My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. (James 1:2-4, NKJV)
Last Saturday, Mike (my husband) and I ran a Spartan Race.
We have ran many races, (5k, 10k while pushing a baby jogger, etc) but the Spartan Race is unlike any other we’ve ever done. On their website (www.spartan.com) they say, “You’ll know at the finish line.”
Yuh. Huh.
The Spartan Race is a race with obstacles…really, REALLY, hardcore obstacles.
To give you an idea of what it is like to be a Spartan, it took us over 1/2 hour to walk from the parking area to the tent where we picked up our race packets.
Yeh.
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| Just LOOK at that ocean! |
At the starting line, there was a really cool MC playing loud music pumping everyone up for the race.
Do not be tricked by that!
At the starting line, the runners can see a trail leading up a small hill.
Do not be tricked by that!
Earlier this year, our pastor challenged us to go out and do things we had never done before. We love our pastor, a lot. But before the end of the this day…I would seriously question his challenge. As well as my acceptance of said challenge. Plus, maybe smack him in the back of his head…please don’t tell him!
We love you pastor!
Mike and I were super pumped about the task that lay ahead and about challenging ourselves by doing something we had never done before.
The day was still young.
A little more loud music and pumping up by the MC and we were off!
A small run up a small hill and then down again into some trees and we were feeling good!
And. Then. Our. First. Obstacle.
We had to walk in a muddy creek, neck deep and the water was cccccccccold!
Hey, no problem right? We’re Spartans!
And...we are five minutes into the race.
Adrenaline if flowing like a raging river, we got this!
Once the guy in the lead was waist deep, he turned around to the rest of us and squealed, “Oh man, this is so cold!"
Some participants were slowly emerging themselves into the creek to adjust to the cold temperature.
Not. Me. Bro.
I dunked myself up to my chin and screamed,
“I’M ALL IN!!!"
That motivated some…while it freaked others out.
In my defense, once I began my initial dunk in that cold water, I had to scream something other than, “OH SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME NOW!!!”.......like a girl.
A woman behind me was upset at the creek obstacle. She kept screaming, “But I’m short! But I’m short! But I’m SHORT!”
Yuh. Never saw her again. Moment of silence please.
After about five minutes, we made it out of the creek…better known as, first obstacle under our belts.
At that point…it was all up hill…in Kualoa Ranch...on Oahu. This would be the same ranch where movies such as...Lost, Jurassic Park, and Wind Talkers were filmed.
Just to give you a visual.
In a word…steep.
In another word…muddy.
And getting muddier by the second as all the dripping wet runners were going up the trail.
About ten minutes later, we made our way up the hill to find our second obstacle…a cargo net.
A cargo net anchored over a steep, long ditch.
I said to myself, “Self, what do you suppose we are to do with that cargo net?”
When the moderator at that obstacle screamed, “Climb up the embankment using the cargo net, if you fall, you pay…15 burpees!”
Ok. I borderline despise burpees…with a passion.
Needless to say, I scaled the cargo net with the ease and expertise of Spiderman!
Ok. Maybe not as pretty but the end result was, NO BURPEES FOR GENICE!
Everybody cheer!
After the cargo net, we had to climb a hill on a muddy, grassy trail to our next obstacle…a mud hole.
I am convinced, this was no ordinary mud hole. It was a mud hole…much like a crawdad hole one would find in Oklahoma with 5’ sides.
Ok a crawdad hole in Oklahoma…on steroids!
I was only slightly muddy at this point…and I really preferred to keep it that way…so I wondered how I could maneuver through the mud hole with only slightly touching the mud…hopefully, only up to my knees.After all, parasites live in mud! In it’s center, the mud hole was only about 3’ deep.
I thought I could crawl down the side, gently enter the mud hole, walk slowly across the center (minimizing my contact with the mud…at least my upper body), and gently crawl up the other side to exit the hell hole….oh, I meant…mud hole.
Once I reached the top of the side of the mud hole…it was quite a bit more slippery than I had anticipated. As a result, I slipped, fell…and rolled down the side…into the mud hole…face first…with all the elegance and gracefulness of the...Three Stooges…yes, all three!
