Fort Carson Honor Series Weekend

Like the Stadium Series races, the Honor Series are similar to a typical Spartan event, but with a little twist: taking place on an active military base and with some exciting military involvement on the course. This was my second year competing in Fort Carson and it was even more memorable than the first. This race last year was my first time meeting people in the Spartan community and this year it was most of those same people that I was able to connect and make memories with. Cody and Susannah were two of the first Spartans I met, and they were both there to cheer on a momentous occasion (Read on!) A big thank you up front to them!

I flew into Denver on Thursday night and was picked up by my good friend Chris and we went to his house for the night. Friday, we drove the 70 miles to Fort Carson Army base near Colorado Springs. Upon arriving at the hotel, I did one of my most essential and secret things to prepare for races like this one… Go for a run! After that, my OCRX team met for dinner at a Carabas where I had 1.5 plates of pasta, 2 bread rolls, 2 bowls of chicken soup, 3 asparagus, a lemon bread pudding and a glass of house red… You should have seen the looks on the tables faces! Anyway, it was an early night to bed because we had an earlier morning coming up!

We arrived Saturday morning at 7:25 and sang the national anthem; very moving with a color guard and Army Sargent singing it perfectly. I began my usual warm-up routine and waited the 45min until my start time.

Ran into a few guys I know from the 18-24 age group but no one from my M25-29 I recognized. We started off

down the hill chasing a 4 horse Calvary with guns firing and swords drawn! I quickly found the lead pack and stuck with them down the single track hill into the “fishbowl” valley before us. I was in around 10th place when we hit the first obstacle: over-walls. But even there, I could tell a few of them were going to quickly fall back. I had my eyes locked on only one target, Roberto Romo from the 18-24 group who I knew was a quick runner and if I could stay with him, there was a great chance I could win the AG. His BRIGHT neon green compression pants made it easy J. After over-walls was a VERY long barb-wire crawl, and through cactus I might add. Didn’t feel too much at the time (Adrenaline) but in the pool later that night, I was picking needles out from every corner of my body. I lost a few positions in the crawl trying to be careful and avoid as much pricks from BOTH directions as possible, but I quickly made up some ground on the running section that followed.

It was right as we were heading under A-Frame cargo net that I spotted a red jersey with large poufy hair. He looked to be holding a good speed and mussed have passed me in the crawl because I definitely didn’t see him in the lead pack at over-walls. Not knowing who he was, I kept my eyes on Romo, knowing if I passed him, I would have passed this guy too. (His name is Erik and will be called such from here on). Ducking under the A-frame we headed onto the first of the 2 super (blue) loops of the course. Heading right up a narrow bush-whacking hill, I finally caught up to Romo at the mile 1 sign. I gave him a little tease about giving up so soon and I took lead of the wave. It was here we started to catch up to the previous heat.

The super loop only had 2 additional obstacles; stairway to Sparta and monkey bars. I made quick work of both and tried to extend my lead on the rest of the pack. Monkey bars can often be a problem for some racers, so I took full advantage of a quick transition and off I went without a single look back.

Heading down the hill towards A-Frame again (this time to go over it), I was passed by Erik who FLEW down the steep and unstable incline. I was not willing to risk my footing or a broken ankle to stay with him, so I let him carry on. “We’re going to make this a RACE” he shouted. We tackled A-Frame together with me a few second behind him and we headed right for another large incline. This was my advantage! I passed him in the power hike up the 200ft 20%+ grade hill to the “bowl” rim. I ran on to the rope climb about a ¼ mile after. I began to get nervous at this point though because I had forgotten my gloves in California and had borrowed a pair from Chris, but they were fingerless, leaving my hands exposed to rope burn if I used my standard fireman technique. Up the rope I went, legless as usual, but even with mental prep, I slid down the rope burning 2 fingers pretty badly. I was audible in my pain as I dismounted and ran into Susannah for the first time! She cheered me on as I passed, still looking at my hands for blood or scratches… just burning sensations at this point though. Next up was the multi-rig which was 4x rings, parallel par, 3x rings. I removed the gloves and tried to double swing most of the rig (successfully) but missed the bell on my first pass and had to hang on for dear life while I redirected my body to try again. Having not touched the ground, this was a legal move, but a time drain. I continued to lead as I approached the sandbag carry; a rectangular route down a steep incline, over, and back up to the drop off spot. I picked my bag and loaded it onto my shoulders. Not THREE step in, I hit a rock and lose my balance. This dislodged the sandbag from my shoulders and it collapsed around my neck, dragging my straight down with it. Human instincts lead my hands to catch the fall… and a cactus. A sharp pain went up my left hand straight to my brain. I tried my best to stand and fix the bag first, then I stepped aside as I began to pull out tens of needles from my palm and fingers. Erik was passed me when half of them were out, and I began to pull more furiously with each prick. I finally got most of them out, enough to move on, and Erik was already at the point of the triangle and charging. I barreled down the hill, and across the hypotenuse, and began to pick up the remainder of the loop with this 65lb burden. But I was gaining back on him already!

