Going for the Trifect

     Having completed the beast, on the World championship course, we thought we would be content having missed the super.  I mean we knew we could do it and the closest one in New Jersey we already missed.  This lasted about three days.  Following the Beast I was scheduled to work Monday morning until Wednesday night.  I had some time on my hands at work so I looked up all the remaining supers and started checking out costs for hotels near the closest 2 supers.  It was a choice from Ohio, and South Carolina.  With Airplane tickets being a little to expensive I started thinking about driving which made South Carolina the clear winner being a closer drive.  I text my fiancé with this insane plan figuring she would be the voice of reason and talk me out of it.  Of course there is a reason we are together and it wasn't because she was my voice of reason.  She informed me that the team while at Krav class was already discussing this same possibility. 

     So the next week we started plotting our trip to South Carolina.  There was a total of four of us going and it was about a 14 hour ride.  Which currently holds the spot for longest trip to a Spartan Race.  I had found a Motel about 30 minutes for the course and it was dirt cheap.  There is a reason it was dirt cheap the room wasn't that big the toilet was leaking and I'm pretty sure the neighbor was selling drugs.  We continued to do Krav classes and prepare for the final leg of our Trifecta medal.  The weeks seem to fly by and before we knew it we were heading to South Carolina.  It was Friday at Midnight when we started our journey.  My fiancé took the first shift driving with one of our teammates navigating, while Myself and our other teammate slept.  We each took turns driving and made to the motel by about 3 pm.  After waiting for the attendant for about 30 minutes we went into our room put our stuff down and went looking for a good spot for our Pre Race dinner.  We ate at the Texas Road House after dinner we headed back to the motel to sleep.

     Sleep was hard to come by,  mostly because we were afraid to sleep, but there was that pre race excitement keeping our minds up.  Morning came and we grabbed our race gear and headed to the course.  Weather was completely different than the beast.  The sun was shining and it was hot out.  We got in line grabbed our bibs and timing chips and headed into the festivities.  We got a quick glance at the course and it said 9 miles and named a few of the obstacles but most of the names where blanked out. 

    It was our turn to head to the starting line so we checked our bags, got some last minute stretching in, and jumped that first wall to get in line.  This race started like every other race, a quick run up and down some hills and a few over, under through walls.  I am the slowest in the group but we were making some great times.  Miles were flying by and obstacles were dominated.  The course wasn't extremely steep but it had it's hills to conquer.  The terrain however was a bit clumsy.  The venue was normally and ATV park so there was all sorts of divots and tire tracks left behind.  About 4 miles in during one of the downhill runs my foot slipped into one of those track marks and twisted my knee pretty bad.  It didn't hurt much at first,  I was able to keep a good pace and get through the obstacles.  As time went on it started getting a little more soar, but didn't really affect me until the bucket brigade.  The uphill climb with a bucket full of rocks was the final straw and my knee was begging to rest.  Right after the bucket carry was a little swim across a small stream.  I thought the cold water and taking the weight off of my legs for a minute might help.  I finished the bucket carry and jumped right into the water.  It was cold and I did forget about my knee for a second. 

    I got out of the water and the knee had cramped up, I had to work it out a bit to keep on my way.  We had about 2 miles left and I wasn't giving up.  I was able to get through it, nailed the spear throw, walked the concrete block, wadded through the clay, then came the rope climb.  I managed to get myself up to start but couldn't lift myself up with my knee.  I could see the finish line from here and decided to take my burpee penalty and move on.  After the penalty we climbed the pallet bridge had a small section of barbwire into a couple mud pits, went under the wall in the mud, and climbed the slippery wall.  The only thing standing between us and our trifecta was the fire jump.  I was able to muster what we left in my leg we jumped and sprinted to the finish line (3hrs43mins).  We set out to get a Trifecta this year and thanks to my team and my extremely supportive fiancé we accomplished it. 

   I needed to take a good week off from working out to heal my knee up.  I have done a couple runs since then and it hasn't bothered me.  With that behind us it was time to focus on our wedding plans.  We have decided to take this year off from Spartan races until after the wedding.  Knowing what we accomplished and how much fun it was it will be hard to sit out this upcoming season of races.