Yesterday I completed my first ever Spartan Race. Leading up to it I was nervous and excited. Excited for all the obstacles, nervous because it had been so cold lately that I was scared I'd get hypothermia.

The day before the race I felt myself coming down with a cold, which unfortunately the morning of the race the symptoms persisted. It was going to be a tough day.

I drugged and rugged myself up and we made our way to the course. It was a miserable day in Melbourne and only slightly better at Lake Dewar (where the race took place).

We arrived quite a bit early so had plenty of time to hang around and check out the obstacles close to the spectator area. There was a climbing wall section that looked like a bit of fun.

At 12:20 we started, there weren't too many people in our heat so we were never really held up at any of the obstacles.

The first was an over-under-through, over a wall (about 6ft high), under another wall, then through a wall with a hole in it. So far, so good.

The second was a killer, carry 2x12kg sandbags down a hill... then back up. That was possibly my least favourite and most taxing.

Other than those, there was a rope traverse, a couple of spear throws, rope climb, bear crawl, cargo net climb, wet (and slippery) monkey bars, wall ball toss and carry, a few others five freezing cold water crossings and plenty of running.

Why did I do it? Mainly because Ivona signed me up for it, but also a bit of a test of strength. Coming off a month of paleo and fairly conistent Crossfit training I wanted to see how my body would hold up.

Would I do it again? Absolutely. It was an enjoyable experience, the temperature never got above 10 but since we were constantly moving you never really felt the cold, even after the freezing cold water crossings. There was only one point when you were waiting and actually started to feel the cold. Other than that, no complaints.

As enjoyable as it was, I don't think I'll ever do it again in winter :)