MudMan

I think since I've talked enough about the 'upcoming MudManX' that I owe you a summary of what went down today.
Since the team name that we decided on was "Dirty Bandits" We chose to wear bandanas with our all-black running attire.  Black is fierce, obviously...and the bandanas...seriously don't even get me started on the process we went through in choosing the perfect bandana.    You would have thought we were picking out bridesmaid dresses for the amount of time we put into it.

By the time we got to the race location, we were already sweating a LOT.  That's just how it goes out here on the East Coast.  You sweat the minute you get out of the shower.  We are a sweaty, stinky people.

We registered...snapped some photos, and waited for our wave time to roll around.  While we waited, J and I stood by the electric shock obstacle, and watched people from the previous wave get zapped, and yell, and swear as they tried to run through.
A few of them got half way through and exited the obstacle because they couldn't take it.
The nervousness was starting to set in for me at that point.

In the beginning there were a couple of small, easy obstacles to get you all muddied up...people yelling at us to hurry and such...then, there was a lot of running through the woods.  Up and down hills....occasional mud pits, jumping on top of boats...climbing little nets..crawling under boards and through tunnels...but mostly a lot of running.  It wasn't until the last 2 miles that the more exciting, extra muddy, and more difficult obstacles came in.  There was one that I was pretty bummed to not have mastered.  It was this one:

Looks like it would be easy, right?  That's what I thought.  I tried it with gloves at first, and my gloves started to fall off.  Tried it with my hands, and they just couldn't hang on.  The drop down was a long way, with nothing but dirt underneath.  Luckily, J was acting as my spotter just in case, and caught me on my way down.  I saw at least 10 people in a row fall off once they got 1/4 of the way across...a lot of them hit the ground pretty hard.  I felt like a failure and hung my head low for a minute...but got over it pretty quick.

Obviously the most memorable obstacle was the electrical wires.

I don't think there's really a way to prepare your body for that kind of sensation.  When you hit a live wire, it literally shoots through your entire body, making it impossible to move for a second..and all you can do is yell.  Fortunately out of all of those wires, I was only hit twice, but oy did those hurt.  The thing I didn't expect also, is that you can feel the effects of the electrocution for a few minutes afterward.  Your whole body tingles.  

The last obstacle was a fun one.  You had to run up a slippery slope and grab onto a rope to pull yourself up the rest of the way..then you slid down the other side into a big pool of water.  Refreshing. 

At the end we had mud caked in our hair..in our ears, in our pants and everywhere in between.  Our shirts stuck to us like suction cups...we were scratched and bruised, and my hair was out of control.  It was awesome.

 As SOON as we finished our wave, we found ourselves in the middle of a crazy downpour.  Then the Thunder and lightning came and I started to fear for our lives.  It's not like we had anywhere to go.  Our choices were to either hide under the trees, or hide under booth tents held up by metal poles.  Instead of standing in line to wait for a bus to take us back to the parking lot, we opted to walk a mile...much of it in the rain, to get back to the car.  

My overall assessment of the run was that it was really FUN, but not necessarily the challenge I had hoped for.  I had actually really  hoped to have been forced to face a few more of my fears, such as jumping off of a cliff into the lake, and climbing upside down on a rope across the water, etc.   My suggestion for them would be "Make it harder!"  

After the run, our group went out to eat at one of Bobby Flay's restaurants....a burger joint called "Bobby's Burger Palace."   I got a bleu cheese Burger Salad and it was out of this world.  Anything probably would have been 'out of this world' at that moment because I was starving.  

Here are some pictures from today.  My friend Becci was there cheering on her husband and snapping photos of the rest of us every chance she got.

Great time today.  Can't wait for the next one.