Picking up from last time –
The only other place I can think of where I really kind of wasted time – though it wasn’t necessarily a waste, because it was helping people (so if nothing else, at least we can call it my least heinous waste of time) – was at this other log balance thing.
I know I just talked about walking over logs length-wise on water, and now I’m talking about more balancing on logs. So, I really need to learn what these obstacles are called. But in the one I’m talking about now, there are little logs (I don’t think any were higher than 2 feet) coming up from the ground. They were all different heights and you had to balance as you walked across a line of them from one end to another.
Most people paired up on this so you had some one to lean on a bit as you made your way down the line of logs.
At this point in the Super, I’d started hanging out with a group of guys who’d also done the Beast. Once we got to the logs, we split off into teams and tackled the logs. Then we saw some individual racers coming, so we helped them. And as I thought we were about to leave, we saw another individual person come, and proceeded to help her too.
Now, on the one hand, I was so happy to be able to help people, ’cause I’d gotten boosts in the race. I love the community feeling of a Spartan Race, and I get excited when I can help people (as I’m not necessarily strong enough to help at every obstacle – but I certainly am at some!).
However, once we were to this point in the race (and I’d already totally wasted my time on that ridiculous walking around the lake business – which I was continuing to pay for with the stress I was feeling here), I just didn’t totally have the time to help people. I did it anyway, figuring, “what another minute?” (Though I still of course felt the stress, as I knew every minute counted.)
I also assumed that those 3 guys I was with must also be watching the time, as we all had to do the Sprint, right?
Nope. They were only doing the first two races. I learned that soon after this little row of logs thing, and they sent me off with their blessing, and I took off on a faster pace to try to make up some ground.
And I’ll pick up here next time.