World’s Toughest Mudder 2014

There are athletes and then there are tough mudders. These men and women supreme. This year World’s Toughest Mudder was held in Lake Las Vegas and I had the privilege of being part of my friend, Eve’s PIT crew. She was part of the first ever all women’s team to participate in World’s Toughest Mudder! Yea, I was stoked to be a part of that team, even if I wasn’t running it! A few other folks and friends I knew from Camp Rhino were also participating in the event and I got to support and be there for them too! It was such an amazing experience to be there among such badasses! It really takes a different kind of person to participate in this 24 hour event. Most of these people have been training and participating in Tough Mudder events all year to make it to this point. To be at World’s Toughest Mudder 2014.

If you don’t know, World’s Toughest Mudder is a 24 hour obstacle challenge with double the obstacles per mile of any other Tough Mudder event. This year, each 5 mile lap consisted of 23 obstacles with an elevation gain of 800 ft per lap! Participants entered either in teams or individually and have 24 hours to complete as many laps of the course as possible. If a mudder fails to complete an obstacle, they have to complete a penalty option. I gotta say, I love the names of some of these obstacles, such as sewage outlet, ladder to hell, birth canal, and tight fit! Of all the obstacles, the most terrifying for me would be the The Cliff, a 36 foot drop into the lake. Yea, I’d most definitely be doing the penalty option for that one 😉

I spent my morning helping where I could with setting up the PIT/ Camp area. It’s amazing how much effort and time is spent into getting ready for something like this! And not to mention how much stuff is needed! From food, clothes, wetsuits, water, vaseline (don’t ask!) medication, etc..

It was so exciting to watch them take off. You could feel the buzz and the energy from the runners. It almost made me want to put down my camera and go running with them..ALMOST! I stuck around until they got back from their first lap, but I had to go and work (shoot a wedding) for a few hours before coming back that evening.

When I got back the team was in the middle of their fourth lap. While I waited for them to come through, I got to help out another friend gather a few things from his tent before heading out to run another lap. When my friend’s team came back they were freezing cold but in good spirits and most of them went back out for another lap. This is around the time it got ugly! And by ugly, I mean windy. Being out in the desert with 30+ mile per hour winds brings on some nasty dust storms and dropped the temperature down to nearly freezing after midnight! We struggled to keep the canopy tent from blowing away, but once we brought it down it was a bit better. Battling that wind/dust storm and cold during the night was truly another challenge to the course and I am so proud of these women for braving it out there all night. Some ran, some rested, but nonetheless they all stuck it out and were there for each other. That’s what being a team is all about.

The day after WTM we had family over for dinner (yup, I was totally sleep deprived!) and my nephew asked why? Why do they do it? Why do people sign up for this? Good question. Why do they do it? {Stay tuned for a few interviews coming up in the next couple of weeks where I ask some of these athletes that same question.} They aren’t necessarily in it to win it. No, the ladies on this team and all other Tough Mudders have their own personal reasons for participating in World’s Toughest Mudder. Yeah some do it for the prize money, the recognition, the sponsorship, the fame, but most…most do it for reasons way beyond that. I think they do it because they want to see how far they can push themselves both mentally and physically. Because they want to challenge themselves. They do it to show how far they’ve come. Because it’s who they are. Because coming out of something like this changes a person. Because if you can do this, you can do anything. They do it because they can.

How about you? Would you ever run a World’s Toughest Mudder? I’m not sure I have it in me for 24 hrs but I’m already registered for my 3rd Tough Mudder in 2015! You should join me 🙂

Family Travels | Visiting Texas

As I mentioned yesterday on my little recap post, we just got back from our trip to Texas this past Thursday and it was definitely a much needed break. Life has been so crammed with activities, appointments, work, and such that we’ve just been feeling very rushed and unable to catch up. Thanks to a great friend, we got an awesome deal on airline tickets so we decided a getaway to visit family in Texas was just what we needed. We didn’t plan anything, as we were just going to relax and unwind. It worked out perfectly. Way better than I imagined it would! I’m a planner, winging it is out of my comfort zone.

