Saturday, 24 November 2012
Friday, 23 November 2012
Spartan Beast
After Completing the Spartan Sprint a few months back I was hooked and wanted more so it wasn't long before I wanted to take on the toughest of the spartan races the SPARTAN BEAST, this is a gruelling 12 mile mud run with 25+ obstacles. the obstacles consisted of similar training for the US marines, this would involve Rope climbs, Net climbs, Mud baths, Bard ware crawling, Ice baths, High wall climbs, and many more and just when you think its all over you get to face the fierce Gladiators.
The venue for the beast was the Brands hatch race course, Id booked up around a month ago and to be honest hadn't trained nowhere near as much as id like to have so I was wondering how i would get on, I know i have allot of determination and with this years problems I had allot of hurt and anger that needed to come out, and what a perfect way to do that. I had a few friends that were also taking on the challenge, a work colleague Ian who was fighting is own challenge of attempting this being a type 1 diabetic, this made it a little more interesting for him having to ensure his levels were always correct so he wouldn't dose off into a comer half way around the battlefield, My other friend Ese was also running, he was taking part in the race as part of the Bournemouth crossfit team.
The start of the race was really good with hundreds of runners, all psyched and shouting to the spartan beats Arooo Arooo, it was pretty loud and atmospheric, the first part of the run was a lap of the Brands hatch circuit, the star was pretty crowded but as we got further around the track the pack started to spread a little, I was keeping a steady pace running with Ian, we were making good ground and both felt pretty strong, once the track was completed it went off road and into the woodlands, this is where it became fun, lots of mud hills, deep mud puddles, battery and tyre carrying, net climbs. After a short while Ian started to slow, it was hard to stick together so I just pushed on a little and before i knew it i was on my own, i ended up sticking behind some young lady who was running at a steady pace, after about 7 miles i could see the arena again and i kept thinking to myself is that the end, i hope so but it doesn't feel like 12 miles yet, I could see my dad in the stands cheering, by this time I was very dehydrated and starting to feel the burn, I came to a six foot wall and climbed it fairly easy, then another 12 foot wall, i jump up fairly easy but whacked my leg on the way up, i tried to just run it off but after a short while the pain became intense, i slowed and stretched for a while and realised there was still another 3 miles to go, i walked and loosened it up and lift my spirits, i was feeling pretty beat by this time and basically had hit the wall, thoughts in my head of finishing were fading and i was feeling hurt, i looked up and the sky and thought to myself i can do this, I'm gonna do this for my little girls and myself, overcome this pain and mental phase, by this time I could see Ian coming the opposite way so he wasn't far behind, i slowly jogged waiting for him to catch up, once he caught me i explain what had happened and encouraged me and handed me a handful of jelly babies, the secret ingredient of all challenges, the remainder of the course was tough with cargo nets, tyre carrying and rope pulls, then the ice and barbwire followed by the gladiators, after some cramp and much battling i finally arrived at the finish line, I was greeted by a pretty spartan girl who nicely placed my medal over my head... I had just completed the spartan beast, hardly any training, a routh 6 months and a brain like a tangled finish net I had done it...
I felt pretty cool after this and now determined to do more, I want to try do all three next year which is the sprint, super and beast, if you do all three in the calender year you are awarded with the Trifecta medal, i want this so I'm determined to do it.
In the words of a SPARTAN " Only the weak attempt to accomplish what they know they can achieve" ARROOOOO
The venue for the beast was the Brands hatch race course, Id booked up around a month ago and to be honest hadn't trained nowhere near as much as id like to have so I was wondering how i would get on, I know i have allot of determination and with this years problems I had allot of hurt and anger that needed to come out, and what a perfect way to do that. I had a few friends that were also taking on the challenge, a work colleague Ian who was fighting is own challenge of attempting this being a type 1 diabetic, this made it a little more interesting for him having to ensure his levels were always correct so he wouldn't dose off into a comer half way around the battlefield, My other friend Ese was also running, he was taking part in the race as part of the Bournemouth crossfit team.
