Two years ago, Sarah Chen couldn’t run a quarter mile without stopping. The 34-year-old middle school teacher from Portland, Oregon, spent her evenings on the couch and her weekends recovering from the exhaustion of managing a classroom of energetic seventh-graders. Fitness wasn’t even on her radar.
Last month, she crossed the finish line of the Spartan Beast in Big Bear, California — a grueling 13+ mile course with over 30 obstacles — with tears streaming down her muddy face and a finisher medal around her neck.
“I still can’t believe I did it,” Chen told Wall & Wire. “If you’d told me two years ago that I’d be climbing walls and crawling under barbed wire, I would have laughed in your face.”
The Spark
Chen’s transformation started with a YouTube video. A friend shared a clip of everyday people — not elite athletes — completing a Spartan Sprint. Something clicked. “They looked like me. Normal people. Some were overweight, some were older. And they were all doing it. I thought, maybe I could too.”
She signed up for a Spartan Sprint six months out, giving herself what she thought was plenty of time. “I had no idea what I was getting into,” she laughed.
The Journey
Chen started with walking. Just 20 minutes a day around her neighborhood. After two weeks, she added light jogging intervals. After a month, she joined a local OCR training group — something she credits as the turning point.
“The community saved me,” she said. “Every time I wanted to quit, someone in that group pulled me forward. They’d been where I was. They understood the struggle and never judged me for being slow or unable to do a single pull-up.”
Over the following months, Chen built up her running endurance, learned to climb a rope (something she’d failed at in elementary school gym class), and developed the grip strength to conquer monkey bars and multi-rigs. She failed her first rope climb attempt. And her second. On her fifteenth try, she rang the bell at the top.
The Sprint
Her first Spartan Sprint was humbling. She finished in just over two hours, did 90 burpees for failed obstacles, and could barely walk the next day. But she finished. “Crossing that finish line changed something in my brain. I went from ‘I can’t’ to ‘I just did.’ That shift is everything.”
Emboldened, she registered for a Super (8+ miles) three months later, and then set her sights on the Beast.
Beast Mode
The Beast was a different animal entirely. At altitude in Big Bear, with elevation changes that pushed her cardiovascular system to its limits, Chen dug deeper than she ever had. “There was a moment around mile 10 where I sat down on a rock and cried. My legs were cramping, I was covered in mud, and I still had three miles to go.”
A stranger — another racer she’d never met — sat down next to her, handed her a gel, and said, “We’re finishing this together.” They did. Chen and her new friend crossed the finish line side by side.
What’s Next
Chen now trains four days a week and has her sights set on completing the Spartan Trifecta — Sprint, Super, and Beast in a single season. She’s also started an OCR club at her school, introducing her students to obstacle fitness through age-appropriate challenges.
“OCR gave me my life back,” she said. “I’m stronger, more confident, and I have this incredible community. I want to give that to my students too.”
Her advice for anyone sitting on the couch wondering if they could ever do something like this? “Just start walking. That’s it. The rest will follow.”