we arrived in lake elsinore (about 80 miles SE of los angeles) a shade early of our 1:30pm start time to scope out the festivities and to get in a 3/4 mile jog to get warmed up. since we didn't want to get trapped, we got in line around 1:05pm so that we could stay near the front of the pack. the race started with about a one-mile sprint before coming upon the first obstacle - a increasingly high stack of hay bales that you had to scale and then jump down from.
believe it or not, 11 more obstacles were to follow, with such names as 'junker jump' (climbing over strewn wreckage), 'tunnels of terror' (scampering thru black tunnels), 'cargo climb' (making your way up/down cargo nets), 'breathless bog' (trudging thru waist-deep water and over huge logs), 'warrior roast' (jumping over fire) and 'muddy mayhem' (scrambling under barbed wire thru a ginormous mud pit).
3.08 miles isn't too bad on its own, nor are the 12 obstacles when broken down one-by-one. but combined, it makes for an arduous journey, so i was proud to finish and to place in the upper tier of our wave. when you consider the fact that i've never ran distance in my life, it makes it extra sweet to accomplish something in a short amount of prep time. next stop, half marathon? results haven't been tabulated yet, but i'll post a follow up as soon as i find out...
afterwards, each competitor gets rewarded with a t-shirt, a viking helmet, a sweet medallion commemorating the occasion, and free beer - sponsored by pyramid brewery! my friend hillary actually volunteered to help out today, so she was one of the select few beer wenches on the premises. both vim and i were also able to recycle our crusty shoes to green sneakers, so all in all it was a glorious day. now if you'll excuse me, i'm going to soak myself in hot water in hopes of cleaning up all the mud...
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