errrmagerd vergers spertern!

soo i started writing this post last night, all about my spartan race. that was until i got the news today. my dad contacted me to let me know that his father, my grandpa, had passed away last night. he was battling cancer and he got pneumonia and asked to go home from the hospital.

i have had a crazy mix of emotions.  and this is almost hard to write because it is very personal but i was not close with my grandpa, at all. however, i started crying when i heard the news.  he's my blood. i feel sad that we weren't close and there was no effort made to be in each others' lives. an opportunity missed? i don't know, but i know that i am angry, frustrated, sad and a whole lot of other things. i went running today to try and sort out my emotions. it helped for a bit, but now i'm back home still confused as ever about how i feel...

now time for my original post...

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okay okay, if you don't get my title reference, i apologize, but if you do, you're awesome!!!

i'm so so excited to share with everyone my recap of the vegas super spartan race that i ran this past weekend, but before that i want to rolllllllll it back a little to where my last post left off - the SD half marathon. so after that amazingly fun weekend, i got super sick. nauseated, tired, weak, dehydrated. honestly ever since then i really just wasn't feeling 100% so i kept resting instead of training. i even took myself to the doctor!! shocking, i know, but that's how you know i felt terrible.  sadly, however, the doc kinda brushed it off and told me to rehydrate and rest. lame!!!

so i spent the last three weeks leading up to spartan doing a whole lot of nothing but sleeping and resting and feeling blah.  mind you, i also had the carlsbad 5000 to run with a bunch of my VBLers and family and friends. of course, i was so focused on PRing that i totally failed.. haha. it was a tough 5k because i just wasn't feeling well. that and my lovely upper respiratory infection that i came down with a few days before the race brought me to about 40 seconds off my best time, but i still made top 250! it was such a fun day spending time with some of my gym family and my parents, my siblings and my aunt and uncle were all able to come out and have fun with us.

after that this past week was my spring break. i did a whole lot of nothing. i got in like one workout because i was still feeling so exhausted and having trouble breathing.  which leads us to VEGAS BABY!

i was super super super nervous for the race because i have been feeling unprepared but i told myself i was just going to have fun, and that i did!!! we drove out friday and went to dinner with everyone from the gym, it was so great to have so many amazing people in one place (and outside of the gym!). we then went to the sketchiest walmart in vegas to buy breakfast for the next morning... it was interesting but we made it out alive!!

on race day i woke up super tired, but as race time got closer i got more and more anxious and excited.  the race was absolutely amazing! hands down my favorite spartan race i've run so far. it was a lot of running on dirt and gravel and rocks and i was able to do all the obstacles except for the rope climb, which i just skipped trying and did my burpees for - because i knew i couldn't do it - and the spear throw :( so 60 burpees for me!! i am so so so so sooooooooooooo determined to face my heights fear and learn how to climb that rope by the beast in september. 

during the race, i never once felt miserable.  i was in fighting mode.  i was so determined to prove myself wrong. all those voices that tell me i'm out of shape and unprepared, but somehow i pulled through.  the barbed wire crawl had me cramping like crazy in my calf and hip but i pushed through. the traverse wall had me feeling like i was going to throw up, but i pushed through.  going underwater under the wall had me scared to death, but with a little encouragement from some spartan volunteers, i did it! i legitimately felt like this course ahd some of the best volunteers.  i separated from my brother and so without my crutch, i doubted myself at a lot of obstacles.  with the encouragement of some complete strangers, i was able to do a lot more than i believed i could. what an amazing feeling! i ended up finishing in 2:32 which was about 11 mins faster than my last spartan super and i came in 32 out of 568 (6%) in my age group! say whaaaaaaaaaat?? ill take it!

i came home and was able to sign up not only for the AT&T park sprint in august, but i decided to try and run the sprint the day after i run the beast in september because SO many of my amazing client friends have decided to get in on it and register as well! i am very much looking forward to tackling these next races and am so glad i have been blessed with such amazing opportunities in my life!

here are a few pics from the weekend, i cannot wait for the official race pics to come out!