PA Spartan Race - 2013

Three years ago this past weekend, Gretchen and I ran our very first Spartan Race here at Blue Mountain. This is the race that was our gateway drug into the world of OCR - and it's been all downhill from there...That 2011 race here was when Gretchen took 1st place and came home with the coveted spartan sword (which I've used for my Spartan Halloween costume for the past couple of years - and of course in the Bad Boys of OCR 2012 Calendar). Last year's 2012 race here was hyped as the Elite women's showdown with Spartan Race bringing in heavy hitters from all over the country.

The 2013 race was just as hard as I expected it to be, but the course was a bit shorter. Last year the course was longer than the previous year, and I expected Spartan Race to either keep it the same or make it longer. It was surprising and actually a bit refreshing to run a Spartan Sprint that was under 4 miles in length. Gretchen and I ran on Saturday in the Elite category - The 3.4 mile course was incredibly challenging for the first 2 miles. The course pretty much went straight up the 1500' mountain - throwing in a 40lb sandbag carry at the absolute steepest portion. The obstacles were as expected but I was bummed to miss the spear throw at the top of the mountain and forced to do 30 burpees. This seems to be a theme with me - I was neck and neck with my VPX teammate, Jason Henline - I missed it and he made it - he beat me by a few minutes. The most difficult obstacle in my opinion was the mountain itself - slippery and muddy from downpours the day before and steep as ever. It's a lot more fun to snowboard down than to run up, but it's a lot more satisfying to cross that finish line.

I was pleased with my finish time of just over 1 hour - Gretchen finished in 4th place missing 3rd by just 1 second but finishing 1st for her age. I am extremely proud of her but she was very disappointed since she made a wrong turn after the swimming portion which cost her a couple of minutes. We had fun hanging with our Spartan family and VPX Team Xtreme teammates in the festival area and got some great photos:

I even tried the pull up competition getting 30 strict pull ups in 1 minute - my fellow VPX teammate and Mud & Adventure founder, Paul Buijs, did 39 or 40 right behind me - although there is a bit of controversy as kipping is not allowed. His judge, Kevin LaPlatley aka - The MudMan let the kipping slide :)

I came back on Sunday to give the race another try and finished 1 minute faster than I did on Saturday giving me a 28th place finish and 2nd for age - not too bad! The mountain felt a lot harder going up on day 2, but knowing the course gave me an advantage as I knew what to expect and when to turn the dial up. I missed the spear throw both days - ugh. I'm gonna have to keep practicing. We had a great weekend overall and I'm looking forward to the rest of racing season!

VPX Team Xtreme Spartan Race Giveaway

Gretchen and I were recently sponsored by a very cool company - VPX Sports. We are now sponsored athletes in the "VPX Team Xtreme Obstacle Racers" division. This means we'll be getting to try all of the supplements and products that VPX Sports makes and we'll be representing VPX at all of our races. 

I was able to set up a giveaway on the Team Xtreme Facebook page for a free Spartan Race. If you saw my recent post about Spartan Race, you know that we are huge supporters of Spartan Race and I was lucky enough to be able to get a free race code to use for this giveaway.

There are some incredible races coming up over including the "Ballpark Sprints:






SPECIAL OFFER -- race in all of the ballpark Sprints this year and get a free season pass for 2014!

Enter the free Spartan Race giveaway here:

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Free Spartan Race Anyone?

UPDATE: Congrats to Lisa Ward for winning the FREE Spartan Race!

Of course you know I'm a supporter of all things Spartan Race. There are amazing races coming - Utah June 29th - A BEAST. Pennsylvania July 13th & 14th -A SPRINT, Miller Park, Wisconsin Sept 7th - A Stadium Series Sprint, and of course in my hometown of Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park on Sept. 28th - another Stadium Series Sprint.

I've been working on a blogger outreach program to help generate some buzz and interest in Spartan Races and the upcoming season. I now have the opportunity to provide someone with a free race in any open US heat. Just click the widget below for a chance to win. You can also get 15% off of registration for any Spartan Race here.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spartan Sprint

Spartan Sprint - 3+ MILES / 15+ OBSTACLES. The challenging sprint obstacle trail races are a great way to get off your couch and start living. From beginner trail racers and mud run participants to hardcore warriors, tough guys and marathon runners, they all come out to test themselves on the insane obstacle races! 99.9% of all people who try this event will finish, and 100% will have their thirst for mud & trail racing fully satisfied! Top 3 Males and top 3 Females at each Spartan Sprint qualify for a free entry into a Super Spartan of their choice.

