Spartan Beast - Malaysia
The final Spartan Race of the year - to earn the Spartan Trifecta.
We headed to JB Saturday morning for our last obstacle race of the year - the Spartan Beast (13+ miles, 30+ obstacles). From all those runners who completed the Sprint with us earlier this year, I was down to two clients who’s aim this year was to run all three Sprint, Super and Beast to earn their first ever Spartan Trifecta.
It had stopped raining by the time we got to Sieh Park, but the sun was in full blaze. Having run this course last year for our first Sprint we knew the terrain was tough but nothing, nothing could have prepared us for the mud and how badly that effected our run.
9am we set off, and after 36 obstacles, a whole lot of sliding in mud, 6hrs and 43mins later we crossed the finish line.
Worst moments:
The mud - people were losing the soles from their trainers, you couldn't even walk - no minder run or jog. The mud made the course extremely frustrating and even slightly unenjoyable at times purely because walking was made so extremely difficult and a lot of times you were just clinging to grass and plants to attempt to stay upright or not slide back down the horrendous terrain you'd like got up.
Both my girls hitting the wall at 5 hours in. Neither have ever done an endurance event like this so physically and mentally it was overwhelming for them both. To see them both upset, frustrated and in pain by a OCR was hard for me to see as there's very limited things I can do to help at that point when you just have to endure and keep moving forward.
Not being able to get a decent fire pit jump due to the mud *face palm*
Best moments:
Crossing that finish line after almost 7 hours, knowing those girls had earned that medal and had crossed a trifecta off their bucket list
Me attempting to sing and dance poorly at the 5hr mark to help the girls keep spirits high and smiles on their faces (apparently Mambo Number 5 and I'm Coming Out were the only two songs in my head that day!)
When fellow racers called out that were we the 'PrettyStrongSquad from Singapore' - why yes, yes we are!
Fellow runners in bright yellow shouting 'Come on yellow team!'
Bonding with the girls in-front of us as to how the swim was actually a spa treatment - that’s right, you gotta do whatever you can to get through
Sliding on your bum as a legit way/only way to get down mud slides
Watching Jen do the transverse rope for the very first time
Watching Julia finish in spite of a back injury after an early fall during the race
Almost 7 hours of ice skating in mud and being extremely frustrated seeing almost every competitor walking instead of running or jogging, just to complete this OCR. Endure. Endure. Endure. That’s the whole point of the Spartan Races - can you keep moving forward and address each obstacle you encounter when you reach it. These races are not supposed to be easy. These races are designed to push you - to see what you're made of. I can't say it was 'fun' the whole way through but I can say, we came, we endured, and we conquered. And that's all I can ask from my girls - they smashed it.
Feedback From Our Pretty Strong Ladies
“End of 2017, Frankie convinced me to challenge myself and run my first ever Spartan Sprint. If you were to ask me whether I would of considered attempting a Spartan Super, let alone a Spartan Beast.. I would of respectively declined and laughed it off.
Fast forward to end of 2018 and whilst not feeling physically or mentally prepared for what 21km with 40 obstacles would feel like - we did it!”
“Pushed to me absolute limit - I’ve never felt so tired yet paradoxically energised.
Spartan Trifecta done!”
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