Savage Race

My Savage Race adventure is complete.

Stupid photo - mission accomplished

6 miles, 25-ish? obstacles. Let's do it!

This morning I made the drive across the bay and through some very pretty countryside to Kennedysville, got there just in time to jump into the 11:00 wave (I wave jumped - I'm sorry, but I had no desire to run at 1:00)

Crowd surfing at the start line

The announcer did a great job getting us all hyped up. He led a quick warm up followed by some shouting matches, locking arms with our fellow racers, and crowd surfing. A young guy in USMC shorts and no shirt standing right next to me was chosen to lead the screaming contests. After some more yelling and chanting we were off! Ran through the field for a bit before reaching the first set of obstacles. Hurdles, a ladder wall, then surprisingly within the first mile was Shriveled Richard - an ice bath obstacle. This would have felt great later on in the race, but all it really did was knock the wind out of me when I hit the water. But I knew the key was to stay moving and use the wall to pull myself forward so I could get out as fast as possible.

The trails were pretty easy, mostly flat with maybe the occasional hill but nothing to cry about. I think the next obstacle was the balance beam. My clumsy ass made it about halfway across before falling. Oh well. Back into the woods for more trail running. Met up with a pack of Avengers, a bunch of guys wearing those Under Armor superhero shirts. Every Avenger was represented and there was even one of the X Men thrown in there. I kept running into the USMC shorts dude from the start line, we got to chatting and turns out he did the NJ Beast too. But I was about to leave him in the dust permanently because he injured his leg on an obstacle.

At one point we faced some walls - a straight wall with a large overhang that you had to maneuver over. It wasn't too bad. The other side was inverted with 2 footholds. The second wall was the first wall only in reverse. Climb up a slanted wall with 2 footholds, they were muddy and there was no rope so it took some time but I got over ok. The top is where I kind of froze. The upper lip stuck out and there wasn't really any way to get down other than dropping. But they put some hay bales there, and I just knew I would fall and roll an ankle or something if I just relied on the hay bales to catch me. A guy talked me through it because I was freaking out a little bit, he suggested I turn around and drop off that way. It worked. Thanks, random stranger!

Somewhere in here was an A frame cargo net, and a barb wire crawl through grass. Following the barb wire was an obstacle that was basically one of those big black plastic pipes that was set up like a see saw. You crawl up into the pipe and once you get to the middle your weight makes the pipe shift down and you slide out to the other side. Alot of females were backing out of this one and once I entered my pipe I saw why - there was nothing to grab onto. I just pushed my back into the walls of the pipe to act as a brace. It really hurt my knees. But before I knew it the pipe was tilting and I was sliding out the other side.

Soon we were back in the woods and entered a big mud pit. As soon as I stepped in I was on all fours. The mud was so slick that I was just sliding around everywhere. Getting out of the pit meant scaling a hillside - a guy offered me a hand which was not needed, but I thanked him and took it anyway. A bunch of other girls were screaming and sliding around trying to get up the hill so maybe he felt like he had to help out, but I was flying up that hill and grabbing tree branches to pull myself up, then I was out of there. Right after the big mud pit was Pipe Dreams - a pipe to shimmy across horizontally. Tried to dry my hands off as best I could to prepare. Despite being good at monkey bar type obstacles, I failed a similar obstacle at the Beast, so I wasn't about to let this one claim me. Felt my hands slipping a few times but I made it. Next was Me So Thorny, a barb wire crawl that had barb wire on the sides too, boxing you in completely. I think after this was the traverse wall. I got SO CLOSE!!! I had like 2 more holds to go and my foot slipped. The volunteer consoled me by telling me I was one of the few to have gotten so far. I think she was right, I saw alot of people fall off at the beginning and only heard 2 bell rings.

A picture of a picture of Sawtooth

Around mile 4 or 5 we were out in the fields again and encountered an obstacle called Thor's Grundle. A mud pit with 2 walls you had to pass underneath by going underwater. Saw someone try to go over top despite the fact there was barb wire there. A couple "Pthhbbthhpph" 's later I was out of the obstacle and furiously spitting mud out of my face. Running through the fields, noticed most everybody was walking at this point. The next obstacle was a log carry through a pond, the sign said "Grab 2 if you're a bad ass!" 2 logs it was! They were really light, should have grabbed more logs. The most logs carried by 1 person all day was 9. Next was the cliff jump obstacle. I got to the top and alot of people were scared so they said go ahead. Took the middle spot and had 2 people on my right and we were waiting for the countdown to all jump at the same time. As soon as he said "go" I let out a loud "WOOOO!" and was up in the air. Didn't even see the other 2 jump. Feeling the rush of joy/fear as I fell, then hit the water and brought myself back to the surface. Whee! Nice and refreshing too. Closing in on the end here. Sawtooth was next. These monkey bars were really tall and really far apart. I got halfway - up to the "tooth" part, and when it was time to go back up it was just too tall of a gap and I didn't make it.

The race was almost over. I didn't even care, I was having so much fun. Still running, had energy and was just enjoying the ride really. There was a third barb wire crawl, this time through water/mud. Chicked the guy next to me! But then I was slipping and falling all over the place trying to wade through the mud after the obstacle. Next we had some over/under walls. Got over all 4 walls, struggled with the 3rd because it was slippery. I saw a lady try to step through the barb wire on the "under" wall - seriously people, wtf??? The barb wire is there because you're NOT supposed to go over the wall! There's even signs pointing down! Anyway - approached a cinder block drag - pull the cinder block on a rope up hill, then carry it back down. It wasn't heavy, no big deal. The next obstacle was interesting, pull yourself up a slide with a cargo net while you're on your back. It had running water so you wouldn't get stuck, so at the very top I couldn't see what I was doing because water was hitting me in the face. 2 kids were standing there with a water bottle and asked "Wanna get wet?" I said "Sure!" and they proceeded to splash the water on me.

In the home stretch - time to face Colossus. the quarter pipe obstacle. Had to wait for a good bit and watch people attempt it, it was about 50/50 from what I could see. The ropes were really short. I sprinted towards my rope - couldn't quite get it and slid all the way down. Damn. Waited for a bit and tried again. Sprinted, reached - and fumbled again! Slid down and gashed up my elbow in the process. Well crap. I didn't try again because of all the people waiting for their turn. Felt pretty defeated but moved on to jump over the fire and cross the finish line!

This race was awesome! Very fun, loved the obstacles - a good mix of challenges, some obstacles were easier but fun, and other obstacles were really challenging. I loved all the water obstacles too. Volunteers were great, they actually had 3 water stations with full water bottles for every racer. Think I would have preferred cups though, I didn't want to waste too much water so I drank half the bottle/poured the rest onto myself, but I ended up having a full bladder from over hydrating. Savage Race does a great job at getting you pumped up and ready to go, yet they are laid back and don't punish you for failing or opting out of obstacles. I was having fun the whole time, there wasn't ever a point where I was hoping the race would end.

Anxious to see what my finishing time was - didn't try for speed and stopped to help others/cheer people on, but considering how many people were walking at the end I'm thinking maybe I did ok. The pictures should be good too!

I picked up a case of beer on the way home - really coming to love Shock Top lately, especially the lemon flavor. Hanging out and eating some baked ziti I ordered, the husband is trying to watch the Mayweather/Pacquiao fight so maybe I'll get in on that. Laters!