Rogue Runner March 2012 AZ

     I ran a pretty strong race I thought. I was running with the first 5 all the way through. I think I came in 5th or 6th. Not too bad. I have to get all the other stats and add them here. I ran about a 56:00 and change. That is slower than my 10K pace but it was a hilly terrain with obstacles so I am happy with that time. I passed 2 people and 2 others passed me so that kept me in my same position towards the end. The weather was cooler than it could have been. Over cast with a breeze. It got hot later in the day so the people running later were feeling it. They had the last wave go for the volunteers at 1:30pm. Long day.
     The location was perfect. It was at McDowell Mountain Regional Park. The same location as the Spartan. It was still as beautiful as I remember it. Lots of new greenery and running through the mountains and open desert and along dry river beds was a nice visual. The thing that was great here was they allowed you to park close to this location so no long bus ride like last time. Since it was the first year in AZ they were not going to worry about parking issues. And you know I like to be somewhat close to get to my car if I should need to.
     There were 25 obstacles laid out over a six mile course. The length was nice. Not too long. And they had the obstacles spread out nicely along the course. They set up the path to wind back towards the start area to give the spectators more to look at so that was nice. They had a nice variety of obstacles as well. There were some new ones I had not done before. That kind of stuff keeps me on my toes. I try to asses how to complete the obstacle as I am running up.
     Some of the obstacles that stood out to me. I liked the Peg wall. A small wall with holes in it where you had to move pegs around to have something to step or hang on to get over the wall. It was a nice idea but once you have the pegs laid out you just crawl up and over. Now having to traverse a longer wall using only the pegs to keep you on the wall would have been cool.
     I do have to say I was completely disappointed with the water slide. I mean this was awful. I did not even think it was that exciting for the kids. It was a short drop in a narrow channel. It was not steep enough to whip down and there was no water landing. You had to scoot or walk half of it. The kids being lighter had trouble getting down also. I mean you might have to get a lot of water pressure behind each person to flush them down. I was really looking forward to going back and playing here. Not.
     The Commando Bridge was kind of cool. It was two wires hung between post and you had to make your way through a zig zag path while staying on the lines. The poles were not connected to the ground. It just kept the wires from bottoming out. So everything moved. Not too challenging but new and different.
     There was a could things that were missing from the map. The Evac obstacle. That was some sort of carrying people on a stretcher. They just had to run some buckets full of sand up and down the mountain. an obstacle called Slip Up was not fully implemented. There was also an area they were supposed to have you climb up while they were spraying water down it. I think the later crowds got it since they appeared more muddy.
     As a bonus they had a mystery obstacle. The first group to go out, the Elite group, ran into some rattlesnakes. I mean I did not see them. The course officials spotted them and gave us safe passage around them. I heard two others were spotted on the course that were found by runners. Everyone was safe from what I hear. I am surprised they do not have a designated snake wrangler present. Especially not that it is warming up and it is such a rugged area and it is Arizona.
     I brought my son with me to have him watch Dadda race for the first time. As well as to do the kids race. The kids race was a good length. It had a nice variation of obstacles. The safety could have been a bit better with the last section. Random stuff spread out to run through. It should have been bolted down. As the kids ran over it, every thing was moving around and my son took a shot to the leg. He did shake it off and we both ran that course again. It would have been been nice to actually have a small finish line for them. It was nice they got a finishing medal. My son's medal is hung up next to dad's.
     The organization here was not. The parents were walking around trying to find the start. There were no announcements made. On top of that, my son was very excited to do the Mud Easter Egg Hunt. That turned out to not happen. They had advertised it and the kids expected it and nothing. That was a disappointment.
     It is important to note that this is the first Rogue Race held here in Arizona. They are still trying to dial in all the variables to make a fun and well run race. I am sure to come back and try another one next time they are here. Overall the course nicely laid out. It was about medium on the challenge part of it. On the fun side it did not have any repeat value. Everyone that knows me knows I love to go back and play on my favorite obstacles. There was not a lot I wanted to go back and do again. I did a few rounds on the dumpster diving. Some belly flops and some canon balls. Nice way to refresh and clean up. And I have to say I was disappointed on the mud levels. No where near enough mud. But again that is my personal preference. I want as much mud as possible. I want to finish covered head to toe, sloppy and unrecognizable.

Location                                                          10
Length                                                             10
Obstacles                                                         8
Mud                                                                 2
Challenging Course                                           7
Parking                                                             9
Organization                                                     5
Overall Experience                                           8

HydroSkin G3 Socks

     I thought I would comment on something I use every mud race. I first got this back when I was going to do my first Tough Mudder. I did not think I would have problems finishing the course but did thing I might get knocked out from hypothermia. So I went to REI and asked the knowledgeable people there what some options were to help keep me warm in wet conditions. One of the things I scored were these HydroSkin G3 Socks. I would describe them as something between a dri-fit sock and a wetsuit. So thicker than the first and would help insulate me. They worked wonders and I now use them every time I do a mud run. Anything that will have me running in water I do not worry about my feet getting cold. The material lets the water out. Even if I get rocks and pebbles in it does not bother me. The are awesome. I might need to get me another pair. Not that they wear out but they are awesome.

