I had a pretty great race in New Jersey this last weekend. There were some of the greatest obstacle racers in the world lined up to run this Jersey Super.
The race started tough, with about a mile and a half uphill. Robert Killian went out pretty fast in the first mile and the rest of the pack followed about 50 to 70 meters behind. I decided about 3/4 of a mile in that I needed to move up with Robert and get into the race. So at about 1.5 miles in, I had finally caught up with Robert and we ran together for a few minutes. Then I decided to push the pace and start to put a gap on everyone. I was very surprised at how well Robert was running – he wasn’t letting me get away.
I had gained a small gap coming into the spear throw. I hit my target and took off. I didn’t realize Robert had missed but it didn’t matter, because I knew there would be some other great runners coming fast. It wasn’t until I hit the bucket that I was finally able to see the lead I had gotten. It wasn’t as big as I had hoped, but it was a good start. I knew the hard obstacles were yet to come. I tried to keep in mind that even though we were 3/4 of the way through, the race had just begun.
The last 2 1/2 miles we had some great obstacles – the sand bag, followed by a log carry, followed by the hoist. At the end was the rig. I felt like the rig was a little tougher this race. The rings were slick and the spacing seemed wider than I remember – But I was able to make it without much of a problem.
Thanks to all my great sponsors: Spartan Race, Inov-8, Gnarly Nutrition, and Beet Elite!
