A Review: RUNNING THE 8.5 MILE SPARTAN SUPER AT 58...December 10, 2016 Florida Cracker Ranch

At last...
A Spartan Race. 
After 4 years of OCR running, including one missed Spartan Race due to an eye injury three years ago, and one delayed Spartan Race due to a change of venue ... I finally got to run one.
And of course, I jumped over the 4 mile Spartan Sprint and right into the 8.5 mile Spartan Super.

The race is done and this is my review.
My comments are based on over 30 OCR runs, starting in 2012 with the now defunct Superhero Scramble.
Some of those early "mudruns" have not survived in the survival of the fittest OCR organizations food web.
Spartan Race prospered during those shake out ... natural selection years, and is now one of the big dogs.
With Reebok as a sponsor and Spartan races on TV, the Spartan organization has risen to the top of the food web.
And finally, I got to be a Spartan at the Florida Cracker Ranch near Bunnell, Florida.

I love watching the Spartan Races on TV, so I was eager to see what the bucket of gravel felt like.

Not surprisingly it felt like Earth's gravity had multiplied to Jovian levels. The trek toting the gravel laden bucket was plenty long ... like talking to yourself at the end, "I WILL NOT SET THIS BUCKET DOWN", long.

I did not.

But ... and this is a HUGE "but", at least it wasn't uphill like in other states.

Too flat for that silliness here in Florida.

Not really an obstacle, but hey, it's a free picture.

Most of my OCR photo-memories are POV GoPro shots, so I am always happy for a shot taken from somewhere besides my head.

THE OBSTACLES:

The Spartan obstacles were good. I liked the variety and the spacing was well done. True confession, I do OCR for the "O" ... obstacles. I love them. Give me things to climb on, pull up,  jump over, and carry.

Running ... meh, it's an inconvenient truth.

At 58, when I get tired of running, I speed walk at a very fast, steady pace, conserving energy for the next challenging obstacle.
For me, each OCR run is all about the obstacles. My goal is to beat each one and I care not a bit about my overall time.

I never skip an obstacle either.

Like most OCR's, Spartan jams some of the best obstacles near the finish line so spectators have something to see.

The Spartan monkey bars were staggered with one high and one low, but not extremely difficult.

My reference here is the Savage Race obstacle called Sawtooth.

It is the most beautifully challenging monkey bar of any race in my opinion.

I would make the Spartan ones longer, but keep the up,down, up, down pattern, that was good.

That's a happy grimace.

Every race seems to have a platinum rig near the end now and these seem to have a high failure rate ... or is it just me?

No pictures of that, but Google it and you will see some variation of it.

The barbed wire crawl was insane. That was the lowest and longest barb wire crawl I have ever done in an OCR. I thought I would be there forever, rolling, and rolling, and rolling.

The Spartan rope climb was near the end of the race and it was a really good one.

The rope was long... (20 feet?) ... with no knots. Knotless rope climbs used to intimidate me, but not anymore.

Once I learned the Navy Seal foot lock, a knotless rope became ... still challenging ... but no longer a thing to fail at.

The Spartan obstacles were challenging over all with a nice mix of difficulty levels.

VOLUNTEERS:

They were great. 

Helpful, friendly, and plenty of them.

WATER STATIONS: 

Way more than I expected from the website. I think there must have been one about every 2 miles... and one of them had high carb/protein refuel food.
Nice.

BAG CHECK:

A reasonable $5.

Nice.

SHIRT, MEDALS, BLING, BEER:

All fine ... the one free beer was a Michelobe Ultra ... kind of like drinking beer flavored air ... but beer should not be the highlight or goal of your obstacle runs.

The finisher medal is primo!

PARKING, Etc:

Okay, now here is where there is room for improvement, but to be fair, this was a new venue for Spartan, Inc., so we accept some WTH things in this category.

Case in point, Unless you paid for some pretty limited VIP type parking, you had to park FAR, FAR AWAY from the starting area.

AND ... you had to walk a really long way just to get to the bus area to board a bus for the race start/registration area.

Spartan is new to this venue, but the FLROC obstacle course used it for years. I did that run about 6 times.

FLROC parked us in the same area as Spartan, (In a vast field next to a pretty lake), but they set up their race HQ right next to the lake.

This gave everyone a short walk to the registration and start/finish area, plus the lake beach provided an awesome rinse off station post race.

For some reason, Spartan parked us there, had us walk a quarter mile to a bus pick up, and then ride school buses through the woods on twisty, narrow, dirt roads.

This plan came back to haunt them (and us) when after the race, a bus got stuck on the dirt roads, effectively blocking the other buses.

We waited in an ever growing line of tired and dirty finished racers for about 45 minutes while the hard working Spartan crew wrangled tractors to pull the stuck bus out.
Once the lead bus was unstuck, the others followed and we got moving again pretty quickly.

