SAVAGE RACE

Last spring I bought tickets for the "Run For Your Lives" race for the fall, zombie race. At the time, I didn't know who I would run with and as the race approached, I was ready to back out since I hadn't been training. THEN, one of my friends told me she was a part of a group that was going and told me to go with them. I told her I wasn't quite prepared and I was relieved to hear her say, "Oh, we don't run. I have asthma, T has a gimpy hip and J has a hurt ankle." PERFECT, that was the group for me. I had such a great time doing the course with them, it didn't take any convincing to sign up for the Savage Race and go with some of them again. Truthfully, I think I'm a bit addicted to these obstacle course racy thingys. I love them.

It turns out Savage Race has the reputation for having the most challenging obstacles and I would agree they were much harder than the zombie race. We did each obstacle a time or two just for fun. I set the women's record for one of the challenges.  I don't know the name of it, but we had to carry 4x4 planks of wood quite a distance through mud, and a pond. I did six all at once, no one beat it. Several tied it, but I set the record. (I have to brag a little bit about that to make me feel better about not making it up the first part of the Gauntlet.)

One thing that made this race a lot of fun was LT was able to come. He didn't make it to the one last fall.

Alright, picture time.

LT at the end of the race all muddy and sunburned. 

BUT, how did he get this way? 

Let's review.

Keeping your shoes on your feet is tough when 

you're trudging through mud.

V has mastered the art of duct tape for 

securing your footwear.

V showing off her mohawk tape. 

It's a good thing she didn't keep it there. 

That would have made for a funny burn. 

AND, we all got burned.

LT doing his own tape and showing his enthusiasm for the race.

V, ME and S.

This is what happens when you ask V and S to watch your 

camera while you go to the bathroom to change.

Aw, aren't we cute. 

Here we are, all clean and neat. 

V was going for a different look for our team, 

but we ended up looking business casual.

 A lot of other runners commented on it. It was a hit.

On a side note, I really liked my tie and it's sad 

we couldn't resurrect it from the grime of the race.

Here is the first obstacle, The Shriveled Richard. 

(Most of the names were a bit raunchy)

It was a large container of ice and water. You couldn't just wade through it, there was a huge beam in the middle and you had to go under the water. That's right, you had to be completely submerged. This picture captures the point where I started to panic. The cold was no joke. I almost plowed through S ahead of me to get out. I was yelling, "Get me out of here, get me out of here." I seriously almost crawled over her and knocked her off the ladder to get out. Panic will do that I tell ya. The only other time I've felt that panic was the last time I was scuba diving and couldn't descend. 

Here we are, partway through the race. We'd crawled through

 and swam under several trenches of mud and water. Surprisingly, this picture was taken just after we had a nice dip in the water.

Yep, some of the hills were steep and muddy. 

S and I opted for the safer way down.

This obstacle kicked my butt at first. 

Here V is making it look easy.

Me, take 1

Me, take 2

FINALLY!! 

There was a lovely little mote of mud and water that made your feet 

slick before you hit the wood to climb and it was kicking my butt. 

However, once I figured out the trick, it was no big deal. 

Okay, the rest of the pictures are out of order.

T trying to set the record for the guys.

Me and S going through ANOTHER pond.

Me celebrating being at the top of the cargo net. 

That was an easy one.

Here we are, fresh out of the Shriveled Richard.

I was the first to draw blood. 

The course was also a shooting range, 

so there were shattered clay pigeons everywhere. 

I crawled on one. 

 Here I am setting the record.

So, the boards were a bit wobbly. 

V laughing right after she kicked me off of the ladder. 

Fresh and clean.

The course right after the Shriveled Richard.

LT managed to keep his shirt white on the back 

and around the collar nearly the entire race.

And, down I go. 

For all of my Oakcrest buddies out there,

BUMSLIDING!!

V doing the duck face and me doing the shriveled prune.

V going up the Colossus. 

That was steep and by the time you got there, 

your arms are so tired it's even harder.

Here I am setting the record.

All of the logs I cleared from our 

yard this spring prepared me for this one.

Here I am, just before V kicked me off. 

She literally kicked me off.

Climbing up hay bales, yawn.

BEHOLD

Ya, V and I are the only ones being "tough" in this pic.

Stopping for a breather.

Who am I kidding, we didn't run.

Judging by the look on my face, 

this must have been the first mud obstacle we faced. 

After awhile, we became accustomed 

to sand and grit in our teeth

V is the boss.

 Look, look, we're having so much fun.

S getting some mud out of her ear, or was it a leech?

This was an official race photo posted on their FB page.

He's so hot.

S took a lot of fun pictures too, but, unfortunately, 

her camera was lost in a pond while we were rinsing off.

(It fell out of her bra. Ha ha ha ha)