Spartan Race Atlanta 2015...Another Pure Mud-Fest - Race Review

I have to admit, I'm a bit behind on my posting.  I was unexpectedly at the OCR World Championships last week...an absolute eye-opening experience...and now need to get back on schedule.  The Spartan Race Atlanta, like the Savage Race two weeks before, was an absolute mud mess!  Late in the build week, the rains had stopped and the venue was just starting to drain and dry up some.  But of course, Saturday morning came and so did the thunderstorms...again.

Hearing the thunder early Saturday, I decided to sleep in a bit, feeling that the early heats would be postponed and oh....it was raining again, for the second race in a row.  I realize that makes no sense, given that I'm going to be wet and muddy anyway.  But I do like to arrive and leave relatively dry...if not clean.  Sooner than later though, I got my lazy, broken ass up to get to the venue.  Having checked the weather, I saw that there might be a break in the rain mid morning, so my plan was to get off by 10am or so...hopefully missing at least some of the rain.

Arriving at the Durhamtown Resort, the race site, it didn't take long to see the impact of the morning's rain.  Mud!  And where there was no mud, there were puddles...covering more mud.  Joy....  After checking my bag...and praying that we built the bag check racks securely as the ground below was nothing but puddles...I headed to the start corral as quickly as possible.  In just a few minutes we were off and about 20 yards into the race we hit mud.  Slick, red clay that would be the norm for the next 8 or 9 miles.  Another day of slip and slide.

Given the conditions, there was not a whole lot of running going on that day.  For me, that just evened things up since my injuries really kept me from doing much more than a quick walk.  In fact, the only place I can remember not having mud was at the fire jump, where they deliberately put down gravel.  A good thing too as they built themselves a nice size fire to hop over at the end.  Unfortunately, this was only about 30 feet from the finish line.  Surprisingly though, there were a number of places where the mud wasn't slick but was more of a sticky, solid mud.

Most of this sticky mud was on the carries...take pleasure in the little things!  One of the two log carries and the sandbag carry were on what looked like dirt bike race tracks.  So I suppose they use a different mix of soil on those which made for much better footing than expected,  We weren't so fortunate on the long bucket carry though or the first log carry.  Slogging and slipping throughout.  And the atlas carry?  Splashing through puddled grass and mud made me think of pointless punishment in some ancient prison camp....I can't imagine why.

I also did a 'double take' at the second log carry.  Deja-vu hit me and because of a small trail marking mishap, I swore I'd done this already...even though the terrain was a bit different.  My mind was probably rebelling over having to carry another log!  Once again, thanks be given for small gifts.  This log carry and later on, the uphill barbed wire crawl were the same sort of sticky mud on the dirt bike tracks.  Now I'm not saying it was a joy, but by digging your elbows in slightly you could make pretty good time rolling.  And there must have been a lot of newbies on the course that race too.  Very few were doing the roll and there was a lot...I mean a lot...of groaning and slow, slow body dragging that day.  You know you're doing something wrong when an old man rolls by you on the barbed wire!

There were, of course, many of the usual suspects in terms of obstacles.  Various walls to get over, including the 7' and 8' varieties.  Along with the over, under, through wall series.  And as I approached the 8' wall, Taylor Cuevas, one of the build foreman, gave a shout to the crowd from his cart to "get that guy over the wall".  Which I took exception to immediately...mostly because there was no way I could do that wall without help.  Then there were the rig and monkey bars.  Rain and mud were a factor here too...although I still wasn't ready to test my arm on those.

Then there were the cargo and vertical cargo nets...made more challenging from the mud that was on everything.  Including the climbing ropes!  I had tried out the rope climb in the festival area before heading out and felt, despite my shoulder being only about 50-60%, I could 'technique' my way up.  We'll, in spite of the fact that there was no water pit below, the ropes proved to be the new 'rig' that day.  In all the time I watched...before, during and after my race...I don't think I saw more than a handful of people make it up.  There was just no way to get a grip on the rope with all the mud on it.  Iron grip...gloves...handfuls of straw...nothing seemed to work.  Oh well...there's always next time...

