From there, our first actual challenge was the gorilla bars (which are monkey bars with guys in gorilla suits trying to knock you off (though they didn't try that hard). This was one of the ones that I was really nervous about being able to complete (due to my amazing upper arm strength), but I made it all the way across! I would do this race again just for that feeling alone!Once we got past this, we headed to where a huge pile of inner tubes sat, and we had to carry the inner tube up a series of steps and along a walkway to where we rode the tube down a water slicked hill. I got soaked, but was still smiling as I got out of the the little water pool at the bottom of the hill. As we ran to our next obstacle, we were sprayed with colored powders (mainly green and orange), which when combined with the water from the previous obstacles made it so we were practically painted with the colors! We laughed at our colorful selves as we continued on our run.
We came across a wall that we had to cross, and they had three different heights to choose from. I chose the shortest wall (probably about up to my waist), and Blake chose the tallest one, which was closer to his height. Quickly following getting over the wall, we had to go over 8 concrete stadores (those things you see on the sides of the freeways). Blake just launched himself over these quickly, where I had to lift myself up to sitting on them and then get over.
My first failure of the race was the rock climbing wall. We had a narrow ledge to keep our feet on, and then a rock wall to hold on to as we moved across. I got about halfway before I lost my handhold, and fell (only 2 feet or so). In retrospect, if I had made more careful hand choices, I probably could have made it successfully across. Oh well, maybe next time.
Blake noticed that I significantly slowed down on my way to the next obstacle, and I will willingly admit that I was freaked out about this one. I am claustrophobic, and this next obstacle required going through a tunnel up a hill, and the tunnel was buried enough in dirt that it was crawling space only. But I did determine before even starting that in the effort of conquering fears that I WAS going to get through this obstacle! So, I made it through, didn't love it, but just kept going and felt great when I finished... until I saw the next obstacle... another tunnel! This one was even more buried, and it was slightly smaller than a comfortable crawl. But I made it through that one too. YAY!
Mt. Rocmore was our next challenge. Possibly because of the accomplishment of the tunnels, for a lot of the remainder of the race, I found myself purposely choosing the harder option, because then the feeling of success is so much greater. So when faced with a large dirt pile to climb, and the option to use a net or a rope to go up, I chose the rope, and I did it well! We had a water slide next (which despite my best efforts I only went halfway across), and then on the belly flop, I used it like a slide (not sure why, I still think I was successful at this one).
The next obstacle required you to cross a pool of water over barrels tied together. It didn't look like an easy feat, and I didn't see anyone succeed (though Blake saw one), and even Blake didn't quite make it (though he was REALLY close). I made it about halfway, but felt like I put good effort into it, so didn't mind my second fail too much.
The scariest obstacle for me was the beast. It required you to go up a ladder, across and then up another ladder, and then across and down a fireman's pole. Going up the ladders really made me aware of the height that I was at and the fact that I didn't have a net, or a harness or anything but me keeping me safe (and the fact that I signed my life away in the waiver before I started didn't help either). But at each ladder, there was an easy ladder or a hard ladder... and both times I chose the harder one, and lived to tell the tale! It was fun going down the fireman's slide too.
Next we had to cross a tight rope with just a single rope at about shoulder height for support. About halfway out, they started to shake the ropes... and I didn't let myself get knocked off, and I successfully made it across. After another running section (which is of course in between all these obstacles) we came to tire mile. For the first large portion of these tires I ran them as expected, and quickly, but the last 10 feet or so I got tired and just stepped carefully through the end. By this point, I was really tired, and having to be urged by Blake to run, not just walk toward the last two obstacles. We had the stairs up to the huge slide, and sliding down.
Our last obstacle was a Tarzan swing. I would give myself a 75-80% score on this one, where I didn't let go, and I made it across the water, but I didn't tuck in my legs enough, so they dragged through the water as I went. Blake's picture is blurry (my dad was taking these pictures, and he didn't know how to make the camera sports mode, and I didn't think to set it up for him before the race), but he didn't even touch the water.
A little more running and we made it to the finish line!
Though it wasn't the only reason we want to race again, it was really fun to see all of the crazy costumes that people came up with for the race. Next year, we plan on being brave, and getting more interesting ensembles. This year, we paid subtle tributes- me to a movie, and Blake to a video game. If you know what they are from, more power to you... but we purposely kept it somewhat obscure this year.
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