Race Recap: Spartan Race Fenway Park Sprint
Event: Spartan Race Fenway Park Sprint
Location: Boston, MA
Heat: Open
I completed my 13th and final obstacle course race of 2016: the Spartan Race Stadium Sprint at Fenway Park.
By: Tara Skinner
FROM NEW YORK TO BOSTON
I started my 2016 OCR season at Citi Field in April and last weekend I closed it out by traveling from New York to Boston and conquering the Spartan Race Fenway Park Sprint. I didn't travel alone though, I had my 14 year old son along for the ride so he could participate in his first race. Back in April, it was COLD and the weather was no different for this race. I piled on two moisture wicking shirts, a Spartan sweatshirt and long socks and walked over to the stadium. I am an Ambassador for Rapid Force PHS and sometimes my knees give me trouble so I decided to wear the "U" shape on my knee knowing there were a lot of stairs in my future.
The festival area was set up in the street outside the stadium which was nice because it gave it a street fare feel. Wreck Bag was there selling their products as was a company selling Shakers with either Spartan or Superhero motifs. Alsa energy was offering samples of their energy drink as was Spartan favorite Fit Aid and there was even a representative for Weights and Dates, a dating App looking to connect fitness minded singles. We walked around the festival, headed over to register then stepped inside the stadium.
SPARTAN MOM
My son and I had a lot of fun stopping to take pictures. We stopped in front of the scoreboard, atop the green monster and anywhere else the view was good! Being able to show my son what his mom has been doing on weekends for the past four years meant so much to me. I wanted him to see what I was able to accomplish and that he could do it too. After running around the stadium for an hour we were coming to the end. We climbed the A Frame Cargo Net, missed the rope climb and did our burpees. Then, we did our box jumps and headed to the Gladiator Gauntlet, a series of boxing heavy bags you run through to get to the finish line.
A happy Spartan mother and son.
COURSE CONQUERED
It felt so good to cross that finish line and see him get handed his first medal. I was so proud of him but sad that my racing season had come to an end. After we took our official finishers picture we went to one more sample table. We were handed a skin patch from The Refreshing Co. that we were told would help you absorb energy through the skin. They have a few different patches for different needs and I am going to have to look into this further before I can give my opinion. My only complaint was that we were not able to help each other at the monkey bars. My friend and I helped each other cross the rig at the Spartan Super in Mountain Creek and it seems like different races have different rules on what is and isn't allowed. I couldn't understand why a "harder" race allowed you to have help.
A Spartan Race can't officially be called done without a trip to the Merchandise Booth and thats just what I did. We bought the venue shirts (see below) because they looked like baseball tees and were really nice and I bought a workout tank and a fleece lined sweatshirt to wear on my walk back to the hotel. This was a really epic racing season for me. I did 13 different OCR's in all. I was so glad to be able to put it to rest in a beautiful city with my amazing son by my side.
