My adventures with making a sandbag!
For those of you who already think I'm a little bit crazy,
check out this story of my Saturday spent making a 30lb sandbag to work out with!! Thank you Aja for writing it up so well :)
Labels: friends, obstacle racing, spartan race, training, work out
Obstacle Racing Updates
So last month I posted
THIS the beginning of my obstacle racing adventures. Well here is the next installment . . .
Every year I try to do a new years resolution and really stick to it. In 2009 I chose to visit a new country in Europe once a month for less than $100 - I managed 13 in total (India being the only non European one). In 2010 it was to travel around the world, check out
this blog for details on that 6 month adventure in the southern hemisphere. Sadly in 2011 I didn't make a resolution, but thanks to experiences during that year it was obvious to me what my 2012 resolution would be . . . run as many
Spartan Races as possible. My obsession with
Spartan racing started last winter. My best friend had signed up to do the New England Spartan Sprint (5K) race while I was in Rwanda. I was bummed to miss it, but looking forward to hearing all about it upon my return. Well to everyone's surprise hurricane Irene was threatening to hit the course on Sunday morning, so Spartan Race had their first ever
Hurricane Heat race and it turned out to be a huge success. My best friend spoke about it for weeks on end and also about all the wonderful people she'd met while participating. Next thing I knew she was travelling all the way to Chicago with "total strangers" to run in yet another Hurricane Heat with lots of the same people she'd met at her first Spartan Race. About a month later, she told me this same group, Storm Chasers, were getting together for a dinner in New Hampshire and would I like to join them. I was dying to meet these people, so I took her up on the offer. What an interesting group of people - all different background, all walks of life, all different ages, genders, shapes and sizes, but all with one common love, obstacle racing and more specifically Spartan Races! I vividly recall one member of the group's comment to me as we were leaving, "So we'll see you in Texas, Sara." I smiled and said, "we shall see" thinking in my head, this kid is crazy. I've only just started racing and the race a few weeks later in Texas was a Super (8+ miles).
The next morning while at work I found myself constantly wondering, could I manage 8 miles? Was in worth all the money to fly from MA to TX to run 8 miles in mud and potentially die? Obviously slightly delusional from the late night out, I sent an email to the "crazy kid" to find out more details, what time was their flight, where were they staying, did they have room for me in the hotel and rental car, etc. By 2pm that afternoon I had registered for the race, booked a flight, confirmed hotel and rental car.
In the coming weeks I attempted to train for the race, but never ran more than 2 miles and did not do anything differently at the gym - cause to be honest, I was still in denial of the fact that I'd just signed up for such a LONG race!
I will not regale you with the details of all 8+ miles of hills, mud, sandbags, walls, water, mud, water, hills, hay bales, and mud, but I will share these photos again, cause I do love them! Here are all of us who ran together on Saturday morning:
And here I am just before mile 3, swimming across 75 meters of 52degree water:
What started out as a dare a year ago - April 2011 "you could never do a race like this" turned into a minor obsession! Here we are again in Arizona - yet again another Super (8+ miles) this past February about to crawl up the soapy wall:
And then again in March in Georgia - loving the bared wire crawl:
happy to have finally done a Spartan Sprint (5K)!
So my family always asks which races have you done so far and what's your next race, here is the run down:
Spartan Super in Arizona - Saturday February 11th (DONE!)
Spartan Sprint in Georgia - Saturday March 10th (DONE!)
Tortoise & Hare 10K road race in MA with some other Spartan Chicks - Saturday April 7th
Spartan Sprint in Colorado - Saturday May 5th
Spartan Sprint in New York - Saturday June 2nd (with Team in Training!)
Spartan Super in Montreal, Canada - Saturday June 9th
Spartan Sprint in Pennsylvania - Saturday July 14th
Spartan Sprint in New England - Saturday August 11th
Spartan Super in Mid Atlantic - Saturday August 25th (hopefully)
Spartan Super in New Jersey - Saturday September 8th
Spartan Beast (12+ miles on Killington Mountain) in Vermont - Saturday September 22nd
and if I don't die at the VT Beast, I'm going to make a valiant effort to make it to Glen Rose, Texas yet again this year to end my 2012 new years resolution with a Spartan Beast race!
Now I know many of you are thinking what is wrong with her? As I've said before and I'll probably end up saying it again and again - it's addicting - as Spartan Race says, "
you'll know at the finish line" and honestly, until you've crossed a finish line at any one of these races wether it is 3 miles or 12 miles, you will never fully understand until you're at the finish line! My other favorite motto which I learned at the Hurricane Heat race (more of a team work effort than race per say) when heading to the finish line, "
If you can't run, walk. If you can't walk, crawl. If you can't crawl, we will carry you."
It is hard for me to express in words what obstacle racing, specifically Spartan Race has done for me - I am every thankful to them for making such an obsession possible :)
Labels: best friends, friends, obstacle racing, spartan race
If you’d told me a year ago this was going to change my life I’d have laughed at you!