Of course,  they still dropped us off at the original bus pick up site far from most of our cars, so we got to do the quarter mile hike back to our vehicles.

I'm pretty sure I put in close to 10 miles that day, not just the 8.5 race miles.

Conclusion:

Overall, it was a great OCR course and I really enjoyed the experience.
Based on just this one Spartan Race and many Savage Races, I think Savage has them beat for numbers of obstacles and obstacle innovation. 

This Spartan Super was a REALLY good time though.

Were it not for the little transportation issues, I would have given it an A+.

Just like I tell my students ... and myself, there is always room for improvement.

I'm looking forward to more Florida Spartans in 2017!

Video:

Check out the add below to learn more about the new season passes that Spartan Race has come out with.
Sounds like a deal if you love the Spartan Life!!

My 2016 Obstacle Course Race Schedule ... So Far

It's the start of my 4th year of OCR, Mudruns, ...whatever you choose to call them.
It all started with a Groupon back in 2012 for the now defunct Super Hero Scramble. I was immediately hooked.

(note: this was written while battling a cold last week)
Today, I'm home from work with a miserable cold, staring wistfully out the window at my climbing rope and pull up station and thinking I should at least do a round of P90X in the living room.
It's only a cold after all.

The OCR schedule so far looks like this:

• February 6 = The Play Dirty Adventure Run in Largo, FL
• March 12 = BattleFrog in Tampa, FL
• March 19 = Savage Race in Dade City,FL.
• May 7 =   FLROC in Bunnell, FL
• December 10 = (drum roll please) Jacksonville-Palm Coast Super Spartan ... at last, a Spartan. I am really excited about this one since it is a Spartan Race and the venue is the fantastic Florida Cracker Ranch in Flagler county.

So, that's 5 new T-shirts, 5 new finisher medals, 5 new GoPro videos, and an unknown number of scrapes and bruises.

Hopefully other races may come along between May and December, but currently this is it. 

Based on past history, I'll probably do the Fall Savage Race too.

If you haven't tried an OCR and you are trying to get fit, they are awesome motivation to "just keep pushing play" on your home workout program, whether it's Insanity, PiYo, P90X, or some other plan.

Works for me anyway ... I'm pretty sure I'm stronger at 58 than I was at 28.

Keep moving my friends.

FL ROC OBSTACLE RUN MAY 2015 ... "Not this time RINGS, NOT this time ..."

This year's FL ROC team: Me, Emma, Raymie

I had such a good time with my babies.

Last year, when I got to the rings obstacle during the FL ROC mud run, I accidentally turned my GoPro camera OFF instead of  ON.
So of course I did them flawlessly... there's just no evidence of that.
Frustrating.

The rings have proven to be my nemesis on mudruns, defeating me about 50% of the time. 

This drives me bonkers, because I can defeat the worst obstacles on the course and then have my butt handed to me by a half dozen dangling circles.

You see, the rings aren't just about strength, they are about technique ... swinging technique.

This year,as we jogged up to the rings,  I double checked the GoPro for the little red light that says, "Go ahead, do something, I'm watching".

It was on.

This year I have proof that I can swing like a Bonobo.

Check out the mid-swing thumbs up near the last ring.
Also, take a look at how Raymie tosses technique to the wind and uses his super-human strength to just power through the rings...mostly without swinging.

What a fun day and an awesome course.

What To Take To A Mudrun

Why reinvent the wheel?

I did my first "mud run obstacle course" (OCR's) in July of 2012.
It was the Superhero Scramble in Waldo, Florida and I went in clueless.

Since then, I've done over a dozen of these OCR events and I've learned a few things about both the obstacles and the aftermath.

This post is just an FYI of what I take and how I deal with the after race cleanup.
Since none of the OCR's in Florida happen in my isolated rural county, I always have a long drive to a run. The usual drive is about 2 hours.
I tell you that, so you can see why I do what follows.
 I realize that if the race is a few miles from your home, there would not be a huge need for my procedures.

Here are my suggestions:

Bring some post race chow and hydration. You just ran 3 to 8 miles and climbed through and over 25 obstacles. Time to refuel. Bring at least enough to get you back to civilization and the nearest Chipotles!!
NOM.

Bring a complete change of clothes.
Don't forget dry shoes!

Changing can get pretty interesting after a race. You can clean up while still wearing your muddy togs, but at some point you have to get "nekkid" if you are changing into clean clothes for a long ride home.

People handle that in lots of ways. Some groups hold a tarp around each other, others have a little tent, many drape a few towels over the car windows and do a 
quick "change-a-roo" in the car... my personal favorite.

Rarely are there changing tents and the only one I ever used was wide open inside with one flimsy hanging partition separating male and female areas.

Dry clothes! 

