Spartan Race Recap

Weekend before last, we completed the Reebok Spartan Sprint here in Charlotte!!!  

I was waiting on the website to upload their pictures before I recapped, but sadly there were only about 3 that were actually of me and where my eyes are open!  And none of Brandon :(  Oh well, here's the pics we did get!

As you can tell from this picture, it was rainy and just yuck out!  Oh, and cold!!  A lovely 50 degrees with drizzling rain.  Thankfully the rain did stop before our heat began!

Here we are, clean, dry and cold!  My brother Josh was running it, too!  We met up with him shortly after this picture.  This was Brandon's 3rd Spartan Race (recaps 1 and 2), Josh's 2nd and the 1st for Andrea and me!

To be honest, I was basically terrified at this point!  Haha!  I think it was mainly just fear of the unknown.  5 miles through the trails of the White Water Center and obstacles and mud and cold.  The weather was really playing with my head!  Mostly, though, I think I was scared that it would be too hard and I would feel completely defeated.

But I'd already paid to do it, so come hell or high water (or cold weather and rain) I was going to run the race!  

Thankfully, Andrea and I planned to run it together!  Once we got going we warmed up (a bit) and started feeling good!  It was at about mile 2, even after the first few obstacles of scaling walls and traipsing through the (chilly!) Catawba River, that we looked at each other and said "I know we're only at mile 2, and maybe this will get really terrible, but so far....it's really fun!!"

Lots of mud was involved!  Crawling through, wading through, you name it!

Josh and his buddy getting after some burpees!  

If you couldn't complete an obstacle...you had to complete 30 burpees!  I think Andrea and I did about 120 burpees!?  Haha, we couldn't complete the monkey bars, rope climb, javelin throw, and the traverse wall.

Brandon beat us all and his time from last year by 14 minutes!!  He finished just over an hour at 1:02!

How awesome is this picture!?!  Haha, Josh finished before us at an 1:27 and took over 30 minutes off his time from last year!

Andrea and I finished at 1:37!!

B was at the finish line cheering us on!

Let me tell you, friends, finishing that race was such a high!!!  Wow!!  Seriously, best feeling ever!!  It just goes to prove that when you put yourself out there and try something new or hard or scary, it pays off!  I'm so glad I didn't let me fear talk me out of it.  It was completely worth it and I'm already excited about next year!  (Just going to hope for warmer weather!)

Thank goodness for the heated changing tents!  Dry, non muddy clothes felt amazing!

We're Spartan finishers!!!!

B and I celebrated that night with some much deserved drinks and Bad Daddy's!

And, my mud bath must've been good for my skin and hair that day!  Haha ;)

My take away from all of this.....just do it!  That's been the approach I've been taking with my workouts and eating habits lately.  Either you do or you don't.  It's that simple!  So just do it!  Seriously, whatever it is.  Maybe it's not an obstacle race that you're facing, but whatever is staring you square in your face, just do it!!  I bet you'll surprise yourself and come out on top!

So....who's joining our Spartan Race team next year!?!  Any takers!?  :)