The start of the race was really good with hundreds of runners, all psyched and shouting to the spartan beats Arooo Arooo, it was pretty loud and atmospheric, the first part of the run was a lap of the Brands hatch circuit, the star was pretty crowded but as we got further around the track the pack started to spread a little, I was keeping a steady pace running with Ian, we were making good ground and both felt pretty strong, once the track was completed it went off road and into the woodlands, this is where it became fun, lots of mud hills, deep mud puddles, battery and tyre carrying, net climbs. After a short while Ian started to slow, it was hard to stick together so I just pushed on a little and before i knew it i was on my own, i ended up sticking behind some young lady who was running at a steady pace, after about 7 miles i could see the arena again and i kept thinking to myself is that the end, i hope so but it doesn't feel like 12 miles yet, I could see my dad in the stands cheering, by this time I was very dehydrated and starting to feel the burn, I came to a six foot wall and climbed it fairly easy, then another 12 foot wall, i jump up fairly easy but whacked my leg on the way up, i tried to just run it off but after a short while the pain became intense, i slowed and stretched for a while and realised there was still another 3 miles to go, i walked and loosened it up and lift my spirits, i was feeling pretty beat by this time and basically had hit the wall, thoughts in my head of finishing were fading and i was feeling hurt, i looked up and the sky and thought to myself i can do this, I'm gonna do this for my little girls and myself, overcome this pain and mental phase, by this time I could see Ian coming the opposite way so he wasn't far behind, i slowly jogged waiting for him to catch up, once he caught me i explain what had happened and encouraged me and handed me a handful of jelly babies, the secret ingredient of all challenges, the remainder of the course was tough with cargo nets, tyre carrying and rope pulls, then the ice and barbwire followed by the gladiators, after some cramp and much battling i finally arrived at the finish line, I was greeted by a pretty spartan girl who nicely placed my medal over my head... I had just completed the spartan beast, hardly any training, a routh 6 months and a brain like a tangled finish net I had done it...
I felt pretty cool after this and now determined to do more, I want to try do all three next year which is the sprint, super and beast, if you do all three in the calender year you are awarded with the Trifecta medal, i want this so I'm determined to do it.
In the words of a SPARTAN " Only the weak attempt to accomplish what they know they can achieve" ARROOOOO
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| Add caption |
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| Taking on the Gladiators |
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| Ice Bath |
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| The wall |
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| Happy but tired Spartan |
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| The Spartan Beast Medal |
Sunday, 11 November 2012
Lifes challenges
Crisp Air and bright blue skies greeted us on Portland today, Myself and Paul layered and beenied up heading into the boulderfield, I was super keen to get back on Harmegeddon. I have a slight tendon pull in my middle finger on left hand so was playing on my mind abit how it would be today, we headed on down to a new boulder on the beach that we hadn't visited before called the white tower. A highball slab with not the best of landings, luckily we were only intending on warming up on the easier problems, we both climbed an easy problem called "Banner in the sky". It was a nice climb which was also very photogenic.
Next up was Harmegeddon, I was pretty psyched but feeling down due to finger hurting a little, we arrived and Paul was buzzing at the line and length of it, we played for a little while re learning the sequence, Paul also managed to find another hold that id been missing so i was a little keen and went for it...
Snap!!! ouch no more crimping for me, the pain through my finger was crazy, I guess its defiantly time to rest now.. this put me in a pretty down mood, not having a good time lately with personal and family problems and now this..
Paul carried climbing but was unable to complete the route, he also managed to tick a few other lower graded routes.
It was nice to get out today and have a good chat with Paul about big plans for next year and the winter season, I guess now the finger as give up i will dedicate all my training to the axes, time to get back on the chalk and make use of the craggy island indoor dry tooling wall.
Next up was Harmegeddon, I was pretty psyched but feeling down due to finger hurting a little, we arrived and Paul was buzzing at the line and length of it, we played for a little while re learning the sequence, Paul also managed to find another hold that id been missing so i was a little keen and went for it...
Snap!!! ouch no more crimping for me, the pain through my finger was crazy, I guess its defiantly time to rest now.. this put me in a pretty down mood, not having a good time lately with personal and family problems and now this..
Paul carried climbing but was unable to complete the route, he also managed to tick a few other lower graded routes.
It was nice to get out today and have a good chat with Paul about big plans for next year and the winter season, I guess now the finger as give up i will dedicate all my training to the axes, time to get back on the chalk and make use of the craggy island indoor dry tooling wall.
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| Paul on "Banner in the sky" |
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| Me on "Banner in the sky" |
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| Paul Keleher |
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