They feel so good after being wet and muddy for an hour or two.

This type of "all in one" body wash product is great for mudrun cleanup.
The bottles of water in the first picture of this post are for the post run clean up.
Ideally, you rinse off the easy stuff at the race rinse station (often crowded and with low pressure hoses), and then you use the jugs of water to clean up at your vehicle.
Take off as much muddy clothing as you can... don't get arrested... and use the water efficiently to get clean.
I like a couple of gallons per person.

It's amazing how much better you feel after washing the bugs, sticks, and mud off your battered body and mane.

If you wear contacts like me, bring your saline.
Actually, it's a good idea even if you don't wear contacts.
It works great for rinsing dirt or grit out of your eyes after a run.

Bring sunscreen for the run too.
You will be out in the open for a few hours and in Florida, that's all it takes to get fried.

My list for the run and post run goes something like this:

• GoPro -charged with fresh memory card.
• GoPro - head mount.
• Extra safety pins for your bibb. 
• Running shoes
• Running clothes - shorts, shirt, socks (avoid regular t-shirts and shorts - they just get soggy and heavy  - go snug and dri-fit materials.
• Change of clothes for afterwards, don't forget fresh shoes!
• Soft soap
• Beach towel
• Scrubbie thingie
• Hair brush
• Pre and Post race snacks, I like Zone Perfect bars for pre-race, washed down with a sport drink. 
• GU Roctane gel or Chomps or both to stuff in your shorts and refuel mid race. Great stuff.
• Sunscreen
• Cash for parking ... usually $10.
• Bring cash if you plan to buy any goodies or a beer beyond the free one you will earn.
• Your signed "I know I may die" race waiver form.
• Your ID.
• Gloves ... I like Gorilla Gloves, thin, snuggy/stretchy, grippy and only about $5 a pair. These really help gripping wet muddy bars when you climb.
• Know your bibb number ahead of time for a quick registration.
• Team spirit and happy attitude. Even if you are running alone, help other folks and ask for help if you need it.

Things to leave at home:

1. Your dog.
2. Booze of any kind.
3. Bad attitudes.

I'm posting this April 30, 2015, so I'll be looking for you at the FL-ROC run this Saturday, May 2nd, in beautiful Bunnell, Florida and also a week later at the Rugged Maniac Race on May 9th, in Dade City.

Let's get muddy!

MUDRUN ALERT! FL-ROC DISCOUNT CODE GOOD THROUGH THIS SUNDAY!

 

These balance beams wiggle when you get to the middle and they were eating people up as evidenced by the folks in front of me and the splashes you hear as I cross.
Really challenging ... At one point, I was standing on my right leg only with my left one up, arms extended, trying to balance as the beam turned to jello.
Pretty sure I looked like the Karate Kid at that moment, but in the end, I kicked the beam's butt!




The Tough Wall ...
There are 2 options at this obstacle, which consists of two vertical walls ... 8 feet high.
One has some 2x4 cleats nailed to it to provide some toe and finger grips.
The other, has one 2X4 at the very bottom, and then it's a sheer wall.
I did the tougher option and had the arm bruise to prove it afterwards, but this obstacle did not defeat me either ... unlike the obstacle nemesis from Hell ... the Rings.
(Yes, I have video of my failure also ... on YouTube.)

The FL-ROC run just keeps getting better with new obstacles every year. Right now through Sunday (April 20,2014) you can register for just $39.00 base price.

Use the discount code, "ROC39" to save big.

With the mandatory insurance, the total will come out to around $42.90.

The price will just keep rising as Summer comes and then fades into October. Buy it now if you think this sounds like fun.

I am running the 10:00 am wave, so come on! Let's run together!
 

FLORIDA MUD TITAN VIDEO AND CRITIQUE

Here are some video clips from the MUD TITAN run that Emma and I did on December 7th. It was a fun run, especially with my daughter Emma along, but it definitely lost points in some areas.

PRO:

• The staff were friendly and efficient.
• The obstacles were frequent and fun. It was a mix of fun, moderate, and a few pretty challenging obstacles. 3 slides was a nice touch!

CON:

• T-Shirts, which are usually part of the deal, were only available for sale.
• At the end of the race, tradition says there's one free beer awaiting your return. Not here!
• The rinse station was apparently very good for those in the early waves, since Emma and I passed very clean runners who had completed the course as we walked up to register. We ran in an 11:30 wave. At the end of our wave, the rinse station was out of water pressure and only one hose was working as people stood around awaiting their turn. (I was glad I had packed 5 gallons of water and soft soap back in the JEEP, it saved the ride home)

 So, it was fun, but I won't drive 2 hours to do that one again.

Enjoy the clips!

NORTH FLORIDA RUGGED MANIAC PICTURES AND VIDEO

The North Florida Rugged Maniac Run was a crazy, fun, blast!