      I also scored matching gloves. They do all the same. Depending on the race and conditions I have these ready to go as well. They are NRS HydroSkin Gloves.

What is your Inspiration?

I saw this posting on my facebook on the Fitness World page. It took me less than a second to realize the inspiration I have and have had for over six years now.... My son Julian. Thoughts of him and knowing he is supporting me keeps me going no matter what blocks me way.

Rockstar Boot camp

Rock Star is a great bootcamp here in arizona. One of the things I like about them is that they help their clients train for running the Spartan Race. They sign up all as a group and run. It is a great mark of achievement to finish such a touch challenge with some starting off not being athletic at all. They have great gains on weight lose, muscle gain, and confidence. Rock Star really goes the extra mile. Every now and then they set up a nice and challenging course to get some real world practice on. That is just sweet.

I submitted a design to the owner to see if he wanted to use it for the shirts he and his clients wear on race day. I made a hybrid design that was a cross between the two logos. Check out more of my designs here:

http://newkiddesigns.blogspot.com/

Thinking of this for a race shirt

I am an Athlete
I am a Spartan
I am a Tough Mudder
I AM A FATHER!

Arizona Fitness Expo

New Story on the Fitness expo and the Spartan Workout
http://www.azfamily.com/news/health/AZ-Health--Fitness-Expo--199568551.html

Spartan Workout at AH&FE March 2013

      I looked across a crowd room. Our eyes met. Love at first sight. The Spartan playground beckoning me to come play. Just kidding. I know they had this training course at the Arizona Health and Fitness Expo. I really need to have a place out away from a city with lots of acreage so I can have this kind of stuff laying around so I can keep my workouts fun, new and fresh.

      It is time to begin. One of the trainers made sure we had some nice warm up stretches. This is really important and I always need that.  Then it was all about business.  The workout starts off by warming up the legs with 50 squats. Followed by 30 Burpees. I knocked out 10 more just because I need to get better at these. It was a team workout so if you got down fast you had to drop down and hold a Plank. Of course that was me. Then we did 30 Plank to Spidermans. I am starting to sweat big time. My hands are shaky. While we were waiting for the others we had to do as many Banana to Superman as we could. This was something new to me but it kept your heart rate up. Then it was time to grab our "Friend" as the trainer called it. It was a large sandbag with the Spartan Logo. We went out to jog around the building with the bag. Half way around we had to do a combination that involved throwing the sandbag forward to frog jump towards bag and then down to push up and repeat. All this while moving yourself down a length of course.
     Of course the mind works in funny ways. As you get tired you start to loose your concentration. You hear what you want to hear as I call it. The trainer was telling us certain things we had to do and people became very selective in what they were hearing when it came to doing more work. If he said do these 10 things, people would blow through but only do 7. People would ask lots of questions as if they were using it as a way to take a longer break. But when it came time to stop, oh man it was instantaneous from when they heard that and dropped the bag or whatever they were doing.
     Now for me, I do not like to cheat or take the easy way. I do the full and extenuated move. I add jumping or longer range of motion. I need to be pushed. But I also like to work smart. I was surprised how quickly I processed the information at hand. When we were doing the combinations I mentioned above, I realized after the first one that if I threw the bag farther I cover the distance quicker. The trainer heard that and said yes you are correct. But by this I am not saying it is easier. I do expend more energy to throw the bag farther, I have to expend more energy to frog jump farther, etc. I do arrive quicker, more spent and have pushed harder. I was able to complete this part 3 times to everyone else doing one. Then we grabbed our bags to run back inside.
     We ran back around the whole building and through the convention area. Nice way to attract attention to your booth. As we got back, I noticed one of the guys that was working the booth was asking people how they were feeling. As I ran by I said, "When is the warm up over?". He was like oh man you are in trouble now. Perfect, that is what I need.
     Next we grouped up in teams of 3 for the obstacle course. There was one kid by himself so two other trainers came in. I let the kid have my spot in my group and I rolled with the trainers. Yeah baby. Here is what the course looked like. I stared off by grabbing a rope to pull a SUV looking tire down and back. Then to the other side of the room to grab our "Friend" again for the combinations. Across the course to a huge 300 pound looking tractor tire for the tire flips. I had to do two flips out and two back. Running to the other side to do a cinder blocks carry. This involved carrying them out and back. You had to make sure you stacked them nice or you would have to do it again. I proceeded on over to dive under another wall. Pick up a large plastic tube filed with water. It would throw off your balance as you did a lounge and shoulder press combo out and back. Next it was my favorite... NOT.... 30 Burpees.
     Now the last thing, in order to finish, was to tell the trainer what the card was he showed us at the beginning of the workout. I memorized the numbers of objects, the shapes of the objects, the colors, the orientations of each, etc. The trainer needed to know which card number we had been given in order to pull it up to make sure the participants answer was correct. I was like........CARD NUMBER?....SHOOT.  I never saw that. So I immediately went to the penalty phase which was ANOTHER 30 BURPEES. Everyone was only given one chance. Every person missed it. Everyone had to do the penalty. They all whined and complained and asked for another try. Doing whatever they could to get out of the penalty phase.
     I finished first and rang the bell. The trainer looked at me and wondered how I finished so quickly. He was like you did not attempt the card memory question so it was obvious I had to do 30 more Burpees. I told him I did them. I just realized I would not be able to answer the memory card question so why wait my turn to get it wrong and I do not take the easy way so I did not waste time and just did it. He was laughing. Very good he said. I asked him if he remembered which card I had. He said yes. So I rattled off the color combo. As well as ALL the other things I mesmerized. He was like WOW. That was way more specific an answer than he needed. But I was tired when I saw it and the card number had to have been in fine print so it blended to white in my eyes.
     We started off 2nd. There was some waiting behind the 1st team at some of the obstacles and we let them go first or we would have smoked them. We still beat them at the end though. It was an amazing workout. I had a serious sweat going on. And since I was not use to so many burpees in a row I could feel some tightening in the gluts but nothing a good stretch would not help to alleviate. If I had not had other things I had to get done I would have waited for the next workout and done a two-fer.
     Today's workout had men, women, and your adults, all of which finished the workout in their own way and at their pace. I do feel that anyone that is at least active, with no physical limitations, can finish Spartan race. Sign up for the Spartan Sprint with a team and have a great time helping each other finish. Motivating and being a support crew for each other. See you on the course.