We spent our first 3 days at my cousin’s friend’s lake house. They’d been planning this getaway with a bunch of their friends too so we totally just crashed the party!! We didn’t really know most the folks before this trip so I was kinda nervous about just spending 3 days with a bunch of peeps we didn’t know. But, I gotta say we totally just made some lifelong friends. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. It truly felt like we’d all known each other forever by Sunday night! And it was a total blast to see my kiddos playing in the lake where I spent so much of my own childhood playing and swimming in.

After the lake house weekend, we spent a day at my cousin’s house playing farm! Jason and Diego got to do some target practice (Yes, I was freaking out!) They took a walk in the woods, fed the chickens and collected their eggs, and ended the day riding a horse. By this point, we’d had enough of the country life and us adults went out for a nice date night in town about an hr away but it was worth the drive! Don’t worry, the kiddos were well taken care of and had plenty of fun catching up computer games and ipads! It’d been days since they played with their electronic devices! We went to this awesome sushi spot that was so yummy and had a great time!

The next morning, we left my cousin’s place and headed to do some sight seeing. We spent the day at Natural Bridge Caverns exploring the underground caverns, playing around the canopy challenge, and panning for gems. It was a really great day (minus some whining & bickering from the kiddos) I highly recommend checking it out if you’re ever in the San Antonio area. It ended up getting really cold that day and night, but we braved the chill and walked around San Antonio’s River Walk on our way to dinner.

The next day was even colder, so our trip to The Alamo was pretty short and we went ahead and made our drive to Austin early. Once in Austin, we found the coolest movie theaters we’ve ever been to, Moviehouse & Eatery! It’s a big multiplex cinema with conventional theaters, IMAX, and dine-in theaters with awesome reclining seats! We opted for the dine-in experience and munched on bottomless popcorn, fish and chips, gourmet pizza, and for Jason and I, a nice bottle of riesling. Yea, watching Big Hero 6 and drinking wine was a fabulous way to end our trip!

So, although this is most definitely not our typical vacation, jam packed with activities and sight seeing, it was most definitely an unforgettable time spent with family and friends. It taught me that sometimes it’s good to let go, relax, and go with the flow rather than having it all planned out. Don’t get me wrong, I still love my itinerary vacations, but I think we can add some of these trips into the mix too 😉

How do you like to travel? Do you like to wing it, plan it all out, or somewhere in between?

It’s a Messy Life Update & What’s to Come

Life’s been pretty busy and hectic these past couple months, so we took a last minute trip to Texas to visit family and friends and unwind. It was just what we needed and the kids had a blast making new friends, playing outside, and exploring new places! I like to plan our vacations with lots of activities & sight seeing, but this trip was really different and I enjoyed the relaxing time!

When we got back home on Thursday, it was back to the busy and hectic days! Friday, I met an instagram friend in real life and we went hiking at Red Rock Canyon and had lunch. Later Jason and I had dinner with some photography industry friends. Saturday was World’s Toughest Mudder and my friend, Eve, was participating in the 24 hr event! I went in the morning to help her set up and support her and her teammates, as well as take photos. I also had a small wedding to photograph so I left around 11am to photograph a wedding, but went right back around 6:30pm to continue supporting her with whatever she needed. I had woken up at 5am for World’s Toughest Mudder on Saturday and didn’t get home until 3:30am on Sunday. Sunday we had family over for dinner! To say I was beat is an understatement and I didn’t even race! Huge thanks to my hubs for always supporting me when I overextend myself! He’s really my rock!

I’ll be blogging all about our Texas trip and World’s Toughest Mudder throughout the week, but I just wanted to post something today and let ya’ll know I was still around! Sadly, with traveling and working, my workouts and runs have been slacking. Let’s not even mention my eating. I mean, really Texas, why does your BBQ & tacos have to be so good?!?! I’m planning on doing a 3-day Juice Cleanse this week to help get me back on track and to hopefully lose some of those extra pounds I gained while away. Has anyone ever done one of these before? Did you love it or hate it? I’d love to know!

xo,

Jessie

7 Tips for Traveling with Children and Having Fun

As most of you know, I love to travel and I have totally passed on the travel bug to my family! YAY 🙂 We love to go on adventures big or small and explore new places! Flying for a family of 4 can get expensive, so lots of our trips are road trips! But, on the occasion where we do get to fly, we still use the same system for traveling with our kiddos because it seems to work great for us! So, if you’ll be traveling with children this year and are a little nervous (as well you should be!) take a deep breath and check out the tips below on how to make traveling with children less stressful and lots more fun!

