The questions continued all throughout the
past, time to focus on the present.
night. I asked Doug Sahr that night in the hotel
room, after having run the Beast earlier that day,
to be brutally honest with me.
Do you think I have a chance tomorrow?
His response?
I started towards the back of the pack, thinking
about what me and Michael Jacob had discussed...
not getting caught up in the hype and rushing out
too fast. The first half mile or so was a light job with
some light obstacles until I came to my initial snag...
It’s gonna be tough. He said that he didn’t wanna
through the first Over, Under, Through walls...my
doubt me, or be negative, he just didn’t know what
timing chip wristband got clipped off going through
my endurance level was at and that I’d have to
the Through Wall. It was pitch black and I frantically
constantly stay on the move.
searched along the wall for it saying, “I lost my
At that point, my chances of finishing felt like
they were slim to none. It was in that moment
though that I remembered an inspirational video
I had watched during the week leading up to the
race...a video that said things like “if you think you
are beaten, you are. If you think you dare not, you
don’t...if you think you’ll lose, you lost...it’s all in
the state of mind...you’ve got to think high to rise...
life’s battle doesn’t always go to the stronger or faster
man, but sooner or later the man that wins, is the
man that thinks he can.” See video here: http://
timing chip. I lost my timing chip.” For the next few
minutes, I danced around the wall, both trying to
avoid runners coming through and simultaneously
looking for the missing chip. After reaching in
my bag and using my headlamp, I finally located
it on the FRONT side of the wall, stashed it in my
backpack and continued on. For the next mile or
two, all I could think about was wether or not that
five minutes of searching would come back to haunt
me. Thankfully it didn’t.
I won’t go into too much of the rest of the course
www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5o4KxEhVmE
as far as obstacles, etc., or this post would take you
That’s when I started telling myself...
as long to read it as it did to run it. If you want
you’ve got this.
You may not be stronger, but you’re healthier.
You may not be faster, but you’re wiser.
You may not be more confident, but you’re
hungrier.
That battle lasted all night.
Getting to the start line was
surreal. Where did all the time
13
go? Where did the weekend
go? No time to think on the
an awesome read about the terrain, obstacles, etc,
check out this review by the New England Spahtens
( http://www.nespahtens.com/featured-reviewspartan-race-ultra-beast-2013/ ).
I do want to highlight a few things though.
This course BEAT ME UP! I came home with
a ton of war wounds from scratches, bruises, a
swollen left foot and right knee, two bruised toes...I
did everything from slip, slide, trip and I even
faceplanted by myself running up a path after I
tripped over a rock. This course was designed to test
you in every way possible. I came home a mess.