Rugged Maniac was the last race of the year I have
signed up for and I kicked it’s ass on Saturday. This race actually turned out to be much
harder than I had anticipated which of course made me love it more! Sooooo doing this one again if it comes back around
to SoCal!!
There originally were four of us signed up. I was super excited for this race because 2
of my best friends were obstacle race virgins and joining me on this
adventure. D of course was our fourth. Sadly Lib got quite sick and ended up not
able to go, so it was just Robin, D and I.
We got off to a bit of a rough start since D
wasn’t prepared to bring her car so we needed to stop and do a little service
on the way…
Once we arrived, we realized it was literally just
around the corner from where the Warrior Dash takes place. It was at some motor cross venue out in Lake Elsinore
which I’m guessing is why there were quite a few hills and trenches.
Smooth sailing getting checked in, taking our
pre-race pics and checking in our bags.
Robin was a little nervous but I knew she was going to kill it.
We line up at the start and as we’re waiting for
go time (We were the first wave) we saw a plane drop a bunch of skydivers above
us! A skydiving venue is right next door
and it was awesome watching all of these colored parachutes flying down above
us. We’re in the middle of the Santa Ana
Winds so I was surprised they were still going but maybe it wasn’t too bad. It was windy, but not as bad as it was back
in Orange. The MC was great – pumping us
up and off we went. D promptly went off
on her own and I was super thrilled to be power walking next to one of my
besties.
So I’m going to do my best to remember because the
Course Map on the website was totally wrong.
So here we go in my best remembrance of an order:
First up we hit two large walls that you climb
over. I’m going to say about 12
feet. There was 1 two by four you
stepped on, then had to reach the top and pull yourself over. I was just barely tall enough and my fingers
are sore today because of the crazy grip I had to use to keep myself from
falling. Nailed it. Robin wasn’t able to get over and was quite
flustered. I told her it’s ok to skip
it. She did. When we hit the 2nd wall I did the
exact same thing and Robin was determined to get over one of the walls. She did but unfortunately slammed her ass in
the process, an injury that affected her a bit the rest of the race. We ran up and down a few muddy hills then I
believe we climbed another few walls, these ones having more two by fours to
climb up and over. After this I saw the
look of being totally overwhelmed crossing over Robin’s face. I chuckled and told her she’s doing amazingly
which she was.
I think next up was this trench covered by wood
you had to crawl through. It was friggin
long! I was able to sort of squat/run
but it went on forever it seemed. You
also couldn’t see the end because it turned at one point. Not cool if you get claustrophobic! The guy in front of me panicked a bit. He kept saying “Oh God, Oh God” and breathing
hard, so when I caught up behind him I tried to be encouraging and that seemed
to help. He thanked me as we crawled out
the other side.
Now I’m going to just start going through
obstacles as I remember them. So here we
go:
There were tires you ran through, but also tires
swinging from above. So you were running
and getting smacked in the face by tires.
We blasted through those. There
were a couple of really large muddy hills that you could use a rope to climb
up. There were also a lot of those wood
walls made out of two by fours. I swear,
those were everywhere! We got stuck
behind people who were afraid of heights a few times which was somewhat
annoying. I try to be sympathetic but
come on now.
I wasn’t
power walking anymore by mile 2 because Robin was pretty tore up already. She kept apologizing to me about holding me
back. I finally convinced her I’m
sooooooooooooo never about time. My main
goal is always to do better at the obstacles than I did before. That’s it.
I don’t care if it takes me a whole day to finish a race, I know in my
heart I’m strong and love doing the obstacles.
I also explained to her that obstacle races are totally different (She’s
a runner) from a regular race. Conquering
obstacles and running through mud and uneven dirt and up and down hills kicks
your ass. She seemed to perk up a bit
after that!
At one point we came up to a set of about 8
trenches. You were to jump over them and
be careful not to jump too hard or you would slide into the next one. No sweat right! I started jumping but when I got to one in
the middle it was huge!!! This guy and I
totally halted at the edge when we realized it was much wider than the others. For the first time in my obstacle race
history I had a moment’s hesitation. I
wasn’t sure if I could do this. The guy
and I seemed to be having the same thought.
We both paced back and forth for a minute, looked at each other,
shrugged and backed up. Off we went and
my heart jumped in my throat as I leaped over the trench. I landed weird and rolled my foot and almost
fell back into the trench but didn’t. I
did it! I jumped over the last few and
turned to see Robin skipping the last half.
She laughed and said she jumped the first couple but there was no way
she was going to jump the big one. I
don’t blame her. I could feel my ankle
starting to swell.
We then jumped into some sort of pool that had
tubes you swam or climbed over. Good
times and a nice cool down.
Around now I believe we hit the first mud
crawl. You notice I say first….there
were about 5 or 6! All under barbed
wire! I have never done an obstacle race
with so many mud crawls! RAD! I felt awesome when I crawled past everyone
in every crawl! Ha bitches! Then I would spin around and cheer/guide
Robin on. “Butt down! You’re doing great! Three more wires!” She was awesome.
