Beachapalooza...

The night before, I was a good little girl and went to bed early to be ready for the big day. Unfortunately the day started off a bit crappy. Another friend had to back out. One backed out earlier in the week due to being deathly ill, and now I lost another. So after a few disappointed tears, D said to just ride with her and Court so I figured I'd risk motion sickness for company. So off to Long Beach we went. We hit a bit of traffic, but I did alright. My main thing was doing the race with someone. It's fun to chat with someone and have someone there at your side that can pace you. I was thinking I'd be slowing D and Court down if they stayed with me. Well everything turned out totally differently so all ended well.
There were a total of 8 of us. Most being actual runners, so I knew I would meet up with all of them later. We hung out, chatted, my good friend Mic showed up to cheer us on and take photos. It was a gorgeous clear day and our 11am wave was about to start. And GO!!!

We're off, I'm starting out in my usual slow trot that won’t last long, when I realize - "Why is this so much harder?". Sand. Wow. F Sand. I knew it was a bit difficult to run/walk in sand but DUDE!!!! My normal routine is I slowly trot, then start to power walk when my knee starts barkin. Well...you can’t really "power walk" in sand. D was immediately miserable due to her weak ankles and not a happy camper.
We hit our 1st obstacle. The hanging water noodles. I had seen the picture online, but didn’t realize there was rope as well. That damn rope. I remember that during Warrior Dash. It's not easy to climb over/under that. But we did and there was Mic snapping away!

After a bit, Court took off ahead and D and I struggled thru the sand. I found I fell into a pretty good rhythm and my knee wasn’t hurting. D was having a helluva time and generally pissed off so when I asked if she minded if I tested my knee out and went ahead she was more than encouraging. So off I went, I decided to try trotting a bit more. I was doing pretty well until we hit the part where we were right along the water line, and at this beach is quite the slant. So we were running pretty much sideways. This was not fun whatsoever. Water hit our feet, and now we had sand shoes. After I got through that, I hit our 2nd obstacle. You crawled under this net, then into a hole of water - trekked thru then did it again. The sand smelled like ass. Seriously. Off I went again. I was surprised at how well I was doing. I was still able to trot, when usually at this point I can only power walk.
D caught up with me, and we were just coming up on the water station where Court waited for us. Mic was there again for some photos. I have to say - it was awesome having a friend along the race smiling and taking photos! I really loved having that kind of support! So off we went again.
Court and D were struggling pretty badly at this point so I went off ahead. This was the 1st time I did a race pretty much by myself. I still like having someone pace me, but it was kinda nice. I was concentrating on trying to keep a steady pace, I had got a nice rhythm again. More of an oddly big stepping robot walk, than a normal power walk (I'm sure I looked the fool) but it kept me going. Next obstacle came up - we had to walk up a balance beam, and then hop onto circular wooden platforms. The last hop was quite a hop. I almost missed it. But landed just on the edge and didn’t topple over. As I came down Mic was running to catch me, but he didn’t realize I'd gotten ahead. Look at me!!!
Off I went again. It was hot, and the sand was brutal but I kept my pace. Next obstacle. 3 walls with holes in them. You had to climb thru the holes in the walls. Well, on the 3rd wall, the hole was so high up! I stood there looking at it for a moment wondering how the hell I'm to get thru that. I was standing in between 2 tall guys when one hopped - grabbed the top of the wall and swung his body thru it. Ok. I attempted this. Well shorty here couldn’t reach the top. So - I grabbed the hole and hoisted myself in it. I was proud of my upper body strength, but was now perched in this hole not sure how to get out. If someone could have videoed this - we would have made thousands. I did this sort of tumble out and landed on all fours. I of course squealed the whole way down. I'm sure I was a sight.
Off I was again. I looked around and realized I was quite alone. Some stragglers in front and in back of me but the good runners were well gone, and the rest of the folks were way behind me. It was a nice moment. The ocean, the beautiful day and except for the fact that I was panting and walking like a robot it was pretty serene. I was coming up on the next obstacle when I saw the 11:30 wave heading out. I had 2 goals - don’t let the 11:30 wave lap you, and beat Court and D (No offense girls, but you've always beat me in the past!). So I began to trot again.
This obstacle was a balance beam up, across, and then down. There was Mic! As I hopped off the downward beam - my knee went. I flinched and almost went down. But that was it. No more trotting.


I fell back into my odd robot walk, with a slight limp now added to it. Man I must have looked amazing! Ha ha!
Another obstacle. This was the giant beach balls. Seriously - these were about 10 feet tall. It was those damn ropes you have to climb thru again, I was extra careful now that the knee was starting to shoot stabbing pains, then you pretty much walk thru the balls. I enjoyed watching a few dudes try to jump on them, and then made my way out. Smile for Mic!

I'm now on the final stretch. I robot walk up to the curve, but really want to at least trot thru the fire and last obstacle to the finish. I begin to trot. It's my broken trot due to angry knee but I trotted! I come up to the fire - I see the photographers - I want so badly to do an awesome badass pose as I leap over the 2 sets of fire. I bitch out. I probably have the same photo as Warrior Dash! Me jumping, looking down, looking freaked out! Ah well.
The last obstacle is an ice shallow pool. You slide into it, swim under the net and crawl out. My breath is taken away it's so cold, but it feels so friggin good at the same time since I'm pouring sweat and bright red. I pull myself out, and try to look proud going across the finish line in my gimpy trot.
I'm handed a pineapple medal and run right into Art whose congratulating me. I join our group and realize D and Court have yet to appear. I limp over to where Mic is by the fire and see them coming. I scream and cheer them on and realize I made my goal! (I think...I don’t recall seeing any 11:30 peeps pass me).
We are all red, sweaty and happy. We snap some photos, head into the event, pop a squat and enjoy our free Mike's Harder Lemonade. (FYI - the cranberry one is awesome). I buy myself an amazing veggie pita from Global Soul Food Truck (Check them out!) and we all chat and laugh and recap and agree sand is our new enemy for races.
I'm not sure if I would do this one again or not. I don’t think anyone would want to do it with me though. It didn’t have nearly enough obstacles for me, but I still had fun. I'm sooooooo looking forward to the ROC race (Ridiculous Obstacle Course), so we'll see how that goes.
Today my knee is a bit sore, but not swollen! I'm not as sore as I can get, and I wore my new Orthos to see how they did, and I think it was ok. (Sidebar - I got Orthos to see if they will help with my neuroma. My Dr. wants to avoid surgery if possible, so I'm to wear these when I'm active now.) It flared this morning, but I'm not worried yet.
So I survived another one! It was nice to see I can do it alone, and not be bored or distracted. I still had a pretty damn good time!