After plans got derailed last year due to Covid, we ended up signing up for the Jacksonville Spartan. This worked out way better for me for a few reasons. First, it was in February which is a much better time for me to be in Florida than April, which is a busy month. And second, there were both Super and Sprint options at the Spartan so I wasn't going all the way to Florida just for a Sprint. I did feel a little guilty hanging out with Sugar without my kiddos.
We headed to Jacksonville in an Airbnb. I was stressed! I wasn't sleeping well. Like at all. I don't know if it was the time change or the stress of doing a Spartan, or the fact that I was sharing a room with Jam (who was actually really good until he woke up super early. But mostly I just laid there listening to the birds outside the window. But that's okay. Sleep is overrated. We got to the Spartan early enough. My mom hung out with me until I could go in the gate. They only let us in 30 minutes before race time, which was also causing me stress because in the past I would always show up like two hours early. But it turns out 30 minutes was plenty of time to put your time chip and headband on, finish breakfast, use the bathroom, and check a bag. My mom and Tom had a group they have been training with, but there weren't very many of them doing the Super that first day. Her trainer Steve was running with Age Group in the morning and finished just in time to check in again and meet me at the start line. We met another guy Gabe as well but he wasn't wanting to go very slow so we lost him at the beginning. Steve was not worried about going fast so he stayed with me the whole time. I had been stressed because it was hot! I had been running in 20 degrees for months and now it was close to 80. And the course was wet and muddy, which is not what I am used to. But it didn't take long for me to remember how fun these races are and my nerves passed. This is the first race that I tried obstacles multiple times. And the only reason I did was because I slipped off of Twister right away and I knew I could do it so I jumped back up and did it right. I could not get Olympus though. Not even a little bit. We were tromping through huge puddles up to our knees or thighs, along with mud up to our ankles at times. Some of the water was thigh deep with roots and things you can't see and are trying not to trip over. We had just came out of another long puddle section when we came to Olympus. Water was streaming out of my shoes. I don't have enough upper body strength to do that obstacle with no help from my legs. I found out later that I can't do it even when dry, lol, because they changed the material to a plastic slippery board instead of the original wood board. So I don't feel too bad. The cool thing is they had penalty loops for the big fail obstacles, so we just had to do a little more mileage. And I was thinking this race would be 8 miles, but I guess they have changed their Supers to always be 10K distance, so just 6ish miles. I needed help on the stupid box (though I figured that one out better in Utah later). I tried the spear a few times and still failed, but Steve made two so we called that good for me. I fell off beater close to the end and I was frustrated because it really wasn't hard so I went back and did it again and made it. The humidity worked in my favor because it made my hands sticky they whole time. And luckily the regular rope wasn't soaking wet so I got that easily. The only other one I failed was multi-rig. I got the rings fine but I could not reach the bar. I tried twice and just couldn't swing high enough. So I did 30 burpees for that. All in all I had fun and wasn't too tired, which is good because I had to do another one the next day, haha.
Joanna did the age group race too and met up with us after so we got a pic. I was thankful to have Steve to hang out with because it's more fun with company.
We got out of there and found some food. Then headed to the beach to chill for a little bit. The sand there was so soft!
We saw this little ice cream sandwich shop when we stopped at a gas station, so we decided to head there after the beach. It was yum!
Day 2! I think I slept better, probably because I was no longer nervous! We got ready and headed out again for the Sprint with Team Epic.
It was so fun! Everyone was so nice. There were many first timers and we all hung out and helped each other when needed. It was really nice. And my mom and Tom did so well!
At the festival, they had this DEKA tent set up. I had heard a little about DEKA online before this and I was intrigued. I assumed it would cost extra but apparently it didn't. Jackie wanted to do it, but you kind of need two people because you compete against each other. I wasn't feeling all that tired, even after doing two races. The only time I even felt my muscles was when I climbed the rope on day 2 but it wasn't too bad. So I thought why not, and I signed up for DEKA fit. The idea is there are 10 exercises you do as fast as you can. They have versions where you have to run in between each move, but this was the one without running. We had do to
-30 lunges with a a ram weight
-500m rower
-20 box step-up/overs
-25 med ball situps
-500m skiiers (machine)
-100m farmers carry (two 40 lb weights)
-25 calories on air bike (hard!)
-20 dead ball wall overs (pick up a medicine ball and toss it over your shoulder)
-100m tank push/pull
-20 ram burpees
They were doing a whole lot of filming, I assume they are trying to promote this because it is new. But I have never seen any of the footage so I'm sure they decided I was a hot mess and didn't have any good footage.
It was about the tank section when I realized I hadn't eaten much yet that day and it was getting pretty late in the afternoon. Up until then I was having fun and feeling pretty good! But then I had to finish the tank and then do burpees and I slowed down quite a bit on those. But I am glad we did it!!
I bought this super cute tank and I was so excited! We drove back to Melbourne without showering or anything and I was dirty, sweaty, sunburned, and frankly just a mess when we stopped at this gas station.
So, I may be a bit crazy, but I was still training for a marathon so I needed to get 14 miles in. So the next day I woke up (wore my new shirt!) and went for a very humid run. I wasn't sure if I would make it a full 14 miles but I went out to do what I could. I made it 11 and stopped back at home and chugged a ton of water (I'm so not used to the heat!) and then trudged out the remaining 3 miles. I felt really accomplished! I loved seeing turtles in this little canal.
After my run, we went to a restaurant my mom talks about all the time, and I got lobster grilled cheese and tomato soup, it was pretty dang amazing. Then we headed over to the beach and just chilled.
My shoulders had enough sun, lol. But I did enjoy the beach! It was a quick trip but we had so much fun!
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