WE ARE SPARTAN!!

   So we finally did it!! Back in the fall, we signed up for a "Spartan Race" to do on May 10 in Montana with a group of friends.  We anxiously and nervously awaited the day, and tried our best to train and get in the best shape we could!  And it was a good thing we did, because this race was TOUGH!!  It was over 4 miles, most of which was VERY steep hills / mountains!  And scattered throughout were various obstacles we had to get through.  Most of them, I found somewhat easy and even fun!  I was very nervous about the obstacles, but they turned out to be almost a "break" from the rough terrain and steep incline.  The straight ups are what killed me!!  There was a huge section of rolling / crawling under barb wire in the mud, it was so fun, I felt like I was in a movie.  And we had to climb a lot of things, carry logs and weights on our shoulders, wade through waist deep cold mud puddles, push over tree logs, do some tough monkey bars and roll under bridges. The only obstacles I couldn't do were a rope climb which was near impossible for girls, the knots were so far apart on the ropes, plus I am scared of heights so I wasn't even close!  Also there was a javelin throw and you only get one shot at it and it has to stick in the target without falling out.  Dang it, mine fell out, so I had to do the burpees!  If there's an obstacle you can't do, you have to do 30 burpees.  We made a last minute decision to stay with our spouses and THANK GOODNESS we did!!  It was an amazing bonding experience for Lee and I, and I was so grateful to have him encouraging me and sometimes dragging me along the way!!  He pushed me hard and helped me out whenever I needed it including doing half of my burpees!  At the end, I was so overcome with emotion and love for him, and was SO proud of myself for getting through it, and especially for doing as well as I did.  I finished the race in 1hr 30 min, which turned out to be in the top 18% for girls and we beat all of our friends. I could never have done it without him!
The race day was a little bit rainy, and quite chilly in the morning, but that turned out to be a real blessing!!  We got so hot doing the hills and stuff that we would have died if it was hot out!!

 What a fun group of friends we did it with, we all had so much fun.  We hung out the day before in Kalispell, ate out, did a little shopping, and hot tubbed at our hotel. (It was the Pratts, the Wants and the Irvines).

These pictures were taken during the race and posted on their website!  Kinda fun to see us in action!

This was us jumping over the fire at the finish line!!

 I can't even describe the RUSH we felt when we finished this race!  I didn't think the medal would excite me that much, but it seriously felt so good to earn it!!  It was such a rewarding experience and now Lee and I want to keep doing these races together.  We already signed up to do a "Spartan Super" in Red Deer in September.  We will see how it goes!  It's twice as long so I'm kind of nervous!!

 My amazing husband!!  I seriously love him so much.  It was so fun to do this together!!