Picking up from last time –
Eventually, I made it around to the final obstacles.
(In the process, I learned the other races were over 11 miles and over 5 miles long. So, I knew what was coming my way.)
Toward the end, we got to submerge in mud under a wall. Then, burpeed some, instead of trying to climb straight up a rope (like they do in old school gym class). ‘Cause that ain’t happening (yet, at least).
Then, we went into this thing called the Gauntlet. That’s an obstacle I don’t understand. There are bags (punching bags, I guess?) hanging over mud that we wade through.
I don’t know if maybe earlier in the day, someone pushes them to set as many moving as possible, or if maybe we’re supposed to set them moving to challenge other competitors… All I know is every time I’ve seen it/gone through it, the bags are still, and we just walk through the mud. So, I don’t get it. But there’s that one.
Then, in true Spartan Fashion, we got to jump over fire. Yee-haw.
After the Beast, they cut off my timing chip (as they always do – since trifecta runners got new chips before their next races). They handed me a ticket for a shirt – which I held onto, but didn’t grab right away, ’cause I didn’t have time to get a shirt!
I ran over to bag check, and got my stuff for the Super.
I knew I didn’t really have any extra time available to me, but because I was totally covered in mud (and cold), I grabbed a change of clothes and ran to a porta potty to change. I was shivering the whole time I was changing. But I just kept thinking if I changed clothes, I’d be warmer.
I did keep my same sports bra and under armor base layer through all 3 races. I don’t know if that was a bad or okay decision. But I didn’t bring enough under-layers to keep changing those out! And I was oh so wet that I think it would’ve been hard to change those layer – though maybe worthwhile? I dunno what was optimal, but I know what I did worked. So, I guess that’s all that matters.
I’d brought 3 towels with me to get through the day – one for each race. Little did I know, that would so not be enough. I was so muddy, I could’ve done with 2 (maybe even 3!) towels per race. But still, I made it through with 1 per race. After all, I had no choice but to make it work with what I brought, right?
After I changed, I ran my stuff back to bag check… and I was so much colder than I anticipated. Thankfully, there were fires around that had been set up. So, I went to warm up at one of those. And this is where I’ll pick up next time.