I am out with friends one night in April 2011; Matt is trying to convince me to join him for the Warrior Dash race that is coming up in a few months. I am hesitant, as I have never run in my life. I can count on my fingers and toes the number of times I’ve run for a bus, let alone run for a race. A person at the table pipes up, “Matt, Sara would never make it, she’s not the athletic type.” I can feel my blood pressure rising as I’m not about to be told by this marathoner girl that I can’t run a mere 5K over a few obstacles – who does she think she is telling Matt I can’t make it?
I go home that night, sign up for the Warrior Dash race and then advertise on Facebook, that I’ve signed up and want people to run with me. Within days, I have a small team assembled. Team consists of a seasoned female 10K runner (Amanda), an outdoorsy male athlete (Brian), a coworker who seems reasonably fit (Greg), the coworker’s girlfriend who I’ve met only once (Mies), and myself. I am still thinking I’m the least fit, least prepared for this, but we girls make a pact to stay together.
The day of the race arrives; the weather is cooler than anticipated with lots of thunder, lightening, and raining to beat the bands! It has actually been raining for about 3 days.
My housemate & I have spent the night prior to the race in a Holiday Inn near the course so we don’t have to drive as far the morning of the race. My friend Brian had driven down from NY and slept in his car the night before, so he came into the Holiday Inn to have breakfast with us. He was dressed & ready to go, but was just as confused as I was about if the race would actually go on with this type of weather. A few minutes later my dad arrives, we all have breakfast & then it was time to go.
We head out in the torrential downpour, GPS saying it’s 15 minutes away, we’re doing fine till we get off the exit and suddenly the traffic comes to a DEAD stop. My phone begins to blow up with texts from Amanda and Greg about how they’re being shuttled in from random lots, worried where will we meet and how will they get the shirts? Did I mention my housemate had made us all team shirts; girls got neon pink “Grizzly Girl” shirts and for the boys got blue ones with “Grizzly Girl’s Guy” on them.
After goodness knows how long of being directed every which way, we eventually pulled into a parking lot and were told to wait for a shuttle bus. We did as told, while watching my heat time come and go. Being my first race EVER, I was of course beside’s myself at the thought of missing it, but Brian calmed me down saying there would be a chance to run later.
We all pilled into the muddy bus and headed to the Amesbury Sports Park. Luckily once we arrive there were not many people probably since the weather is still heavy rain. I immediately saw Amanda, Dom (Amanda’s boyfriend), Greg and Mies. Caylin (housemate) handed out our shirts; we all changed, collected our race bibs, pinned them on, and attached our timing chips to our shoes. We got a few pre race photos, and next thing I knew we were headed over to the start line. At this point the rain had actually stopped but it was still rather cloudy, so we were a bit chilly in our shorts and t-shirt, but not for long! Dom, Caylin and my dad stood in a large puddle of water in order to get photos and cheer for us. At this point I am totally unaware of what is going on – I’m so nervous as I look up this hill I’m going to be starting my run with!
The gun sounds, the mass of people begin to move, Greg and Brian are about halfway up the hill when Amanda, Mies and I begin to run. The boys has told us ahead of time that they would not be waiting for us and we were okay with that. By the time we hit the top of the hill, the large mass from the bottom of the hill is rather spread out! Soon I realize that Amanda has even taken off without Mies and me. There goes the “girls will stay together no matter what” pact out the window. I start to panic as I’ve only met Mies once or twice before and so I was sort of banking on Amanda sticking with me.
Over roots and through thick mud, Mies and I giggle, mostly I think out of fear of what we’ve gotten ourselves into, but I kept hearing that voice in my head, “Sara would never make it, she’s not the athletic type” and I was going to be damned if she turned out to be correct. I’ve never been one to turn down a challenge! The mud, hills, slipping and sliding is the theme for the day, but Mies and I are now chatting about this and that. To be honest I have no clue what we talked about, but also don’t remember it being awkward – we seemed to get alone really well.
About half way through, as we were walk/jogging through a muddy track, we saw Amanda, but she was in competitive mode and was not about to wait up for us. At this point, Mies & I are fine with that; we’re having a blast. We’re not necessarily fully prepared for what we’re doing, but we just keep chatting and climbing over the obstacles like it’s our job.
As we jump over the fire, the smiles on our faces are priceless!
A few minutes later we were crossing the finish line . . . 1 hour and 6 minutes DONE! Not the greatest time, but considering it was our first race ever, let alone race with obstacles, we were just ecstatic to have completed it.
We were greeted at the finish line with finisher metals, water, bananas, Monster drinks, beer, turkey legs, music and of course our awesome “fans”. Who would have thought that seven months after this day Mies and I would be flying to Arizona for the first of many races in 2012? Who would have thought that we’d become best friends? I can tell you, not either of us! At every race we drive or fly to (Warrior Dash, Rugged Maniac, Rock Eater Adventure, Monster Mud, Spartan) the conversation of “who’d have imagined . . . “ comes up at some point.