All in all, I enjoyed this race and liked the rolling terrain.  Mud levels the playing field for me!  I also enjoyed running into (no pun intended) several racers I had met at the Asheville Super...Brian, Molly and Shana...still out there doing what they do.  Helping others through the course and doing something they never thought they could.  Props to you guys!!  And also seeing Heather the super-photography.  One of the best photographers you'll find out there and certainly the most enthusiastic.  And also seeing my former Spartan crew leaders Steve Oh' and Tracy.  Steve as always, roaming the course in his ATV.  Tracy, in what looked like more than half a hazmat suit...a smart move that day...was doing her thing in the festival area.  I did not envy her this day...but enjoyed running into her again.

Besides the rain, there was another water related issue that day however...the showers stopped!!  Unfortunately, so had the rain and we were covered in mud...and slogging through mud everywhere.  Not sure what the problem was exactly, but there was certainly grumbling and the feeling of "Woodstock" got much stronger looking around at mud covered people sitting in every relatively dry spot within sight.  When the water did come back on...and I'm sure it wasn't off as long as it felt to us...they went to rationing.  Sounds like that would suck, but as I thought about it, they really should institute that as a regular process for the showers.  We all have our plastic bags to carry the wet clothes in and there really is no need (guilty as charged) to clean them off at the showers. So bringing in groups of racers for 2-3 minutes of rinsing is more than enough time to get respectable...if not actually clean.  Just saying....

One more thing...which happened after the race.  In fact it happened at the campsite later that day.  Something that seems to happen more and more in my personal experience.  When I got back to my site, there were a few young guys next door.  When I asked if they minded me rinsing off my race clothes...they were within the potential splash zone...I found out that they had run the race as well.  Three college students from AL...Travis, Jacob and Kyle...two of whom had run this race for the first time.  One thing led to another and before I knew it I was treated to steak, beer, a roaring (think: thank god the woods were still wet) fire and some great company and conversation.  Mostly about obstacle course racing (OCR), different races and college football (very quietly about college football as we were surrounded by GA Bulldog flags and they had just lost!).  Just another example of the impact OCR has...both on and off the course.  A pleasure meeting them and a big thank you for sharing their dinner with me!!

Related Links:

Spartan Race Build - Atlanta 2015 - The Land of Mud…and Ants

My Journey to the Center of the (OCR) World - OCR World Championships 2015

Durhamtown Off Road Resort

Spartan Race at Asheville, NC 2015 - Race Review - Best of the Old and the New

Spartan Race Build - Atlanta 2015 - The Land of Mud…and Ants

Wintergreen, VA was the land of groundhogs…Asheville, NC was the land of giant granite quarry blocks…and apparently Union Point, GA is the land of ants!  Don’t get me wrong, the venue…Durhamtown Plantation Resort, another ATV Park…is a beautiful venue with rolling hills and lots of mud.  But there are ant hills everywhere…and not just at the venue…everywhere you drive you see these ant mounds popping up.  Thinking about it, that might also account for the giant ‘daddy long-leg’ spiders all over my tent this morning.  Since spiders eat ants…right??  Well, you need to pick up the pace a bit guys, because you are losing this battle!

"Half-dome"

I bring up the ants so that racers can be prepared with basic 'ant safety' procedures in case of accidental contact (or intentional I guess if you’re an idiot).  So, in the event that you do face-plant into an ant pile during the course of the race (or at festival after a beer of two), follow these two simple steps.  One…jump up screaming and running in circles.  This will draw attention to you and will bring medical personnel or at least other racers to help.  Except those running for time…of course.  Two…run face first into the nearest  obstacle, or tree if an obstacle is unavailable.  This will render you unconscious and, more importantly, immobile and quiet so the meds and racers can attend to your ant problem unhindered by your panic.

