I am also really prideful and the only racing I had ever done was road racing. I'm good at road racing and know what to expect therefore I can plan. I didn't know anything about this which just made me more nervous.
Turns out obstacle racing is totally different than road racing and CRAZY fun! There is no gun at the beginning and you honestly finish when you are done. That makes sense to me. In a road race, you finish when you race and beat the others. In an obstacle race, you finish when you personally feel like you have done the best you can do with the obstacles and you finish. There is no "racing" to it unless you are an elite runner which only about 100 people are. Everyone is there just to do it and try and grow. It is such an encouraging atmosphere. Everyone wants you to succeed. There is no winner (they don't even list what you order you finished in) so there really is no incentive for people to try to pass you. So we all run to an obstacle and then people help each other over, encourage each other, wait in line, etc. Even the volunteers have done the race so they are encouraging. Not just the empty "good job" or "run faster" like you hear in road racing, but actually encouraging. There were a few obstacles that I was entirely by myself and the volunteers stood up off their chairs, lined the whole obstacle, and started clapping and giving advice. I guess as a whole I just have never been in a race where everyone participating wants you to do the best that you can do. Everyone is there to do something great and they want everyone else to do that too. It just was so amazing. So empowering, so motivating, and so fun.
I was ill prepared but I was in running shape and that saved my bacon. A lot of the runners saw the running as another obstacle, but the running part was my reboot. I would climb a wall, be really tired but then have like a half mile or so to shake it off and get ready for the next part. It was perfect for me. I was definitely sore on Sunday, but with my running experience and adrenaline it was amazing what I was able to accomplish. When I crossed that finish line, I felt so powerful. I did every obstacle by myself and the ones that I couldn't do I tried 3 or 4 times. I think I'm hooked. Obstacle racing is the perfect shake up that I need right now and honestly it was fun to see what I could do! Our bodies are powerful things.
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| This is Lindsay |
Before the race started, this guy, Mr Pain, was our motivational speaker to pump us up for the race. At first I was like, LAME!, but then I just started listening to him for what I wanted to hear and trying to get into the spirit of the race and it actually was pretty cool. In a very dramatic way he basically said, "why are you here? Why are you doing this? Think about. Know the answer and race with all your heart" He was CRAZY dramatic but the message ended up being really cool. 
Here are the obstacles and a break down so I remember what I did
1. Over/Under/Thru
~ The walls were about 8 feet tall, over one, under one, and through a hole
2. Inverted wall
I had so much adrenaline with this one that I ran, jumped, grabbed the top and pulled myself over. Its amazing what adrenaline can make you do. 3. Balance Beams
~ Slack rope about 8 feet long
I had to try this one twice before I got it
4. Ramp Wall
5. Mud Mounds
~ Giant hole full of mud. It was probably thigh high
6. Jerry Can Carry
~ We carried two water jugs, 10 lbs each under 7
7. Normandy Jacks
It wasn't even close to this muddy. I mean we got muddy, but since we live in the desert, the obstacles focused more on the heat than anything else.8. Confidence Climb
~ About 20 ft tall, we climbed a metal fence. I literally felt like Timmy in Jurassic Park
9. 12 ft rope walls
10. 12 ft ladder walls
Ours were a little different. There were two in a row that we had to climb up and overThis is what it looked like
11. Weaver
Go over one pole, under the next without touching the ground. This is where the bruises started forming12. Delta Cargo
Probably 20 ft tall13. Rope Climb
~ Climb a 12 ft rope just hanging there. I tried twice but couldn't do it. I had to do 10 burpees instead
14. Tunnel Rats
~ Climb through 12 ft long tunnels full of sand. It was so painful on the knees.
Side Note: 13-16 spanned about 2 miles and it was all in deep, beach like sand. It was terrible and really hard, but I didn't walk once.15. Wreck Bag Carry
~ Carry a 50 lb bag 400 meters and over a 4ft wall without touching the ground. I was super nervous for this but I actually did awesome. I ended up RUNNING with it and then after I felt so light. It was awesome.
16. 4 ft wall
17. Hump Overs
~These were a series of beams about 10 meters long. You go over one and under the other. The over one was about 5 ft and the under one was about 2 ft
18. 8 ft wall
~ the walls didn't have any sort of ledges of anything to hold on to. I think I used the side, momentum, a running start and a whole lot of adrenaline to propel myself. Every time I got to the top I was like "What the?! I just did that!!"
19 6 ft wall
20 HOOYAH!!!
~ Climb a 12 ft wall (I ran and jump off this ledge thing, grabbed the top and propelled myself over) and then you slide down a slide into a giant pool of water. It was AWESOME! I was afraid to get wet, so naturally I had my feet wrong so I ended up falling in and got SOAKED! I wish I could have captured the look on my face after I did it though. I'm telling you, this face is so empowering. Even if you cant do things, people are so encouraging and celebrate what you can do.
Ours was not this much of a drop off. We probably only fell like 2 feet whereas this dude is falling like 621 Platinum rig
~ I tried this thing twice and this is where my lack of training kicked in. These things are specifically designed for people who have trained. I got half way and then I just couldn't do it any longer. There's all levels of ropes, rings, bars, and monkey bars. all you have to do is get from one side to the other, but it is crazy hard. I had to do my 10 burpees on this one.
22. Wedge Wall
It was this but with wood and not grips which I think was much easier than this picture shows23 Monkey Bars
~ I was terrified to do these but I conquered them! Like beyond conquered them. I got into this rhythm and couldn't stop. It was unbelievable. There were like 4 volunteers and me and they were cheering me on hard core. It was amazing! The monkey bars were sort of lose and they inclined and then back down.
24. 60 degrees. Way easier than it looks
~ climb up one side and down the other
25. Tip of the Spear. I tried this over and over and over. There is no lip on the bottom for you feet. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do it. I had to burpee this one too.
26 Another Platinum Rig
~ I tried twice but just couldn't do it. This one was way harder but that's okay. I did my 10 burpees and then ran to the finish!
Overall, ours wasn't even kind of muddy, just challenging. Battlefrog originated in Florida where there are lots of swamps, mud,and water. We don't have any of those things so our elements were sand, dust, and sun. It was still plenty challenging, just not a messy race.
Battlefrog took our pictures for free and let us download them which I thought was pretty classy
Not that results mean lick, but I got 4th in my age group and 105th in the open division but again, that really doesn't mean much. You could technically skip every obstacle and just run the course and be counted as 1st. My time was 1:45 for an 8k and 26 obstacles. I'm not sure about the time yet but I already know of places that I could have gone faster if I was trying to improve my time. I'm just really excited to try this again. I know the next one I do will be different obstacles therefore a different time variable but it will still be really fun. I can't wait!
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