Monday, August 10, 2015

I am, um, Sparta?

I know. I dropped off the face of the Earth. But I'm back, now, with stories to tell!
I've been working on books, books and more books. I've been gardening. I've been reading. I've been cooking. And, I've begun training.
We're talking some seriously wussy training, here. What am I training for? The Washougal Spartan Race. We just had one, and my friend J. has talked me and my DH into going for it next year.
So what's a Spartan Race? It's a medium (3-6 mile, depending on the course) length run sprinkled liberally with obstacles like a transverse wall, a rope to climb where you have to ring the bell at the top, moats, crawls under barbed wire over a steep, muddy hill, and so on. The idea is to crush the spirit challenge the participants to the limit, and the main goal is to finish the race, although there are folks who are super serious about this and race to win. Those people are in crazy-awesome shape. They are the cross fittest of the fit.
That would not be me. Hence, my training in a pitiful way, though I intend to increase the difficulty of my training days as the year wears on.
My training-thing for today was walking a few miles (I really don't know how many. Let's call it some miles) up a hill to scope out potential trails upon which to train. There's water, steep climb/crawls, bridges, and all kinds of other things where I can attempt to prepare myself for a race that can take up to two hours (or more) to complete. Best time on a recent course in Washougal: 35 minutes.
I've also trotted a few hundred yards through knee-deep water, and I'm taking my attempted chin-ups more seriously.
363 days to go.
I'm so doomed. But it'll be fun!