We landed early on Friday, and I learned that Jimmae had never been to the Mall of America. This simply would not do. Given that the MoA is about five minutes from the airport, once we got our rental, we had to swing by. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to stay and shop or play. But we did grab lunch and walked through the central amusement area. Sorry Nickelodeon, I liked it better when it was Peanuts.
The festival was just as much fun as I remembered from last year. Seriously looking forward to this one again next year. Thank you Deb!!!
Other exciting news for me this month was I got to run not one, but two obstacle races. The first was the Metro Dash. Which is a very short obstacle driven race. 30 plus obstacles, with only about 20-30 feet between them. One wicked sprint from the start to finish.
CrossFit Charlotte was well represented. I think we sent about 8 or 10 four-person teams to compete.
Originally I was on a team that was scheduled to run that afternoon. However, the night before another team called me up and said they lost a member and asked if I could run it in the morning. Run a race twice in one day? Sure, why not!
The race turned out to be more of a lung-burner than I expected. I was seriously gasping for breath in the last third of the race. My first team finished in about 10:20 and I had a few hours to kill. So the “morning crew” all went to a local pub for lunch and some beers. It was tough, but I refrained form drinking until after my second race. That afternoon my team ran it somewhere about 9:30. So I was all the happier and now have two Metro Dash finishing medals. 🙂
The second race was a bit more of a challenge. It was a Super Spartan race. An 8 mile obstacle course with a reputation for being brutal. And I had a number of factors working against me. While performing in OK and SD, I was working out maybe 2 times a week. Which means that I basically had 2-3 weeks to train for this race. Also it was a solo race, no teams. A team is motivating. There's that desire to push harder because “I can't let them down.” However, the flip side is also true, there's times when you wish you were running faster but have to slow the pace because another member is hurting at that time. I was curious to see how I'd perform, if I could push myself for my own sake, or if at some point I'd let the mental game of “just walk a little bit” win out.
Well, I can honestly say it was the toughest race I have ever run. It was amazingly awful during it, and felt so good after. The very first obstacle with a 100 yard up-hill sprint, and right at the top, jump over a small wall of flame. Then a hard turn into a giant mud pit about 50 yards long. So right from the start, soaked head to toe. Miles and miles of running. It was at an ATV park, so about 1/3 the race was on trails. But often the course would make a sharp turn into the woods., generally into the steepest most treacherous portion. And they didn't do anything to clear the woods or cut a trail. They marked a 15-yard wide “path” that you had to find your own way through. Including at one point carrying a racing tire. Wall climbs, open water swims, rope traversals, sand bag carries, low crawls under barbed wire. A massive hill climb only to be greeted by a series of six steep mud hills and mud pits, one final fire jump, run down the hill, toss a spear at a “Spartan” (my spear stuck, so no penalty burpees), a soap-covered ramp climb, and then run past three cudgel bearing Spartans across the finish line.
Oh, my god... was it exhausting. I can't wait to do it again!!
