A year or so ago, a handful of us signed up for our favorite race - The Ridiculous Obstacle Challenge otherwise known as ROC Race. They didn't have one the year before and Del Mar was the only SoCal event for 2013 - it was super cheap that early to sign up so we did. Low and behold a week before we raced they announced a race in Irvine. Oh well.
Our team was Team Riley. A friend of my brother's was going to race with us and asked if we could do a team in her honor. This little Riley is his niece who is only a bit over a year old and has a very severe case of meningitis. She has spent most of her little life in the hospital. They thought it would be neat to have a team in her honor. They are UCI fans - hence the colors. D plans on blowing up a big team picture and giving them a framed copy. Hopefully we can bring a bit of light their way.
This friend ended up having to back out, but our other buddy Art joined up. D, Holly, Court and her friend Jennifer, my brother and I rounded out the team. I was so excited to actually do a race with Shane since we had never actually done one together yet. Hero Rush was going to be our 1st, but my medical mishap last year kept me out of that one. D decided it would be a good idea for us to all share a hotel down there since it was a bit of a drive, so 5 of us crashed together. It ended up being a nice little adventure. We had some drinks in the bar the night before, caught up on each other’s lives, chatted and laughed then walked across the street the next morning to race. Could not have been more convenient.
When we got to the race we wandered around and took some photos. Here is a great one of our team pre-race:
Art and Jennifer pretty much took off since they are strong runners, D and Holly were at a slow jog and Court was going back and forth between the girls and Shane and I. Shane had an injury, so about a mile of nagging him to stop hurting himself worse and just hang out with his sister he finally gave in. I walked too fast for him actually, so I slowed my walk and we did a very chill pace. The sibling rivalry came in at one point which I'll get to, but all in good fun! I was just stoked to be pacing with my bro.
1st obstacle was Tunnel Vision. Basically a big pipe you crawl uphill through. It had purple carpet.
2nd was one of my favorites - 40 bounces to freedom. These were giant platforms that you jumped off of onto trampolines. You bounced across then tried to jump up onto the next platform. They had about 4 of these. SO AWESOME! Most people didn't quite make it when they jumped and either ended up crawling up or having a volunteer help them up. Not yours truly. I was having so much fun I landed on every platform like a ninja! With, of course, was followed with a battle cry. You then slid down a firemen pole at the end.
3rd obstacle - Mt. ROCmore. Basically a muddy hill that you used rope to climb up. I killed it.
4th obstacle was Concrete Standores. About 10 or so concrete walls you hopped or crawled over. This is where the rivalry began. So as we approached I turned to Shane and said "Watch your sister kick ass!" I was so excited for Shane to actually see me kill it on something because I swear he thinks I’m full of it, so while most of the people were crawling over I started hopping over at a good speed. All of a sudden here comes Shane doing the same thing trying to pass me. It turned into a race and we finished at the same time. Court was dying laughing at the spectacle we made but it was so fun!
5th obstacle was Up and Over - a big wood wall you had to scale. Shane and I tackled it in a race and he flew over. I was one my way but kicked the poor volunteer in the face and felt so bad I didn't quite make it. He was fine, but I felt like a dork.
6th obstacle was Cool Runnings. Basically a ride at a water park. You grabbed an inner tube, ran up a hill then slid down. D got a few shots on her Go Pro after shouting at us all to go down at the same time. So fun!
Here I am in the middle coming down:
And then here I am crashing to the side:
7th obstacle was Eye of the Tiger - running over mud hills - lame.
8th obstacle was Aqua Drag - another water one. You ran full speed at this giant blow up slip & slide thing and a volunteer was there with a hose. Chick got me right in the face. I heard her laughing as I sailed past her. Super fun but Shane and I realized that sunglasses are a bitch in a race with water.
9th obstacle - Belly Flop. This was a huge inflatable slide (not the giant one) that you were supposed to leap off belly first. We hit it with gusto but it was dirty/sandy and it wasn't wet. Let's just say I got a nice set of scratches all down my body. Not cool.
10th obstacle - Tarzan Swing. This was just what you think - swing across on a rope. Fun times but I had a horrible grip and slid down the rope. Hung tight though!
11th obstacle - Gorilla Bars. Here is my chance to prove myself again. Last time I did this race I was only one in our group to make it across. I saw D drop, then Holly drop, then Court. Shane and I hit it and both sailed across. I was so excited I was jumping up and down and shouting with joy that I forgot to high five the giant dude in a Gorilla suit standing on the end. Probably missed a nice photo op. Damn. Art, Jennifer, Shane and I were the ones that made it across.
12 obstacle - Tightrope Traverse - You schooch across a rope and have a rope above you to hold. Like a tightrope but you have something to hold onto. Nailed it.
13 obstacle - Tire Mile. This is where Jami got hurt. There seemed to be way more tires than I've ever seen and Shane and I hit them in full competition mode. As he passed me I tried to compensate and my knee said "Oh HELL NO". The familiar sharp pain shot up my body and I felt the knee go. I went down. One of the volunteers was running to me, but I got up and kept going nodding that I was ok. I went down again just as Shane finished, turned around to rub it in that he beat me and saw me getting up in pain. "I'm fine" I said. But I knew that was it. I'm used to it so it was all good, but all my weight is now on my left leg. I tried to hide the pain in my face as I felt my knee swelling up in my brace but the crew knew I screwed it up. Ah well.
14th obstacle was the World’s Largest Moon Bounce. I was heartbroken I couldn't go leaping across as originally planned but that didn't stop me from hopping across with my good leg! I actually beat Shane! Apparently he did a Superman dive behind me that had D in stiches. Damn - another photo op missed!
15th obstacle was the Wrecking Ball. Art and Jennifer had waited for us because there was a backup now at this obstacle and the last one so they figured why not wait and we all finish together. Super cool. Now - the Wrecking Ball. Barely anyone made it across this one. There were barrel like things hooked together that you ran across and 2 giant red balls swinging at you at the same time. If you fall you fall in water. Very WipeOut-esk. The balls don't hurt but they look scary. I didn't see anyone make it across and I found out later that only like 10% of people actually made it. I was determined to be the girl that makes it! As I started to dart across I had a burst of confidence "I'm actually going to ..." SPLASH. Nope. D and I actually went down at the same time. I found out from the others everyone had that initial moment of "I might actually make it" but alas no. The barrels moved, were wet and muddy - I don't know how the hell anyone could make it. But super fun nonetheless. Below is the professional pic I bought. It looks like I may make it!
The last obstacle was the World’s Largest Inflatable Slide. This thing was huge. I want to say it was about 2 stories high. 2 people went at a time and Shane and I decided to do it together so maybe we could blow up the pic for our folks. It took me a while to find but I found it and bought it. I love love love this picture!
The finish line is at the end of the slide so we all cheered
and shrieked and high fived. Here is our finished shot:
We got our bags, hit the changing tent and got our beers:
After that we wandered around getting our free tchotchkes
where we could, getting some food and checking out the vendors. We took
an awesome shot in front of the ROC sign and of course Shane and I shot our
usual self portrait sib shot. There was also an awesome painted up fire
truck in front of the Foam party we forgot to do...
I also want to mention that the volunteers for this race
were RAD. They were constantly cheering
you on, messing with you, helping you, and just having a great time. It was so very cool!
This race is still my favorite. It's not a race for
runners, it's a race for people who just want to act like kids again.
This race actually has a majority of non-runners and it's so fun to see all the
types of folks and all the different costumes. We had a blast as always
and it looks like a friend surprised me by paying my way in July for the one
here. SO - I'll be doing this again in two months! HA HA!!
Love it.
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