Jason and Corey convinced 2 of my siblings (Laura and Drew) to run a Spartan Race with them this year... crazy people... Bear with me. I was testing out a zoom lens Hubby got me, and I'm not good at piecing photos together into a collage :). While the race was advertised as a 3-5 mile race, with approximately 15 obstacles, they lied... The printed spectator map said the course distance was 4.5 miles... they lied. The final course was 5.3 miles with about 26 obstacles. I believe the average completion time was 2-3 hours.
Last year, the Spartan Race crew didn't think there was much of a market in the Midwest for a race, so they didn't really make it super spectator friendly, and they didn't build an obstacles. The obstacles were all muddy trenches and hills the racers had to get through. Well, they were surprised with the turnout, and this year (with almost double the participants), they went all out with both the obstacles and spectator events. In the center of this photo is a cargo net obstacle that went up and over the spectators. The pile of logs in the front left was actually lit on fire, and the racers had to jump over it.
"Burpees don't really like you either" :) In this mud run, if you can't complete an obstacle, your penalty is 30 burpees... ugh!
My sister Laura's heat ran 45 minutes before Jason and Corey's, and Drew's heat was 45 minutes after their's... I missed grabbing Laura for a prerace photo :(
Lucas, Jackson, and G'ama wishing Jason a good race
Abby wishing her daddy (Corey) a good race!
Smoke bomb at the start line
Right at the start, Jason's face connected with someone's hand! I had no idea this even happened until I was scrolling back through the photos on my camera :)
Yep... she's kooky :)
Corey
The traverse wall... start on one side and "climb" your way to the other to ring a bell. Can't do it? 30 burpees. The shirtless guy on the left is Jason :) I think Corey was the only one in our group to get this one.
Drew at the start of his heat. I'm so frustrated that I missed him during the rest of the race. We weren't expecting him to be so freaky fast, so my timing was all off when I went to look for him on different obstacles :(
Hubby on the cargo net
Yep... he's hot :) ...and no, I'm not biased!
Da-na-na-na! STOP! It's Burpee Time! (Apparently, quite a few people don't know how to properly throw [and stick] a javelin, either... interesting bit of trivia I learned later... my dad threw javelin in high school :)
Corey at the finish (ugh! completely missed it!)
L-R: Gladiator pit; "I'm going to cry, because I'm finally done!"; "Deeeeep breath... I'm done."
Jason and Drew had no idea they were next to each other. This is another "aha!" moment after scrolling through my pictures. I'm so glad I got at least one more of Drew on the course!
Jason and his friend Corey decided to run a Spartan Race Saturday. If you've never heard of it, here's the promo video...
Yes... there were firetrucks and ambulances there :)
It was cold (41 degrees), overcast, and rained the night before, so it was miserable weather for spectators (who only witness about 15 minutes of the 1 1/5-2 hour race).
On the other hand, it was perfect conditions for the purposes of the race (as seen in above video).
Yes, this is a pig on a spit
Before the race (notice how clean they are; Corey, left; Jason, right))
The race started off with a canon shot (it was so loud, they could hear it back in the woods, marking off each 1/2-hour increment at the start of each new heat), and a dive through a mud-pit. There were 260 people in their heat alone, with a total of 3000+ racers all day.
I definitely wish I'd had a better zoom (like 200's) for these pictures, but my lens at least got the gist of what I was able to see with my eyes. Please forgive the blurriness, as I was borrowing a lens with a slightly longer focal distance than mine, but it wouldn't auto focus with my camera (so manual focus + extreme cropping = blurry).
Jason, first log carry
Corey, first log carry
Jason, first rope climb
Corey, first rope climb
Corey, Jumping over fire (which was immediately followed by a deep mud pit)
Jason, clearing the fire
This was too far away to see any one, but just to show you the freezing water they had to swim through...
This was the last we saw of the guys for about an hour-and-a-half. They were in the woods that whole time, running up and down steep muddy hills, crawling through mud under barbed wire (some people weren't so lucky, as evidenced by finishing the race in only their boxers/support briefs or blood dripping from their faces and hands), scaling mud-slicked ropes and walls...
Waiting for Daddy to appear
"There's my Daddy!!!"
Finally, they rounded the last pond and finished off with another log-carry and pole "vaulting" (haha). Jason and Corey both said that towards the end of the race, just about everybody gave up on the idea of "placing" and just focused on helping each other finish.
Jason, final log-carry
Corey, final log-carry
Both guys finished scratched up (at least not seriously bloody like some), extremely muddy, and violently shaking. At first they said they weren't cold at all, that it was just adrenaline... Then the hormones wore off, and they froze :(
