I liked this one a bit. It had the whole running through a forest, jumping over logs and stumps thing going for it. It gave it a real outdoorsy feel to it. It might also have something to do with the fact that I like to imagine myself sometimes being chased or chasing someone in the movies through the woods, you know? "Ahh, look at how that guy is moving and jumping slowly over these logs. I could do it way better no problem!" It's definitely a weird sensation hopping over these downed logs. It's just not something you're accustomed to, especially for people who don't live anywhere near a wooded area. What could have made this way better would have been not having to go at a slugs pace due to all the other people in front and around me. There were so many people you really were only given one path to go over the logs (unless you just got in people's way), and after you got back on the path you couldn't really go at a faster pace than the person in front of you without jumping off course into the bushes.
Alright, THIS was the goddamn devil. Easily the worst obstacle of the course and it wasn't because of any difficulty factory (it was just get dunked in water and come out the other side). The reason this one sucked was because it was the first time you had to get submerged in water, assuming you didn't fall in previous ones, and the fact that this was arctic ice cold water. The absolute coldest water I've ever been in. It was the shock and realization of the temperature once you dived in that got to people, and then the fact it was actually pretty hard to climb out of on the other side due to lack of any foot stool. When we came up on the other side of the wooden board we had to duck under we were just submerged in what seemed like pure ice/slush almost. Words can't really describe this one, which is also why it sucked. The description of the obstacle mentions ice but almost as a passing thought, whereas everybody was thinking about the meanings of the "chemicals", the dyes, and the use of the word "Chernobyl". It would have been less of a hated thing if it had been called "Hell's Ice Bath" instead.
Notice the amount of ice that greets you on the other side of the wooden board.
And the general reaction everyone had to realizing what they had just done.
Yes, this just absolutely was the worst obstacle and we would continue talking about it the entire day. It couldn't be helped because the effects of the cold ice water lingered with us for the entire day. Now out clothes were all cold and wet, there's no real way to dry off, the temperature has risen above mid-50s, and our shoes/socks are soaked. Have you ever gotten tennis wet before, as in you went walking-in-a-lake-with-them wet? Unlike a shirt they don't get dry just by themselves. And they never got dry. My shoes were soaking wet the entire adventure and even in the plastic bag I put them in that evening. They're sitting on my porch outside right now and are probably still wet. Cold wet shoes and socks are the worst thing to have. So yeah, after that obstacle we were not only starting to get tired from all the jogging, hills, and obstacles but we were also cold and wet. Oh, and around that time we also passed the Mile 2 marker. Only roughly 4/5 of the whole event to go.
And the fun continues! Once again we had to fully submerge ourselves in water and duck our heads under rows of these tubes. Keep in mind, throughout this whole trek we can't really see the next obstacle, nor did any of us memorize what was supposed to be next. All we know is that after that horrible ice bath we went marching and then came upon another water station. Not the funnest thing to see. We had just started to slightly dry off, too, and then more water. It's very detrimental to our goal of getting warm, but no matter, we went forward like troops! This wasn't really that bad or hard, it was just the whole getting wet again so soon that got to us. Thankfully this was NOT ice water, just regular cold water. Got out of there as soon as we could and moved on to the next place.
This bastard of an obstacle had mixed reviews by everybody. In theory, it looks like a big slip-n-slide down a hill and into a mini pool of water. One of the problems we had with this thing was that it wasn't very slippery at all in some places and you had to force yourself to slide. When I went down I actually just stopped at one place and had to stand up and maneuver myself and 're-slide'. It's ironic because if it wasn't slippery enough other found it too slippery and were losing control, crashing into others. Last thing about this was that it seemed to be just a plastic tarp thrown over a hill. When we were going down we could clearly feel patches of rocks here and there as we slid. One of my teammates got really hurt on her back because of this and that just ruins the fun. When parts of the obstacle just flat out hurt you as opposed to you getting hurt because of something you did it makes you question why you signed up for the event. So yes, wasn't that great of an obstacle at all and definitely in the top 3 worst ones there just because of the feeling of rocks scrapping your sides as you slide. Oh, yeah, we also got wet again at the bottom of the slide to add insult to injury. Moving on.
Another wet course. I can't tell you how tired we were of getting wet at this point so we just flew through this one. Crawl through the tube, tube is partially submerged in muddy water. No real problems here other than for me, due to my size, my back and shoulders were constantly pressed up against the sides of the tube. This made my crawling a bit more difficult (damnable long legs!) so I had to lurch forward a bit more at a weird angle in order to continue through. The tube also started to go uphill and I had to change positions again (a more lay on my side position) because I couldn't get a good enough grip on the ground/sides in my current angle to also move upward. It was a little weird but I managed.
Personal bane for me, and it was more how the wall was presented. This was another obstacle that caused traffic so we were waiting in line to complete it. Once it was our turn we basically just walk straight up to the wall, jump up and grab the top and have to pull ourselves up. Not happening for me. I just don't have the upper body strength to pull my entire self up. My arms are far to long and lanky to do it from an idle position. I was really not thinking about the obstacle before because I had assumed I'd have gotten a running start/jump and then use momentum to carry me over, but that wasn't happening with all the people. Thankfully, those who could manage the wall would climb up and wait at the top and then basically pull others up who couldn't. For me it wasn't a reaching the top issue, just a getting my body over it. Others just couldn't reach the top. I swear, without the help of the other Mudders and my teammates this is one obstacle I would have NOT been able to do on my own. So thank you all for pulling my orangutang like body up and over.
Still more to come!
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