1. Prep the kids. If you’ll be in the car for a few hours, let them know. Tell them how long the flight is going to be. Depending on the age of your kiddos, you don’t have to be exact. A simple, “We’re going to be on this plane for a long time.” Is enough. This helps keep the “Are we there yet” chants at bay, at least for a little while!

2. Keep your expectations low. Kids are kids. They will get cranky, they will ask a million questions, they will get bored, they will need to go to the bathroom 5 minutes after you asked if they needed to go and they said no. If you mentally prepare yourself for these situations, they may not seem so major when they actually happen. Don’t expect perfection from them, but do tell them what type behavior you want from them. I find that if I tell my kids how I want them to behave beforehand, it’s easier to redirect them when they get rowdy or off track.

3. Have entertainment. Yup, I am not above having my kids watch movies or play games on an ipad or laptop when I know it’s going to be a long trip. We also pack them books, small toys, pencils, crayons, and paper to draw. For our last road trip we printed out a few family-friendly road trip games online, such as license plate games and I Spy. We even found Road Trip Bingo game cards!

4. Plan a surprise (or two!) On our road trip to Ensenada, Mexico this past spring, we used our Happy Family Movement Road Trip in a Box kit. This was a blast! The kids really loved opening up the packages at the designated times and taking breaks to play with water guns, blow bubbles, or just have a dance party in the middle of nowhere! The kits are no longer available to purchase, but you can totally make your own! Just grab a few fun dollar type toys, wrap them up, give them instructions on when to open them and wait for the fun to happen! You could do simple things like temporary tattoos, gummy worms, stamp kits, an inflatable beach ball, etc!!! The possibilities are endless and will definitely make for a memorable trip!

5. Rest. This one, I learned from experience! We totally didn’t plan for much rest on our summer trip to the east coast and we hit the ground running when we go there. This was a huge mistake and we ended up with some major cranky jet lagged kids in Washington DC! Once we slowed down a bit and they got a good night’s sleep, we were great. The remainder of our trip was awesome! From now on, we start our trips a bit slower, don’t plan a ton of activities when we first arrive, especially if there’s a time difference, and we find it makes for a much better trip overall!

6. Start travel traditions. We love to goecache! So, for us going on a trip also means we get to do a fun geocache in another state. The kids expect it now and it’s part of our road trip tradition. Whenever we travel to California or Utah, you know we’re going to have Chick-fil-a because we don’t have any in Vegas. Also, when we go on road trip, you know Johnny Cash’s Everywhere Man is gonna be playing! Our traditions aren’t too big but they’re ours and we love them! Whatever your tradition is, big or small, your kids will love it. Traditions make kids feel special and who doesn’t love that?

7. Have Fun! Some of my best memories as a child are from family vacations and I really want my kiddos to have these kinds of memories too! I love it when one of my kids starts off a conversation with, “Remember when we did/went…” We know that traveling with children can be tough and tiring, but it’s also so worth it! And the best part about traveling with little ones is that they don’t remember the time when you were stressed out at the rental car ticket counter or the time they made you upset because they broke a coffee mug at the souvenir shop, nope, kids tend to forget that stuff pretty quickly. They’ll remember the little things. The ice cream cone you got them at the beach, the fun rides they rode over and over, the jokes you told, the giggles, the fun, the good stuff. And at the end of it all, that’s what really matters. The good stuff!

Here’s to safe travels, fun adventures, and making memories that last a lifetime!

Friday Five | Things I’m Loving Right Now

I’m really looking forward to this weekend! Tonight I have book club with my girls and it’s our 2 year anniversary! I can’t believe we’ve lasted this long but I’m so glad for it because it is something I look forward to each month. It’s just a fun time to indulge a little in yummy food, wine, and especially good company! You can read more about why I love book club and how to start one of your own book clubs HERE! So, number one on my list of 5 things I am really loving right now is gonna be my book club!