The mud pit moderator yelled, “YEAH! THAT’S WHAT I’M TALK’N ‘BOUT! EMBRACE IT!”
My initial thought was…”I will EMBRACE your neck, with my bare hands!”
But…this was a race, and ain’t nobody got time fo’dat’….or jail.
And then, I saw the sports photographer clicking away with the speed of a machine gun operator! Thanks for that, I appreciate it.
That is most likely seed-time-harvest, I’m a big girl. I can accept that.
(Pictures should be ready in seven days. I will post them when we receive them.)
Completely and totally drenched with caked on mud, I continued my trek up the hill.
Up, up, up, up…the muddy, grassy trail…I started to see signs of the participants who had gone before me. Shoe inserts. Huh?! Yes, people had started to throw their shoe inserts on the sides of the trail. What was this? Perhaps a Spartan tactic? Did they know something I didn’t know?
I may have followed suit; however, that would mean I would have to stop and bend over. At that point, I had a concern if I stopped, I might not start again! And if I bent over, I might not straighten up again!
Yes…it IS THAT brutal.
Plus, I have great running shoes! They are cool, and I’m not going to abandon them on the trail like yesterdays trash! As you can see, I am very attached to my running shoes!
Participants began to drop like flies. All along the trail there were people sitting and laying on the ground.
About a fourth of the way up the very steep, muddy, grassy, mountain (notice how the hill suddenly turned into a mountain…hey, don't judge) I saw our next obstacle. A mud pit…although not as deep…but draped with barbed wire. Real barbed wire. With real barbs. Sharp barbs. Needless to say, I was shocked! Barbs can scratch people! I haven’t seen barbed wire since I left Oklahoma…in 1998! And I had never crawled under barbed wire...through mud!
With all seriousness, (trying to hide my underlying panic) I turned to my race partner, knowing he was previously an Army man, and said, “How is the best way to get through to the other side?!”
His response, “Crawl and roll.”
Ok…I do not "crawl and roll". I was wearing pink nail polish! Girls with a pink mani and pedi do not…”Crawl and roll”…through the mud…under barbed wire!
(Insert squeaky voice.)
Until. Now.
I estimated the, “Crawl and roll" requirements to be about ten rolls across. I’m a goal setter. Deep breath. Composure. I am going to finish this!
Roll #10
Crawl
Roll #9
Crawl
Roll #8
Crawl
Roll #7
Somewhere midway crawling and rolling in the mud…I got dizzy, really dizzy.
Picture it.
There is barbed wire zig zagged across the top of me.
Mud beneath me.
Racers in front of me (under barbed wire…in the mud).
Racers behind me (under barbed wire…in the mud).
And I’m dizzy, really dizzy.
I had no other alternative but to crawl and roll on.
Mike helped me up once I was out from under the barbed wire. I told him I was dizzy. He told me to rest. I was bent over, trying to catch my breath while not looking like a wimp….a difficult task indeed.
Ok…let’s just establish, Mike is way tougher than I am. In my head, I thought…I don’t want to hold him back but I know he won’t leave me.
I looked up at him and said, “Ok, I’m ready to…”
Everything got real swirly and fuzzy. So I bent down and said, “I gotta catch my breath.” Yea…breathing, really good plan.
Passing out, on the side of the Kualoa Mountain range on a grassy, muddy trail…not a good plan.
I caught my breath (more importantly, didn't pass out or throw up) and we made it to the top!
As I was catching my breath (yes, again), I looked around and saw the most amazing sight. A full blown view of the pacific ocean. I cannot even tell you how much I appreciated those ocean breezes! When all of the sudden, my moment was interrupted by the sounds of ambulance sirens. Ambulances? Yes, participants were being taken out by ambulance. Three ambulances to be exact! I determined…I will NOT be one of those!
We took off, rounded a group of trees and saw our next obstacle. We had to carry or drag (but not roll) a truck tire that was connected to a rope and anchored in the ground, run back down the rope, and pull the rope to get the tire back to where we started.
Done. Like a boss.
The prior ambulance scene gave me my second wind and I was off…down the hill. But going down was almost as hard as up! I told myself, “That’s ok, I can do this.”
Only to come upon Spartan trail tape leading us into thick trees! The trees were so thick there was only one way in and one way out. The kicker…the trail “hole” that got us through to the other side was full of thorny branches and so we had to walk through bent halfway over.
My lower back was screaming, “You gotta straighten up!”
My lungs were screaming, “I gotta have more air!”
My inner being was screaming, “I gotta slap your face for doing this!
What WERE you thinking??!”
Then. It. Started. To. Rain.
We made it through the forrest of terror, (insert attitude) only to see multiple sets of monkey bars. But not at all the fun kind of monkey bars you see at parks. These were big macho man monkey bars, tall and stretched across at least four times longer than fun kid kind monkey bars. I had to jump up to even reach the first bar.
I am not gonna lie to ya…I did not make it all the way across…burpee time…I accept it. Don’t even care.
Patience…lacking nothing.
Once the monkey bars/burpees escapade was over, we were headed straight to the finish line….or. so. we. thought.
Nope…a not so quick detour back up the hill…yes. Back. Up. The. Hill….uuuugh.
Patience…lacking nothing.
When much to my dismay we were met with a very large man (who I am STILL convinced is related to Goliath) shouting, “Grab the sand bag and get up the hill! If you want to be a tough, grab two sand bags! And if you want to be an over achiever, you can grab me and carry ME up the hill! HAHHAHAAHAHAAHAHA!"
Yea. Needless to say, I grabbed my sand bag and ran away from him as fast as I could! Who knew all my Oklahoma days of carrying 50 pound bags of horse feed would come in handy?!
"As fast as I could” quickly turned into a snail’s pace. Mike kept saying, “I will carry your sandbag if you need me to.” I repeatedly refused. Not to be stubborn and refuse help, but this race turned into a race I was running against myself.
Patience…lacking nothing.
I made the circle up the hill, back down again, and gladly dropped my sandbag for the next victim-slash-race participant. I turned toward the finish line.
And then, got dizzy again. I really didn’t know how much further I could go without throwing up and/or passing out.
I had to stop and rest. I gained my composure and took off for the finish line. The finish line seemed so close in comparison to where I had been.
I rounded a corner of trees and saw…yet another barbed wire mud pit, except this one was even longer than the previous one.
My immediate response was, "You have GOT to be kidding me??!! This race just doesn’t let up!! Even near the end!”
But then I decided, either I am going to run this race or I am not going to run this race. I didn’t decide which obstacles would be thrown at me; however, I was going to finish this race to the best of everything that was in me. (Hebrews 12:1, Ephesians 1:3)
In many ways, the 2nd barbed wire mud pit was more difficult than the first. I was tired, I was nauseous, I was dizzy, and did I mention...this pit was even longer than the first.
I slowly got down on my hands and knees to roll under the first barbed wire into the pit. Rocks in the mud kept hitting the soft tissue by my knee caps, making my knees give away resulting in me falling flat on my stomach.
Patience…lacking nothing.
I’ve never heard so much moaning and groaning in my life. Most specifically mine. Not the whining kind, but the I am being pushed to my absolute lengths of everything I am. Exactly what am I made of?
Patience…lacking nothing.
This race was a mind game beyond mind games. With every obstacle, I thought it was my last obstacle and I would soon be crossing the finish line. Only to (by this point) walk closer and see yet another obstacle.
Patience…lacking nothing.
This time, it was an 8 ft wall. We had to climb the wall using only the frame on the sides. In other words, the wall was made with boards that met perfectly and was completely flat except the frame on both ends.
Mike put his hands on the wall and let me use his hands for foot holds.
Told you he is tough!
Once I straddled the wall and was sitting on top, I discovered….not only were there no footholds climbing up but there also were no footholds going down. Sitting on top of the wall gave me a very clear indication of precisely how high 8’ really is.
Yeh, it’s tall.
Mike ran around to the other side of the wall and told me to let go and he would catch me. I did, he lost his balance, shoving himself into me, then us into the wall and I hit so hard my back popped.
I was winded but so close to the finish line so, “Tally-Ho!"
After a few minutes I was able to trot towards the finish line when I saw our next obstacle. A wall approximately 15-20' long, with blocks for hands and feet. We were to scale the wall using the blocks and weren’t allowed to touch the top or fall off the wall.
One question.
