Dodgers Stadium Series Sprint
- Brendan King
- Apr 28, 2018
- 6 min read

Stadium races are a Spartan of a different breed; almost the redheaded-stepchild of the family if you will. They are constrained to a dense space rather than spread all over wilderness-kingdom-come, they only require 15 burpees for a failure, they are stair dependent rather than hills or trails, and they are by far the shortest and quickest of the battles and they have more generic fitness type obstacles (you will see what I mean as you read on). However, with unique medals and a ton of fun packed into a single area, you can’t help but enjoy the energy shared by that of a Dodger game!
Upon arrival, I immediately ran into Troy (currently ranked #2 in our division) and his girlfriend Leah and Troy let me know that Daniel (ranked #3) was here also. From that moment, it was all business! 2 of the 3 gentlemen outranking me were here and I had a chance to make a statement. But of course, they are all now good friends and so we stuck together and made SURE we ran in the same heats… I 5th wheeled my way to the starting choral with Troy, Daniel and both girlfriends in tow. Shout out to Leah and her first Spartan in several years Aroo!
We made our way to the start line in a small group of 15, with new waves released every 60 seconds. The three of us easily made it to the lead at the gun and we were off down the back 3rd-2nd base gap in the outfield towards the centerfield mark. We had two quick military style hurtles before heading to A-frame cargo net. My daughter and mother were there to give a quick cheer as we three already caught the last racers of the previous heat. With the net crowded, ALL THREE of us picked the same lane and were quickly cramped in a space made for MAYBE 2 people, but really only one.

Daniel and I flipped over while Troy traversed backwards. I was the first to the bottom and took the lead! 2 more military hurdles were at center field and they lead right to the rope climb. With it this early, doing it arms only was a piece of cake, and my gloves allowed me to firemen slide back to the bottom, increasing my lead.
From there we exited the field level and headed for the stands. Up the stairs to the first walkway took us to a 6ft wall. A quick up and over and Troy made his first pass on the long straight away. He has always been a faster runner on the flats so I let him have this; I was already sprinting my heart out and he was still passing me. No need to blow up here… 2,000ft in! We then entered the spiral staircase with the over ropes, forcing us to climb on all fours up 3 flights of stairs to the mid-level section of the stands. 15 hands up pushups were an unwelcomed delay. Troy maintained his lead with his great form. We then headed outside the stadium walls for a walkabout with two jerry cans of water. Troy was only about 5 steps ahead when Daniel passed both of us, making a statement and taking a decent lead by the time the loop had ended. Another low crawl up some stairs left me even further behind both of them.
We came to hurchoist right at the back side of the stadium and I heard some words from the official that made me cringe: “No feet allowed on the top rail!” Oh man… a technique I had mastered over the past 3 months is now illegal here!?! Luckily, the bags were lighter than usual and I was able to do it fairly well with my feet on the lower rung. All three of us hit the spear throw zone within 5 seconds. Troy thru first, hit and stick. I went second, hit and stick. I honestly didn’t see Daniel go, but I’m pretty sure he hit his. I passed Troy on the way to the jump rope and finished a single jump before him, giving me a 1 second head start.

From there we headed down the stairs for a few back and fourths. It was hear that a guy in green shorts ran past me quite speedily and I didn’t recognize him from anything before. “Oh man, he’s going pretty quickly this far in already. I need to stick with him if I want to win! I know he’s in my age group for sure!” For the rest of the race, this guy was with me nearly every step of the way. I battled with him for the lead every step of the way.
We hit a 7ft wall after mush back and forth, up and down in the stadium seating and after that was something brand new…. The assault bike!

A 15 calorie countdown at whatever speed you could muster. New guy sat a Knights chess move away (1 row and 2 seats over) and he had the jump on pedaling. I needed to catch up. Every 3 calories, I stood and went all out for 2 calories. They repeated until all 15 were accounted for. I gained some time, but he still dismounted before me. Troy was already seated when I left and he later told me he had 9 calories to go when I exited the area.

We came up to the multirig together (new guy) and my hands were wet and slippery. I let him go first and he used standard 90deg arm method and made it through not with ease, but without difficulty. I did a single swing method through the 5 rings and 2 baseballs keeping myself from slipping off with wet palms. It was close, but I did it clean. Yet another staircase with ropes for crawling under and I could almost touch the guys shoulder we were so close. But Z-wall was next!
One of my favorite obstacles, I took Z-wall at the first open lane, avoiding my usual method of “always take outside corner first” because I wasn’t tiered enough yet to make a rest stop (just kidding, I was running my heart out but I knew my podium future was determined by passing THIS guy!)

I jumped off still right behind him but before we reached the next decline stair, I passed him with an approving nod from him. At the top of the stairs was “Rolling Epic.” It was like a walking plank position with your feet mounted on little rollers; adult style walking wheel barrel if you will?

We finished together and I made a pass again at the next stairs. More traversing the stands; up and down, back and forth and we made it to slam balls; 15 overhead slams of a 25lb medicine ball was the ticket to completion. We were nearing the end now although I didn’t know it at the time.

I took off down the spiraling stair with a full flight lead, but I could hear “someone” jumping steps and landing hard above me, cutting the lead down each flight. I still made it to the bottom first though ad headed right for the box jumps. 15 fully extended box jumps at about 20-24” height for the males. I knocked them out; the last 5 being the slowest haha. We then went into the last real obstacle (still not aware that we were this close to the end) but I couldn’t see him or the rest of my crew, so I grabbed my bad and went for it.

I didn’t run with it honestly, but a brisk walk (see told you I didn’t know how close I was. Paused and smiled for the photo and climbed the last stairs to the drop box. Down another few flights of stairs and I was at ground level.
I began to trace the heads of the people in front of me and THAT is when I realized, I am heading right for the grass! I kicked it into gear and started to charge full bore down the first base line, around home plate and heading into the gauntlet (punching bags hanging 4 wide and 6 deep). No photo here because the guy was busy checking the photos of the girl in front of me L. A full out sprint and I was across the finish line! I looked back to see if I recognized anyone will in my wake… no one! New guy came about a minute later, followed by Daniel another 2 min, and Troy not much after. I did it! I had 2 of my 3 biggest competition here today and I was able to come out on top! I couldn’t have been happier… But who was this other guy?

After a quick chat, turns out he was in the heat AHEAD of me! So I busted my butt to beat him but I was already a minute ahead even if we were neck and neck! It felt amazing! He ended up taking 3rd place in our division (20th overall) and I took 2nd. I missed 1st place by a mere 5 seconds, but I couldn’t be disappointed. I had a great run, a clean race, and most importantly; A BLAST!

Now it was Laynas turn. She did her first race today, a 0.5 mile kids race with several kid sized obstacles and she had SO much fun. Cutest girl on the course and now, a full fledged Spartan! Proud daddy today no matter WHAT happened to me on the course!

For a ranking update, this weekends victory helped me close a nearly 40 point gap between Troy and myself to close it within 3 points for 2nd and 4th place. My goal for For Carson this coming weekend (May 4-5) is to surpass them both and steal back the 2nd place spot!

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