We didn't get any "muddy" pictures, the two below was the very 1st one and what you can't see is it goes down into a bunch of mud!
There was a slide – this was pretty much a giant
black tarp stuck to a hill. Robin and I
sailed down it holding hands and landed in a people pile in the water. I love Robin's pure look of fear here. Awesome.
After the slide was a balance beam over
water. They were about 5 across and you
basically just shimmied across. I’m
actually surprised at how well I do on balance beams. I will trip over my own feet but I guess when
I’m concentrating I do well. I trotted
across like it was nothing and passed everyone on the other beams. Robin got about half way but fell in. She was frustrated but I again told her she
was doing ridiculously well. We then
heard a bunch of other people fall in so I think she felt better.
There was another mud crawl under barbed wire that
had a tube at the end you had to climb out of.
Normally I wouldn’t think much of this but the rocks from the mud and
people shoes made for a very painful climb out and I have a beautiful road rash
now down both of my legs.
There were a couple of cargo climbs. I love these!
I always feel like a monkey!
Then there were these stump things you had to
jump/walk across. This was
difficult. They were like tree trunks or
fence posts just wide enough for one foot.
Talk about balance! Lord. I got through the 1st part
smoothly but again there was another large gap between two of them. I took a deep breath and did it! I didn’t fall!!! Most people did! I felt so great! Robin was having a harder time but when she
fell she would turn around and go back to do it again instead of giving
up. I noticed someone helping a friend
and asked if she wanted me to help her.
She said yes, so she was able to get across with me next to her holding
her hand. Yay team work!!!
After this we hit a bunch more mud crawls. It was seriously like they just kept coming at
us. Then we rounded the bin and spotted
the finish line. You of course jump over
fire twice before you cross. Robin got
nervous at first but I promised her it wasn’t a big deal, besides – check out
the hot fireman on standby! Rawr! We leaped over the fire and crossed the
finish line together. We grabbed our
water (no medal) and walked over to meet D.
I have to admit, I’m surprised at how many races this year didn’t have medals. I know it pisses D off to no end. I don’t mind all that much but they are fun
to have plus we pay enough. Ah well.
We headed over to grab our bags laughing and
wincing as the mud began to dry and pull at our body hairs. We took post-race pictures and what we joked
would be our profile shots below.
They had low pressure drip water shower like
things to rinse off in. We took turns
and the wind had started to kick up again at this point and damn was it
cold!!! Shivering we ran to the change
tent and had our final obstacle of the day.
I changed in a matter of maybe 20 seconds. I’m pretty stoked I have this down to an art,
but D had some issues. Then Robin, oh
poor Robin, I remember my 1st race.
That girl didn’t know up from down.
We laughed hysterically as we helped her change and get her head on straight. Then of course, straight to the beer.
They didn’t have any vendors which is always kind
of a bummer but there were a few food stands and beer trailers. We weren’t planning on staying too long
anyway since I had to work that afternoon but I always do wish there were more
vendors.
So – all in all – this race was great. I would totally do this one again and be more
prepared for a challenge. Robin is
hooked and wants to do more with me and Lib is so pissed she missed this one
she said she’s signing up for the big daddy 7SAR in January with me.
My 2013 year of races has come to a close and I’ve
come to learn that I’ve gotten significantly stronger and the bug hasn’t left
me. I plan on next year signing up for
less “Fun Runs” and more obstacle races.
Gladiator, Spartan and maybe even Tough Mudder are in my future. I feel it’s time to step it up a notch. I won’t be able to do these much longer, so I
want to while I am able! Again – I don’t
race to win, I race to improve myself and I’m doing just that.
It’s amazing to me what a difference I feel from my 1st race in 2011. This includes the year off in the middle due to head pop. I was sore for days after the race. So exhausted. So tore up. I seem to be getting better at this. Oh yes I was sore from this race, but really only one bad day. My road rash has quieted down and I think all of the bruises have surfaced which aren’t as many as usual it seems. I crave a challenge. I crave the feeling of tackling an obstacle and doing well! I sometimes thing of trying to actually run more, but when my knee starts to swell up it reminds me why I can’t. But I have found that I can trot a bit intermittently if I’m careful. The famous quote “Don’t let what you can’t do stop you from doing what you can do” by John Wooden is always running through my head.
My life is so different now. Smoked my whole life almost. Drank a friggin ton. Ate like total shit. I would exercise to lose weight and get
pissed off when no progress was happening or I would exercise to get the
aggressions out and improperly do so many things thus resulting in gnarly
injuries. Now look at me! Nonsmoker.
Social drinker (barely). Eat
healthy. Sort of cook. And now I exercise to be strong and healthy
and I love it. I take on these races to
improve my strength and mobility and agility.
Fuck you hemorrhage. No excuses here. I have grabbed life by the balls and am
loving every second of it!
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