Towards the end of September Jason woke me up with a very excited kiss and this: "You got accepted to the Spartan Games!" In a half awake stupor I mustered back a "What are you talking about?" They wanted an adventure racer, so I threw your name in to the hat and they picked you! He went on to assure me that I would do great. "Just look up some DEKA FIT, and cross-fit stuff and you will do amazing." "AND" he added, "Think of it like an ultimate training get away!"
It is very hard for me to turn down a challenge, and at this point in my year, I was really really wanting to get out of my comfort zone. It had been since November 2018 in Patagonia since I had really raced. It was during that race that I found out I was pregnant with Revel. Now a year later, with no races on the calendar in the near future, I was both excited and really nervous for this to be my first foray into competition post baby and very recently post breastfeeding. This competition more than anything would push me out of my known zones AND it would all be filmed. Sweet.
After I said yes to the Spartan people, I started doing my research on the known disciplines that we were going to have to do. Obstacle course racing, DEKA FIT, swimming, biking and running. While I knew I had not been training like in a normal year, I knew that I would do alright in biking and running. Sure, the 5/6 hour loop format of the run and bike segments would be boring, but I knew I could muster through it. After all, for me in a normal year that is a moderate training day. However, for everything else, I knew I was going to get humbled. I had never once done an OCR, or DEKA, lifted things heavier than me, or wrestled. So I went in with a "try hard and smile while doing it" mindset.
Jason was correct in saying that it was going to be an amazing training weekend, because that is exactly what it was. For four days I got to forget about CoVid (we got tested a few different times), eat whole meals while sitting down, train my ass off, meet awesome people and get inspired to incorporate new movements into my trainings. I had my moments of grief and sadness for sure, as I wanted to be better and do better but deep down I knew that was not the point. For me the point was to just go and be open to whatever came out of it.
And after a few weeks of processing, I learned that I can do hard things, that I am truly deeply in love with adventure racing, that I love competing against and with women (seriously all the women were amazing and badass!) and that I have mad respect for people who lift heavy things.
You can now watch the whole series on the Spartan Youtube Channel!! Go and give it a watch and let me know what you think. To all the Spartan crew- thank you for an unforgettable experience! To everyone else, don't be afraid to try new things. Sure you may fall flat on your face, but you will learn so much about yourself along the way.