Two more thing I’m really loving right now are my new facial cleanser and moisturizer. I’ve always just bought facial cleansers and moisturizers at CVS or Target. Nothing fancy. However, as I’m getting older I thought it would be a good idea to invest a little more in my face, being it’s the first thing people see, right? I went to Sephora a few weeks ago and although I felt quite overwhelmed, I ended up purchasing the Philosophy Purity Made Simple Cleanser. I normally would buy cleansers with some sort of exfoliation because I felt they got a better clean, but like I said, I’m getting older and I thought something a little more gentle on my skin would be best. I really love that it’s a one-step cleanser. It is great at removing makeup and it’s gentle enough to use everyday after my workouts. The best thing is that my skin doesn’t feel dry or tight after using it, like other cleansers I’ve tried. I stuck to Philosophy and also purchased their Hope in a Jar moisturizer. So far, I’m really liking it too! It’s light and airy and hasn’t made me break out! YAY 🙂 I purchased the original, but I’ll be sure to get the one with SPF next time.

Another thing I can’t get enough of lately is Vita Coco Cafe. This stuff is so refreshing. It’s made with coconut water so it’s packed with electrolytes. Add a shot of espresso and a splash of milk and it makes for a great pick-me-up! I like to have one before/after a long run or well, just because they are delicious! If you haven’t tried it, you must!

Lastly, I’m really diggin’ my Garmin Forerunner 15 with hear rate monitor! It was an anniversary gift from my mom & sister in August and it totally rocks. It gives me all the stats I need for my runs and workouts (when used in Indoor mode) and also serves as a step counter during the day. I promise to give a full review soon!

So, there ya have it! What kinds of things are you loving right now? Sharing is caring 🙂

How to Encourage Kids to Eat Healthy & Be Active

OOPS, so I haven’t blogged all week. I feel bad about it. I really enjoy blogging and it helps keep me sane. But sometimes, life gets crazy and there aren’t enough hours in the day to do what needs to be done and work, laundry, dishes, all these things tend to pile up on you…BUT, that’s for another blog post because I finally did carve out some time this morning to share a bit of my family life with you.
Most of you know, I’m a mom of two kiddos! I blog about them a ton, especially when it comes to doing fun stuff together and going on family vacations and adventures! Today, though I want to talk about how important it is to lead by example and how to encourage kids to eat healthy and be active. When I started this weight loss journey and began exercising regularly I did it for me. I mean, yeah, I wanted to be able to run around with my kiddos and not be out of breathe, I wanted to be a good example to them about eating healthy and keeping active. But guess what? These things don’t happen by osmosis. Kids don’t just become interested in eating kale chips because you are. They won’t trade video games for jumping jacks because you tell them they should be more active. Nope. You have to engage children. You need to get out there and do these things with them. They not only need to see you go for a run, they need you to invite them to join you. It took me a little bit to realize that while I was enjoying the benefits of a healthier, more active lifestyle, my kiddos weren’t as involved as I wanted them to be. So, I made a conscious decision to change that! And for the past year or so, we’ve been making changes for the kiddos too!

Here are a few things we do & you can use to help you and your family eat healthier and be more active:

Making easy Lexi's Clean Kitchen no-bake nut-free Powerbites! Check out the recipe :) Kids love these! — Making easy Lexi’s Clean Kitchen no-bake nut-free Powerbites! Check out the recipe 🙂 Kids love these!

Cook together! Having my kiddos help me cook dinner or a healthy snack helps a ton when trying new things. It doesn’t mean they’ll love it, but they will at least try it because they helped make it. And, even if they don’t like a certain dish or vegetable, it’s still a great way to spend time together and talk about the benefits of healthy foods verses junk food.
Make Exercise Fun! Kids are kids. You can’t pop in a workout DVD and expect them to love the burn! You gotta make it fun for them and for us, that means taking it outside. Whether we’re going on a family hike, a bike ride with daddy, or a 1 mile run I like to let them know we’re not just having fun but also exercising. We’ll do fun little “boot camps” or challenges at the park. Jason & Diego will play football or basketball. The important thing is to stay active!