Plus, we got this awesome T-shirt !

Our Team:
Stuart and Francesco



Stuart, Me, and my cousin Rick (Stuart's Dad)
This is how we looked before the mud.

It was cold with a forecast that predicted possible snow flurries in North Florida.

We were not deterred.

Rugged Maniac was fun with some pretty creatively designed obstacles packed into the 5K run.
The final water slide was a good fast one, but you won't see it on the video below since yours truly fumbled the GoPro record button.

Take my word for it, the slide was tall and fast.

I did exercise some restraint in putting the video together this time.
The last one was 27 minutes long ... this one is only twelve.

Be kind to "shoe lady".
On the video as she goes by in another lane, she stops and asks me to "run her shoes over to the finish line".
Now, we were only at mile 2 of a 3.1 mile race so it seemed kind of odd and you can sense my perplexicity when she makes the request.

I'm not sure she realized how much race there was to go.

It was one more funny moment in a day full of fun.

Be patient in the dark tunnel.
I didn't edit it, because I wanted you to experience how long that dark void was.

The outdoor showers in 60 degree weather with a brisk wind were chilly, but the water was 72 degree well water, so it actually felt pretty good.

As soon as the hose shower was over, it was ice cube city!!

See you at the next mud run!!

Enjoy the video!



THE RUGGED MANIAC OBSTACLE RACE IS SATURDAY!

Tomorrow is THE RUGGED MANIAC 5K OBSTACLE COURSE MUD RUN!

WOOHOO!

From the Rugged Maniac website:

"Ready to be challenged? Our courses feature at least twenty obstacles constructed by an experienced crew of licensed contractors. These aren’t the pop-up kiddie obstacles you’ll see at other races. You’ll climb over walls up to 20’ high, slide down a 100’ water slide, jump over fire, crawl through tunnels of mud and face a host of other challenges all while running through a combination of forests, fields, motocross tracks and ski slopes! "

Ski slopes?

Whatever ... I'm pumped for this one. It's at the same site in Waldo (Where's Waldo?) that hosted last summer's SuperHero Scramble.

I'll be part of a smaller group than our last Mud Crusade run in December, but this should be a more challenging obstacle course than Mud Crusade.

I'm signed up for an 8 MILE SUPERHERO SCRAMBLE INTIMIDATOR  (25 + obstacles)run in May.

What was I thinking?

I'm using it's looming presence as a motivator to actually train instead of just showing up for these things ... "as is".

Time to reP90x, actually run on a schedule, and build an outdoor pull up station.

Does walking two labradors count as running ,,, 'cause sometimes it feels that way.

If you are so inclined, there is a 5k SuperHero Scramble in November (16th) that has great early registration prices that will go up as time goes by.

I'm in for that one too.

I will wear the GoPro as usual on Saturday, so expect some sort of video after the race.

I won't make it so long this time!

Just the highlights FC, just the highlights.

I hear ya.

SURVIVOR MUD RUN AT BUNNELL, FLORIDA 2012

Finally, the Seafood Festival is over and I don't have to go home and make clam chowder every night of the week!

Being free of that responsibility allowed me to stitch together a video showing some of the obstacles (and the cow poop) I encountered during the run.

The first two and last two scenes are in order, but as far as the other obstacles, I did not attempt to put them in the actual order in which they were encountered.

My thoughts on the "SURVIVOR MUD RUN":

• First, it was fun and I did enjoy it. I loved that it wasn't too far from my parent's home so I could take a shower there and visit awhile.
• I guess Mud Runs come in all shapes and sizes, but I would pump up the challenge level on this one as a way to improve it. Lots of sloggy mud ... and they DID call it a "Mud Run", so I expected that, but the actual obstacles were pretty mild.
• The biggest negative thing at this race was an abundance of fresh cow manure along the trail and even floating in the mud obstacles ... eeuuuu.  As a biology instructor, the potential for infection when people are splatting, crawling, face planting, slipping, slurping, and splashing in fecal contaminated mud kinda' bothers me.
• The check in and registration, etc seemed well organized and went smoothly.
• I give it a C.  I could have gone with a B minus, but for the abundance of cow poop.

Here is the video with my muddy critique at the end. Sorry for the sound on parts of the Jeep Critique final segment, a stiff breeze had sprung up during the race.

My next run is December 8 in Jacksonvillle and finally, I will not be going alone. We have a crew running together so that should be a lot of fun with more exciting video possibilities.

I also signed up for the Rugged Maniac race in February (16th) 2012 at Waldo, Florida.

Junior ran the Xtreme Mud Warrior obstacle race last Saturday and finished in less than 26 minutes!!!!
WHAT THE HELL?
I couldn't run a 5K race WITHOUT obstacles in that time.
I am in awe of my baby boy.

Here's the video: