GreatNews.Life Executive Director Jenny Craig-Brown is gearing up for her ninth Spartan race, and you’re invited to join her team of spartans for free.
In July 2022, Craig-Brown sat down with Spartan Race Founder and CEO Joe De Sena for an exclusive interview about what it means to live the Spartan lifestyle. At the end of the interview, De Sena challenged Craig-Brown to organize a team of gritty people willing to participate in the next local Spartan Sprint on November 6.
Since the initial callout, the team has grown to about 175 people, but there’s still room for more. To motivate everyone involved, Craig-Brown created a Facebook group dedicated to encouraging and challenging participants in their workouts and training. The group has proven to be effective for everyone involved, regardless of experience.
“It's been super collaborative. It’s become something that works for every individual, so it's that group setting with individuals in mind,” said Craig-Brown. “There's tons of conversation happening where people are giving each other advice and sharing their workouts. There are all these cool things that people are individually putting in that are good for the whole team.”
Team members are spread between the Indianapolis area to Holland, Michigan, but collaboration and teamwork have remained a high priority in the group.
“The biggest thing that Spartan pushes is teamwork,” Craig-Brown said. “They're not saying ‘if you can't do this, don't come to this race.’ They're not saying ‘if you're not flawless, don't come to this race.’ They're saying ‘come to this race, work together as a team to get through the obstacles and the course, and do the best you can.’ I think that premise is so valuable because we really do help one another.”
Spartan races are notorious for pushing the impossible, yet the races continue to see unparalleled success from participants. The teamwork atmosphere surrounding Spartan allows people to reach their full potential with an army of support behind them. Since its creation, Spartan has created a worldwide community of people making the decision to embrace discomfort and strive to achieve.
“When you do those hard things together, you build relationships and community like no other,” said De Sena.
As Craig-Brown prepares for her ninth race, she is optimistic about both herself and her team finishing the race.
“Getting a group together like this, for me, is so important. It's not easy,” said Craig-Brown. “We've got 175 racers signed up to be on our team. Some of these folks are brand new and petrified of this race. I know they can do it, but they don't know they can do it yet. I'm so excited for the moment of realization that they did it. You literally feel like a superhero when you’re done and getting to see them feel that it is something I'm really looking forward to.”
If you’re curious about what it feels like to be a superhero for a day, there’s still space for you on the GreatNews.Life Spartan team. The group will be participating in the Spartan Sprint 5K November 6 at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds and anyone looking to join can participate at no cost, courtesy of De Sena.
Be sure to visit the GreatNews.Life sites after the race as well to check out photos and coverage from the big day. If you sign up now, you may also find some photos of your Spartan adventure in our gallery.
To secure your spot on the team, email Jenny Craig-Brown at jenny@greatnews.life.
For more information on Spartan, visit spartan.com.