This year Jason and I added a new challenge to our fitness and started competing in obstacle course races. We ran the
Zombie Race in May and then in July we competed in the
Tough Mountain Challenge at Sunday River. It was a 5k obstacle course that ran from the base at South Ridge up to North Peak and then back down to Barker then over to South Ridge for the finish. The race was a blast! We were covered in mud from the obstacles but the challenge was really running up and then down the mountain. The obstacles like running up muddy sections of trails with snow guns blasting water at you, rolling/crawling in mud under barbed wire, climbing in/out of a ravine were all a lot of fun and broke up the run up the mountain. The obstacles were not the challenge for us in the race it was keeping our legs from buckling under as we ran down a mountain! It was keeping yourself in control running down the mountain so that we didn't slip and tumble down instead. We both put up good times for the race and managed to come in under an hour. We were tired but had a great time and are looking forward to running it again next year.
Our most recent obstacle race was in mid August.We ran the
Spartan sprint race at the Amesbury adventure park (the same location as the Zombie race). This race was very challenging because of the obstacles. The race course was hilly but since I run hills on almost every run the hills weren't the challenge. The challenge was climbing up over 6ft and 8 ft walls, climbing up ropes to ring a bell, carrying a 40lb sand bag up/down a steep hill, flipping truck tires, pulling cement blocks around a dirt track, jumping over fire, crawling in mud under barbed wire and thinking that was it until you climbed over a hay bale and saw more mud and barbed wire climbing uphill. The race was a challenge and I knew that I would have to make up time on my running since the obstacles would be a challenge. The walls were a challenge for my short stature and I utilized the men on the course to give me a quick lift up to reach the tops. The guys didn't care about helping me out and the camaraderie on the course was really amazing. I don't know how I would have gotten over an 8ft walls with out a lift since the walls were flat and you were not allowed to use the side supports to climb up. I returned the favor though and helped people with running tips heading up a particularly tough hill climb. If you couldn't complete an obstacle you had to do thirty
burpees. There were three obstacles that I failed on and had to do burpees. One obstacle I missed was throwing a spear into a square of hay. I have never done this and was really not surprised my spear didn't stick into the hay. The next obstacle I had assumed I would have to burpees on and that was jumping from stump to stump. The stumps were lined up in rows. The distance between the stumps was not
uniform and the tops of the stumps were not flat. I stepped up onto the stump and realized my legs were no where near long enough to reach the next stump so I jumped off and did my burpees. The final obstacle that I didn't complete were the monkey bars. I had assumed I could do these but I had not been prepared for the deep mud and then thigh deep water I had to go through to get to the monkey bars. I was completely soaked and muddy by the time I reached the monkey bars and on my second bar my hands just slipped off. There was no time to delay though so I quickly did my burpees and carried on. I pushed the run to make up for the lost time on burpees. I jumped over the fire and ran down the hill and over the final wall where I knew I was going to meet the final two "spartan warriors" with their pugil sticks. I had planned ahead to master my "weak girl" look and ran up pleading with them not to hit me. It worked (despite Jason yelling from the side lines for them to hit me) and they only gave me a light tap and I crossed the finished. I had hoped to come in under an hour but ended up at one hour and 4 minutes. I was still very happy with my time as it put me in the top 2% of females and top 10% overall. Jason finished in 55 minutes and came in top 5% of males and top 4% overall. Not too shabby! (If Jason downloads his pic to my computer I will add some of him. He was just as muddy as me!)
Our most recent obstacle race was in mid August.We ran the Spartan sprint race at the Amesbury adventure park (the same location as the Zombie race). This race was very challenging because of the obstacles. The race course was hilly but since I run hills on almost every run the hills weren't the challenge. The challenge was climbing up over 6ft and 8 ft walls, climbing up ropes to ring a bell, carrying a 40lb sand bag up/down a steep hill, flipping truck tires, pulling cement blocks around a dirt track, jumping over fire, crawling in mud under barbed wire and thinking that was it until you climbed over a hay bale and saw more mud and barbed wire climbing uphill. The race was a challenge and I knew that I would have to make up time on my running since the obstacles would be a challenge. The walls were a challenge for my short stature and I utilized the men on the course to give me a quick lift up to reach the tops. The guys didn't care about helping me out and the camaraderie on the course was really amazing. I don't know how I would have gotten over an 8ft walls with out a lift since the walls were flat and you were not allowed to use the side supports to climb up. I returned the favor though and helped people with running tips heading up a particularly tough hill climb. If you couldn't complete an obstacle you had to do thirty burpees. There were three obstacles that I failed on and had to do burpees. One obstacle I missed was throwing a spear into a square of hay. I have never done this and was really not surprised my spear didn't stick into the hay. The next obstacle I had assumed I would have to burpees on and that was jumping from stump to stump. The stumps were lined up in rows. The distance between the stumps was not 
uniform and the tops of the stumps were not flat. I stepped up onto the stump and realized my legs were no where near long enough to reach the next stump so I jumped off and did my burpees. The final obstacle that I didn't complete were the monkey bars. I had assumed I could do these but I had not been prepared for the deep mud and then thigh deep water I had to go through to get to the monkey bars. I was completely soaked and muddy by the time I reached the monkey bars and on my second bar my hands just slipped off. There was no time to delay though so I quickly did my burpees and carried on. I pushed the run to make up for the lost time on burpees. I jumped over the fire and ran down the hill and over the final wall where I knew I was going to meet the final two "spartan warriors" with their pugil sticks. I had planned ahead to master my "weak girl" look and ran up pleading with them not to hit me. It worked (despite Jason yelling from the side lines for them to hit me) and they only gave me a light tap and I crossed the finished. I had hoped to come in under an hour but ended up at one hour and 4 minutes. I was still very happy with my time as it put me in the top 2% of females and top 10% overall. Jason finished in 55 minutes and came in top 5% of males and top 4% overall. Not too shabby! (If Jason downloads his pic to my computer I will add some of him. He was just as muddy as me!)
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