There seems to be a lot of these obstacle races going on these days. Last one, I think it was tough mudder, I didn't do but I heard it was a wash anyway. Chris told me it was great while others told me that they ran out of water and there were heavy wait lines. This on the other hand seems more interesting. It was close by (Brooklyn) and was only a 2 mile run. Seemed like a good fit.
Every weekend I train. I try to alternate and to keep things interesting but pretty much it's the same thing every weekend. Either a long bike Saturday followed by a long run Sunday or a long run Saturday followed by a long bike Sunday. On the run, I alternate courses but the bike is mostly the same. Gets tiring.
The plan for this weekend and as always there is always a plan: Go for a long bike on Saturday and approach this race with dead legs on Sunday. Hey, you gonna train for an Ironman or an Iron Distance Race well, you gotta behave like an Ironman. No girlie man.
So here goes. Saturday went riding. Just short of 80 miles again. Did really well (for me) - 15 MPH. Got home and a quick transition and ran to the YMCA. Found Jeremy and played some basketball and twisted my left knee - oops. Continued playing tho. The ride went great but had a lot of thoughts about Jessie. She was having her Shark test and I wanted her tested for Porpoise Club. Sent a message at 6am to Anu hoping she can either test her or have someone else test her.
She passed! Yay! Sent Jeremy to swim while I went to shower and then helped the Gymnastics crew set up the gym for the show. Jessie had a good day. Passed Shark, got into Porpoise and had a good day at the Gymnastics show.
My legs were tired from the bike, the run, the b-ball and the uncomfortable chairs at the gym but it was a good day.
Sunday was gonna be tough scheduling as always. Elizabeth had a homecare at 8:30, registration at the YMCA was at 8am and we needed to leave the house as close to 8am as possible.
My Mother got to our house at 7:50 so that's good. Registration started and things went well except that tennis for Jessie wasn't listed. Frantic phone calls to the YMCA and to Ron and we had to leave. Lee left toward her HC with the dog in tow. Drive went fast and easy. Tons of parking too. Not too many porta-potties but they were clean and that's all that counts. Got in line for pickup and that went fast too. Scribbled a signature on a waiver and got my bib and chip. Next got the free tech shirt. Looks cool.
They sent us next to the Marine Corps people who had a chin up bar. Supposedly you had to do 2 pullups to do the race. Anyway, besides that, any woman who can hang with her chin up for 30 seconds got a free shirt. Over 35 got a better shirt. For the men, 15 chinups gets a water bottle, 20 and over gets a shirt.
I convinced Jessie to go first and she hung there. And hung. And hung. She got 35 seconds which was all she wanted. I think she could have gone more. They gave her a Marine Corps hat, Marine Corps water bottle and a Marine Corps belt thingy. I went next. I didn't really think I'd be able to do anything but managed to 11 chinups - no hat but I was happy. Jeremy went and did 10. They gave him a Marine Corps water bottle. Really smart thing to waste your arms doing chinups before a race that requires your arms. Funny.
My mother sat down and the kids and I went to take a look at the course. We found a sort of cordoned off area with jousting sticks - sticks with rubber balls on each side. J1 and I had a little fight to start the day. Gotta love knocking heads with these thing. Next we went to see the incline wall. It was an inclined wall with 3 ropes tied to it. Each rope had knots on it to help you climb up. J1 tried to go up and fell. I tried and slipped as well. That's when we noticed it. The walls themselves were black but there was this white substance all over it. Talked to someone over there. Turns out they greased the walls and the rope with shortening, lard, fat, grease whatever. My hands were slippery and so were the bottoms of my shoes. Wonderful.
From there we went and saw the mudpit. It was capped with barbed wire to make sure you really got in it. From there to a sand pit and an area that you throw spears/javelins in. Great stuff.
A little walk and we see a wall. I told the kids that you gotta jump over it but there was a guy there who corrected me. He was screwing in little blocks of wood into the wall. Apparently, you have to transverse the wall from 1 side to the other. You can't hang on to the top and if you fall then you get punished by doing 30 pushups and then you try again. If you fail again, then another 30 pushups and off you go. Meanwhile my hands are still slippery and so are the bottom of my shoes. Enough looking at this point. Went to my mom with the kids and hung out.
Went to the starting line to wait for the start. Usual BS before the start. Actually started 5 minutes early. Caught me off guard but always ready to race.
Kids told me I was in the top 20. Couldn't believe it but whatever.
Got my medal and Gatorade. Jessie and I went to look for a hose to clean up while Jeremy stayed to watch the Gladiator. Couldn't get him out of there. The little enclousre was surrounded by stakes in the ground with rope between them. Well lot of the athletes were bounced off these stakes so a staff member kept on having to hammer steel rods next to them and then tiring the stakes to them.
Found a hose but no key. Apparently, some kids had key. While watching a little, ran into one of the co-race directors. Told him about the key and he started radioing in to the other director.
Jessie and I went to get another Gatorade and they only gave cups. Swiped a bottle and gave it to Jessie. A photographer saw her drinking and wanted a picture of a sponsor product being used. Picked up Jessie and got our picture taken.
Went back to the hose and there's a couple of guys cleaning up with water in a cooler. Cleaned up a little myself. Meanwhile they hooked a couple of hoses and waited my turn. Cleaned up and took Jessie back to my mom. Got the car keys and went to change at the car.
Finally got Jeremy to leave the Gladiator area.
Meanwhile we heard a scream from the inclined wall. Remember the woman I saw? Turns out she tried and tried and tried and kept failing and they refused to let her go. At one point she almost made it and the crowd went nuts until she fell down again. Well, this time she did it. The crowd went nuts.
Big gladiator guy at this point took a break and this wimpy gladiator went instead of him. He sucked.
At this point, I should mention that it seemed like everyone had their specialties. On the trail, while no one passed me, I had one older guy who did. You can tell he was a trail runner. I took him back on the concrete. Same with the Gladiator guy. I barreled through while there were some who did the football roll around him. Straight and out of the blue, unexpectadly rolled right around him.
Before we left, took the kids to where the hoses were. A guy rolled in with his van. Pulled out an Anvil and all. First place winner gets a Spartan shield while second place got a spear. That guy was forging a spear as we were there. Showed the kids how he was hammering on the anvil. COOL stuff.
Saw a prelimenary result page for Heat 1. I don't know how many people were really in my heat but on the sheet there were 73 and I was 18th. Yay....
Got home and started making lunch. This was a first time in all my races where I couldn't get a word in to Elizabeth. Jeremy was so excited telling Lee about the race with Jessie interfering. They must have had a great time.
Showered and the soap and tub got all black. Even though I cleaned up I was still muddy. Looked in the mirror and found a 3 inch scratch from the barbed wire on the back (right side). Remember on the trail I felt like there was something sticking on my back? Nah, it was just me bleeding. Checked out the area under my left knee. Road rash, skin missing and the whole area was swollen. Small cuts and bruises everywhere.
I missed an obstacle in this report. There was a cargo net type of obstacle too.
Had a lot of fun. This one is a keeper.
| 1334 Finishers - 980 M / 354 F | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Finishers | Minimum Time | Average Time | Maximum Time |
| 1334 | 00:24:12 | 00:42:15 | 01:38:49 |