Be Sneaky! Yup, I am not above tricking my kiddos into eating healthy. I mostly do this by adding spinach & chia seeds to all our smoothies and making fresh juices with both fruits & veggies! Smoothies are usually a few spoonfuls of greek yogurt, a banana, milk, berries, a bunch of spinach, and a tablespoon of chia seeds. One of Elysse’s favorite juices is made with 5 carrots – 1 cucumber – 4 celery – 2 big handful of grapes! It’s fun to experiment and try new combinations and of course, have the kids help 😉
Share your Passions! I love to sign up for races and my favorite are obstacle races and lots of times my hubby runs along with me. It’s fun to take the kids to watch us run and cheer us on. By race day, they are super excited because they saw how much we trained for that day. They see us put in the work and then see the results of our hard work. Nothing like your kid see you succeed and be proud of you!
Get them Involved! Not only do we sometimes take the kids along to see us race, we also sign them up for their own races! Of course, there is nothing competitive in these races, it’s just a ton of fun for them and that’s what we want. There are lots of races that have fun 1 mile family runs or are kid/stroller/walker friendly. We want our kids to enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle now and as adults!

How do you encourage your kids to eat healthy & be active? Feel free to share your tips too!

5 Tips for Running in the Morning | Motivational Monday

I am not a morning person. I’ve ignored my 6am alarm more times than I care to admit. I’m not a night owl either. I can rock 10am like it’s nobody’s business, though! I have a flexible schedule and can get away with mid-day workouts at the gym and when the weather is just right, I can go for a mid-morning or early afternoon run. Unfortunately, even with a flexible schedule, sometimes it’s just best to get your workout done and over with first thing in the morning, then you can focus on the rest of your day without interruption for a mid-day sweat fest. An early morning run also guarantees it gets done. I’ve had plenty of days when I had every intention of working out or going for a run mid-morning, but then life happens and my workout doesn’t.

Take today for example, I ignored the 6am alarm clock. I told myself I’d go run at the indoor track at the gym this afternoon, but then my 9 year old woke up sick and didn’t go to school. Now, I’m left trying to figure out when I’ll get to run today and it most likely won’t be the 5 miles I was planning. How I wish I’d just sucked it up and gone for my run this morning. I know I would have felt great afterwards. And that’s just it, while I’m fighting with myself to get out of bed, I need to remember how good it feels when it’s done! I’m determined to make early morning runs part of my routine, especially since I’m considering running the Hoover Dam Half Marathon in December! So, I’ve come up with a plan to help me and those of you who also struggle getting out of bed in the mornings to prepare for early morning runs.

Set out your clothes & gear the night before. We’ve all heard this before, but I think it really does help. Not only does it save you time in the morning, but by going through the motions of setting it all up beforehand you are making a commitment to yourself that you will get up!
Go to bed early. Here’s another given. If you want to wake up early, you have to go to bed earlier than usual. Plan an earlier bed time and make it happen.
Visualization. Visualizing yourself running your route is a good way to keep motivated. It especially helps to visualize the end of the run and how you feel when it’s done.
Make Plans. Whether you make plans to run with a friend or a running group, having that accountability will always get me out of bed!
Suck it up buttercup! No whining, no complaining, just get up and go for it. Because, when it’s done, you’ll feel amazing!

Do you have any tips or tricks for getting your morning runs done? Feel free to share them in the comments below! Thanks 🙂

Wine Tasting | Temecula, CA

What do you do when your Spartan Sprint Race gets canceled in Temecula? You go wine tasting, of course! At least, that’s what we chose to do and it was a ton of fun. Not as much fun as running a Spartan Race, but a very close second 😉

Jason and I started our day off with a yummy breakfast at E.A.T. Marketplace in downtown Temecula. I was very excited to finally get to try it out. I’d been following them on Instagram and swooning over their yummy organic, locally raised foods. I especially loved that they offer Paleo-friendly options! We met up with our teammates after breakfast and since we were all still bummed out – them about not being able to race at all that weekend and me about not getting my trifecta like I planned -we drowned our sorrows in wine tasting!

