“[…] I’m a stronger man by far. There is power in me yet. […]” – Les Miserables
Last year’s Chicago race was simply about finishing. I struggled throughout it, including falling off of Berlin Walls and almost falling off of Murderhorn. It was also a very slow slog overall — I think somewhere in the 3 – 3.5 hour range for 3.5 miles plus obstacles.
Between that race and this year, I had had the opportunity to be in Vermont. As I mentioned in that blog, I came away stronger in several ways. Also, implementing the incremental changes that Don talked about helped tremendously.
Even so, I was nervous going into the race. Simply because the race was going to be in the dark for the first ten hours. But I knew I would be safe — I had two strong guides in Scott and Anna. Also, Scott B. (Producer) had provided information pre-race that helped to quiet a few of those concerns.
Prior to the race, I had purchased a harness, rope, and carabiner to try and help with the climbing obstacles (specifically Everest and Mudderhorn, but others as well). While the rope was the proper strength, it wasn’t thick enough. While Scott B. was able to help find rope, we weren’t able to find anyone to help tie proper knots mid-race, so we were without the harness for the race.
After setting up our Pit area (well, really just dropping things), we gathered with everyone for the mass start.
For this race, almost all of the obstacles were closed for the first lap. They opened on a rolling schedule, so if you ran fast enough, you could get two loops in before the early obstacles (i.e. LumberJacked / Sack Up) opened, and a third with minimal obstacles before the late course ones (i.e. Everest and Electric Eel) opened. Since you received a “skip” bracelet for each loop starting at #3 (approximately 15 miles), you could time skipping your most challenging obstacle if you were fast.
This was not the case for me. While I was able to get a decent first lap (Mudderhorn was the only true course obstacle I had to do), the second one was a challenge. I believe that if I had had the harness, I might have gotten a third and fourth loop in. But that was not to be…
On the second loop, the first obstacle we encountered was Lumberjacked. These are wooden hurdles (maybe 8 – 10 feet high). Scott and Anna helped with a boost up onto each, and I was able to get up/over both.
After a brief run, we made it to Sack Up. This was a relatively easy obstacle for me. The biggest challenge was getting through the path when I couldn’t see it. But Scott and Anna helped with that aspect.
Next up was the Mud Mile. This year, there seemed to be more pits and several of them seemed deeper. Both Scott and Anna helped to ensure that I could safely get into and out of them. Getting out involved using one of them for a boost, the installed ropes, and the pre-made hand/knee holes outside the rim of the pits. Even still, I did fall back down into one of the pits because of the slippery mud around the edges. But we did make it through safely.
After this, we made it down to the creek (with me going down between the guides) and across. The creek crossing is always a great opportunity to get mud from Mud Mile off. You’ll end up with plenty more before crossing back, it’s just about getting the first layer off…
Next up with Kiss of Mud, which was a bit better than last year. I expected another gravely mess (which tore up my knees last year). This time, it was more sand than anything else. Both Scott and Anna helped to ensure that I kept myself low enough to avoid hitting the barbed wire.
After that, we headed to Block Ness Monster. We did have to wait a few minutes until others showed up to help rotate the blocks. But once we had enough people, it went fairly smoothly.
The obstacle after that was Well Swung. For safety reasons, I skipped the actual obstacle and went to the penalty.
Once the penalty was complete, we headed to Just the Tips. While I tried this one (hanging and moving laterally) obstacle several times, I couldn’t get past getting off the platform. I think I would have had more success with the harness. But since I couldn’t complete it, I had to do the penalty.
Next up was Funky Monkey, which I again had to skip for safety reasons. Once we made it through the water base, I completed the penalty.
Next up was Cage Crawl, which is a water based obstacle where you’re crawling under a cage. Both Anna and Scott helped me throughout this, expecially as I got caught a couple times.
Next up was Berlin Walls, which was “skipped” for safety reasons. I did complete an alternate obstacle instead.
After that was Pyramid Scheme, a climbing obstacle. While I made it up the face of it just fine (using a rope that was on the obstacle), I had issues at the top. Like last year’s “inverted log” climbing obstacle, I had my legs in the wrong position when I made it to the top. This meant that I couldn’t easily turn around to climb down the A frame. Scott and Anna tried to help coach me through it, and a couple of other competitors tried to help. But I just couldn’t safely reposition myself. So I ended up having to come down and complete the penalty.
After making it back across the creek and up the cargo net, we headed to Ladder to Hell. While I was able to get up the first two steps, I just didn’t feel safe without the harness. So we had to move on.
When we made it to Everest, we were about 4 hours in the loop. That wasn’t bad given I couldn’t run as much in the dark/mud the second loop and I’d had to do several penalties. And then it all fell apart…
While I have intentionally excluded what the penalties were for prior obstacles, I will talk about the one for Everest. This is because others have already publicly commented on it and seen me doing it.
When we got to Everest, there was a rope, and I was able to get about halfway up. But without the harness, I just didn’t feel safe enough to make that stretch/grab between the sets of knots, so I headed to the penalty (crab walk). It was a 200 yard penalty, which in the dark took me almost two hours. I’ll admit that crab walk has never been my strength. I’m sure that I also lost time/distance by unintentionally going at angles since I couldn’t see anything. Scott and Anna helped throughout that ordeal, and helped to reposition me and ensure I wasn’t hitting posts. There were a couple of points in the first 100 yards that it almost broke me. But I was able to draw strength from what I had been able to work through in Vermont.
After almost two hours of a very choppy, very tiring crab walk, my legs were spent and I was exhausted. So I limped over to the next obstacle.
Arctic Enema was up next, and it actually felt really, really good. If there hadn’t been a sizable crowd at the obstacle, I would have tried to stay in for a little longer to get more feeling back in my legs. Scott and Anna helped me to get under the barricades, and we made it out.
As we went from Arctic Enema to Mudderhorn, I remember saying to Scott that I didn’t know how I was going to do it. My legs were so spent that I was afraid of falling off. As this was a mandatory completion obstacle, Scott/Anna were able to find others to help. It was a very slow trip up and over, but we made it through safely.
As we were standing before Electric Eel, I had a discussion with my guides similar to the one I had with Scott last year. While it was Electroshock Therapy instead of Electric Eel last year, the conversation was still about which would hurt the least.
While the penalty option would have been the best, I wasn’t confident that my legs would hold out for it. Also knowing that there was water knocked out the running through it option. So I went with the crawling option, with a volunteer helping to be our eyes from above. Even with all that help, I did get hit by the wires a couple times. And yes, they hurt a whole hell of a lot worse in the water…
After completing this lap we were done. The crab walk had killed my legs, and the opportunity to try another loop. At that point, it was 4:30 AM and the race ended at 8:00. In a best case scenario, it would have been 5-5:30 before I would have been “ready”. But my legs would not have supported a third lap, and there wasn’t time to get through it in a best case scenario. Crab walk had killed things. So we spent the time trying to walk out the cramps in the Pit and meeting people.
While it was a challenge and painful at times, it was also a lot of fun. Thanks to Scott B. for all of his help, Scott and Anna for their help and guiding me, and all of the others on course who assisted (especially during Murderhorn and Electric Eel on the second loop).
And there was a silver lining to the painful crab walk. More on that in the next blog…
