I was not planning on running this Spartan race. No, it was not even on my radar. When my friend contacted me the week of the race, however, and told me that two of her teammates dropped out and asked if I'd do it, how could I say no? Had I ever trained to climb a 10 foot wall, traverse monkey bars, or climb a rope? No. Did I attempt every obstacle on race day? Yes, absolutely!

The participants of a Spartan Race are released in waves. Even though my teammates and I were in the 12:45pm wave, we were able to jump in early to the 12:00 noon wave. To get the starting line, all participants had to get over a 6 foot wall. This may not sound like a lot, but for someone who was never trained in climbing walls, this too proved to be a challenge! Thankfully, I had four teammates who helped me to get over that first wall and many more to come!

This was my friends first Spartan race too. Neither of us knew exactly what to expect. How long would it take us to complete? Would we need to carry our own hydration and fuel? How much hydration and fuel should we prepare? What should we wear?

For those of you who are training for your first Spartan Super race (8 - 10 miles with 25+ obstacles), yes, take both hydration and fuel. Although there are the occasional hydration stations throughout the course, you will need more hydration and no fuel is provided at the hydration stations. Both of us realized that we did not pack enough fuel.

Be prepared to climb a lot of hills in the San Jose Super. My Garmin calculated that we climbed a total of 1,400 ft. in elevation throughout the 9.2 mile course. Also, be prepared with lots of sunscreen. The majority of the course is in the direct sunlight.

Overall, I'd highly recommend the Spartan Race in San Jose. The race was well organized, their were volunteers at each obstacle, the finish line festivities allowed for participants to celebrate their accomplishment, and and medal was one that we proudly wore around for the rest of the weekend.