After the carry was a good flat section followed by a steep downhill section. I caught up and passed Erik on the flat, but again, he took me to school on the down. I verbally acknowledged he superiority in this area as he passed me. But, per the pattern, a few moments after the ground leveled out, I was back in the lead. We were now on the second Super (blue) loop of the course heading for Bender, 8tf wall and more climbing. I completed Bender first and tried to avoid kicking Erik who was directly below me as I dismounted. I took 8ft wall first as well with him hot on my heels. This was the last I saw of him though…

From that point, we had another difficult climb at mile 4 as we made our way back up to the “bowl” rim. At the top, was vertical cargo, and the usual flip had me on the ground in seconds. I did take this opportunity to look back to try and spot the red jersey… but I didn’t see it. On the ground, I took my first look at my FitBit Ionic race watch to see what my pace was. I was currently running a 8:45m/m and I knew I could do better than that. Having memorized the course map, I knew I had about 0.5miles until the next obstacle and this was a chance to shift into a higher gear. I took off and held a 6:55m/m pace for the next 0.5m split as I approached the Atal carry. I struggled a little with it but completed my 5 burpees (cactus free) and carried the 90lb stone back to its starting location. I tried to keep the sub-7 pace down the hill and around the corner to Z-wall, a known favorite of mine! Right as I approached mile 6, I say my good friend and “coach” Cory up ahead. Yes, the same Cory from the Arizona dare! We hit the Z-wall together and I could hear him cheering me on as I made quick work of it and the hill on the other side. Not 3 min later, I caught up to Chris! We made it to rolling mud together as we merged back onto the Sprint (red) course to finish off the last 3 miles or so. Rolling mud, dunk wall, and slip wall were all back to back and gave us a good dose of mud and water.

Every obstacle aside from spear throw from this point on (8 of them) were grip intensive so it was imperative that I got my hands cleaned and dried in the next 1/4 mile before they began. A water station was positioned right after the slip wall so I forwent the sip and instead poured it on my hands. I waved them frantically to get them dry before twister. Luckily, there was yet another steep climb first which gave me extra time.

Twister came up quick and I was worried about my grip ability with the water, and now a visible burn blister on my left hand from the rope climb. But, they bars were not slippery and I was able to manage all 3 lengths of the rotating bars and ring the bell. I heard, but didn’t know it at the time, my friend Ebony cheering for me as I ran off directly into Olympus just feet after Twister. I used a new technique since I was gloveless still and it was slower, but managed to get me across without falling. Right after that was tire flip. I made my fastest flip ever both directions and took another moment to check for the red jersey… nothing. Feeling very strong and motivated, I took off down the hill back into the fish bowl for the next challenge!

Plate drag was up next at mile 7.5 and it was one of the fastest and easiest I have ever done; favorable ground conditions were the reason. I took off after returning the plate to its starting position and headed for the bucket carry. Having practiced it for 2 weeks prior again like I used to, I was excited to see if I could tell a difference from the San Jose disaster. Boy could I!! I had 3 people step aside so I could pass them part way through the loop and they commented that my bucket must have been empty! I yelled back that I train for this EVERY DAY and they shouted back “We believe you!” As I went to drop the bucket off at the corral, I finally saw Erik and his hair again. He was approaching the start of the carry and I knew I still had a good lead on him with only a mile to go! The next hill was the steepest yet and very crowded. I knew waiting here could greatly impact my lead so I made my second big move of the race; I took off up the side of the broken trail and climbed like a mad-man, getting several cheers and jeers from the folks I was passing. Heart ready to explode; I headed right back down the backside towards 6ft wall. I was heaving pretty hard and needed 5 seconds to rest before I could drag my body over the barrier. Spear throw was shortly after so I actually slowed down a bit to catch my breath. I needed to be focused and steady for this throw. If I stuck it, I pretty much had 1st place in the bag. If I missed and he made it, I was done. I picked a spear near the end of the line and got my stance and rope ready. Now, you may remember, the spear throw target is a plywood box filled with 3 hay bales stacked on top of each other. Well, I took my throw and nailed the ¼” plywood support base UNDER the bales. I stared in disbelief as it just sat there until a referee yelled “That counts! GO!” How lucky could I get! I took off for the very last climb of the race. I hiked as fast as I could and never looked down or back.

