Spartan changed their Utah race to a Beast (from a Super). This worked well for me because I did the Super and Sprint in the same weekend in Florida. But I was nervous because the Super at 8 miles was a really challenging race, and the Beast is 13 miles. It's not really the distance or the obstacles that are the problem, though. It's the heat and the intense climbing.
My mom and Tom planned to do a Super in Atlanta and a Beast in Florida but the Beast was in December and they found out that the trifecta calendar goes from November to November, meaning their December Beast would not go towards their trifecta that year when they already did the Sprint and had the Super planned. (The Super was in Atlanta in October and it didn't turn out so well for my mom...) But that's not the story we are telling today. Today, they decided to go ahead and sign up for the Beast because I reminded them about the free Spartan race codes we got after they canceled our 2020 races. In fact, Jen and I were able to get this race for free because our friends Gina and Myles had signed up in 2020 and they were not able to find a race that worked for them so their codes were going to waste. They gave them to us and we got our race free! It would've cost close to $200. So all four of us signed up for Utah Beast. I was a bit nervous and felt less prepared than I had been in February for the upper body stuff. But I definitely had been doing trails including hills so I figured I would survive.
Mom and Tom were nervous too but they survived Trail Fest last year so they knew they could finish, just slower. It was a hot day and we all had packs full of water and electrolyte mix to use with water stations later, as well as snacks. And I had a frozen water bottle that I thought I would use with the drink mix, or just for some cold water at some point. But it melted within the first couple hours. We were out there for a really long time. I couldn't believe it when I saw people at the start without packs on. I was thinking they had way too much faith in the aid stations...
I was right, the climbing was brutal. This was only the first small climb, and the picture doesn't really show how steep it is.
The tyrolene traverse is only ever at the Beasts so this is the second time I got to do it. I wasn't as scared this time and it was fun.
One thing about climbing is that you get the good views! We were going very slow because we were waiting for my parents the whole time, but I was having a great time doing it with Jen (who is a very patient person, even though she had to go on ahead on the hills because it is hard to hold back, she would get up and then wait for us.) Spartan people are some of the friendliest you will meet. We made a lot of friends on the course. Especially on the steep hills because we all were going so slow and taking breaks.
This was like the third or fourth hill and I was ready to be done with the hills. But all you can do is keep going. There was one really long hill (before this) and there were no aid stations near it, because how would you get them up there? At the top of this hill, there were multiple people lying on the ground very sick. There was a medic up there with a pack, but she apparently didn't even have water... I guess a razor was trying to get up there but couldn't get up the hill so this girl had to get out and hike up on her own. She had some pills to give the people, but no water. I offered one guy my full water bottle. We chatted with a lot of the people up there while we waited for my mom and Tom to make it. We found out later that they had to pull over 200 people off the mountain because of heat stroke or whatever kind of illness. But my mom and Tom made it, even coming from sea level and being 65 and 72 years old. We got to one section where we were meeting up with people coming down the mountain. I looked up the mountain and could see someone pulling the course tape down. After asking around we found out they decided to cut that hill off the course because of how many people were getting sick. I'm not sure how much it cut, maybe a mile or a little more, but we weren't sad about it!
Obstacles- I failed Olympus, and honestly I'm not sure how anybody can do Olympus now that they have the slippery plastic wall. I tried doing it with my knees on the wall and it worked for a minute, but then failed, and it tore up my skin and now I have scars. So we did the penalty loop on that. They have that same plastic was on the Stairway to Sparta which is even more impossible. It's like 7 feet of flat wall and then rock climbing grips. Even if I could get myself high enough to grab a grip, I couldn't pull myself up with them. We helped each other and didn't do burpees. And I could not get the multi-rig. I was doing really well with the rings and the straight bar, but I couldn't hold onto the hanging ropes. I don't think any amount of training could've helped me to pass any of those obstacles. I made the spear on the third try or so. I fell off Twister, but only because I was over-confident. I made it easily when I tried again. And I needed a little push on the beater, though I've done that one easily in the past too. All in all, I smiled more than I grumbled. And it was a very long day but it was very fun.
And there she is, my second trifecta ever.
I really enjoy Spartans. My muscle memory makes the obstacles not too hard (other than the stupid impossible ones). I wish they weren't so expensive or that you didn't have to travel so far. I really enjoy doing them. But I don't know how much I will do in the years to come. Probably just here or there when the timing works out.
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