You can put the whole world on my shoulders and I will carry it

I went to Kouty and festival area the day before the race and I met CEU Spartan race director Michal Kúkola and we had a word for a while. He told me that the race is gonna be brutal, but I’ve already knew that. I knew that Kouty is famous for its hills and barbedwire in the stream. He also asked me what was my time in Várgesztes two weeks ago, I said 6 hours. He predicted that if my time there was 6 hours, here will be between 8 and 9 hours. From this moment I was nervous as hell. I’ve completed Valcianska dolina Super last year in almost 6 and half hours and that was tough track. I hoped Michal was just wrong with that prediction and set my personal limit to 7 hours. I couldn’t fall asleep that night.

The weather wasn’t very pleasant, it was only 10 °C and I’m used to warm weather, higher temperatures. Fortunately I had long sleeved shirt and leggings so I handled low temperatures without any further problems. Start was also without complications – straight up to the hill. I kept a good pace and I was able to be in touch with the rest of runners. The third obstacle was my nightmare – bucket carry. I have finished 12 spartan races until then and I’ve never had a bucket carry, so this was my very first attempt. I saw other racers struggled a little with carrying the bucket and the referee allowed me to fill the bucket only to half. It was still heavy and I could move very very slowly with the bucket in my right hand or holding the bucket in front of my chest like the others. I had to be very careful to avoid falling down. It took me several minutes to complete the circuit, especially my right arm was in pain but I was so glad when I emptied the bucket in the container.

I thought myself what’s gonna be next if my arms hurt now so much, if I will be able to carry something later. We returned almost to the festival arena, made it through the dunk wall and I did my first 30 burpees on the next obstacle – spear throw, I made a horrible attempt. After the first water station the way led upwards again. Very long ascent, left turn, OUT obstacle (over, under and through the wall) and again ascending long way, then right turn and you won’t believe what was there. Another way upwards! I though we couldn’t go higher. Few more successfully overcame obstacles, another water station and we were approximately in the half of the race.

From this point the way slightly descended and I was able to turn my turbo on until the next obstacle. For a short time I ran like an average spartan runner. I think the toughest obstacle for me was log carry. I could carry the piece of wood only on my right shoulder and my right arm got exhausted very quickly. The log carry circuit went down and up again on uneven surface. When I had about 50m left I lost my stability and I fell down and I almost killed resting Captain America near the track with the wood (the guy in the Captain America shirt).

I rested for a while, drank liquid magnesium and Captain America helped me to put the log back on my shoulder and supported me with few other racers until the end of this obstacle. It hurt so much and I knew that there is a sandbag carry somewhere ahead of me. Meanwhile I wasn’t successful on traverse wall again, so I did another 30 burpees. I gathered some energy on the third water station, easily overcame Bender and Hercules hoist followed by sandbag carry. I didn’t grab the heaviest sandbag but my neck and shoulder were in pain from the previous carry obstacles. As I saw the circuit on hill it reminded me the Valča Super from the last year. (Here’s the link how I did sandbag carry in Valča last year:

https://www.facebook.com/maros.kudlik/posts/10209931093258826). I had this déjà vu feeling all along the way as I carried that heavy bag, It was very similar, I even thought I recognized holes in the ground. I knew I’ve completed sandbag carry in Valča without stopping and I intended to do it in Kouty as well. So many Spartans rested near the track and I accidentally joined them because I slipped and fell down. After this unforced resting I followed the track upwards and then downwards where I slipped and fell down again. I don’t know how long did it take to complete this sandbag carry but I was so glad when I threw away the bag and I hoped this was the last thing I carried that day. I overcome Olympus like two weeks ago in Hungary – fast and without problems. I heard the sound of the fest area and I hoped the end is near. Even the sun shined on me for a second as it would say everything will be ok from now. I didn’t want to repeat my rope climb from the last race where I missed the bell by millimeter, so I concentrated strongly and rang the bell without hesitation. The path continued through the forest where I met my father and he told me that there’s only 1 km left and the half of it in the stream. I climbed over the highest 8ft wall on this race, walked down into the stream and checked my time – it was really good. I walked slowly and carefully in the water, wet stones were slick and I didn’t want to sprain my ankle. After few hundred meters there was a barbed wire. We had to crawl under this barbed wire in cold water, which has 9 °C I think, but I accepted this refreshment gladly. Only few obstacles remained. Slip wall was completely wet, but I overcome it without problems. The last hard obstacle was multirig with rings and ropes. It was the same obstacle as in Hungary, where I slipped down and I though this time I will end the same, doing burpees. I didn’t want to wait too long and I didn’t put my gloves on. I started unusually with my right hand and I had severe problems with grabbing ropes and rings, I thought three times that I will fall down, but somehow I handled all inconveniences and rang the bell. I was so happy that I made it through this obstacle. This means one thing – really never give up at any circumstances. I was refilled with the new positive energy and I ran over the stairway to Sparta and last wall like a thunder. When I finished I was quite surprised and happy that I made the whole race under 6 hours. I proved that Michal’s prediction of 8-9 hours was really bad.

In my opinion Kouty was really good race, well organized, there were tough ascending and descending parts and pretty sceneries. The difficulty of the track was adequate, if it would be easy, it wouldn’t be that good. We have to accept what organizers will prepare for us, I’m glad they made an effort to organize a race like this. Again I would like to thank all the people who supported me on or near the track, cheered or somehow helped me. After this weekend I have a feeling that I carried so many things and nothing can surprise me now and I can carry any burden.

Video:

Maroško Spartan Race Super Kouty 2018 Štart

Maroško Spartan Race Super Kouty 2018 Multiring

Maroško Spartan Race Super Kouty 2018 Drôt

Maroško Spartan Race Super Kouty 2018 Stena

Maroško Spartan Race Super Kouty 2018 Finish