I met up with some online friends Saturday morning to stretch and loosen up prior to the race. I had never met them in person before but they are some pretty awesome ladies. Most of them have been working out and getting ready for this but we were all there to have fun.
John and the kids and our best man from our wedding, Nick, were there to cheer me on. The kids were even more excited than I was, I think. Hubby brought the camera to get some good pics of the obstacles you could see and the embarrass me later on HA!
At 945 we lined up for our 10am heat. The front was for those that wanted to run it... the back was for those that wanted to walk it... we found our place right in the middle. A couple of us were more of the running type so they ran on ahead when the heat started but for the most part, the rest of us stayed together.
We started our run up hill and waving at my cheering squad on the side lines. From there we made our way into the woods where we went up hill, down hill, over logs and around trees. I preferred the downhill part :p So far I was doing great. I was keeping up a pretty good pace and we were all staying together nicely. After making our way out of the woods and losing two of or friends for a bit as we made our way through a local neighborhood we found our selves facing what was supposed to be 20ft "sewers" but seemed way shorter. A short jog around the corner brought us to the cargo climb where we caught up to Amanda & Randi who took some pics of us going over the top of the obstacle and we all took another short jaunt through the woods.
Upon coming out of the woods we were instructed to run down the hill to ring the cowbell, then run back up. This is where I really started to feel the pain. My side was cramping like crazy and it was rough to keep up the running so I started walking more and more. Randi & Amanda really started to get ahead of us here but Bekah & her husband stayed far enough behind that I could catch up when I was ready. When Bekah was running, I was walking and vice versa so we pretty much stayed together the entire time. Her hubby was even nice enough to wait on her even though she said he could go on ahead. We then met us up with Spiderman and his web in the woods. All the runners helped each other out by holding down on the rubber web in some spots and holding it up in other spots. It was fabulous team work :) We had finally caught back up to Amanda & Randi who were helping with the web too. You could tell everyone was having a great time.
As we made our way out of that set of woods we were greeted by family members and cheering squads, including mine. I was not expecting that and it was great to hear all my kids yelling for me and waving at me. Sara even followed along the side of the sand dune as I went up and over. She even tried following us onto the race path but was quickly stopped. The run to the next obstacle was tough. I was having a hard time running, I was having trouble breathing and it was the biggest space between obstacles yet. We finally made it to the tires and it was probably the easiest obstacle but we were also about half way through already!
Next up was the super slide... basically a giant slip and slide. Everyone kept saying you needed to get a good run going before hitting that thing or you would get stuck. I took off on my run with every intention of going belly first down the slide but I chickened out and hit my knees first. I quickly hit my stomach after that but it didn't really help. I started to get stuck about half way down and had to push myself down. It helped that the people behind me were bumping into me to get me down the remainder of the slide. It was fun but wish I'd have gone faster. I helped the lady behind me get off the slide and I headed up and over the hay bales. John yelled for me to pose at the top and I did. It's one of my fave pics from the race LoL Running with soaking wet clothes was not that fun. I could hear my pants and shoes squeaking and I was a little worried about chafing but was having too much fun to completely care.
The junkyard jump was next. It consisted of 4 cars, side by side and bumper to bumper. I climbed up on the bumper of one and hopped from hood to hood. Luckily I didn't slip off or twist my ankle since everyone climbing over was wet from the slide. However, I did slip on the hurdles that we came up to after that. Thankfully I didn't get hurt, although there was potential for it. Bekah decided she wasn't going to attempt to jump over the barriers while I thought, what the hell, I am here so I am doing it and I did. I got my foot up on the first barrier and it slipped off making me straddle the hurdle. If I was a man it would have hurt so bad but since I am not and I anticipated my foot slipping I was prepared and didn't injure my lady parts. I cleared the next hurdle no problems :) We were quickly approaching the final two obstacles and I could taste the victory.
I spotted my cheering squad as the fire came into view. They were all yelling for me to keep running since they noticed I was alternating between walking and running and I humored them by dramatically leaping over the fire. Unfortunately, no leg hairs were singed... probably cause I was still wet from the slip 'n slide. I am sure they planned it that way for safety reasons but dammit, I was hoping for some cheap beauty maintenance LoL
Last but not least of the obstacles was the mud pit which was the most anticipated obstacle for me. I was ready to get dirty. I disappointed the hubby cause I didn't dive in. I started out crawling because the fake barbed wire was high enough for that but for the last one I went straight in, army crawl style even splashing mud into my mouth. Yummm. As I was climbing out of the mud I noticed Bekah coming out on her back and her front was way too clean so I picked up some much and threw it at her. Amanda & Randi were also waiting for us which was nice. I also made sure everyone had plenty of mud on their faces and gave my kids a high five as I made my way to the finish line.
Amanda & Randi went on ahead to finish in about 44 minutes with Bekah, her husband & I not too far behind at about 47 minutes. I jogged my way across the finish line and threw my hands in the air. I DIDN'T DIE! That was all I cared about HA! My first thought upon finishing the race was that I wanted to crash on the grass right there but I didn't. I stayed on my feet and went to get rinsed off. Not before giving my hubby a muddy kiss and wiping some mud on Nick's cheek. I love those boys! Heehee!
The water truck allowed us to rinse off with the coldest water they could conjure up but it didn't bother me. I stripped out of my teeshirt, shoes and socks and soaked myself from head to toe to rinse off. You'd think I'd be freezing but I wasn't. I think I was in a state of shock that I actually finished the race in under an hour and survived it. Even today my legs are hardly sore even though at times I can feel it. I did it! My husband is proud of me, my friends are proud of me, but most importantly... I am proud of me!