Super Spartan

Super Spartan - 8+ MILES / 20+ OBSTACLES. The Super Spartan obstacle course race provides an 8+ mile battlefield of insane mud running with 20+ obstacles to test your physical strength and mental resolve. This mud run of an endurance race will have many trials to push you to your full potential! The good news is that after you complete your painful journey, there will be live music and a catered meal to soothe your aching joints. Top 3 Male and Female finishers at each Super Spartan race qualify for free entry into the death race.

Spartan Beast

Spartan Beast - 12+ MILES / 25+ OBSTACLES. An obstacle course race from hell. If you have done any race anywhere in the world: whether a mud run, fun run, olympic run, bike race, death march or any kind of event claiming to be the "toughest race on the planet" you will be happy to know that this is where it ends..THIS IS THE SPARTAN BEAST...Step up and get out of your comfort zone on our +16k beast of an obstacle course race; many will arrive, but few will leave!

Gretchen's CrossFit Open WOD 13.2

Gretchen did amazing in this second round of the Reebok CrossFit Open Games getting 315 reps in the 10 minutes alotted of the 13.2 WOD.

The WOD consisted of the following:

10 minute AMRAP of:
5 Shoulder to overhead, 75 lbs
10 Deadlift, 75 lbs
15 Box jump, 20 inch

Here is the video:

Miami Spartan Race 2013

Ahhhhh, Miami in the winter. Mid 80 degree temps, white sandy beaches, and turquoise blue water. Then the SPARTANS invaded South Florida turning Oleta River State Park into a wet and muddy Spartan Super complete with scantily clad women and bare chested men.

Gretchen and I flew from freezing cold Philadelphia into warm, bright and sunny Fort Lauderdale on Friday morning. Since we couldn't check in to our hotel until later that day we decided to take a quick peek at the race venue. With the usual white tents, red shirted volunteers, and Spartan Race signs everywhere, there wasn't a lot to see. We soon met up with Spartan superstars Andi Hardy and Jeffrey Bent and went to the beach by their hotel for some pre-race R&R.  After some planking, sandy headstands and slight sunburns we made our way to our own hotel for a restless night before the race. 

Morning came quickly and we met up with the usual suspects at the starting line minus a few and plus some new. Junyoung Pak, Shawn Feiok, Elliot Megquire, and David Magida were lined up elbow to elbow ready to go for the mens heat.  The Saturday race was now split into Elite men starting at 8am, followed by the Elite women at 8:20. This meant that Gretchen and I wouldn't be running together, but we were fine with that. We usually end up running together for a short time before she leaves me in the dust anyway. I think that Spartan Race split the genders for all elite races now to make the points and scoring a bit easier.

The first half of the 8+ mile race was fairly normal. Three foot walls to scramble over followed by a short water crossing. Next was a longer water crossing where we were instructed to stay waist deep. After the second water crossing there were some over under and through walls to scramble by. Next came some twisting and turning longer runs through overgrown brush where we were eventually routed towards the main road of the park and the first water stop at two miles. After the water was another decent run into the next obstacle of the monkey bars. This is where I saw the first person doing penalty burpees after slipping off the wet bars. Next we made our way to a longer water crossing in deeper water – thankfully no alligators were around. Here you had the option of swimming or pulling yourself across using buoyed ropes. I always find using the ropes requires less energy and is just as quick. Next came the longer running portion of the race. We ran through the woods on mountain bike trails that twisted and turned for a few miles. There were a few rolling mud pits thrown in the mix with a fire hose of water being sprayed at the competitors – it was definitely refreshing on a hot and humid day. There was also the cargo net climb and traverse with the middle section above the road below – could be scary for some. At the four mile mark, we encountered our second aid station. This was also the part of the race that split up some of the faster runners and confused a lot of people.

