Spartan Las Vegas Super and Sprint, March 15-16, 2025

 

I was both horrified and happy to learn that Spartan won't be doing dunk walls this year, or have water on course unless there is a natural body of water to use.   I mean, it's nice to finish a race and not be covered in mud with rocks in my shoes.  On the other hand, the dunk wall is pretty iconic for this race series, and I'm not sure if it will be the same without it.  I took advantage of the dry race to wear better racing shoes, and a shirt and hat in the cool morning air.

For the Saturday Super, I was chasing a second place medal for my wall, and thought I might have a chance if I just took it easy.  Evidentally I took it too easy, because I had a wonderful, ralaxed, fun race.  And I finished in 4th place in my age group.  Oops, better luck tomorrow I guess.  

On Sunday morning, I brought my game face, and went out with the fastest heat.  I raced hard, only let one woman pass me, and finished strong.  Got the spear both days!   

Somehow I ended up 2nd in my age group and accomplish my goal for the weekend.  It says a lot that 5 of the 6 top women were all in my age group....there is a core of speed that seems to be following me up the age ladder.  Now that I have the age group finishes for the year, I'll give a shot at racing Elite in my next Spartan, which will be the 50k Ultra in San Jose.  That's a new venue for me, and I hope it will be dry :)

They used a photo of my knees from last year's race to promote this year!   Lol.  

I had fallen in a shallow dunk wall and I still have the scars from it.  

Red Mountain 30k, March 1, 2025

 

This race is on home trails near our house in Ivins, Utah.  Usually it's nice to have a local race because you can sleep in.  Not this one....we had to catch a bus to the start at 5:30 in the morning.   I found a fire barrel and hugged a cup of hot chocolate while waiting for the time to go by.   It really was a beautiful day once the sun came up, perfect temperature.  

It's an uphill start and then hits singletrack after a couple of miles.  There was a string of runners a mile long, zigzagging up the desert trail.  I was getting warm but didn't want to stop and get behind slower runners, which would be hard to pass them back again for a long ways.  I rolled up my sleeves, enjoyed the cool breeze, and ran the first 1/3rd of the race before I could doff my sweater.  

The race has a lot of loops but only 1 aid station.  I felt good after the first visit, and set off on the second loop.  It's another 6 miles of singletrack bike trails.  I was wearing new shoes, a little bulkier than usual, and was tripping more than I had hoped for.  I can't really blame the shoes rather than my balance, but one of my trips landed me in the sharp bushes next to the trail.  I escaped with a lot of tiny holes in my shin, but luckily no bruises.  

Unfortunately during the fall, my only water bottle flew out of my hands, busted open, and was trickling the last of the water out as I dusted myself off.  I save a mouthful, and knew I had another 6 miles to get back to the aid station.  I saved that last sip for a long time, but it turned out ok in the end.  

At the aid station I picked up a whole coke can and a fresh refill of water.  The toughest 1/3 of the race is the last section.  It's somewhat fast, some road sections,  but the last gentle uphill seems to last forever.  I was hoping to obliterate my previous performance on this distance, but time trickled away, and I can only blame tripping and falling for about an extra minute!  lol.

In the end, I was 4 minutes faster than 2 years ago, so I can't complain.   Conditions were similar, I'm 2 years old, and if I'm still getting faster then that is a win in my book!   I took first in my age group, had a chance to run home and shower before popping back for the podium.   

Spartan Arizona Super and Sprint, February 14th and 15th, 2024

 I see that I have back to back race entries in Spartans in Arizona.   The first and last Spartans of the year are usually in Arizona, at least for the Western USA.  It's not the worst to travel to be when it's winter everywhere else!  Plus I like racing in the desert.

The earlier 7:15 start for the Age Group was pretty chilly.   Luckily the dunk wall was at mile 4, so I had a significant amount of time to warm up as the sun finally came out.   

My friend Christi had moved up to my age group, so we raced together for about first the half of the race.  She pulled away, I missed the spear, and then I sort of lost the plot in my mind to keep my motivation high.  By the time I finished Christi was 7 minutes ahead of me and I was in 3rd.  Oh well, I like all the medals, so I was actually happy :)   The Super was 6.7 miles and I finished in 1:27.  

I had redemption on my mind the next morning and vowed to keep my head in the game.  I started later to get a little sunshine in the air before racing.  The shorter Sprint race was only 3.2 miles and the dunk wall was 2 miles in.  I was dreading it, but the adrenaline of the race made it bearable.  Barely.   I finished in 39:53 and that was good enough to get me a 1st place....actually I finished first women overall in Age Group which is unusually good for me.  

I've got a few races coming up, including a 30k trail race in St George, a Spartan near Las Vegas, and another Spartan in San Jose near Jim's mom.   I'd like to try to PR my marathon again this year, but that would require diligent training.  We will see.