Super Spartan A Microcosm of Our World

So I ran the Super Spartan Nevada yesterday. 8.5 miles, 25+ obstacles, and the 6 miles of hills was really obstacles 26-50 in my book. To be fair, saying I ran the race would not be an accurate statement. I finished the race, didn’t complete all of the obstacles, but (re-)learned my lesson about signing up for races and not training for them. I did meet my number one goal of not hurting myself too badly. And gave myself more motivation to actually train for races and meet my resolution of running a half marathon this year (actually running it and not just finishing it). Now I just need to find the time to follow through…

The most interesting thing about the race itself was that it was a microcosm of our world. It had people from every section of life (or that’s what it looked like at a glance). There were moments that made me cringe. People that took themselves way too seriously and yelled at other racers for going too slow, helping other racers, and at volunteers for not being efficient enough.

Then at the other end of the spectrum, there was so much altruism through out the race. Many of the volunteers I saw already had their race medals on, meaning that they had completed the race and were out on the course volunteering again. There were racers who helped the volunteers whenever they were waiting for some of their team mates to finish certain obstacles. By and large, racers were supportive of each other as they passed each other, even of complete strangers. They helped each other on different obstacles. I saw one guy personally give 20+ people boosts over two consecutive 8 foot walls. Furthermore, it was the support of strangers and friends alike that helped some racers conquer their fears of heights and swimming in open waters. It was a lot of fun doing the Rock and Roll Marathon down the Strip in December, but the camaraderie between friends, strangers, spectators, and volunteers alike during the Spartan Race was certainly something on a totally different level.