Dear Spartan Race

Dear Spartan,

Tomorrow is race day. I'm in the 11:45 heat with my dear friend Julia. There is no way I could do it without her. I got up early today so that I can get to sleep early tonight. It's a 2 and a 1/2 hour drive to even get to the race venue. I totally didn't realize it was so far away when I registered or I may not have registered. Actually, I never would have registered if I hadn't been given a free race entry. Running (doing?) a Spartan Race was never on my list until I was presented with the opportunity.

Watching the promo video terrified me. I knew for days about this opportunity before telling the husband about it. He encouraged me to register. I started to register and saw that there was a $14 insurance fee. WHAT?!?!?! Do that many people get hurt that they need an insurance fee. Isn't a waiver enough. Oy! That did not help to calm my nerves. Thankfully the husband was there to calm me down. He reminded me that the last 4 years have been about doing the impossible. About pushing beyond my right now to something more awesome, to do what I don't think I can do.

I registered once someone committed to doing it with me. She needed to back out and once again I spiraled. Can.NOT.do.this.alone. A quick text to a friend, several conversations back and forth, and she was in. Alright, back in business.

My upper body is not as strong as I'd like it to be. The monkey bars scare me. The rope climb scares me. I don't want to get hurt on the trench crawl under barbed wire. Not going to lie, I'm scared. Here's the good news- it's a good kind of scared. A scared that pushes me to sign up for 1/2 marathons, to take a new class at the gym, to stop drinking diet coke even though I loveeeee it. Not finishing an obstacle=30 burpees. I tried to do 30 burpess that other day at the end of my liftiing session and could not do it, BUT I can do 3 sets of 10 burpees.


I've spent weeks reading Spartan Sprint recaps online. They don't paint a pretty picture about the course, but they always end with something like, "it was the most amazing experience of my life". Maybe that's why the website says, "You will know at the finish line".

It will probably take hours.
You will not beat me.
I will see you at the finish line.

~Kari