In early May, I completed the second wedge in my Spartan Trifecta with the Montana Beast! This race came just a few weeks after completing my first Spartan race, the Super in Seattle, in April. My love for running along with a newfound addiction for obstacle training has me pinging for more Spartan races in the future. They sure are expensive races, but I love that you get to travel to new places to run them since they can be found almost every weekend all over the world. This was only my second time to Montana, and the venue did not disappoint!
Before I get too far into the race recap, I want to discuss something different about this race that made it way more special for me that just going out and running a race. Just a few weeks before the Montana Beast, my mom was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer. It was a terrifying diagnosis and one that came totally out of the blue. To say that my life turned upside down was an understatement. All you think about when you hear "Stage IV" is death, and to think of losing my mom would be the saddest, most life-changing event ever. To those who have lost moms--you are truly inspirational and the support from some of you throughout this journey has been invaluable. Without diverting too much into my mom's cancer story, if you'd like to read about her journey or want to see what updates are currently happening, here's a link to her CaringBridge page where we post regularly with the ups and downs of her cancer treatment. So far, my mom has been kicking cancer's A$$ and has been nothing but positive, hopeful, and a WARRIOR.
Going into this race, it had already been planned and paid for before finding out about my mom's diagnosis. She insisted I go run, and if anything, she wanted me to go have a super-strong race for her. So I decided that I would run the race "for Mom," which explains the hashtags you'll see Sharpie'd onto my body during the race. We hadn't shared her cancer news with anyone at that point, but if we had I'd totally have tattooed "F*CK CANCER!" on any visible portion of skin that could have been seen :-).
As it worked out, my mom's first emergency surgery to remove as much of her cancer as possible was scheduled for the same day of the race. She still urged me to go and run for her, so I listened to her and gutted it out as best as I could. At any moment during the race when I was struggling, failed an obstacle or was having a down-and-out moment while being mentally or physically fatigued, I kept reminding myself I was "running for Mom" and I'd keep on chugging to finish the race.
This race was a fun one to travel to because I knew several other folks who were running it, and they invited me to join them. One of my troops offered me a ride and to be able to share her hotel room, so that saved on costs and turned into a really fun trip for the both of us.
We got into Big Fork, Montana Friday evening and went right over to the Open House so we could explore the obstacles and check out the course. Below is a shot of our whole motley crew.
Saturday morning, I wasn't too nervous. I didn't know what to expect (except for hills), and I just knew I had 13-miles of rugged terrain ahead of me that needed to be conquered. At 7:45 am, the elite heat was off and running. No turning back now... I was running for Mom and I was ready!
Man, those elite racers are so fast. They took of like lightning bolts and soon I was alone and running along toward the middle-back of the elite heat. Heading up a hill during mile 2, I somehow lost track of where I was going and ended up taking a side road instead of following the arrows up another steep hill in the forest. I got totally turned around and by the time I found someone again, it was over a mile back and on part of the course I had already ran before. I ended up losing 1.5-miles of distance and in the end of the race, ran 14.6 miles instead of 13 like everyone else. That was so frustrating to me because I knew immediately that I was about 25-minutes slower than what my time would have been. While I didn't anticipate placing or anything like that, it was still frustrating to set myself back so early on in the race. Oh well, I had to keep going!
The course layout in Montana was rough. It was hill after hill after hill with a 3500 foot elevation gain. I would get to the top of a hill and face another hill. it's like they never stopped! The obstacles were almost always at the tops of the hills, so that added a fun challenge to the event. As you may recall, in Seattle I had to do 180 burpees and 2 penalty laps for failing eight (8!!) obstacles. In Montana, I only failed three (Twister, monkey bars (they were right after the dunk wall, ugh!), and Spearman). To only have to complete 90 burpees was a huge relief--maybe one of these days I'll have a clean race!
The photo below was halfway through Beater (a monkey bar system with rotating kitchen-beater-like bars). I was elated when I made it through Beater and other obstacles that I had previously failed in Seattle (like Z Wall, Olympus, and Multi-rig). Being able to ring the bell on those obstacles after having to burpee out of them in Seattle was the BEST feeling.
The race was long--it took me 4 hours and 4 minutes to complete. Had I not have gotten lost and been a little bit demotivated from that, I would have been closer to 3 hours, 35 minutes. Oh well, lesson learned... pay attention to the dang arrows! Spartan courses are challenging because there's not a trail marked out for you--you're simply running through (in this case) a forest and paving your own path as you go. Needless to say, my legs got destroyed while running through the downed trees and stray branches, and when I fell on a rock and cut my leg and slit my hand open during the "ball shrinker" water obstacle, it made it even that much more challenging. I literally ran through the race with blood streaking down my shin and a broken, open-wounded hand for over half the obstacles... sorry about that guys!
I also experienced something crazy during this event that I'd never had happen before--cramping! Oh my goodness, through all of my dozens of half and full marathons, I have never, ever cramped before. Right after the dunk wall in Montana and going into the monkey bars, my legs started to seize up. It was every part of my legs between my knees and hips. I couldn't move them--it was terrible! I tried doing the monkey bars, but I was so drenched and couldn't get a grip on the bars and my legs were cramping up so bad I couldn't move them, so burpees was the way to go. Unfortunately, my legs continued seizing during burpees, making them take absolutely forever, and then heading into the hill after burpees I was stopped to the point of having to sit and massage my legs until they would start working again. I had taken two Gu packs during the race and stopped for water at every aid station, but the cramps just wouldn't subside. A friendly gentleman offered me a Gu pack as he passed and he truly saved the day... my legs stopped cramping about 5-min later and I was able to carry on to the last three miles of the course.
As I came through the multi-rig a mile later, one of the volunteers yelled, "Don't you dare drop! You're doing this for you mom! You got this girl!!" She lit a new fire inside me that wasn't going out anytime soon!
When I got closer to the finish, I couldn't have been more happy. I was still frustrated at my time and that I'd gotten lost at the beginning, but so happy that I'd finished with less than half the burpees than I did in Seattle. I new my mom would be proud, no matter how long this stinkin' race took me. She knew I did it for her, and that was all that mattered.
To know that I completed this Mountain Series event as the second wedge in my Trifecta is a huge accomplishment. I hated being away from my mom during her surgery, but she wanted me to gut it out for her so you can bet I gave it my all.
The weekend with friends, laughs, and memories was so fun. All nine of us had good races, and spending time together during the event and afterward at dinner was priceless. To travel to Montana with friends and colleagues and enjoy and entire weekend dedicated to exploration and racing is truly my favorite thing.
Cheesin' hard for the cameras with our Fitaids and medals. For my colleague on the right, it was her first Spartan EVER... I was so proud of her! My friend and colleague in the middle of us is the guy who coaches me for Spartan racing. He's the best athlete I know!
With the second wedge in my Trifecta complete, next up is the Boise Spartan Sprint in the end of June. That race day recap will be coming soon!
I hope one day my mom will be able to get out and run with me again. I'd love for her to be able to do a Spartan with me and we can hashtag our bodies up with #Survivor! after she finishes kicking cancer's a$$!!!!!
Spartan Race Posts: Seattle Super │ Montana Beast
