and... saturday's race was a success! even though vim and i were the last to start in the individual race category (more on that later), we made up enough time to finish in the neighborhood of an hour and 20 minutes. not bad for our first time out and definitely a benchmark to surpass in the future...the race was at 9am and though instructions advised us to arrive at 6am, we left LA around 5:45am and arrived at the camp pendleton exit at 7:10am - only to see a stonewall procession of cars doing the same. it took us nearly 35 minutes to get off the freeway, then it was another 8 miles to the parking lot.
from there, we hoofed it to the starting area, figured out we were at the starting gate for teams only, then made a mad dash to the start line for individuals where we were the last to shove off. about a 1/2 mile in, we were greeted by marines blasting water with a fire hose, so our indoctrination was underway...
the first few miles were spent maneuvering around fellow contestants, all the while going uphill. here's where our training up paseo miramar came in handy - we practiced on inclines leading up to the race - only ours were much steeper in practice. at about the halfway mark, the course snaked its way downhill and we got to play in river crossings, mud walls and a reservoir crossing totalling about 5 feet high.
at about the 5.5 mile marker is where slippery hill is located - a long, treacherous hill with lousy footing and marines up top spraying the ground and you silly. i sprinted up this with whatever juice i had left, then made a mad dash into the long 30-foot mud pit, before finally crossing the finish line on fumes. celebratory margaritas were consumed minutes later, followed by a trip to pizza port carlsbad to revel in our craziness...
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