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

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Taking on the Gladiators

Ice Bath

The wall

Happy but tired Spartan

The Spartan Beast Medal