Aizu Spartan Sprint, Tsuruga-Jō

Prologue

I always feel amped up before a race. Like the others around me at the starting line, I’ve spent the past few days visualizing the experience – how I’ll be centered and in the zone, how it will feel to run without limits, how I’ll not feel fear. Its imagining freedom, really.

Then the race starts and in a relatively short period of time all those visualizations dissipate and the mind-body locks into survival mode. There’s a temptation to react, but I’ve learned along the way to just listen and notice what it’s feeling. Farther in, even listening becomes difficult and all I can do is be. One foot in front of the other, as much as I can muster, at whatever speed my legs and heart will allow.

I love competition but I’m no competitor. My goal is to NOT finish last and to feel good about my effort.

---

Starting line

The heat I’m in is ‘elite’ (rather than open) which means top athletes from Japan and around the world are here. We are pressed together trying to get as close to the starting gate as we can. First the pep talk, then the countdown… it begins.

We tear out of the gate like ravenous dogs and the guy in front is the rabbit. Being so packed together someone was bound to trip and more than a few do – but the rest of us just jump over them. In this throng you don’t dare slow down lest you cause a 10-guy pileup.

I feel wedged in and see a small opening in the mob… front-right – a fast lane – which I spring for, now speeding up, sprinting about as fast as I can.

---

Reality Comes for a Visit

I’m really flying – but within a few minutes my mouth gets dry, my head feels compressed and my face is getting red hot. Not this, not yet! I try to reason it out, but the temperature is rising and nausea is suddenly on the horizon.

Damn, I’ve over-exerted. It could be the heat and humidity, dehydration, bad sleep, weird food, beer or just an off day physically. It hardly matters now in the middle of the battle.

I ease up and slow to a jog which for brief intervals becomes a fast walk. I’m getting passed by the main pack but not going to worry about that.

I’ve learned I can’t win a direct battle with heat exhaustion, which is what this feels like. In fact I’m sure I will feel this head pressure for the rest of the day. But if I keep it below The Point of No Return, I’ll manage. I have to reset internally which takes a little time.

---

A Quick Fix?

Oh joy, here comes the first water station! If it’s ice water, I’ll pour it on my head, wrists, neck and be back in business.

---

No!

The water’s room temperature, but my parched throat doesn’t mind. The most important thing now besides keeping going is not to allow fear or negativity in. I’ve got obstacles coming up and I need to face them with confidence.

---

---

Movin’ on Up

The way this course is designed is different from others I’ve seen. They’ve front loaded all the running into a loop around Tsuruga-Jō castle, with all obstacles packed together at the end in an adjacent soccer field.

I am now in last place, but I know a secret. A lot of these fast guys aren’t too savvy on the obstacles and I’ve had practice… and here they come.

One by one, I knock em out – 8 foot walls, rope climb, multi-rig – and because I am teetering on the precipice of nausea and a nascent migraine I stop and center myself first before each thing that requires heavy physical exertion. Slow the breathing, clear the mind, find the strength.

Spear throw, barbed wire crawl, box jumps. At each station, groups of guys who didn’t complete the obstacle doing their burpees.

Z-wall, over/under/through walls, sandbag carry. Almost there…

Inverted wall, jerry carry (new one for me – a 6 gallon bucket of water in each hand carried for a couple hundred meters), cargo-net.

Final stretch! Head’s pounding but I have to sprint the last 500 meters. Crowds of people on each side of the road cheering and holding their hands out for high-fives.

I didn’t finish last… so basically I won. 🙂

The medal is cool – different from the others. No banana (kind of a spartan standard) but I won’t write a letter to the manager about it.

---

Epilogue

You can’t take anything so seriously that the enjoyment is drained out. I might have been disappointed that all my training didn’t save me from hitting my wall so early. Instead I’m happy with how I kept it from tipping over. Endurance isn’t a straight line – it’s is a journey into the outer reaches whose many peaks and valleys offer insights and lessons.

---

The Prequel

Normally I’m not very social at these things, but from the very start I met some cool folks.

The Spartan ambassador of Hong Kong and I walked the 2 miles to the venue together, nerding out about Spartan stuff, especially the California races which are iconic and internationally known.

The race organizers both hung out and chatted a bit and now we’re FB pals. Another spartan mucky-muck interviewed me post-race to get my opinions and recommendations.

And the guy I raced with who was my height (we were at least a head taller than everyone else) was cool. He also took off like a rocket at the start and was way ahead of me but we finished together due to his failing a few obstacles.

Finally a shout out to all the runners I watched after I was done, who, when I offered my hand for high fives, formed a line with howls and shouts. That was a great exchange of energy and maybe my favorite memory about the whole thing.