I drove to Philly on Saturday afternoon to pick up my race packet and hang out in the hotel room while I watched lectures for class. I wouldn't have stayed the night if not for the fact that the race started at 7am. The other races, I've been able to pick waves around 10am.
Anyway, packet pickup was uneventful except it was a hot crowded mess and I kept wondering how the hell most of the people I saw picking up packets were in shape enough to do a regular 5 or 10k, let alone one with obstacles. I guess that's the problem with them; they've become so mainstream now that everyone just signs up to do them whether they can or not. I said the same thing about the Warrior Dash.
Anyway, I had a Philly cheesesteak for dinner and worked on my lectures, going to sleep at 10pm. Well.....trying to. I don't normally go to bed before 11, so this was quite a feat for me to attempt. I was up at 5am, dressed within a few minutes, and I had....a pop tart for breakfast. I thought about having my protein shake, but I didn't have a fridge in my room for my coconut milk and it was too close to race time for me to have something so heavy with protein. I knew it would result in me throwing up. So I went with the quick energy.
It was crowded, but the parking situation wasn't nearly as bad as the Warrior Dash. I managed to park on site and walked over to check in my bag. Here is another contrast with the warrior dash: they had a costume contest before the race and there were only about 10 people in costumes. Very odd. It was a more "serious" crowd than the Warrior Dash.
There was also only one wave for the 10k, whereas at the Tough Mudder and Warrior Dash, waves went off every 20 minutes all day. In this case, everyone lined up at once, and we were set off every 2 minutes in groups of our expected minute per mile time. Naturally, I was in the back. There was a chick crying next to me. She was so nervous! She said that everything scares her: dragonflies (which were flying around), grass, the woods, driving, etc. I had to wonder what she was doing here, but hey, if you have major social phobias like this chick seemed to have, this must have been a huge accomplishment for her. She was a reasonably good runner and had a faster pace then me. She stuck with me for a couple of obstacles and I told her to go on, not let me slow her down since she was doing so well and seemed to be over her nerves. I saw her again as she passed me in an out and back loop and she had a glorious smile on her face. That must have been very theraputic.
Well the race was a mix of road, gravel, packed dirt, mud, and sand. Yeah, it was every terrain possible it seemed. The woods parts were very challenging, but not as rocky and dangerous as the Warrior Dash or Tough Mudder. They were, however, more uphill (well maybe not like the TM). I'd have to say that it was closer to the TM in difficulty of terrain than the WD. As for the obstacles, I actually think this was easier than the Warrior Dash. We had some tubes to go through, but they weren't the corrugated plastic ones like at the WD and TM. They were almost....fabric-like so they were easier on my knees. The walls were really easy. Heck, one of the 12' walls had those little rock climbing handles on it, as compared to the TM that had....nothing on it and you had to hope someone would hoist you. There were army privates manning every obstacle and in the woods. When I came upon the wall, I had one private behind me and one over me to help me over. I didn't need their help! I was over that wall like a ninja, pausing at the top with one leg under me and the other straight out to my side like I was batman about to leap off a building. The private at the time said, "look at this chick! she's got bare feet (my shoes are considered bare feet shoes) and she's not letting the bees bother her!"
There was a cargo net, tubes, two mud pits, a cargo net you had to crawl under, a bunch of walls you had to leap over, some pyramid you had to climb, and plenty of challenging hills.
The problems:
1) It was hotter than hell. We were assembled at 6:30 and I was already sweating due to the humidity. I drank 2 cups of water at every station.
2) something went wrong with my shoes and the gravel got in to my shoes. I actually have a blister on a callus.
3) I think there needed to be more obstacles that were creative.
Other than that, I think I prefer Merrell over WD (not over TM). They handled parking better. The swag bag had a technical t-shirt (it's a sweat wicking performance shirt). The swag bag also had this thing that can be used as a sweatband, which I needed. They also served food, unlike WD (TM's motto is that you're essentially on your own). Alas, though, my stomach couldn't handle the heaviness of a burger after such a workout, but I enjoyed the sprite and chips. I also liked how they handled the "showers" with a bunch of hoses rather than being pelted with a firehose (WD).
I was faster than I expected, and I'm happy with that. But I really need to up my endurance, mileage, and hill work. I can do better. Overall, though, I liked it!
Post race, post hose-shower.
Pro Picture 1
Pro Picture 2
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