Recap : Spartan "Beast From Hell"

Now that this is all said and done and all the forums are buzzing with "what happened when", we know the full extent of the race we ran in. Ryan and I were the lucky ones (or unlucky ones... depending on the perspective) to have had an early start time and opportunity to run the full course under full heat conditions.

A summary update from the race director:

This race quadrupled the number of casualties, or DNFs (Did-Not-Finish), than the hardest Spartan race course in Wintergreen, and has been labeled as the "Beast From Hell". Not so much in the course itself, but mainly because of the heat. There were a total of 6.5K Beast racers that day with only 800 full finishers (including Ryan). Everyone else was either cut short (including me..11 out of 12 miles) or DNFs (people that pull themselves out of the race for various reasons.. medical, etc.)

Elevation map, bottom left corner, green line is the Beast.

Ryan and I had different strategies going into the race. Ryan knew the temps would only get hotter the longer we were out there on the course. His plan was to go fast and get to mile 8 ASAP. From the course map, mile 8 looked like it was in the trees and foliage which meant shade. My strategy was to go conservative. Consistent, slow stride on steep uphills or difficult terrain, and run all the easy stuff - flats, not-so-steep downhills/uphills. At every 2-3 miles, I would make sure to drink water, eat a GU/snack, and drink a couple packets of mustard.

Ryan and I at the back of the pack for the start of our 9:15a heat. Temps were around upper 80s/low 90s now. I'll lose sight of him in like 30 seconds after this.

The trail starts off with a warm-up hill. It took a bit of zooming in to find, but Ryan is all the way at the top of this hill already. The backside of this hill flattens, has a nice view of the lake, and then continue to go uphill around a bend. The first two miles were not easy with a significant steep hill in Mile 1 which were already sidelining people. I kept a consistent pace and really couldn't go faster since the trail often were single track, goat trails packed with people.

Then there is a steep drop down a billy goat trail, and then back to an even steeper hill climb up on the left side. We're still only halfway to Mile 1.

Between Mile 1-2, we get a little bit of flatter trail running along some of the hilly ridges, as well as more hills to climb up, then down, then up, and then down again (notice the tiny people running down on the other ridge in the photo below.)

At mile 2, I was already feeling the the difficulty of the terrain and heat. I stuck with my strategy though and kept with a conservative approach... water, food, mustard. I stopped two times, mile 4 and mile 7, to intake extra food, apply sunblock, and socialize (also passed out mustard packets). =) The strategy worked out great as I really had no issues and maintained energy for the whole course.

There were a few obstacles passed up to this point which I didn't take pictures of.. Over-Unders-Over-Under and Over-Under-Throughs. (Listed in map.)

Here is the Atlas Carry, a Spartan classic. The womens weight ball felt very doable.. maybe 45-50 pounds? You had to carry it to the opposite flag, drop it and do 5 burpees, and then carry it back. The initial lift off the ground was the hardest part because it was awkward to grasp.

Back up a hill somewhere. Lost count as to which mile this is now.

Then back down a single track billy goat trail.

Tractor tire flip - 4x. They had various weights, though I picked the smaller one and found it quite easy.

Cargo net up and across.

So far, all obstacles up to here have been easy. These Log Hurdles looked like they would be easy, but turned out not. The logs did give Ryan some battle scars, and I required help in reaching the logs.

Log Hurdles.



Inverted Wall. Rock climbing techniques made climbing over any of the wall obstacles easy. (6/7/8 feet walls and this inverted wall) Most people use their arms to either mantle or chicken-wing their bodies over the wall. I use a leg-hook technique which uses less arms and more core and leg. Much easier.



Lattice Bridge.

Mile 7 and on, I came across people that were cramping bad on the side. By this time, it was probably at max temps..according to the race director..116-118 in the sun, and there were a lot of people sidelined. Most people were walking, not running.

Traverse Wall. Rock climbing techniques rule! No problemo.

A very wicked hill climb right before mile 9. The steepest hill I encountered on the course, and with soft sand easy to slip on.

The top of the hill was scenic. You can see the staging Start/Finish area below, on the left of the photo. And see the hills behind and to the left of my head? Those were the hills we were running in from Mile 1-4.

The last hill took a young guy out. I found him on the side of the trail gripping his leg in pain. So I stopped to help him out, gave him a couple of my mustard packets and a GU. I have full faith in the mustard packets, and he said he would be okay and I went on my merry way. Little did he or I know, but the Mile 9 aid station was just a downhill away.

And Mile 9 trail marker.

I was starting to feel tired around mile 9. Ate an extra mustard packet and snacked on pepitas and cranberries, and continued on.

Somehow Mile 10 disappeared, and I was well on my way to Mile 11. Little did I know, they had cut off mile 10 part of the trail due to a rattlesnake. Rumor has it that someone was bitten. Again, hearsay. No confirmation. Ryan says Mile 10 had the worst hill of the course. I am bummed I missed it! Seriously.

Sandbag carry.

At mile 11, my energy came back. It was the realization that the finish was near...Phase 4 out of The Five Phases of SUCK. A gal that I ran past commented to me "How is it that you can keep running?". I was thinking, "The end is near. How is it that you're not running?" Haha! Mile 11 was a flat run along the lake and then to the "fun" obstacles finale.

We had to crawl through portions of the muddy lake and, just like fireworks, there were a bunch of obstacles grouped together at the end - spear throw, barb wire crawl, Hercules Hoist, Rope Climb, Fire jump, etc.

Barb wire crawl.

Rope Climb.

And lastly.. the famous fire jump.

Ryan finished all 12.1 miles in 4:04, placing 3rd in his age group for the Full Open course. I finished 11.1 miles in 5:22, placing 50% for my age group. All in all, it was a satisfying race given the conditions. I'm not too thrill about my race time, but then again, I knew I was going about it conservatively.

I was so happy at finishing! But later I found out that I did not complete the full course and that I had missed mile 10 from closure due to a rattlesnake. I did complete the shorten course and received a medal, but my race would not be eligible for a Beast recognition.

While Ryan and I had the opportunity to race all or most of the course, there were so many heat related medical issues going on (516), rattlesnake bites, even two cardiac arrests (hearsay), Spartan decided to call off the races mid way through. Only 800 people were able to complete the full course. The rest of the racers were cut off at different points for various reasons.. 11 miles, 10 miles, and less than 9 miles. Spartan has decided to hold a repeat/make-up Beast race January of next year. So... I get to do this again and aim for a better time! But Ryan doesn't... =( He would have had a much better time too, but his legs cramped at Mile 10, which slowed him down significantly. (He does not believe the magic mustard packets!) He did make it to mile 8 in under 2 hours! Either way, I am proud of him placing 3rd in his age group!