Who on earth is the Spartan creator???
And what is wrong with him/her???
And who actually pays for this???
Oh….that would be me!
And that's three questions but who is counting?!
I decided, just shut up and do it.
In my mind, I was thinking…truly, this has to be our last obstacle.
Nope.
Patience...lacking nothing.
That was when I saw…a huge muddy pit with a frame, really high in the sky. All across the frame hung ropes that we were to climb, ring a bell, climb back down, jump in the muddy pit (waist deep), then climb out of said pit and continue on to the (now in sight) finish line.
I tried and tried to climb the rope but my hands and shoes (well, my everything) was so muddy I could not get a grip. Even if I had been able to get a grip, I highly doubt I could've made it all the way to the top.
Again, not going to lie, couldn’t make it to the top.
Could, however- crawl out of the mud pit!
The finish line was calling me like a dinner bell to a pack of hungry, rabid dogs!
We were almost there. We could only see four more obstacles! We can do this!
My shoes had gotten very muddy and the back of my socks had slipped down to the middle of my feet. I could see the finish line and I didn’t want to stop and fix my socks. I was so close. Besides, my everything was caked with mud so stopping to fix my socks wouldn’t really have changed much.
I was midway between the rope-climbing-mud pit-bell ringing obstacle and the spear throwing obstacle when…IT happened.
My left ankle popped and I fell down. Mike said, “I heard that pop, what was that?!”
I was hurting so bad, I thought I might throw up. I didn’t know what to do, I did not want to admit defeat. I knew Mike couldn’t carry me and finish the race. There were four more obstacles and I wasn’t sure I could finish. I said, (in pain, through gritted teeth) “You are going to have to call Medical and have them take me out of here.”
This may seem like a rabbit trail; however, there is a point. I truly, wholeheartedly, and endearingly love Hawaii’s people. They are a bunch of family oriented, loving, helpful people who have always been so welcoming and good to us.
I was so disappointed. About the time, I thought I was going to have to quit and give up (I thought my ankle was broken) two local boys walked up and said, “Everything ok here?” I told them I would be ok and thanked them. They said, “We are so close to the finish line. You are going to finish. We are going to get you across the finish line if we have to carry you. We leave no one behind.”
(Insert tears & immense gratitude.)
These local boys, who I had never seen before and will most likely never see me again, hoisted me up on their shoulders, (along with Mike) and carried me to the next obstacle.
They put me down, I threw my spear, and wondered how I would get to the next obstacle when…there stood my local boys and said, “Let’s do this!”
They carried me to the next obstacle, which was using a rope to climb over an a framed wall.
I made it up and over the wall.
Warning: It ain’t pretty.
My local boys were waiting to help Mike carry me over the fire pit.
Once we were over the fire pit, I told them I was sure I could crawl under the catwalk.
A great big shout out to local boys always willing to help a fellow comrade!
I was able to crawl through unassisted and Mike and I crossed the finish line together.
Mike helped me to the First Aid Tent where I told them I needed to see Medical. I was still in a lot of pain so two men carried me to an RTV and drove me to Medical.
(That was a rough ride. Everything in Spartan is rough!)
Medical evaluated me, elevated and iced my ankle. Thankfully by the time they drove us to our truck I thought I would be able to avoid an emergency room visit.
Thank God for friends and family members in the medical field who told me what to do to care for my ankle. And thank God for pray-ers who cover me and declare wholeness! I’m getting stronger every day!
In closing, a couple weeks ago we were hiking (sometimes crawling) the Matanuska Glacier in Alaska (which is so far beyond my element) and I just THOUGHT that was tough! Glacier hiking is a baby walk compared to a Spartan race! Spartan brings a whole new definition to tough.
Today, as I lay in my bed, (ankle braced, elevated and iced) I realize my “first aid drawer” (my drawer that holds my ankle brace, shoulder brace, Rock tape, Doterra deep blue, and anti-inflamitories) now runneth over. What does all this mean?
It simply means I have risen to the challenge our pastor gave us earlier this year…go out and do things you have never done before.
What can you do that you have never done before?
We would love to hear from you, no matter how great or how small, do something you have never done before and share it with us!
And may we all have a servant's heart like the heart the Hawaiian people live by!