Now, about the build!  For anyone following the weather in this area, there has been torrential rain for about a week before I got to the venue.  Bad news for everyone having to work it before I got there.  Even those of us coming in Wednesday were still greeted by the leftover mud…everywhere.  Just getting into the parking lot was a challenge in off-road driving…forget the volunteer tent.  It was going to be long day!

This particular build day was spent again in the festival area.  I’m not sure what sort of  attendance they’re expecting, but these festival areas just keep getting bigger and bigger.  Great for letting a crowd spread out a bit, not getting that claustrophobic or overcrowded feeling that might cause people to leave prematurely.  But not so great when you have to walk from end to end…seemingly all day.  I can’t be sure, but I believe they arrange for the materials we need to be dropped at the furthest point from where they need to be used.  Never mind the trucks…we’ve got volunteers to move it”.

We moved barricades and fences all over that place!   And I swear, the festival area must be at least 150 yards long…and we walked it endlessly.  We moved and put up barricade banners.  And we even set up the bag check area…again!  I must have ‘Bag Check Installer” on my forehead.  This is the fourth one I’ve set up and each one was different.  Who’d have thought  One thing though, I am now fully qualified to set up bag check on any venue…anywhere…let the phone calls begin!  And with all that barricade and fence moving, grip strength workout for the week (month?!)…done.

Thankfully, we had a nice size group of volunteers!!  As always, meeting and working with the other volunteers/racers is always a highlight.  John, Michael, Kevin…just to name a few.  And there were some newbies there too.  Of course, all the veterans offered their advice on prepping and helpful hints for racing, along with a rundown on the course and obstacles.  I’m not sure why, but those newbies may not be back Saturday….go figure.  And Chanel….after mulling it over, I don’t think you made a bad decision for the course.  In fact, I’m pretty sure you were set up.  They knew you would have to choose the tougher option (after all you are a Spartan!) and even if you hadn’t, they would have anyway.  See all (or most) of you guys on Saturday!

Which brings me to another thing I’ve noticed during my OCR travels.  Spartan Race (SR) volunteer crews are usually larger than most of the other races’ entire build crews!  This came in handy too, because we also ended up moving some tents.  And I don’t mean some 10x10 pop ups…I’m talking about the big ones, the 20x20 big-top monsters!  3” posts you can barely grab…and only one person can get each leg, as you stumble through the mud and dried out ruts to get it in just the right spot.  Then swinging that sledge to re-stake the tent?…that would have been a video worth watching…twice.  Luckily, we did all this late in the afternoon when we were pretty much shot already. 

Last…but definitely not least…I wanted to mention the Spartan crew leaders.  Seeing some of the crew from previous builds was great….Steve Oh’ (and hey, thanks for the sweet tea!), Drew, Taylor.  Wednesday though, I got to work with two different crew leaders.  Tracy Thayer was our initial leader and we worked with her for most of the day.  It takes special people to be able to work someone’s ass off, and still keep things from becoming oppressive.  Tracy is certainly one of those few and we were very fortunate to work with her!

So is Henry, the other crew leader we worked with that day.  Apparently we must have worked together at the Spartan Race demo in Times Square back in 2013.  Also, apparently, Henry is an aspiring stunt driver and feels four wheels is an extravagance and two is more than enough for driving in mud.  Although, to be perfectly clear, his driving with ‘us volunteers’ was utterly safe!

Even though I didn’t make it out to most of the course, from all reports it will be a good one.  The terrain is rolling hills, so it should not be the killer some other SR courses have been lately.  But there is a wild card in there.  Weather reports indicate a good chance of rain Saturday.  Given that…and the fact that the mud has barely dried from the last storm...if it rains, this is going to be another total mud-fest.  Call it Savage Atlanta Fall 2015 II….except it will be even worse, because it will be another three miles of mud and obstacles.  Oh joy…..

See you all there on Saturday!!!