Phoenix Stadium Sprint
After the horrors of Chicago, I set out to Arizona with my daughter for one simple reason… to have a BLAST running in the first ever Phoenix Stadium sprint with her and my friends and that is exactly what I did.
With the points useless for this event (only best 5 of the year count and even winning this race outright wouldn’t earn enough) it was an opportunity to still try my best or even stretch myself out of my usual comfort zone with little to no penalty for doing so. I quickly met up with Nono and Chris (podium crew from Vegas Sprint back in Feb) and we made it to the gate in time to be the LAST released AG heat wave… we had no idea they were allowing early starts (oops). But with literally every possible competitor out in front of us already, we headed out on the course!
As I said, I wanted to take an opportunity to stretch myself out a little since I knew the course would be short and I could handle the stairs easily. I took an immediate lead in our pack as we headed outside of the stadium to round the “rolling turf” of the Cardinals home field. A quick 300 yards there, around, and back brought out the reality of the outside temperature; easily already in the triple digits at 8:30am. Never looking back, but haring the stomping on concrete behind me, I was over the second of 4 military hurtles before the second guy mounted the first. Only issue was, I banged my knee pretty hard on that second hurtle and it look the zap right out of me and I hobbled over the last 2 of them and even a little down the straight away. We entered the visiting team locker room and Chris was right on my heels now with my minor injury. Fortunately, I was a little more graceful with my elastic band (required for rump ropes) than Chris was (haha sorry buddy!) and was able to finish easily and exit the locker room to the first climb of stairs.
These stairs, approximately 4 flights) had bungees crossing over them and required crawling. I recall feeling a strike on my foot about half way up and later learned that was Chris’s face (Sorry AGAIN!). Once the bungees ended, I was able to take the rest of the stairs 2 at a time and open up at one of the flat sections. I now had a pretty commanding lead as I rounded a corner to jump 6ft wall and another to climb to the top section of the stadium. Unfortunately, there was another bungee crawl here and it was absolutely over packed with people. Unable to move at all, I just stood there and caught my breath for about 12 seconds as Chris and Nono both appeared at the step right by me. “Oh hey guys, nice to see you again” I thought, but frustrated that my lead was swallowed up by a narrow string of bungee cords.
We all made our way up pretty evenly but I held a small lead as we worked our way through some stairs, bleachers, and walkways. As we worked are way back to the pedestrian walk areas, we were met with the first of 3 carries; the sandbag.
At 65lbs they are typical for any Spartan race, but stairs were the challenge here. One of the LONGEST sandbags carries in my recent memory, I was actually shocked at the number of sections we traversed and climbed with those on our necks and shoulders. I battled the narrow paths with another younger guy who was in our heat as we jockeyed around had rails, cup holders, and slower racers, but I think I was able to dump my bag first.
We rounded a flight of spiral stairs about 2 or 3 levels when we came to a u-turn consisting of Z-wall and Rope climb. I took on the z-wall with my usual speed and even took a risk to cut a few seconds (it worked but because it did, it will remain a secret) and I headed for rope climb. I made it to the top pretty easily, but when I went for the bell, I was an inch short and missed, began to slide down and had to stop myself to try again. With an additional scamper up, I rang it and slid down, still ahead of the other guy from sandbag. Still no sign of Nono or Chris since the bungee climb… good!
I will admit that after that is a partial blur so I will jump to where I remember (it honestly COULD be in the right order, I just don’t recall). As we approached ground level, we had to battle the assault bikes. 15 calories burned as fast as you can. I finally saw Nono across the circle and Chris right next to him. I was at 2.5cal left when Nono jumped off his bike. Chris remained though so I dismounted and sprinted towards A-frame cargo net.
I could hear my buddy Nate on the sidelines (he ran with me later) cheering me on as I slid down the back side and went for the spear throw. Nono was there but hadn’t thrown yet. I took my block, pulled in my spear, released and stuck it. I was off before I even saw him throw his. Lucky for me, it was a miss! Unlucky for me, stadiums only need 15 burpees instead of 30, so he took them with ferocity. The bike, the a-frame and the spear took a lot of energy from me though and the second major stair accent was slower than I would have liked. I walked this section, about 7 flights) but never saw or heard anyone gaining on me so I just kept going and breathing until the top. Again, I can’t remember what came directly after this, so skipping ahead… There were push-ups, box jumps, and ball slams mixed with lots of section running somewhere in here.
The stadium version of the bucket brigade is typically a Jerry-can carry; 2 large containers filled to the top with water. We had to travel down two slopped walkways and turn around and work our way back up it. It was outdoors as well so the sweat began to pour down my back and head. The grip was also being worked beyond ability as I had to stop and flex my fingers more than once to rest and release the pressure. Directly after that was the multi-rig. It was 5 rings and then 2 baseballs. Nono caught up to me during the rests on the carry and we both stood side by side on the steps at the rig. I went first and made it to the first of the 2 balls and then my grip died. I had no momentum or swing so I became desperate and tried to swing myself forward… it didn’t work and I fell. It was my turn for the 15 burpees.
I watched as Nono successfully finished the rig and moved to atlas carry. I banged my jaw on the concrete on my 10th burpee and it nearly knocked me out. The pain was huge but I kept going. At 15, I ran the short distance to the atlas carry. Lighter than a regular atlas, it was no problem getting it down to one end and back with 5 burpees in between. Fresh off my other 15 burpees, these 5 were slower than usual.
Working our way back down to ground level, we hit the final few obstacles. First up was the 8ft wall. Then it was the ab slider and then down the final set of stairs to the finish. Right before the punching bag barricade was the hurc hoist.
Once again, I could hear Nate shouting over the din cheering me on as the bag was lifted higher and higher. Once to the top, a quick release and capture brought it safely to the ground and I sprinted to the finish line.
The effort was under 40 min long as was good enough to finish 6th in the age group. Not bad for a fun race with some risks thrown in. Overall though, it was a blast and I even took a second lap with some of my closest friends, Nate and Julio, college roommates! After that, we took Layna to her kid’s race and she did awesome. I was a proud athlete, proud friend, and proud father.
Next up is the 5th and final leg of the United States National Series in Eden Utah. I am very much looking forward to this event later this month! Until then, Aroo!
