Final Gladiator, Dark Harbor and the plague...

I did it!

I did 3 Gladiator Rock N Run’s in one year and earned myself the “Beast” medal!

This was Fatima’s wild idea last year and I totally jumped on board.  Unfortunately I was sick as a dog.  It’s that time of year I suppose when most of the human race gets nailed with some sort of Cold/Flu.  And no – I did not get a Flu Shot.  I don’t buy em.  I did it one year and got sicker than I’ve ever got and got more sick than I did any other year.  So no.  No flu shot for me. 

The Wed before Saturday’s Gladiator I had a scratchy throat that night and I was exhausted. I knew it was coming.  You’re most contagious the 1^st 48 hours.  I was a good little girl and stayed home from work Thursday and Friday, staying in bed, hydrating, taking Zicam, doing all the shit you’re supposed to do when you’re sick.

Sat – Gladiator arrives.  No, I probably shouldn’t have done it.  But I was already sick.  I wasn’t getting better and the virus had already attached itself to my body.  I was fucked.  If it was any other race I would have skipped it, but this was my third damn Gladiator and I was going to get that Beast Medal if it killed me!  So I did.

Since I wasn’t “feeling it” really.  I forgot to take any pre-race shots.  They had a giant warm up session that I attempted and realized how crappy I was feeling.  Fatima, Nancy (who was also getting over being sick) and David and I headed out the starting line together.  I tried jogging a bit but my lungs burned and I was coughing every other breath it seemed. 

This Gladiator was at The Rose Bowl in Pasadena and our 1^st obstacle was going up and down the stadium stairs 4 fucking times!  I normally wouldn’t post such a crappy picture of myself but it’s so sad.  You can tell I was so sick.  My nose was burning and I was feeling miserable.

After that we headed out to the Dumpster Dive.  It was much easier this time around thanks to David hoisting our asses out of the thing.  Now time for fuzzy remberances.  I’ll try to be brief:

·         Some kind of chain link fence thing we wiggled under.  On the ground was plastic so we zipped through that pretty quick on our backs.

·         Walked for what seemed like forever out and back.  Lots of dust.  Not good for sickie girl. 

·         Climbing walls – check.

·         Monkey Bars – learned that the gloves actually make it harder for me.  I fell off half way thru but hopped back on to finish.  Next time I won’t wear my gloves.

·         Crawled through some tubes and mud.  Always mud.
-     Cinder Block Burpees - nailed.

·         Hopped over Barricade things.  I usually hop over these no problem, but for some reason I nailed my shin on one of them and have a nasty wound to boot.  Ouch.

·         Carried the bag (Buddha’s Burden) around a building.  They were actually heavy this time.

·         Cargo climbs – easy.

·         Then there was this weird Weeple Wriggle they called it.  It was some weird seatbelt like thing that you crawled under on your back.  It was pretty rough on your back and it was so low, it was not an easy obstacle.

·         Hopped over some busted up cars – fun!

·         And of course the Beast Wall.  Funny thing – I aced it!  I think it’s because it wasn’t as muddy and the soap they had applied to make it slippier had dried enough.  I went over the thing like a pro!  When I crawled over I turned and looked shocked down and Fatima and David and let out a pained holler (it hurt to yell – stupid cough).  I was stunned and stoked!  They also sailed over it like it was nothing.

Then of course the always fun mud obstacle.  These pictures are always my favorite and I don’t look as sick here.  

Muddy David

Muddy Nancy.  That's me helping her.  Her hair kept getting stuck!

Muddy Fatima

Muddy me

Mudd apparently makes me laugh

We all four crossed the finish line together.

Afterwards we hung around for a bit, did the Brommers soap hose down thing, and took some fun photos.

This pic was actually in the Thank You Email that went out from Gladiator!  It said "Gladiators showing off their bling!"  Fatima and Maryanne had the good idea to bring all the medals...Nancy and I did not..oops!

Dan Nitro and the gals

David loving the ladies

I'm a Beast!!

We headed out, David and I grabbed In & Out (I love a good burger after a race) then I promptly showered and went back to bed.

Sunday evening I attended the wedding of Jack and Robert that was absolutely lovely but it was outside and it was cold.  Jewish ceremonies are so interesting and beautiful and I was so glad I went but when I awoke Monday morning I felt horrible.

 

I made it through most of the work day but went home coughing daggers.  Tuesday landed at the doctors was given antibiotics and been recovering since.

My favorite holiday – Halloween - was spent drinking tea alone watching horror movies with the girls.

This past weekend I skipped one of my favorite events – Noches de Altares since Taylor had purchased us tickets to Dark Harbor at the Queen Mary.  Since I’m not a 100% I didn’t want to risk two outdoor night events in a row and Dark Harbor was paid for so that won out.

 

Taylor was worn out for a big work event all weekend so we planned an early night.  Dark Harbor isn’t one of my favorites.  It’s always too crowded and the mazes just aren’t up to par.  We did have fun though.  His tickets had front of the line access so we never waited too long.

He paid extra for the extra event we thought was a tour but when we had to sign a waiver realized it was another interactive experience.  I actually enjoyed it for the most part.  The best being we were down in the bowels of the Queen Mary.  Down in the engine room.  We saw the haunted hatch 13.  It was all super creepy and super cool.  We were put in the haunted changing stalls and the ones across from us moved (There were 6 in our group).  We had one guy freak out who I thought was part of the bit but actually was just a dude who was really claustrophobic.   We then had to crawl through a really dark drainpipe thing and couldn’t see shit.  I kept getting my scarf stuck.  (I was so not dressed for this).  Taylor was “sacrificed” and we had to find him.  It was all very cute and fun, but nothing too dramatic.  My favorite part was when we went under this weird area of the boat and it was inside but outside and we saw the giant boat propeller under the water.  It was so spooky and cool!  The little ghost gal came to scare everyone and we were all so enthralled by the site we didn’t run away. Finally someone shrieked and we jogged out.  They guy said we were the slowest evacuators ever.  Ha ha!

Taylor and I were actually able to hit all the mazes and be out by 10pm.  It was fun but doesn’t hold a candle to Universal or really even Haunt.  We had a ball though and I thank Taylor for choosing me as his buddy to go!  The end of another Halloween season has come.  I’m a little bummed I had to stay in on Halloween and miss Noches but dammit did I do a lot of cool shit this year!!!   Knotts Haunt, Hayride, Universal, Delusion and now Dark Harbor!  So much fun!!

Hopefully I’m on the mend now.  The cough is still lingering and my nose is still a little pissed off but I’m going to try to fall back into my normal routine again starting tonight.  Stay well my friends and on to the Thanksgiving and Xmas holidays!  Yikes!!!