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!!!

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

For those of you who've been following my writing for any length of time, you're well aware of my thoughts concerning the growing difficulty of Spartan Race (SR) events.  So I wanted to jump right out now and say I was thrilled with this course.  Without a doubt, this was one of the best SR courses I've been on...period!  Running through a working quarry on Black Mountain in Asheville, NC, this race had the perfect combination of length and climbing challenge to make you feel the accomplishment of finishing without the brutality that seems so common lately.

This may seem odd to anyone that has read the previous posts about the Wintergreen race or even the Asheville build, coming into the race injured.  And it's even strange to hear myself say it, since I couldn't even actually run the course.  I had to 'force' myself at times but I walked the entire course....and that's really the point.  Finishing a course in  my condition and still feeling good about it...well, that's why I do obstacle course racing (OCR) in the first place!  And it was everything I've come to love (and hate while I'm doing it) about SR (by the way, despite anything else I may say, there was nothing easy about the race in total).

During the build, the course designer told me there was only one long, grueling climb on the course, and it was absolutely true.  All the rest of the climbs were tough but manageable.  Even the log carry, the sandbag carry (dare I admit, after all my ranting, I found both almost too easy), the sled drag and the water obstacles were challenging without being over the top.  Of course the climb over the A-frame cargo net with the view of the quarry below was worth the price of admission.

One of the other things I've always tried to remember, and has proven true time and again on OCR, is that you're never too old to change or learn something new about yourself. Going back to my beginnings in OCR, and probably in life, I tend to take things seriously (put a 'too' in there for anyone that knows me personally).  In my old incarnation, I never felt that people wearing costumes during a race were doing OCR justice.  Having said that, it shouldn't come as a surprise then that I found myself running this course with a guy dressed in a red and black striped shirt and wearing a black derby hat.

A few minutes into the race, I noticed a guy passing me, Sean, that I had worked and become friends with on the obstacle builds during the week.  He was running with a group of his friends (including Bryan...aka B) the derby guy.  Along with Bryan there was Molly and Lisa, and Shana, who may also have joined the group during the race...parts of these races tend to blur together for me.

The focus of this team wasn't as much to push for time, but to make sure all the team got through every obstacle...and also made an effort to get as many other racers that needed help through as well.  I think the realization that nothing I could do that day was going to get me a decent time, and still fearing that I may not be able to finish at all, it allowed me to relax into that same mode of just enjoying the company of my adopted teammates and helping everyone through that I could.  Needless to say, each of these team members had their own story to tell, and it still amazes me how many unique and special stories there are.

Sometimes, even my help was limited by my injuries but this reminded me very much of the BattleFrog race in Pittsburgh, an experience that will always be a treasured memory of what OCR can really be about...maybe the most important thing OCR is really about.  Although limited, I managed to do most everything except the overhead obstacles (using the women's 'weights' though since I only had one good arm).  I did manage the legit male tire flip when the volunteer jokingly challenged me...yeah, there's a bit of type-A in me somewhere.  About six miles in though, I realized I was starting to fade.  So I told my team I was going ahead and would wait at the obstacles as long as I could...but I was in real danger now of not being able to finish and that was unthinkable after all the pain and effort to get this far.

Moving ahead through the log carry, the dunk wall and then posting up at the rope climb for a bit (one armed, legless rope climbs are above my pay grade at the moment).  Still not seeing my team coming, I moved on to the slip wall...contemplating for a while whether to give it a go or not.  After all, this was the type of obstacle that blew out my shoulder to start with.  When suddenly, I saw a group trying to help a woman make that last transition at the top.  I could see though that she needed someone behind her or her feet would slide.  Before I knew it, I was up the rope and planting my foot behind hers just as she fell.  But she got up, made it over and I had that great feeling when you know you made a difference in someones race.

However, since no good deed goes unpunished, I knew my tank was all but empty, so I moved on to yet another surprise...a little Spartan twist at the end.  After the rope climb and slip wall, when it looked as if you had a straight run to the finish, you ran smack into a second barb wire crawl and then a wade through a channel of...well, I don't even want to think about what was in there.  This being until recently a cow pasture and all.  Before I hit that wading channel I finally saw my team coming down past the dunk wall.  So back to the slip wall to meet up again and help several more people over.  At a cost though...at that point I may have spent all the reserves I had left.  I barely made it over the top of the wall that last time.  Exertion I never quite recovered from that afternoon....but that's a whole other post...

In the end, stumbling across the finish line (but managing a photo op with my team of course!) then through the festival, I had nothing but good feelings about the day.  SR wasn't going to abandon me to races I wouldn't enjoy doing.  And I realized just how much I enjoyed racing with a team and offering help to other racers...whether physically or just some encouraging words.  It was a continuation of this new focus for me in OCR.  So now, while still desiring to see what I can do personally on any given course, I have to find a way to run for time and for pleasure....together....without killing myself in the process if possible....