I never actually saw the fire, but from all the reports after the race, there was a portion of the course in the woods that was burning. From what I was told, some runners ran right through the area thinking this was a part of the race. Once the officials realized this was happening, the race directors had to quickly reroute any runners coming up that portion of the course which cut out at least a mile of twists and turns through the woods.  I was just a few minutes behind the faster runners in the lead and had no idea this was going on. When I got to the tractor pull (a cinderblock attached to a 4’ length of chain) I was surprised at how short a distance we had to pull it. Because this race was in Miami, the course was extremely flat – easily the flattest Spartan Race I’d ever run, so the pull did not seem very difficult. We were then directed to the sandbag carry just a few hundred meters down from the tractor pull. I realized something was wrong when I saw Shawn Feiok and Pak emerge from the woods and directed to the tractor pull behind me. There is no WAY I am faster than those guys. It wasn't until after the race that we figured out what had happened. The early runners went through the woods and the later runners were directed to a shorter course making the faster runners appear behind them once they emerged from the woods.

I kept going to the atlas carry/burpee station – a heavy stone you have to carry about 10 yards, put down and do 5 burpees then bring back to the other side. Next were the tire flips followed by the 8 foot walls and a longer stretch of running. We were directed to a bridge embankment near the entrance of the park where we traversed down a 30 foot decline using a rope (a new and pretty cool obstacle) where we had to fill a weighted bucket with water 3 times from a stream below and dump it into a trash can then dump back into the stream. After that we climbed the other side of the embankment with a rope and made our way towards the final stretch of the race and the last set of obstacles. At this point the sun was baking and I was glad to have my Geigerrig filled with water and electrolytes. The last set of obstacles was the rope climb, traverse wall, muddy stretch barbed wire crawl, slippery climb over the triangular wall and the gladiator pit. I was pretty disappointed that there was no tyrolean traverse, spear throw, or fire jump (controlled fire jump). From what I was told, Florida does not allow spears or controlled fires – bummer.

David Magida crossed the finish line first followed by Elliot Megquire. This was David’s first win in a Spartan race and I was happy for him. Unfortunately both David and Elliot were DQ’d after the race officials figured out what had happened with the fire splitting up the elite men. The elite women were not affected by the fire since the course had already been rerouted and they were all running the same distance. There was a meeting on Sunday with the Spartan officials and some of the Spartan 300 members, and it was decided that no points would be awarded for the Saturday Elite race due to the fire. The race will still count towards a Spartan trifecta (running a sprint, super, and beast in the same year), but the Elite points for the race were nullified.

Gretchen and I reran the race on Sunday and the course was definitely longer by at least 1.5 miles. Both of our times on Sunday were approximately 20 minutes longer than the day before. Gretchen took an impressive 4th place on Sunday. All in all, I am glad we raced in Miami, but compared to a lot of the Spartan races around the country this seemed somewhat lacking. 

Bad Boyz of Obstacle Racing

Spartan Race released a "Girls of Spartan Race" calendar at the end of last year for the 2013 season. I was asked by Kevin "Mudman" LaPlatney (owner of CrossFit Platoon and incredible obstacle racer), if I'd be interested in posing in a spoof-style men's calendar. How could I say no?! After nagging Gretchen for a couple of days to take the photo, she finally relented. I wore part of my Spartan Halloween costume, grabbed her 1st place sword and climbed the rope in our yard for the photo-op. I tried to make it quick before the neighbors started asking questions. I probably would have had a little more fun with it if I did it again - some of the guys in the calendar had a LOT of fun with it. Good stuff. Here is the press release and the images from the calendar. The full "Bad Boyz of OCR" calendar can be downloaded here.

Press Release
January 13, 2012
From: The Unholy Trio of OCR
A few weeks ago Spartan Race released their Spartan Chicks calendar. It was well received but their was a clamoring that could be heard from every corner of North America. "When can we see some hot men in Obstacle Course Racing situations?" Thanks to the magic of the Facebook messaging, The Unholy Trio of OCR (Kevin "Mudman" LaPlatney", Damion from Mudrunfun, and Matt B. Davis) answered the call quickly. They reached out to every hunky man they could find and 14 brave souls put their humility aside and posed for this calendar.

We hope you spend the year enjoying the views as you use this calendar to keep track of all of your training and racing.