Not only have these races introduced me to my best friend, but also opened up a whole new family of fellow races across the country to me. I am so thankful to each and every one of them. I am still not the fastest obstacle racer and may never be, but I’m okay with that. I’m not in it to win it, in the sense of speed or cash prizes. I’m in it for personal satisfaction, finishing the race, and having fun with my friends in the process; whether I’m a part of a large group who fly from New England to Texas to race together or if it’s just Mies & me running in a smaller local run – it’s all about having fun while we do it!
For those of you who have never seen a run or been a spectator, I highly recommend it!! If you would like to see what the course in Arizona which we just ran in looks like here is a video. Obviously that is not us in it, but we ran the same course, just at 6am with headlamps:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ymNFdrPc-w&feature=youtu.beLabels: best friends, family, obstacle racing, spartan race
Dallas Texas Super Spartan Race December 3, 2011
A Super Spartan race means approximately 8 miles with 25 obstacles . . . turns out ours was 8.5 miles with 36 obstacles. Here we are pre-race!
One of those obstacles was a 75 yard wide lake we had to swim across, the water temperature was 55F and the water was muddy with lots of
braches and very deep in the middle. This lake was at mile 3 so after this we still had to run 5.5 miles in water logged sneakers & wet clothes - it was so much fun! Here I am crossing the lake:
For those of you not familiar with these type of races, the thing I like most about them is the friendships I have made - yes, they are called races, but they are not necessarily for the fastest time (unless you're my friend Lynn who came in 3rd place with a time of 1.5 hours) but they are about personal accomplishments, about being able to say you finished.
It's hard for me to explain unless you've ever been out on the course, but imagine Mies & I arriving at a 10 foot wall which we cannot jump up & over alone, within seconds there are total strangers offering to give you a boost or pull you up from the top, you may never see that person again, but they did it without even a second though. And when Mies & I get to the top of a 6 foot hay bale we return the favour to others who are behind us or sit and cheer on those who don't need our help. Everyone is super friendly - it's amazing.
Here we are just before the finish line, just have to jump the fire & pass the Spartan:
So on Saturday morning as I was having breakfast in the hotel, a guy we'd met on Friday at the airport named Tim (from IL) was talking about how he was just going to volunteer for the day as he couldn't keep up with the group (34 of us from New England) and I explained that the group stays together for 3 miles & poses for group photos, but after that we break into smaller groups of similar speed. Mies & I always run together! I told him that we wouldn't be running that often and when we did we wouldn't be running fast. I offered that if he came with us, we wouldn't run fast if he would help get us over the walls - he smiled and said deal!
So at
10:15am, the Storm Chasers crossed the start line, we know the founder of Spartan races so we didn't start with an official race heat - ha ha! Three hours and 23 minutes later Mies, Tim and I crossed the finish line together - all still smiling and having had so much fun!!
Here we are just after crossing the finish line covered in mud and the second from later that night after a shower & some food!
Mies, Tim & I have already signed up for the Spartan race in IL and also here in MA next year so team three can run together again :) Team Three as we call ourselves are gonna try to put this on our next shirt:
Here is Lynn (who came in 3rd overall for woman) and me - we're birthday twins!!
Here are a few other photos from the weekend - Friday night we ran about 12 miles in the dark/rain/mist:
Here we are enjoying dinner on Saturday night!
Labels: best friends, friends, obstacle racing, spartan race, texas
Back state side
So I've been back in the good old USofA for 19 hours now and all I can say is how much I'm missing Rwanda. Every time I leave, I miss it more and more. This was only my third time there, but boy oh boy was it just as amazing as the first time I was there.
What made this trip stand out was being a tour guide for 6 Americans who'd never been to Rwanda before. Being able to share this wonderful country and amazing people with them was great. I guess in the back of my mind I had worried, what if they don't fall in love with the country the way I am . . . what if they find the trip boring . . . what if they're not impressed with the red colour of the soil or the beauty of the people, but luckily for me, every one of our travellers LOVED the trip!
I will try to upload a few more photos later this week for you all to enjoy, but no promises about when that will be as the jet lag has not kicked in yet . . . fingers crossed it won't at all, but I sorta know that's not the way jet lag works (LOL)
Thanks again to all my US travellers who joined Vicky & me in Rwanda for the past 8 days. For those of you who didn't join us but would like to know more about the work we do, please visit www.itafari.org
Labels: rwanda
Cassava Farming
learning about cassava farming
Labels: photos, travel, travel blog
basket weaving photo
My attempt at weaving a Rwandan basket . . . takes this lady 1 week to make a small one - would have taken me more like 3 months!!
Labels: photos, rwanda, travel, travel blog
