Fort Benning Spartan Race Recap

I'll try to not give you the boring stuff on this one.  As far as Spartan races go, this was not a hard one.  It was short (~5 miles) and the obstacles were all standard.  My race strategy was to "run my race," which is a very loose way of saying see how things go and don't worry too much about what everyone else is doing.  I met the race director, Robert Coble, as we were near the race site yesterday meeting a VIP as a team.  While we were all standing around Robert took out his cell phone with a cracked screen and spouted off where several of us were ranked for the race.  I was the fastest woman that had signed up for the race thus far (they did offer race day registration) so Robert said he expected me to win.

No pressure.

But in truth, it was a small race and the distance was cake.  The mud and murky water that I half swallowed was not so much cake, in fact it made me gag.  And when I slipped on the traverse wall after mile four and started my 30 burpees, the thought crossed my mind this was not going to be so easy anymore.  The monkey bars were immediately following and I made it about halfway with muddy hands before I fell again and had to do another 30 burpees.  I was pretty disheartened in that moment as any lead I had was quickly fading.  It was at this time that Nicole passed me.  I caught Nicole shortly after at the 8ft wall and we were pretty close through the end, both of us having to do 60 more burpees for missing spear throw and falling on the multi-rig.  Basically I had no grip whatsoever in this race.  I'm three misses for three Spartan races on the spear throw as well...but I'm not completely horrible at it.  This time my aim was dead straight but flew right below the base of the haystack.

Most of the course was the muddiness you see behind us.  We also endured a significant amount of technical single-track through brush (roots, vines, stickers) and muddy roads (with murky water so you might be stepping 3" or 2.5' down).  I did appreciate that Spartan uses the natural terrain as part of the obstacles you must overcome.

The idea coming into the race was to qualify for Worlds, this likely being my only race opportunity to do so.  I didn't want to be overly confident about it but I think I would have had to injure myself to miss out on top-5 (or do 1,000 burpees).  I walked away amazed and grateful to have managed a first place finish and very pumped that my teammates finished second (Nicole Solana) and third (Maggie Smith).  I'm not planning another Spartan race until Worlds, but I am planning to get in touch with the 10th Group guys again about using their obstacles for practice.  Training for Leadville will give me all the endurance I need.  I'll basically need to work in a few speed workouts, inclines with sandbags, and really, really get serious on my grip strength.

This being a smaller, perhaps lower profile Spartan race, I am not sure if any media will come out of it.  If it does it will primarily be about the Best Ranger Competition as the men ran the course prior to the Elite fields (to include Robert Killian).  I did get a few GoPro-style cameras in my face before and during the race being that it was known I would probably win.  And to tell you the truth...it's a little scary because I'm pretty sure my face looks awful when I'm racing.  I don't wear makeup as many women do when they know they will be filmed.  I also think I said the f-word twice during the race.  I don't curse often but for some reason in a Spartan race it comes right out.  No idea why, I wasn't angry at any point, even on my 100th burpee.

Men and women of the All-Army team with the CSM.

The All-Army Women's OCR Team - 2016
HEADED TO WORLDS!

Spartan Elite Winners
The Army women swept the podium and Matt Taverner (Army) placed second for the men.