We started at the hubs and mine’s favorite winery in Temecula, Wiens Family Cellars. They did not disappoint and we even became wine club members (again!). Our next stop was Lorimar Winery, which we had not visited before. The grounds were so pretty and the tasting was a ton of fun there too! At this point, we all agreed some food was needed so we made our way to Ponte Winery‘s restaurant and ate al fesco & enjoyed fun conversation and a beautiful view! Of course, we couldn’t leave without trying some of their wines too 🙂

Forgive the blurry picture, our wine pourer maybe had a few herself behind the counter ;) J/K hubs had the camera set on manual focus- FAIL! — Forgive the blurry picture, our wine pourer maybe had a few herself behind the counter 😉 J/K hubs had the camera set on manual focus- FAIL!

This was definitely our motto for the day!

Flor, how was that mediterranean wrap?!!? LOL

Our last winery visit was Mount Palomar. This of course, was after a lovely nap and freshening up for dinner afterwards. We spent a long time in their cozy tasting room and were starving when done, so we made our way to a yummy Italian restaurant, Trattoria Toscana. Thanks To Yelp for all the great reviews, this place was delish and the perfect way to end the day!

Not Paleo. Not Sorry. So worth the indulgence! Homemade pasta & pasta sauces! Mmmmm

So, yea we totally made the best of a not-so-good-kinda-crappy situation and we’ve got lots of wine to prove it! It’s not a Spartan Trifecta medal, but that will come soon too, I’m sure of it 🙂

How I Feel about the SoCal Spartan Sprint being Postponed

After completing the Spartan Beast in Temecula on Saturday 9/13, I was ready to complete the Spartan Sprint the next day. I had been training hard and was feeling good about leaving the shortest distance race for last. On our way to the hotel room to freshen up after the Beast, we met up with our teammates who had driven from Las Vegas to Temecula to complete the Sprint with us on Sunday. We were all excited and ready to run together the next day and then that night we received this email:

The disappointment I felt from reading that email is beyond words. Reading it now makes me ill. I was so ready to have my trifecta medal. I planned an entire trip around it. Like I wrote in my blog post before I left, I sacrificed so much to be there and to come back incomplete was just a huge let down. I’ve seen images of Spartan racers running in the rain and in the snow, I never imaged they would cancel a race because it was too hot, especially because they have this posted on their website:

I honestly believe Spartan Race did their due diligence before & during the race. We received emails from Spartan before the race with warnings about the heat and giving straight-forward advice on how to prepare for it. I heeded the warnings. I prepared. I hydrated the week before the race. I took electrolytes, a hydration pack, and waterproof sunblock. My husband wore a wide rimmed hat and carried a hydration pack too as a spectator. He carried coconut water for us, too. Was it hot? Yes. But, in my opinion, it was bearable with preparation. Those who didn’t prepare paid the consequences. They weren’t able to complete the race, they became sick or injured. Do I feel for them? Of course I do. I do not wish anyone pain or defeat. I know it was tough, but the Spartan races, especially the Beast, are designed to be tough, right?

Obviously, I wish they hadn’t postponed the race until January. The goal of a trifecta is to race all 3 distances within a calendar year. Running the Sprint in January isn’t an option. I’ve worked too hard for this to not complete it now. I’m working on getting to run the Spartan Sprint in Malibu in December. But I’m still sad. Not only am I sad for myself, I am sad for my teammates who traveled 5 hours to be there and left empty handed. I’m sad for the friends I made along the course of the Beast, who like me were prepared to come back the next day and earn that Trifecta medal. I’m sad for the folks I met while training at Camp Rhino who were all excited and worked so hard to complete their first obstacle race.

We haven’t heard anything else from Spartan except that we’ve been automatically registered to a new Sprint event they’ve added for January 18, 2015 at the same location, Vail Lake Resort in Temecula, CA. This will be the weekend before their already scheduled events the following weekend there. The email was sent Sept. 14 and said more details to follow, but we haven’t received any new info yet. I’ll assume they will accommodate transfers without charging transfer fees as they must know not everyone will be available that date. I’m waiting anxiously to see what other, if any, compensation they provide their athletes. In the meantime, I’ll keep training!

– Has a race you’ve registered for and trained for been canceled before? I’d love to hear how you dealt with it and how the event company handled it!

One piece missing...will I get to complete my trifecta in 2014?!? — One piece missing…will I get to complete my trifecta in 2014?!?

SoCal Spartan Beast Recap | Race 12 of 14 for 2014

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to handle this blog post. I decided I’ll share my thoughts and comments strictly about this race and my experience on Saturday without letting my thoughts and frustrations about the canceled Spartan Sprint on Sunday get in the way. In case you missed it, Spartan Race canceled the Spartan Sprint in Temecula, CA on Sunday, Sept 14 due to extreme heat. I’ll keep my comments and thoughts about that in a separate blog post tomorrow. Believe me, I have lots to say about it! But for today, I want to focus on my experience running the SoCal Beast on Saturday.

We took our time heading out of Vegas on Friday morning and ended up in some major 2 hour delay traffic jam on our way to Temecula. Once we finally arrived at our hotel, we pretty much went straight to bed after setting out my clothes and gear for the next day. Of course, I hardly slept. I was too anxious to sleep, so I tossed and turned a lot until it was finally time to get ready to go. I had my coffee and ate my go to pre-race breakfast of a banana and half a bagel thin with almond butter. Once we got to Veil Resort we parked and made our way to the registration area. Everything went very smoothly and we had no problems checking in and getting ready. I met up with my friend, Eve, who ran alongside me the whole time. By the way you must follow her on instagram! Here’s the link to her profile: http://instagram.com/ninjaeve Sidenote: Eve will be participating in World’s Toughest Mudder this November and I can’t wait to be there supporting my girl!!!

On with the race, I won’t give you a play by play of every obstacle, but I will say that this was a brutal course. 6.2 of the 12 mile course was all uphill. These hills, although I’d like to call them mountains, were no joke. The first half of the course went by pretty quickly and I felt great about completing every obstacle up to that point. Just like for the Spartan Super, the bucket carry was by far the toughest obstacle for me. My calf cramped up towards the end of the obstacle and thank goodness I’d read an article about mustard helping with leg cramps and had some mustard packets in my hydration pack. About 2-3 minutes after taking it, I felt ok enough to finish the obstacle and my calf didn’t cramp up again afterwards. I will always carry mustard packets with me on a race from now on!

Thanks to this random dude for the boost!

For the second half of the race, the temperature started to creep up and we could see so many people that just weren’t prepared for the heat. Both Eve and I had our water backpacks and although the water was already warm after a few hours, it was still helping us keep hydrated. We’d also put electrolyte tablets in our water before the race and I had my Island Boost packets too. The race had plenty of water stations and one of the last stations also had gatorade and salt packets for dehydrated runners. Even with all the warnings and emails from Spartan Race about preparing for the heat, some athletes just weren’t prepared for the 100+ temps and many were not able to complete the race. So many runners weren’t carrying water and guys were running with no shirts, even after being warned of the extremely high temperatures and given clear instructions on what to do to prepare for it. Spartan also ended up shortening the race by several miles for those with later start times. Like I said, Eve and I had prepared before and during the race and we finished strong. Eve got her 2X Trifecta medal and I was on my way to getting my first Trifecta. Of course, I couldn’t have done it without her help throughout the race and literally pulling, pushing, and carrying me over some of those obstacles. Big thanks to a few other racers who took the time to help me up a few walls and of course a massive thanks to my hubby for all his support before and after the race and for taking these awesome photos. Thanks also to my friends and family for all their encouragement!

Sadly, things didn’t turn out as planned and the Spartan Sprint on Sunday got postponed until January. But, at the time, we had no idea that was going to happen. I was totally ready to take on the Sprint on Sunday with my hubby and 4 other friends that had traveled from Vegas to run it together. Like I said, be sure to come back tomorrow for my thoughts about their decision and what we ended up doing since we couldn’t race.

As for the Beast, it definitely lived up to it’s name and I can’t wait to do it again!