2014 Arizona Spartan Sprint & Hurricane Heat #45

For those of you who have followed my posts since the conception of this blog you will know that my professional life as an Athletic Trainer keeps me extremely busy during the school year especially the months of January and February.  For this reason I usually begin my Spartan Race season with the Las Vegas Super Spartan in April.  This winter with all of the snow and cold weather here in Utah I decided I needed a change of scenery and signed up to run the Arizona Sprint this past February 8th with my sister and her best friend.  This was my first Spartan Race in Arizona as well as my first ever Hurricane Heat.  I will be giving a recap of our Hurricane Heat in this post, but for more information about the Hurricane Heat event and how you can participate in one visit Spartan Race Hurricane Heat.

Jenessa (My Sister), Me, and Sofia the night before the Race - Scottsdale AZ

Hurricane Heat #45 - February 8th 5:30 AM

The best way I can begin this recap is to let you all know that the Hurricane Heat dates back to Hurricane Katrina.  This Military PT Drill style "adventure" is meant to build team unity, mental toughness, and pushing you to the limits as an individual and as a group.  Our group HH #45 meet at the AZ Spartan Race venue at Fort McDowell at 5:30 AM sharp with our list of required supplies.  This was our mandatory list:

Mandatory Gear List:

-All athletes MUST wear a black shirt.  Can be a t-shirt, sports bra, tank top, whatever you want, but it must be black.

-1 Headlamp (per person).  It will be dark when we start.

-1 Black Sharpie Marker per athlete.

-1 Camelback, backpack, ruck, purse, whatever you want to call it.  You must be able to carry your own water supply.

-4 Salt/electrolyte packets.  If you start to cramp up, eat the packets and drink some water.

-2-4 energy gel shots or energy bars, whichever flavor you prefer.

-1 Wooden Spoon

As you may have noticed I hi-lighted 1 wooden spoon for a reason.  We were threatened with a punishment of tons of burpees if any of our team members and the whole group did not have the mandatory list.  

As we met our instructor we were given a short amount of time to divide into 4 equal teams.  Fortunately we had a few participants who had participated in a previous HH and took charge to get us into teams.  We then proceeded to do 30 warm up burpees.  Usually 30 burpees isn't to difficult of a challenge, but the catch was everyone not just in the team, but the entire group of 70 plus had to do them in unison or we had to start over.  After a few mistakes, we completed our 30 burpees by actually doing around 60.  

We were then paraded into the festival area with our head lamps on and began our first official challenge of stacking all the firewood to be used for the fire jump.  We were given a strict time frame in which to complete the challenge and with a narrow space in which to work and thousands of pieces of wood to stack it made for a more challenging task than one would imagine.  After more burpees as a group we then went on a group run up to the highest part of the course and then led down a narrow trail to a deserted road in the middle of the desert.  Apparently we hadn't learned the concept of staying together as a team and as an overall group yet as many arrived a lot sooner than the rest and we did more group burpees on the highway.

Next, we were given two important memorization tasks.  

First, the 7 Pillars of Spartan which are:  Stamina, Power, Athleticism, Readiness, Tenacity, Attitude, and Nutrition.  

Second, we were tasked with memorizing the Warrior Ethos:  I will always place the mission first.  I will never accept defeat.  I will never quit.  I will never leave a fallen comrade.

At any given time during our adventure we would be called upon to recite one or both and if we as a group failed to do so you guessed it...more Burpees.

There were many more tasks to perform in our 4 hour Hurricane Heat such as bear crawling in the dark 1/2 mile, and then gorilla walking 1/2 a mile.  

1/2 Mile Bear Crawl and Gorilla Walk

We ran as a group up to the top of the tallest hill and had the honor and privilege of raising the American Flag.  

Presenting the Colors

Many of our comrades were chose as fallen comrades who needed to be carried for 3+ miles throughout the desert and if they were dropped or ever touched the ground we had to do burpees.  

Carrying a fallen Comrade 3 + Miles

There were many tasks and a lot of running as a group, but on to the reason why we had to carry of all things a wooden spoon.  We had to run into the desert and were instructed that there was a buried chest giving instructions for our next task.  We came across at least 5 X's on the ground spread out over a 1/4 mile x 1/4 mile area.
We were instructed to dig and given a small amount of time to find the chest.  Fortunately it was sand we were digging through but most holes were dug down 4 feet or so and finding nothing.  One team finally found the chest and to add insult to injury it was full of zip ties.

Our Treasure of Zip Ties

With the zip ties we then were instructed to make a line and attach our right wrist to the left ankle of the person in front of us.  We were then tasked with finding a way to walk and then crawl in an opening under the freeway and to crawl back through on the other side.

Zip Tied together

Crawling under the freeway

Inside the tunnel

Needless to say there was a lot of anger and frustration in this task, but we managed to complete it somehow and live to tell the tale.

There were many other tasks left to complete but after 4 hours and over 400 burpees we definitely earned our Hurricane Heat Dog Tag and Finisher Shirt.

HH-045

It was a great experience and I am forever grateful that I had the chance to participate in this challenge with these awesome people.  If you ever have the chance to participate in a Hurricane Heat I highly recommend you do so.

I took longer with this post than I hoped and will create another entry detailing my experience at the Arizona Spartan Sprint.  Stay tuned!

Aroo!!!