew from Jay’s race the previous day, once we did the herc…we were home free…not burpee free….but we had only a mile to go. I made it easily through the dunk wall, and although I tried hard to catch the attention of the photographer – he wasn’t feeling me. I was pumped up, and ready to take on “the herc”. But….not so fast. We were quickly heading away from the herc, and running into thicker woods and descending into a stream crossing. WTF, I thought? What happened to the herc hoist? We must have to cross this stream, to get back up to the hill where the herc was waiting for us. Or so I thought. NOPE. We must have gone up and down and over streams and steep rocky hills at least 4 times before we approached the cliff climb. That was another “you’ve got to be shitting me moment”…as my arms were toast, my back was killing me, my legs were even more like jello now…and we were getting farther and farther away from the herc. A racer yells from the top of the cliff – “don’t worry – it’s much harder than it looks”….WHAT?? Then she realized the error of her ways – and corrected her statement as we all started to yell at her – “OH THANKS!” She said, “no, no, no…it’s NOT as hard as it looks. Go to the left rope – there are a lot of good steps built into the rock that you can leverage. So I waited in the long line for the left most rope, and did as she and Jay coached me to do, and easily made it up the cliff side, hand over hand on the rope, placing my feet carefully with each step. One more obstacle done. Now – where the hell is the herc?

 

Mile 13 and the Walking Dead

The next ½ a mile had us crossing a few more streams and minor hills before we emerged at the Mile 13 sign. What a relief! Ever since I got to the top of the cliff climb, those that I was jogging and walking with fell very quiet. You could almost sense the attitude of how these folks wanted this race over. No one was talking, just shuffling down the trail. It felt like I was part of a scene of the walking dead TV show.   Everyone playing follow the leader, shuffling down the trail, eyes staring forward with their blank look on their face.   I started to giggle at the lack of conversations and comments but quickly stopped as I didn’t want to be “that guy” the guy with all the energy at the end of the race. I just smiled and walked with the crowd, peeling off to stand behind the mile 13 sign so I could wait for Vicki and cheer her on when she saw it.   At this point, we had just over a mile to go – then end was right around the corner.

 

Vicki’s comments:

I can see Jay off in the distance at the mile 13 sign. His arms were raised and he had a big grin on his face, and he exclaims, “VB – Mile 13!” My response, “Yeah – well it’s not Mile 14. Where the hell is the herc hoist?” “Right around the corner”, he says…..and thank God he was right!

 

The Burpee Gauntlet & Fire Jump

 

Clearing the mile 13 sign we headed for the herc hoist, where I recommended to Nancy that she partner up with Vicki to get the obstacle done.   The two of them partnered up and did the obstacle twice. I headed to the same weight bag that I did yesterday with a partner and grabbed the rope. Today the mud was dry on the rope, so I made quick work of the obstacles, hefting it to the top and letting it back down easily.

A quick walk and we were at the last water stop. Vicki grabbed a cup of water and I threw a couple of shot bloks into her mouth as some mental energy.   One mile to go, six obstacles and we were done.

I started on a slow jog heading for the Monkey Bar obstacle to set the pace for the rest of the race. Now was the time to stay focused and get this thing done. We were approaching 9 hours and to be honest, getting done would feel pretty good. Coming up to the Monkey bars I again ran into “Jen and Chica!” and called out to them as I passed them. They both laughed. Reaching the obstacle, I touched the frame and went right to burpees, getting them done by the time Nancy and Vicki arrived.   I could tell Vicki’s back pain was getting worse, so I threw her a few burpees and Nancy did as well.   From there it was off to the log hop, where all three of us cleared that obstacle with a lot of team work and audible clues.

“Stepping RIGHT foot, Stepping LEFT foot” Vicki called out as we guided her across the logs.

Next up the rig, where I was able to help Nancy get across, and she helped with burpees for Vicki and me. At this point Vicki was in “get it done” mode. I could tell I didn’t need to talk with her. She was focused. She could see the end, she could hear the music, it was all about just getting the burpees done and moving on.

We finished and made it to the rope climb, Vicki went right into burpees (third set of 30 in 4 obstacles) and Nancy and I tried the rope. I again put on the gloves, grabbed the rope and had a great grip on it. However, I could not get a decent leg lock. The rope was so slimy it was slipping through my feet with every attempt. I even tried a few ropes with the same result. Had I taken a step back and thought about it, I would have pushed through even with the poor leg locks, knowing that the dryer rope was just about 8’ up. However, mentally, I was fixated on needing a good start with a solid leg lock. I will not make this mistake in the future.

(Something ELSE to practice at home, I need to buy 20’ of slick rope, or one that I can coat with oil to practice on.)

So burpees for me. Nancy spotted me 10 due to all the help I had given her during the race, and I headed to the last major obstacle, the traverse.

Grabbing the rope I made quick work of this obstacle, Nancy asking me:

“How can I help you with this?”

My response: “Stand next to my head and yell at me to keep going“.

She did and I got to the bell quickly. Ringing it with my left hand and dropping off.

I then helped Nancy get up on the rope and supported her back as she traversed down the rope, ringing the bell as well, then dropping to the ground and heading over to Vicki where we each gave her burpees to help her out on her marathon 120 burpee set in 6 obstacles, all within the last 1/3 of a mile of the course. (BLAP anyone?)

Finishing her last burpee I looked her square in the eyes.

“Let’s finish this strong!” I said, and started jogging, coaching her to join me.

“You got this, last Beast, last obstacle, YOU ARE ALMOST DONE VB!!”

She started jogging next to me as we were closing in on the fire. I turned to face forward gave a leap, flashed a “7” and landed on the other side, raising my right hand to high five Vicki next to me. Throw my high five and looking to the right, I discovered that Vicki wasn’t next to me at all! I stopped and turned around.

Vicki was completely stopped by the fire. This look of fear and happiness was on her face, where she was scared to jump the fire, but laughing at how silly it was that she was scared.

 

I turned back to face her.

“Hey! Get over here! Jump that thing!” I yelled.

“Oh Geez..” was her reply.

“Vicki, jump it, LET’S END THIS THING!” I bellowed.

She took a few steps back then did a one leg leap over the fire landing on the other side. (Not burning herself either).

10 yards later we crossed the finish line. Dallas Beast-Sunday Edition-  was DONE!

A quick hug and a kiss, a collection of medals, banana, and mint chocolate builder bar (by this time they were all out of vanilla almond) as well as a FitAid recovery drink, we were on the way to the official finishers pic.

 

Exiting the photo tent, we parted ways with Nancy, as she wanted to get home quickly. We congratulated her on her Trifecta accomplishment with hugs, and then headed to the results tent so Vicki could pick up her double trifecta medal.   I was so proud, I raced over to bag check to get the bag and the camera so I could get a few pics of her and her accomplishment. How far you have come babe is such a short time.

 

Capturing the moment we grabbed our finisher shirts just as dusk was starting to set in.

“I don’t even want to shower” said Vicki.

“Ok” I replied.

“Let’s get out of here and go eat..” she urged.

“No problem.. I will even drive” I replied.

We wandered out of the venue area medals clanking together like cowbells around our necks.   We had done it.   I had completed the double Beast weekend, and Vicki had completed her double Trifecta, setting the bar high for the rest of the females in the Trifecta Training Group.

Two Sprints, two Supers, two Beasts in one calendar year, I could not be more proud of her.

So long Texas, thanks for the memories. Maybe see you next year.