With my blog, I obviously focus on traveling, hiking, and adventuring. What many of you may not know about me, is that I’m also a workout freak.

I love challenging my body. Lifting heavy things, putting them down and repeating. It’s sort of my thing.

I love the gym

That’s right. I’m THAT weirdo. I genuinely love lifting weights, running on the treadmill, doing classes like “Guts and Butts”, finding my happy place in Yoga, flipping tires, and eating planks for breakfast.

I have moved 49 times in my life. I’ve also had a gym membership at every single one of those geographical locations. The gym is one of the only places that allows me to shut the world out. It’s my therapy.

spartan race

When I told my husband I wanted him to do a Spartan Race with me, he looked at me like I had officially lost my marbles.

He doesn’t run unless he’s being chased.

But…..he reluctantly agreed.

Spartan: NORDIC VALLEY SKI RESORT – EDEN, Utah

We chose to do the Salt Lake Spartan Race in Eden, Utah. We opted to start with the Sprint, in case we died doing a Super or Beast on our first race.

You can see the difference between the Sprint, Super, and Beast races here.

Here’s a snippet of the waiver you must sign prior to doing a Spartan Race. It just talks about death, dismemberment, sickness, falling from heights, and diseases.

No biggie.

Warning: these aren’t glamour shots, my friends. It’s a muddy, tough race.

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Full disclosure: I’m scared of heights. During these photos, my husband was telling me I was fine and wasn’t going to fall to my death. Thanks, hubby.

I read this article online AFTER the race, that claims people who do these races are getting sick by swallowing muddy water…. that just so happens to contain animal and human fecal matter.

YUM.

So, uh…close your mouth.

I trained for this thing and my husband did not.

He doesn’t gym. He doesn’t work out. So imagine my disdain for him after he totally kicked ass and put me to shame in this race.

I also did NOT practice monkey bars prior to the race.

Who would’ve known that something you did so easily as a kid, would be nearly impossible as an adult?

Most Spartan races end with fire that you jump over. I’ve heard about people getting badly burned. It’s not that high of a jump, so I’m really not sure why. But….. there are a million ways to get hurt during Spartan.

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Muddy, mushy, after-race photos. Nothing beats the adrenaline rush after you’ve completed a race like this.

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Best advice for your first Spartan: don’t make it a race. There are far too many people to really get an accurate run time, anyway.

For those willing to mentally and physically push to achieve their personal best, Spartan is a catalyst for transformation – pushing you beyond what you thought was possible. And it’s a blast!

To find out more info on upcoming Spartan races, locations, and more, click here.

mud run – Hurricane, Utah

Lifehack: skip the whitening treatments and play in the mud instead. Same results.

Fun fact: she is younger than me, but I look like her child because of her amazing long legs that I’m uber jealous of.

This is a super fun run to do with friends! It’s not a difficult run, at least not the one we did in Hurricane, Utah.

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Wanna see the hottest photo ever taken of me?

You’re welcome.

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Nailed the jumps!

Sort of.

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Speaking of keeping your mouth closed and fecal matter, I didn’t close my mouth on one of the slides. Super, super gross, as you can imagine. Not a smart move. Don’t be like Jessi.

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Let’s be real here, guys. You cannot do a Mud Run and not expect to end up with dirt in your teeth. It’s science. If you don’t want to get dirty then obviously this isn’t the right event for you.

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Click here for a complete list, guide & directory to obstacle races, adventure runs, and mud runs in the United States.

I love the opportunity to push my limits any chance I can get. Whether that’s at the gym, on an obstacle challenge, or hiking any mountain I can find.

Until the next one!

Do you enjoy working out? What’s your favorite activity? Have you done an obstacle run challenge?