Monday, June 25, 2012

No One Gets Left Behind

Yesterday, I joined a team of 10 intrepid co-workers on the Spartan Sprint - a 5K extreme obstacle race north of Barrie.  Our team name was Kobo Blooddrops.

The Kobo Blooddrops - pre-race- waiting for the shuttle bus


The route entailed some amazing trail running, mud pits, hurdles, walls, crawling through dark tubes, under tight spaces, through about 70 or so feet of mud trenches under barbed wire, over hay bales, up inclined walls, and with various stations to perform "feats of strength" by carrying sand-filled sacks, pushing weighted wheel-barrows, pulling oneself up a rope, hauling up a pulley with weights and spear-chucking.

The rowdy kids on the back of the bus


It rained most of the route, making the trail that much more muddy and slippery.  On the plus side, nobody was dehydrated and the shuttle bus was less stinky that it might have been. (There was no hope, however, for the Port-A-Potties - we considered the very FIRST obstacle to be surviving using one of them.  The last obstacle, we joked, while waiting for the shuttle bus, was PATIENCE)

Post-race - Spartan battle cry!


It was a great way to spend a Sunday with a good group of people.  But what I'm most proud of was the way in which we stuck together as a team, rooting each other on, pushing each other forward, helping each other at each obstacle.  We had agreed, going in, that nobody would get left behind, and that's what we did.  One of the best moments was when we formed an arm-linked human chain to traverse the mud river.  It was an amazing team effort and a fun and exhilarating experience.

The only damage I rec'd was chewed up knees, from a few of the crawling events, as well as kneeling at the top of one of the walls.

No happy knees this morning . . .


Owie . . .

No comments: