Today was the Citizens Bank Spartan Stadium Sprint. This is the 3rd Stadium Sprint I’ve completed this year. Stadium Sprints are fun because they’re usually the shortest Spartan Race, and most of the obstacles are actually workouts like box jumps and slam balls since theres no room for the usual big Spartan obstacles like Twister or Olympus. A Spartan Sprint is a great race for someone who has never done a Spartan Race before, so they can kinda dip their guess in and see what it’s all about. 

My race start time was at 8:15. Got to the park super early. Was surprised that they weren’t charging for parking. That was a nice bonus! (Meant more money for Spartan Gear!)

Got checked in and ready to go. Got to see the Elites take off. Killian was in the first wave, looking like a Boss. Very cool seeing the pros take off. 

Got in the starting corral and my group was off. Up and down stairs we go. Lots of stairs. Stadium races don’t have much “running”, it’s a lot of up and down the stairs in the stadium.  Gonna talk about the highlights during the race instead of going of every obstacle, since most of them are just workout moves. I did 3 laps today, so I’ll also cover some of the differences. 

Multi rig was the 1st real obstacle. About 6 rings then 2 ropes with baseballs on the end. These are common at the stadium races. I’ve changed my technique for the multi rig, I don’t Tarzan swing anymore. I use the 2 hands in each ring method. I’ve found that the rings are really slick even when dry so the 2 hand method helps me maintain grip. I actually ended up losing a ring at one point and spinning around. But I was able to recover since both hands were one one ring, and continue on. The baseballs I grip high, I skipped the second one and just reach out for the bell. 

Sandbag Carry wasn’t bad. But the water jug carry was tough. Hard enough that you’re carrying 2 45lb water jugs. But trying to carry them through the tight seating in the park was tough. Kept hitting the seats with them and then hitting my legs. Was pretty slow going and much harder than other stadiums who had us carrying the jugs on much wider concourse staircases. 

Had a big issue with an obstacle I haven’t had any issues with in a long time; the Herc Hoist. The way they had it setup, there was no fence or bars to brace your body against. The rope was just hanging on a piece of caution tape. So there was nothing to leverage my foot and body against. I got it halfway up and couldn’t go any further. Had to do 30 burpees. After the first lap, I realized the bag on the end was near a steel wall, so I used that to brace myself against, and I got the bag up no problem. The 3 lap they had strung 2 thick nylon cords to use for leverage. Not sure if those were supposed to be there from the beginning and they forgot, but it made completing it much easier. 

More exercises, then outside for the 8 foot wall. Because it’s flat on the ground, it’s much lower than at a typical race where it’s raised. So I had no issues getting up and over. Spear throw was a problem. Only 1/3 today. Not very good. 

Z-Wall seemed tougher than normal. The blocks seemed really far apart at the turns. Still completed it but I definitely had to take my time. 

After box jumps were onto the stadium outfield. This was pretty cool since we actually got to run on the artificial turf and not just the warning track, like most stadium races. Apparently the Phillies are redoing their outfield grass, so they allowed Spartan to put obstacles on it. Did 20 slam balls than the rope climb. The ropes were pretty good and thick. Had no issues getting up it all 3 times. It’s funny how a year ago even doing the rope climb once was a big issue for me. Now it’s pretty frequently completed with no problem. Shows the training pays off. 

Couple hurdles and walls and then the race is over. Very short race. Not even sure it was 3 Miles. Since I failed 2 obstacles my Competitive lap, my time was much slower than my previous 2 Stadium Sprints where I had perfect races. But it was a lot of fun, even after 3 laps. Volunteers were really good and encouraging. Not too many log jams at obstacles because of the racers being spread apart at the start. 

Had a great time at this race, and got to meet a ton of awesome Spartans! Thanks as always for reading and if you have comments or questions feel free to ask!! AROO!! 🤡👍🏽👍🏽