This past weekend was the Beast/Sprint weekend in Ohio. It was held on The Wilds safari park and conservation center. After doing Beast races in NJ and at Killington, I wasn’t sure what to expect from Ohio.

Mud. Lots of it! Mount Vernon was muddy as well but this was a wet, sloppy mud. It was so slick, at some points it felt more slippery than the ice at Greek Peak! It was actually kinda comical to watch people try to run in it. They would run really fast, but get nowhere, and a few people fell pretty hard. Luckily no one got hurt that I saw.

Anyway, this race was pretty good for spectators. The main festival area had about 7 obstacles very close to it, so there was lots to watch.

Prior to the race, the weather report wasn’t very promising. They were predicting rain and thunderstorms Saturday and Sunday. That woulda been a huge bummer, since thunderstorms woulda canceled the races. Luckily, that didn’t happen.

I was scheduled to race at 8:15 Saturday morning, so we were up pretty early. Got to the site, and it was actually pretty cool out. There was also some fog in the area. But after some stretching and a warm up, I was ready to race.

Started running and because of how flat it was, most of the corral was still pretty close together. Couple walls, and hay bales. Under the under walls, and now we’re muddy! This would be the theme of the day.

More running, more high stepping in the mud. Was actually pretty thick, and I didn’t want to lose a shoe. Plate drag wasn’t bad, I was actually able to do it while standing up. That was something I couldn’t do last year at all. Used to take me forever to get through that obstacle. So after getting through that pretty quickly, I was feeling really good and strong so far!

Climbed the stairway, then we were back in the festival area. Tyro Traverse up first. No issues with that. Rope climb followed. Got my gloves on, took my time, and powered up it. All arms. Still practicing using my legs, but my arms felt good, so I just climbed up as fast as I could. Herc Hoist followed. If you’ve read my previous posts, this obstacle has been a big failure for me at previous races. But today I made sure to plant my shoe in a solid piece of the fence to get a good base, and I was able to get the knot up to the top very quickly. Lowered it down very slowly, as there was no way I was doing burpees after all that!

Sandbag carry next. Double sandbags. Lifted it up onto the right shoulder, then kinda bent my head down so I could push half of it onto the other shoulder. The carry was actually pretty short, just a quick loop around. Wasn’t expecting that at all.

A very wet and slippery Slip Walls followed. Grab the rope and pulled myself up. Took my time getting down the other side because the wood was caked in mud. Bucket Brigade loomed ahead, my nemesis. But again, this carry was very very short, not that I was complaining!

Burpee maker aka the spear throw. Took my time, but I still missed it. First penalty burpees of the day. After that, Atlas Carry. Arms were pretty wore out, so of course a grip strength obstacle was after that, Twister. Got about halfway through, then I slipped off. Huge bummer. More burpees.

I was running on a pretty flat part of the terrain, and all of a sudden my right leg cramped up hardcore. In all the races I’ve done, that has never happened before. I dropped to the ground pretty quickly. Stretched it out a little, then I stood up on it.  Still hurt but walking helped to make the pain go away. Felt tentative about running.

Up and down some more muddy hills, then the Inverted walls. Very slick and covered in mud. Almost slipped trying to pull myself over. Got down the other side, then onto the Z Wall. Tried to find the dryest wall, but they all seemed to have a lot of mud on the foot holds. Got to the last wall and then slipped off. First time I’ve failed that obstacle. Ugh!!

Another cramp after that. This time the left calf. Not sure if it was something lacking in my diet this week that caused this, but I was able to walk it off fairly quickly.

Dunk wall was after that. The walls was actually lower then previous races. Had to get down and dirty in that mud. Climbed the A-Frame, then came up to the last 2 obstacles. Got set on the multi rig, transitioned from the rings to the bar, and slipped right off. Was really disappointed with that, since the multi rig is usually my strong suit. Did my burpees, then got ready for Olympus. Had a good plan for my technique. Was going to keep my legs up high so my arms weren’t holding up all of my body weight. Didn’t feel very confident after my failures earlier in the race. But the volunteers were pretty encouraging and were actually clapping for us. So I started on the obstacle. I figured if I stuck to using only the handholds and holes, I would be able to keep myself up. Made sure I didn’t stay in one spot too long, wanted to get through it quickly before my grip strength gave out. Was able to keep my legs up, and get myself to the other side, and kill that bell! That felt awesome and was a great way to finish that race!

Finished in 3:49. My fastest Beast time. There was barely any elevation in this race. Very flat grounds with mostly rolling hills. It wasn’t easy, but definitely a different race  then the Mount Vernon Beasts. The very short carries and lack of any steep hill climbs made for a really quick course!

The Sprint on Sunday was a shorter version of the same. It rained the night before so the course was even muddier then before, something I didn’t think was possible. Plus it started raining about halfway through the race. My arms were exhausted after Saturday, so sunday was a burpee festival. Failed 5 obstacles. So that was 270 penalty burpees in total this weekend. My endurance is something I’m going to continue to work on. The back to back races were a true test for me. Had a great time though and looking forward to my next race, the super in Virginia!

3 Sprints and 3 Beasts down so far in 2017!

Thanks as always for reading. Any questions or comments feel free to message me! AROO!! 🤡👍🏽👍🏽