Are you a Spartan?

Spartan Code

• A Spartan pushes their mind and body to their limits.
• A Spartan masters their emotions.
• A Spartan learns continuously.
• A Spartan gives generously.
• A Spartan leads.
• A Spartan stands up for what they believe in, no matter the cost.
• A Spartan knows their flaws as well as they know their strengths.
• A Spartan proves themselves through actions, not words.
• A Spartan lives every day as if it were their last.

Exercises to help you

He is a nice article I came across. It gives a list of exercises that will help you get ready for obstacle races. I have always said cardio, bootcamp and weights makes a well rounded athlete and one that can conquer any race or challenge that comes up.

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/wellbeing/fitness/top-exercises-to-train-for-obstacle-races.php

Always the motivator

I was out on my run today. Half way around my 5 mile course I saw a guy walking his bike. I figured he was getting close to home and he was cooling down maybe. As I approached I saw that he had a flat. I said, "oh it looks like you got a flat". He agreed with me and I thought I would cheer him up a bit. "It is a beautiful day for a nice walk. Enjoy your day". I hope that turned a possible frown upside down. I know if that had been me I would have made the best of a nice mid day walk back home.

Father and Son Working out and Bonding

     Since I am only fortunate enough to have time with my son every other week I make the best of our time together. He has 100% of my attention that week. He never goes to a day care and I never use a baby sitter. Any one that knows me has always known that being athletic and doing races and challenges has always been "my thing". I had to find a way to train a little bit during my week with my son. So I found that including him was the best thing for both of us.
     We play a lot of chase. He especially loves it when his friends join us. Have you ever heard of "Super Tag"? No because I just made it up. I chase after all the kids. When I tag one ALL the kids act as a team and all of them run after me. So I have to stay away from 5-10 sometimes 15 kids. It is fun for all involved.
     I have a jogging stroller and my son goes with me on my runs. That is a great cardio activity for all events. I do things like lifting him up in reps. I have him sit on my shoulders as I do squats. I also have him lay on my back as I do push ups. He counts them out for me. Still knocking out one set to 15 reps and the next one to 10 reps. Ii want to see how long I can keep that up as my little man grows up and gets bigger. And if I can find a place that has a pole, I do pull ups with him between my legs. 8-10reps and two sets is the most I can handle.
     I love my time with my son and we bond no matter what we are doing. Just want to keep my son smiling.

Rogue Runner Kids Race

     I came across this race last minute. Probably two weeks out from race date. I took a look at their website and loved the variety of obstacles that I would have the opportunity to play on. Looks like a great day of playing on this 6 mile course.
     I am also fortunate enough to have this event coincide with a week I have my son. I am extremely excited to have my 6 year old son be there to finally watch dad race. I have been wanting him to come watch me but for many reasons it has not happened and that made dad sad. So now I am on top of the world. 
     The plus to this race is that it has a kid mini mud run. I talked to my son about it and he is super excited to try one of these out. We have been running together to train up to running one mile. And these last two weeks he was running a mile each day for 5 days for a school event so he is ready to go.
     I also told my son that because he was signed up to the kids race he is also able to do an Easter Egg hunt that will take place in the mud so he is super excited.
     I know I will love watching my son do his thing. Following in dad's muddy foot prints. To have fun and be athletic and will be making dad proud.

Mud Races Arizona 2013

Here is a latest of some of the mud runs happening in Arizona this year. Great way to get a taste of this fun time with a short 3mile race. Other than the Tough Mudder, they are all beginner races. Grab a group of friends and make a team to help each other through. Take a look.

Get 15% Off

What is better than doing a Spartan Race? Doing a Spartan Race and saving money while doing it. Use the link below and use the corresponding code to save on your race when you sign up. I will make sure to use it again when I sign up for my next races.

http://share.spartanrace.com/x/IL1Vt

60 Minutes Story 2013

This was an interesting story. So I have done the Tough Mudder 3 times. I had done a Spartan but I will do all three lengths. Next on the horizon is the Tough Guy. I think this is the one I originally saw that started me wanting to do these. Sometime after that it would be an intense challenge to try the Death Race. Might need to get a team together for that one.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=492984660758739&set=vb.263365790387295&type=2&theater

Mud race promises wet and wild challenges

     I was quoted, a while back, on my thoughts on running mud runs since they seem to be so hot right now. The whole article can be seen at the link below. I have just included the part that references me.

     The obstacles are challenging, but don’t require you to be a Navy SEAL, or a real seal, for that matter. Jose Albanil is a part-time fitness trainer who finished eighth overall at the last Dirty 6 in September. Albanil said if this is your first mud run and you feel a bit intimidated, then do it with a group of friends. “Mud runs, such as the Dirty 6, are not just about running it for a fast time,” he said. “It is about finishing a different and fun course that is a challenge for any fitness level.”

http://www.examiner.com/article/mud-race-promises-wet-and-wild-challenges

Guess I have done a few races.

As long as I can remember, I have been trying to save all my bibs from my past races. Looks like I have done 67 different events. Not a bad number. I hope to increase those numbers in the near future

Spartan Trifecta 2014

I think this will be my schedule to score my Trifecta in the Spartan Races. That is running all three length races in the same year. That will score me an extra metal. In order to do that I will need to go Red, Blue then Green. Arizona for the Sprint. Florida for the Super and SoCal for the Beast. I also like the Spartan keeps track of the times and places for the races you do with them. There is a ranking.

Run for your lives SoCal Oct 2012

I heard about this race through a search for new races. It seemed so very cool and fun. I told my friends about it and they wanted to go as well. The next one I could hit would be in SoCal in Temecula in October. I had been watching all the videos I could to see what it was all about and what I might expect. Not really the same thing as experiencing it all in person though. I am glad I did.

The goal of the run was to avoid being infected by the zombies. Each participant is given a  flag football belt with 3 flags on it. You need to finish with at least one of those flags still on you to have finished and not been infected. Throughout the course you come across zones where zombies roam and their goal is to rip off all of your flags.

Walking to the staging area from the parking lot was cool and unexpected. Their were zombies walking on the trails. It was cool since they were really playing the part. In their mannerisms and all. I was talking pictures. I tried doing something similar to Austin Powers to see if I could make them laugh. one girl cracked in a few second. Another one I could not break. It was like 10 mins and many photos later but nothing. Nice.

The way the start we set up did give a feel like we were about to enter the infected and over run zombie zone. You started out in a darkened out shoot that lead into an area fenced in. There was smoke bluring the exit. I was not sure if there would be zombies already there. We were greeted but a long uphill section to the top of the mountain. In two areas it leveled out and it was an area with zombies rolling around. And the carnage could be seen as many of these zombies already had flags in their hands. Some quick foot work got me through the first two areas. In the third area I mis judged a female zombie. She moved much quicker than I had thought. I made some serious football moves but she still got one of my flags. Dang it. And that was only a few minutes into the race.

As I ran I came up with a plan of attack for the next time. That was soon to be made unusable when I came around the corner to another section. This was not an open area but part of the trail. And it had like 3 times the concentration of zombies from before. If they all put their hands out they would and could touch. How the hell was I going to make it through? As I stood there more runners came up. When we had what I thought was enough I told everyone we had to run together. To overwhelmed them with numbers. They could not get all of us that way. It was crazy but that helped me get through. Not sure how many we lost on that attempt. Feeling good I kept going only to find another such area not too far up. I was like, "come on". I did not want to wait for everyone to gather up again so I just went for it. All about speed. Just barely made it.

So far in the race the zombies were holding their character. Lost of grunts and pointing fingers. One was trying to warn us about a big cactus. All he did was point as he grunted and then would say, "Ouch". He did that 2 or 3 times and we got the message. That was cool. Later on they started talking and ganging up on the fast runners. They would say get the guy in the blue and he would get swarmed. Not fair. I found them going more and more for the fast runners. As I came through they went after me. It took me some time running around in circles by the start of the zone to find an opening to get through. I thought to myself how I could avoid this in the future. I came up with a plan. To not come sprinting around the corner to a new zone. i walked in. And I was walking with my head down with a slight limp like I was tired. This one of the areas was very long. The zombies started to walk towards me. Right before they got to me I started to sprint. They yelled out to the other to get me. But by then I was half way through. See ya sucka.

There was a point in the run where the trail came to a "Y" intersection. I wondered which way I was supposed to run and what I was missing taking one path versus another. Not sure. But as I ran on I thought that they seemed to have pushed us this way. At the next "Y" I decided to go against the grain. But by doing this I had to go through a series of zombies. It was much easier and safer to go the other way. But I soon found out that this was a shorter path. But you had to earn it. I was happy to have learned that.

One of the interesting obstacles was looked like a maze. Zombies at the entrance and I zombies behind it. As well as I am sure there was going to be some inside. It took a bit of time to find a way in. It was pretty well guarded and I did not want to loose a flag. Found an opening and went for it. I was going to be cautious inside. I could hear lots of screaming behind me. a large group came in after me. The girls were just screaming. Their were three ways in and three ways out. The middle was just find your way through. I was telling the girls to be quiet since that would alert the end zombies which door to be at. All of a sudden the girls started to scream again. Their were zombies behind us. The passage were narrow. Body to body and I was leading. The girls would not shut up. My fears were realized right before we came out. A zombie was in front of me. I spun and bounced off the walls right past the zombie and everyone else got stuck between that one and the ones behind. See ya.

I had one gauntlet to go. The top of the hill. You could not see what was on top or how far you had to go. Blind set up. So with a few deep breathes I went for it. With every step up I could see more and more and it looked impossible. Running from side to side as I tried to shalom through all the mess of zombies on an up  hill and then on a down hill. I blew by them all with a few narrow misses. All the way down to the finish. I had made it through with two flags. So awesome. So much fun.

Tough Mudder Arizona Feb 23rd 2013

At the beginning of the race I met a guy that was running and had been parked next to me in the parking lot We were in our cars warming up. He told me he was going to run earlier than his scheduled start time and if I wanted to join them. Well there was only 5 minutes till the start so I had to say no but I would see him out there. The reason was two fold. One I have a pre-race ritual that I always do. It involves warming up, stretching out, lightening the load and getting in the zone. The other is that the MC for the Tough Mudder races is the BEST MC I have ever had at any race. And I have be doing races since the mid 90's so that does say alot. He is so inspirational and funny and just gets me fired up and ready to go. And his speech takes most of the time between waves and I did not want to miss it.

Oh man getting zapped by electricity on the Electric Eel obstacle is brutal. They had the low crawl with the wires hanging down. I mean if you grab the side of the pool getting ready to go in you can already feel light shocks. So I take a moment and go for it. Feels like the shocks are getting more intense as you go along. Now I had thrown out my back in Dec. I mean pretty bad. Right at the base of the spine. It was good enough to run today but the shocks seemed to be concentrate right on that spot. The muscle spasms were getting more and more intense there just and towards the degree that took me out. I had to get out quick. So I did what I could to hurry up. I had to lay on the ground a few seconds before I got up. WOW that hurt. But thinking about it now my back feels great. I wonder if it helped. That would be amazing. I need to get shocked more often.

As far as eating I got up at 5am and had a big peanut butter, banana and honey sandwich on wheat bread. I wanted time to digest. I also had lots of water. About an hour before the race, at 8:40am, I had two bananas and Gatorade. During the race I had about half a cup of water every time I past check points. I also had a half a banana and some gummy gel bites they had. All of that helped me for sure as far as nutrition.

Part of the experience of the race is to help others. I sure did what I could without slowing me down. Everyone I passed I would say something nice. Looking good, nice pace, keep it going, way to go, etc. I also made sure to talk to all those that were walking. I told them to keep moving if even just doing a light jog. Or to keep running just a little bit longer to the obstacle and then stop. And it got everyone moving again. Felt good about that. No matter how tired I was I would smile and be chatty.  The other big thing was that after I finished the race I grabbed my camera to take some photos. I was over at the Everest obstacle. The Go Daddy team was rolling through. Everyone made it up and over except one guys. He was sure trying. After watching him fail 6 time I moved over so I could talk to him. Talk him up. I was not going to let this guy quit. Why, because he had this obstacle, a very very short jog and then the final Electro shock therapy obstacle. He had come so far to fail now. Everyone standing around could feel his pain every time he missed. And would be cheering him on. I gave him some pointers. I fired him up. He could not let himself down or his team. On, what must have been his 9 attempt, and with the cheers of everyone around him as well as having his team up top trying to catch him, he made it. He stood up with hands in the air and absolutely everyone cheering I am sure was an amazing achievement and experience for him. He had heart. I tracked him down at the end of the race and congratulated him. He earned his orange head ban today, that is for damn sure. I gave him a fist bump and thanked me fore believing in him and helping him finish. I felt amazing about that.

Not as many costumes I saw this year. I did like the where is waldo group. One of the cool ones was what looked to be like a Crocodile Hunter look. And he had this huge stuffed crocodile around his neck. He ran it the whole way with it. Pretty fun.

Love the location. I sure hope they do not change it. The Mesa Arizona proving grounds. Plenty of space for everything. Parking very close by. Sweet. Lots of area and mixed terrain. They do not have to clean it up just leave it with what ever happened over the year since we were last there and have us run over it.Only thing that would be nicer would be to have more natural water hazards. Guess i will have to do the SoCal one for that. Or maybe Florida.

The best part of it all was that I managed to complete the race with no cramping. The first two must have been too much or not the right nutrition that had me locking up with about 3 miles to go. This time no. So I did something right. Must have been running about 5 days a week for 45 minutes for the 3 weeks before the race. Thanks to my little man/coach/running buddy for being there for me. For rolling in the stroller and keeping dadda company while he trained. I got to exercise and still bond with my son. I can not tell you how amazing that was.

So I started at 8:40am. I got out in front and no other person from my group passed me. In fact no one passed me. I passed many many people. Even caught up to the 8:20 and 8:00 waves. I found a couple I talked to in the morning. They were a bit upset I caught them when they had a 20 minute head start. I finished at 10:35am. So that is 1 hour and 55 minutes. Now, if I remember correctly, I finished about 2 hours and 20 mins last year. Wow.

Official Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z17cd_Lgl2o

See you next year. 


My Second Tough Mudder:
http://mudsweatpride.blogspot.com/2013/03/tough-mudder-socal-1-feb-2012.html

Spartan Sprint Elite Feb 9th 2013

     I placed 83 Overall, 66 in my Elite Group, and 8 in my age group. That is not too bad. There is a lot of room for improvement. I always try to beat my time from a previous year so this is my bench mark for the next one.
     I was very excited to be competing in this race. I was lucky to purchase this as a Groupon many months ago. I do have to say that I highly recommend signing up with places like Groupon and Living Social, and other group buy site. There have been more and more races showing up on these sites since they have become so incredibly popular. So not only do you get to try one of these fun races but you also are able to do it at a saving.
     The weather was surprising. It has been warm but for some reason this particular weekend was a little chilly in Arizona. It was nothing I could not handle though. There was even some talk of rain. Man that would rock. I would love to do one of these races with a full on down pour going one. Well that did not happen but someday I hope for it.

Pros and Cons specific to this Spartan Sprint Race in AZ 2013

     Now I know if there was a way to avoid this, the race directors would do so. But one of the things I really hate about races is having to ride the bus to the start. I do not want to get stuck in long lines and show up late to the start. I do not want to wait to get a ride back to my car.  I do not like not being able to walk to my car to get my camera so I can come back and take photos as well as enjoy the race longer. Some places are close enough where you could walk. This really does rely heavily on the location and what is available to be used as parking. Now I want to make sure to state that I would much rather have a lot of these locations stay as is and ride the bus then have the race moved to a site that was not as exciting so I could park close.
     With that being said I was not excited with the bus to race start set up. This was the furthest I have ever had to ride a bus. It was like 15 minutes and I am being serious here. And to top it off, the bus driver was unaware of where she was going. Seriously??? Someone dropped the ball. Not to mention they were filling one bus at a time and we had to wait for all of them to move up before they would load the next one. It took too long for me and I was in the first heat. I can’t imagine how it was later in the day when the bulk of the masses were arriving. Many of the new runners are not aware of the possible delays and did not allow themselves enough time to arrive. This would have congested some of the later heats. My suggestion is that they need to be filling 3 buses at a time, let them all head out and move all the buses forward to do it again.
     I did not realize that the race would start and go right to a single track situation only a few hundred yards out. I am sure this was specific to our site. And most of the race would be like this. It created a slower pace that affected my time for sure. Oh well I was rolling with it.
     The obstacles were pretty good. Nothing I thought was too hard. As long as you did not rush it and were nice and smooth through it you could do it. And I did not want to fall off because in Spartan races you are penalized 30 Burpees. That can be significant if you miss them all in a 15 obstacle race. The rope climb was tricky since it was wet. And I was not able to do the spear throw which I got penalized for. I will have to practice that one. Please please please Spartan Race directors make sure to add in more MUD! I love the mud and will play in it all day. I was a little too clean at the end of the race. This is just my personal preference. I want to finish the race unrecognizable. =D
     I was not happy with one of the obstacles. Here you had to carry a heavy stone over a bit and do 5 Burpees and carry it back. They had a few lanes in which to do this. The one I was at no one would bring a stone back. So I was there a few minutes waiting. I was getting annoyed. I was not going to move on without completing this course. My suggestion is mark the lanes so participants have to go out and come back to same spot. And have more than one stone on each lane. You will need a little more room here but well worth it. I can bet this was a pinch point for the race.
     Anyone that knows me knows I hate things that make me go round and round. I mean I get dizzy so easily. The last obstacle was an army crawl under barbed wire. But since you are in shorts and the sand here in AZ is so rocky I realized early on would be best handled by. This section happened to be a very long way. So I was spinning for what seemed like forever. I thought I was so going to yak.
     The final obstacle was two gladiators with weapons. I did want to just try and see if I could take them out by going right at them instead of just taking the hits. Unfortunately, not too long ago, I threw out my back pretty good. I am still trying to recover from it. I did not want to hurt myself again and set back my recovery. That was not going to be worth it for me. I have a 6 year old son to keep up with. Hopefully on my next race I can handle business.
     Thanks Spartan for not telling me that you switched the length of the race from 3.2 to 4.7 miles. I was wondering how few obstacles there was when I had gotten to mile 3. How would they get all those other obstacles in with only .2 miles left to go. That was too funny.
     The location was amazing. This was a major pro to the race for me. Living in a desert it still amazes me how beautiful it can be. I do have to say the views were beautiful during the run. Lots of greenery was coming up from the rains we have had. I took in as much as I could. I have to remember to come and hike here again sometime. It was held at the McDowell Regional Park. But then it did dawned on me. I was the first heat comprising of 200 participants and there would be many more such heats in the two days that would be tearing this nice area up. That did not sound good.
     Overall thoughts. A great race. It is a manageable length race that challenges athletes of all fitness levels. I would recommend this Spartan Sprint to anyone looking to get into the obstacle race. I look forward to trying Spartan’s other length races. I already have my schedule set up for racing all three lengths in the same year to score my Trifecta and earning myself a fourth metal.

Rugged Maniac 11/17/12

      I found myself running another short mud obstacle course called the Rugged Maniac at Thunderbird Raceway in Phoenix Arizona. I was in the first group to go at 9:15am. I got ready to run and always like to be upfront, close to the start line. I saw this girl jumping around looking like she was warming up. But she had on old school canvas type high tops, jeans and a long sleeve grey hoodie with lots of stuff written on it. So I had to ask what the names were about. Her name was Hailey and she told me they represented the names of soldiers that were off fighting in Iraq. She was running for all of them. Some 40 or 50 of them. She personally knew 4 of them but some how it got around that she was doing this and the list grew. I have to give her props knowing she took the time to write each and every name. Then it became clear she was moving around because she was very nervous. Thinking she would not be able to do it. So me being me I tried to calm her down a bit and give her some words of encouragement. To just take it at an easy pace and enjoy it. This is all for fun and to benefit a good cause and now for all the names she had. Well the race started and I tore it up like I usually do. I still had some energy left so I decided to go back and find Hailey. I found her about half way back. I figured she was rolling with the weight of all these names the least I could do was keep her company the rest of the way. She was freaking out pretty good. She does not run so this 3 mile was working her over. And she was freezing from the water. So I talked to her throughout the rest of the run. We ran when she could and slowed it down for a walk when she had to breathe a bit. I was also helping her get over some tricky obstacles. Mostly through words of encouragement and or tips on how to orient herself to make the best assault on the obstacle. We made it through. She was very happy to have finished. I gave her a high five and told her she did an AMAZING job and did every single name on her shirt proud. Even got the photo guy to take some shots of her for her facebook page. She plans on doing more runs like this for the soldiers so I am sure I will run into her again.  
     My good deed for the day. Felt GREAT about it. Of course after that I ran back, yet again, about half way to find the huge water slide I thought was fun. I ended up going down it 21 times. I would run back up and go again and again. Each time trying to do something different or silly on the way down. I would have done more but the material on the slide was starting to burn through and I knew I would be having marks and pain later. I had a good size group of spectators watching and laughing and enjoying my play time. Always making people laugh. This is no surprise to anyone that knows me. And I even got a few people to join in with me. But no where as many times as I did.
 

Tough Mudder SoCal #1 Feb 2012

The SoCal Tough Mudder was held in Temecula, Ca. I have never been there but have passed it on the freeway going up to snowboard. Interesting to see what a beautiful place was within a stones throw away from the freeway. What is better than running along side a nice lake and seeing it from ground level or up from the mountains on a beautiful San Diego day. Not much.

One of the funny things I heard was while waiting in line for the shuttle. Close by were the port-a-potties and people were making good use of the wait time. One lady came out and said..."Obstacle one down". The few of us that heard it were cracking up. I do have to say I really do hate relying on shuttles to get you to the starting line. And I hate when they have school buses. They are designed for kids... not adults. I have my knees to my chest. I would suggest that they have a sign to let people know how far and in what direction the start lines it. No one really knew. And because there was such a back up with only three buses running, I know many people missed their set time to start. I am normally there, at the start, at least an hour before. I have my pre-race ritual and routine I like to do. I only had 20 minutes to handle registration, bag drop, load dump ;P, stretch and get in line before it was time to roll.

One of the things I knew would kick my butt was the huge mountain we needed to climb at the very start of the race. Everyone took off running strong being pumped from all the Hoorah yelling with the MC. Not many were still running after the first 1/4 of the way up. I was very happy to be up top. But was unpleasantly made aware that this was not the only hill. I failed to see that written any where. I would say at least 3/4 of the race was going up and down. So that put a hurt on me. It also slowed down my time for sure. Not to mention get clogged up behind people running down hill on single tracks was not helping either. I am surprised we did not have more people going down and taking other people with them.

I think it is a nice touch that on the Tough Mudder website they have a course map with the pictures and the descriptions of the obstacles. This a very cool bit of information to have. The pictures are close up and generic so they don't match up to the location so you can not see the actual terrain of the area. But it is still more information then you had if you have never done a Tough Mudder or not done one in this location. For this event though, the pictures were not as indicative of what I would encounter as I thought. I do get jazzed about the obstacles I see. Some of them were not there or were different. So I was a little unhappy about that. I was looking forward to having to get across on rings. No rings. I was looking forward to the wipe-out style platform run and jump. You did have the standard run jump but I thought the picture showed something different. No run and leap. Traversing across a wire while holding onto another one.... No traversing. Again no fire section to run through. Tough Mudder you are killing me here. Again this is the main reason I signed up to do your race in the first place. And two races later... .nothing. No Fire!

I was very proud of myself for being able to conquer every single obstacle on my own. The single runner. And to have stayed out of the water to complete some if that was the object. I made sure to motivate those that I passed. I gave helpful hints to how one might get through the next obstacle. Shouted encouragement to those that were having trouble jumping 15 feet into the water. I did help many mentally but none physically. All those around me at the time were handling it well or with teams.

I am not sure why they call this obstacle the Artic Enema. Or actually, it was called that in AZ but was called Blood Bath this time. This obstacle is a huge dumpster full of water. you have to jump in and swim under a wood structure in the middle. This makes it so you have to be totally underwater. That seems easy enough but to make it Tough Mudder material they feel the need to add a challenge, to this obstacle, by DUMPING TRACTOR LOADS OF..... wait for it.... ICE into it. I mean this water is cold. No really, you have no idea what cold is until you hit this thing. As soon as you jump in.... I am talking as soon as you even tough the water but have no where else to go but more into it... you are trying to get out. I mean your survival instincts kick in and your body hurts so bad that you dont even think about the small children and elderly folks you crawl over to get out. You have to get the F3*K out... and like 3 days ago fast. Having been through it.... they should call it "The Gender Changer". Every single person getting out was yelling at a level 10 times higher then they entered. All the guys were pulling on their shorts to see where our manhood had gone to hide. Every.... single..... inch of my body hurt from only 15 to 20 second exposure to that water. And talk about brain freeze.... FROZEN!
Before Ice BathAfter Ice Bath

Yes the calves were starting to get crampy. Right when I jumped into the rivers cold water one started to lock up bad. So I started to beat on it with my fist to let go. Then the other one wen. I had my feet on the bank with body floating in water grunting in some serious pain. I could not point my toe so swimming was NOT going to happen. "I seriously thought this race beat me down and I was out of the race". And with a mile to go.... lame. Well I dont go down like that. I sucked it up. There was a rope marking where to cross. I grabbed onto it and pulled myself through the water. The rope was loose so for most of the cross I was underwater pulling my way through. I was worried because I had three more obstacles but the skate ramp would be all calves having to sprint up and jump so major calf extension. I took a deep breathe, took off running yelling all the way and jumped knowing I had only one attempt let in me. So had to commit. Nailed it. So I finished the entire course, doing every obstacle unassisted and conquered all of them staying out of the water if you did not fall off obstacle. Awesome.
One of the cool things I really enjoy about the Tough Mudder. Well it is a challenge where you help each other through the course and you see that all over. Awesome. Helping each other over the obstacles. One guy came over and helped me stretch out my calves when I was down. People asking if you are ok if you are stopped. Encouraging each other as you run. There was even some people helping injured get through. Some even stopped the challenge to ride back with a team mate to medical. But also if you eat somewhere near by you running into other Mudders. The "Orange Bandana" is a sign of something we completed together. That brings us closer. And every single Mudder I saw always... always said hi and great job. And made sure to wave or say bye on the way out. Awesome.

Are you TOUGH enough? HELL YEAH! I plan to do more of these. I would like to have done every single location that they offer in time. So i will use this as a check list. SoCal and AZ down. Another one in Southern Californina, Texas and Utah would be the next ones up.

My time was 2 hours and 20 minutes. 20 minutes more for having to run a course that was mostly hills is not bad at all. We shall have to see what my time is next year.

My FIRST Mudder experience in Arizona
http://mudsweatpride.blogspot.com/2013/03/tough-mudder-arizona-2011.html