At the top of the hill was invert wall which I made over quickly and sprinted to the hurc hoist. Having mentally mastered this in the past few races, I thought nothing of it and picked any bag at random and went to pull… heavy. I had forgotten that it had rained all week during course build and they must have been soaked inside. I had to really give it my all (with no gloves remember and a burn on each hand) but with some hard effort, I made the bag reach the top and lowered it back down with care, but without grace haha

After its touchdown, it was sprint to the fire jump where I struck my best victory pose and 1st place shout! I couldn’t believe it! I finally clamed a gold medal! I quickly made my way to the results tent to confirm and I got an even bigger surprise when I got there. Not only did I get 1st in my category, but I was in 3rd place out of the entire AG division! This is a huge improvement from my personal best of 10th overall (last month at Dodgers). Erik crossed the finish line about 3 minutes after to claim second place for our AG. We spoke briefly and said we would see each other tomorrow for another battle… If we only knew HOW good of one it was going to be!

Sunday had a similar course (minus the two blue loops) so this edit will only capture the highlights of the race. Romo again took a commanding start lead (or so I thought, turned out he was in 2nd the whole time) and Erik and I stuck side by side for most of the time. I had difficulty on the rope climb with my already burned fingers (which looked and felt worse then than day previous) but was able to still get though it and rig without tearing.

Sandbag was much more fluid and made great time catching both Romo and Erik on the climb. Erik again was relentless on the downhill leading straight for rolling mud and dunk wall. He made a risky move and completely cleared the second mud pit by leaping across it and saving time and dirt! On the climb up to the twister and Olympus I could hear a voice, loudly, saying “He’s right behind you man. They guy from yesterday! You got this bro! Find a spot and run to it!” I wasn’t sure who he was talking to, but then Erik spoke up “Easier said than done bro!” Ok, so this guy was Eriks point man! I loved it! We charged up the rest of the hill with him, Romo and I literally in single file line. We hit the twister and all cleared. On to Olympus! I was still slower than usual but burpee free was more important. On the tire flip we were still all three in perfect stride. I was shocked I was able to keep up with them on the lip and our new race commentator was with us filming the whole thing! I passed Erik RIGHT before the slope, half expecting him to pass my like he usually did, but I didn’t even hear him coming. “He must have burnt out” I thought, “Good, I have this one too!”

As I was putting back my bucket, he had already started his loop. I had less time gap than before, but still enough to hold him off. We had less than a mile to go after all. 6ft wall and spear were next and I struggled a little more on the wall than before. Spear, I nearly missed low again, but made it in the hay at least this time, even if by only ½”.

Heading up the hill, I could hear that voice again yelling down below. “Let’s go Erik! He’s right here man! He’s right in front of you!” I tried to hike faster knowing we had 100yrd or so left. I made it over invert wall and to the hurc.

I picked a different bag this time though in case yesterday’s bag was just overfilled, but the choice for today was no better. I began to pull and struggled immensely. My finger left ring finger began to scream. I was 2 pulls from the top when Erik stepped up to his bag RIGHT beside me. “Look at this battle going on right here!” his friend yelled into the camera. The crowed and volunteers began to get involved too. Erik made his bag look easy as I struggled to get my glove off (grip-less but covered my fingers). As the left glove came off, the blood and puss began to flow out of it. Erik’s bag reached the top and was already heading back down. I was 6ft from the top and I was unable to do anything but watch as his hit the ground safely. “Great job man, you earned this one” I said to him as he ran off to jump the fire. With the crowd still behind me yelling, I grabbed the rope and screamed as I pulled as hard, and painfully, as I could and the knot hit the top. “Now don’t drop it!” the official yelled. I wrapped my leg up in the rope so that if I let go, I would at least slow it down with my body weight. It took me over a minute to get the bad down and myself untied, but I did it and I crossed the fire.

Erik was there to give me a high five and we confirmed that we went 1-2 for the AG and played swaps from the day before.

I really wanted to go 1-1 this weekend, but I was still happy to set a weekend record of 2 podiums at the same venue. We had an all-out battle and it was what makes racing so much fun!

For rankings, I entered into the weekend in 5th and as of now, I am currently in 3rd. My results from this weekend helped me gain back an overall podium spot again and with USCS #3 in Big Bear coming up in 2 weeks, all focus is on “the big one.” It will be my first Beast race of the year and I am looking forward to competing with Troy and Nono again on our home turf!

I have now had 5 straight podium finishes and 6 venues out of 7 with at least 1 podium finish. This year has been amazing so far!

In addition, a HUGE congrats to my friend Jess for her first podium of the year, and it was a FIRST PLACE!!! Great job OCRX Dream Team member JRock!

Until then! AROO!