Spartan Race Build at Asheville 2015 - I Finally Get to Build Some S**t

The inaugural Spartan Race (SR) at Asheville, NC was the final venue for my Summer of OCR series.  So regardless of the wear and tear from the last five weeks, the nagging and new injuries, I wanted to make the best of this opportunity.  Not to mention that having lived not too far from here, this race has been on my wish list since they announced the possibility two years ago.

There was another reason I wanted to not only volunteer during the week for this race, but also do it.  That was to be able to compare this to the previous week's Super Spartan at Wintergreen.  One race doesn't make a pattern and to see if there was a consistent attempt to make these courses as brutal as possible, I would have to be on it.  Not that I would have missed it for any reason, but self-preservation and the feeling that it was just plain stupid to risk making a serious injury worse...but that's a whole other story.

But I digress!  This would be my final build of this series...and maybe the last for a while, depending on how my plans played out in the coming weeks.  So, based on the other builds I'd been on, I fully expected to be working on start and finish corrals, festival tents, etc, etc.  The only problem...I wasn't 'picked'!  Meaning the Spartan crews picked everyone else first.  Well...I guess I couldn't exactly be surprised at that.

Then a funny thing happened...a build crew rolled in looking for some help.  Seeing that I was all that was left, this might be my big chance after all.  Being an engineer and former carpenter in another life, and of reasonable size for this sort of work, naturally they looked around for more choices.  Finally, seeing that no other volunteers were showing up, they asked if I was up for some build work!  So, knowing that my shoulder was still not 100% and that my leg injury from Wintergreen would further limit my mobility, I answered immediately..."Hell yeah!"

Like all the other builds I've worked on, I got to work with some great supervisors.  Drew and Steve 'Oh...not to mention some great people like Carl and Sean.  Mostly hired crew as they tend not to use volunteers on the actual build side very often.  So we set off up the mountain and I got my first look at the venue...which happened to be in a working rock quarry too...just one more perk for me.  

One of the things I've noticed on all the builds along the way, and certainly on the Spartan builds, was the way things had changed in just the last two years.  Equipment and parts were now packed in huge plastic containers and dropped at each obstacle location.  And for the Spartan Race at least, obstacles like the Herc-hoist, A-frame cargo net and rig were now made from light-weight metal truss systems, making them safer as well as easier to put up at each new race.

So the morning was spent working on the Herc-hoist, getting a chance to see what goes into these new (to me) construction techniques.  It was like a slice of heaven working on this...did I mention I just love building shit?!...other than the heat and dust and the fact that we had thousands of pounds of metal floating over our heads all morning.  But in the end, we had that obstacle built and I worked with Drew most of the afternoon on getting the bracing and fencing up to finish it off for inspection.

Then finally, we got to move up the mountain a bit to the quarry pit...where they placed the A-frame cargo net.  Poised on the lip of the quarry wall along the road at the top.  Just an absolutely spectacular location with a truly special view of the quarry floor far below.  During the race itself...with the sled drag on the quarry floor...and lines of Spartans everywhere, it reminded me of a scene out of an old movie depicting the building of the pyramids...just awesome!  

Fortunately I was asked back the next day to work with these guys again, because we didn't get the cargo net up the day before and I really wanted that.  Not only to work on it, but to get a chance to climb up there when it was complete...while the build was still in it's pristine state.  And the work on that net gave me my next surprise...just how much time some of these obstacles take to get right...something we as racers don't always appreciate.  It took four of us, working most of the morning just to get all the straps and each carabiner just right.  There guys have infinite patience and pride in what they do!  (and btw, one carabiner managed to stay clipped to my belt that day...but was carried through five miles of the course and returned race day to Steve...at the cargo net of course!)

Finally, that afternoon, I worked with Steve on the rig installation.  Funny how un-intimidating it looks just laying there on the ground. I have to say, working with Steve was one of the most enjoyable experiences of the entire trip.  SR really sees their volunteers as more of an asset on their builds and expects more from them in the course of things.  But while he did have those same high expectations, Steve also had the patience to answer any questions I had to make sure everything went smoothly and safely.

Harness Safety Lesson

Of course during the build, there are always opportunities to talk to some of the other volunteers and staff.  In this case, it was mostly for a few minutes at lunch, where I got to talking to this guy about the race itself...and whether it was a good idea for me to go out Saturday.  At first I thought he was in charge of some part of this organized chaos.  Eventually though, I found out he was Taylor Cuevas...death racer and winner of the 2015 Mexico Death Race.  Asking him whether I should try to race, in my now even more deteriorated condition, was like asking a lion if it's a good day to hunt.  He did agree though to take me down off the mountain with his cart if I couldn't finish.  Looking back later on of course, that was never going to happen....I mean, admitting to anyone, let alone a death racer, that you just couldn't handle it...no, not gonna happen.

At the end of the day I even had an opportunity to ask the man that designed and marked the course itself (was I really looking for someone to talk me out of this??!!).  What he said was that, while he didn't know anything personally about the Wintergreen course, this course in Asheville, while tough, only had one seriously long climb and that I should go for it.  Honestly, I had no idea whether he was being straight with me or joking.  Or whether his idea of not-too-bad would kill me.  So, I still had another 24 hours to make the final call.  This was the last race though and somehow, I don't think there was ever really any doubt....

Long Overdue Return to Spartan Race - Build at Wintergreen Super, VA

The Spartan Super at Wintergreen Resort in VA saw my return to Spartan Race…for both a build and for a race.  It had been about two years since my build experience with them and about a year since my last Spartan Race (SR).  Being one of the last two races in my Summer of OCR series of six races was unplanned but very beneficial.  I’m sure this would have influenced my expectations at the other races and that would not have been fair.  However, there can be no doubt that there is a reason SR is considered the top dog in the obstacle course racing (OCR) field and that was reinforced this week.

By the very scale of things…the festival, the course…the shear number of racers expected…SR has to deal with a much larger set of challenges.  Magnified by the type of terrain their races are set in.  To be fair, some of the other promoters have difficult venues as well.  But SR thrives on these venues and seems to attempt to have all their races this difficult.  Of course, I can only judge by what I have seen so far, but just getting to the build site the first day was almost impossible with the fog.  And of course, even the GPS data seemed to want to send you off into the woods!  Not to mention that, because of the remote venue, there was no Internet service (which also explains why these posts are weeks overdue now!) or even cell service where I stayed.

One other difference I saw here at Wintergreen, but even more at the Asheville build, was the fact that SR gives more to their volunteers, in terms of swag and free races, but also expects much more.  It's all part of the SR mentality of toughness.  As everything else though, 'toughness' can be a two-edged sword.  SR build shifts are 11 hours.  1-3 hours longer than the other races, but you do get two free races for these shifts...the give-and-get at work here.

As with most of the races, we spent all of our build days in the festival area.  Of course there were hours of table moving and setup.  But there was also the chance to build up the Start and Finish areas.  And there really is nothing like seeing these areas come together, along with the entire festival area, before anyone else gets on site.  Like a little terraced village growing out of the mountain side.

On this build I had the pleasure of working with three great supervisors.  One of which, Thomas, was a reunion of sorts from the build in Amesbury, MA two years back. Part of the work we got to do for him involved setting up the bag check area...which of course we were able to leave our own little signature on at the end.  Apparently no one was particularly bothered by this as it stayed up the rest of the day. 

On the first day though, we started off with Janet.  For most of the day we marched back and forth between the finish and starting areas, setting up the barricades and signage at both, along with several other areas in between.  But that morning the fog was so thick you couldn't see more than 50' in front of you.  And not having been there before, none of us had any notion where one thing was in relation to anything else.  So heading off in any direction often ended with a backtrack just trying to reestablish your original location.  Of course volunteers (generally) can't drive vehicles...so anywhere you went on the mountain...you walked!  Janet did a great job though herding chickens that day and managed to keep us all, and the jobs, moving forward all the time.

The other supervisor I got to work with was Jeremy.  With Jeremy, we moved a lot of tables...a lot of tables!  And did I mention chairs?!  It never ceases to amaze me how many little details go into the setup for these events.  Part of Jeremy's job entailed making sure all these details were addressed.  Fortunately, it also involved being in a vehicle most of the time.  Unfortunately, it also involved jumping out of it constantly to set up tables everywhere.  Again...unfortunately...my idea for a 'table launcher' (think t-shirt launcher for tables) was turned down so we had to do this manually.  Go figure!  The one common thread I found among all the supervisors here, and really everywhere in the builds I worked, was a non-stop commitment to make sure the job got done...no excuses!  I like that.

In the end though, these days were highlighted by meeting the other volunteers.  William (the baked potato incident all but forgotten now), Demond, Denise, Mark to name a few.  From all over the country and all with their own stories of why they started OCR and how they came to be at Wintergreen.  After 4 years, it still amazes me how many different reasons people have for starting OCR and even how many people still have not heard of this.  Some of the volunteers were saying that this was the first time they'd heard of OCR and SR and wanted to see what it was all about.

Lastly though, there were the groundhogs...everywhere!  We we warned about groundhog holes when we started.  But the shear numbers of these rodents was incredible.  As they came out late in the afternoon and covered the field around the shower area.  There was even a groundhog fight at one point.  Most likely because of our presence...an OCR build is not exactly a zero-impact situation.  But suddenly there were two groundhogs snarling and rolling down the short hill onto the small field below.  Stunning everyone to silence for the next few minutes until the apparent winner...after a burst of groundhog screeching...ran off, and the apparent loser walked back up the hill to where it started.  Odd I thought, but then again, I haven't figured out people's behavior in almost 60 years...why should I expect to understand groundhogs.

Please share your OCR build experiences with me!