2024 Utah Spartan Beast
The race was scheduled for Saturday, July 20, 2024. I ran the same race--and presumably the same course, though small changes are always possible--on July 9, 2022. I knew what to expect. I knew how hard it was. How hard it *is*. In 2022 it took me 6 hours 29 minutes to finish (in the Open division). This time, in Age Group, I planned for 7 hours, maybe longer if I ended up doing a lot of penalty loops. With a 7:15 AM start time, 7 hours meant finishing by 2:15 PM. I started out walking, following the advice that my friend and trainer Orlando gave me at my first Beast in Seattle in 2019. It was a brisk walk, and as the slower runners reduced speed and transitioned to walking, I passed several of them So far, so good. Note that the goal is to finish, not to beat anyone in particular. However, I learned early on that I can't compare my results at one venue to my results at another, because the venues are different. I...