Spartan Race Jacksonville was held Friday February 26th through Sunday the 28th.  This was the first major two-day Spartan event held since Covid hit hard a year ago.  Friday night was the Spartan 10k Trail Run (headlamps needed!), Saturday was the 10k Super, and Sunday was the 5k Sprint.  We had Tereza, an aspiring Spartan athlete and FitBar customer, provide the blog post as a guest.  We met her in 2020 when she ran the same race.  She shaved 10 minutes off her race time and did 90 less burpees from 2020 to 2021!  Here is her personal account of her race.

Florida weather is quite the shock for someone who just flew in the night before from the dry and arid wintery mountain that is Flagstaff, Arizona. It is only February, after all. Being at sea level with a temperature of 80F and a humidity of 60%, the air in Jacksonville feels just as thick and gross as the muddy swamp underfoot to an athlete used to training at 7000 feet elevation and 30F... in the snow! Nothing fully dries in this type of environment, including your hands when you’re trying to grip at obstacles during the first 2021 Spartan National Series event.

As the shortest and only 5k distance in the Spartan National Series this year, the pace is lightning fast for the Elite level men’s and women’s heats, with athletes easily averaging sub 6 or 7-min per mile running paces. Spartan champions and my personal heroes Lindsey Webster, Nicole Mericle and Rose Wetzel were leading the pack, to no one’s surprise. Did I forget to mention there are also 20 obstacles to conquer? This is why Spartan obstacle-course races are the ultimate test of a well-rounded athlete, and one of the most difficult events you can endure. To effectively race and win Spartan Race, you cannot only be a runner, you cannot only be a weightlifter, you cannot only be a climber… you need a combination of speed, stamina, grip strength, mental fortitude, and hard-earned functional fitness.

Looking around at the other racers wandering and warming up in the Festival area, the general atmosphere was one of resounding excitement for (finally!) a return to obstacle course racing after a difficult year of work-from-home and cancelled athletic events due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. No one was really sure what OCR events (and sports in general) would look like after all was said and done... How do you do something so aerobically demanding with a face covering on? How do you limit crowds but still have fun at these events? How do you compete with other athletes while social distancing? Because let’s be honest, virtual races are just another day of regular training, by yourself, except you pay someone else money to do it. So, with the Spartan Jacksonville event completely sold out, it was clear that people were chomping at the bit to get out there on the real course again!

Spartan Race officials had a good plan, with overall impeccable cleanliness, not allowing athletes to arrive more than 30 min prior to their assigned heat time, and having each athlete stand in their own 6x6’ boxes before the start line. There was no disadvantage to being in the back, however, because the chip timers didn’t activate until you crossed the starting line. Then the first obstacle was to throw your mask away in a trashcan, and boy, did that feel good!

The beginning of the race was mostly running, running, and more running. This helped establish space between racers to avoid lines at the obstacles. I was thankful that we didn’t have to wade through the lake or dunk our heads underwater this year, but there was definitely no shortage of splashing and slipping through knee-deep muddy swampy god-knows-what for most of the race. I watched several racers take a face-first tumble and even ditch their socks! My goal of trying to keep my hands dry and mouth closed was completely futile. And with the Spartan Super (10k) race having taken place just the day before, the obstacles were also already caked with mud and very slippery. The only thing worse was doing burpees on this soft, stinky sludge. I’m a veterinarian by trade back home, and the only thing on my mind was remembering what kinds of parasites come from the waters of Florida... and did anyone check for alligators??? (editor note: Yes 😊)

But back to the race... the vertical walls and heavy-weight obstacles such as the bucket brigade were loaded earlier on. The more grippy obstacles such as the monkey bars and rope climb were towards the end, when all the mud runners were all already tired. I learned in the past these were my main weaknesses, so I spent most of the past year during quarantine working on pull-ups, grip strength, kipping dexterity, and moves that would make many Ninja Warriors proud. The beater bars and various hanging grips from FitBar were key to my success. You simply cannot emulate Spartan Obstacles the way FitBar does. The quality of their products is so good, they’re still “hanging” in there in my house even a year later with almost daily use. This year I’ve given in to purchasing a portable monkey bar rig, which will complete my collection and allow me to swing to and from various grips without having to switch them out. It will also make dinner parties that much more fun!

Then, as if the elite level Spartan Sprint wasn’t enough, I also tried my hand at the DekaFit/ DekaStrong competition and grabbed the leaderboard female time of the morning (not sure if it was beaten later on as I had to catch a flight). I remember watching this event at the Spartan Games on YouTube last fall and I wanted to try my own hand at it. Circuit workouts are my jam, and I wish we had a Deka gym in my hometown!

There’s something about racing that brings people together, that cultivates a sense of accomplishment through raw competition, that pushes you to become the best version of yourself, that makes people healthier and able to beat a damn virus. The 2021 Jacksonville Spartan Race was a beautiful full circle to a new beginning because Covid happened shortly after last year’s Jacksonville event. And with half the Jacksonville airport that evening filled with people wearing Spartan finisher shirts, it’s clear that we want and we need this! Here’s to a return to racing! Aroo aroo aroo!!