XMan Race Sherbrooke 2015

Fun fun fun fun fun fun fun times ahead!

After a week and something off the next goody in the calendar rolls around - XMan Race #2 of 3, this one being in Mont-Orford (about 90 minutes' drive from Montreal)

I do believe I've blogged about the Sherbrooke XMan Race before and will not go into too many details about the obstacles. However, the guys had been on site for a week and went totally bonkers - the course has 61 obstacles!

Saturday my friend and myself get assigned the Spydex obstacle - in previous editions it was a Tarzan-style swing on a rope into a cargo net, but it seemed the frame holding up the cargo net was something of a hazard, so it has been removed. Most of the day we spend coaching people at the obstacle and untangling the ropes. It is also positioned near the end of the race so we see a lot of tired looks and many a remark on failing grip strength.

Fellow Mudd Queen Karoline just coasting along

We hear over the radio news from the staff following the last runner, and eventually we spot a bunch of volunteers (we are easy to find with our bright green shirts this time around) and many core staff members, all chatting with the last guy, Martin, on course. Everyone is patiently coaching and helping him along and letting him sip his water (he'd cramped up at some point on the way) We can all deduce that he's very, very tired but would like to finish; the course closer has vowed to drag Martin across the finish line by his leg if need be.

Making sure Martin gets up the warped wall! (I am near the upper right-hand corner)

 

Once Martin is up and over the warped wall, we fan out across the finish line and applaud and cheer him on. What a beautiful moment! The last runner does deserve the same amount of noise as the first place finisher.

Also worth mentioning was the attention to detail for the volunteers - the section leaders would pass by at regular intervals asking how everything was and bringing us water throughout the day, plus our boxed lunches. At some point too many spectators were wandering on course, so after a radio call to section leader Seb, a couple of crew members show up with pickets and tape to mark the boundary. That's efficiency!

Next day I get to volunteer in the morning before I run. I also get to be an impromptu photographer for a couple of race buddies I spot on course - one being Sandy (hard to miss with pink hair) who trekked from New York state to run some Canadian OCR's this year.

Sandy mugging for the camera at L'ArchAnge

When it comes to my start, I make the mistake of taking a raspberry-flavoured gel and get nauseous for a minute. It's somehow making my stomach juices bubble with some gas, so as was the case with the Ottawa Beast, I am burping artificial-metallic raspberry. Yuck!

With 61 obstacles on course they come in bunches (log carry followed by monkey bars, incline walls followed by seesaws...) The guys were also tricky in combining the sandbag with O.U.T walls first, then the sandbag loop and the usual crawl (with sandbag, of course) under a fishing-type net. The bucket carry is found at the very top of the mountain; on the way down there is a small water crossing after a technical downhill.

The trails and climbs seem a bit harder this year, I think I am doing ok until I get to Koalex (XMan's version of the tyrolean traverse) and massively cramp a calf. At some point I thought about taking the other gel in my pocket but something in my system told me no way.

I'm a bit frustrated with myself this season for getting stuck at the Platinum Rig; when I think back I could maybe have gotten across, but sometimes when it's hanging bars that require going from one to the next I hesitate. That, and I have to work on swinging with my hips versus dead hanging.

Great weekend as usual, with never a dull moment at XMan race. The guys are always finding ways to challenge racers in different ways and some of the obstacles are becoming classics. This edition was remarkable with the volunteer experience at the end of the day on Saturday. Can't wait for the 3rd and final XMan in Lac-Beauport!

Trying to hide in the Platnium Rig with awesome section leader Seb

Spartan Beast Ottawa

After much delay (it's end of September as I am adding this), we shall resume events in the calendar..

It's here.

It's finally here...the Beast!

The Ottawa Beast is a bittersweet weekend - the longest Spartan distance in the eastern calendar, but it also marks the end of the Spartan season on this side of the country. New this year is the Ultra Beast, recall in a bout of temporary (lasting several months) insanity I signed up for it, but ultimately opted out. Maybe next year.

I've been feeling pretty physically burned since the end of July (BattleFrog Xtreme and a lap of Shale Hill will do wonders) so even if I wanted to train something I had no desire to do so, and settled for 5K runs almost every day of the week leading up to the Beast.

We are staying very close to the venue and we have a lovely view of the Gatineau river. But first, some last-minute switches on the contents of our hydration packs.

Show and tell between 3 of us: "Cherry Shot Bloks? Check."

Another roommate, Karine, has these little baggies that she's filling with electrolyte powder. I decide to try the same thing (with Skratch Labs' formula). Between the baggies of white stuff and salt pills, we look like we're street dealers...

It's electrolytes and salt tabs, I swear!

Morning of, we have breakfast and head out...and see complete chaos at registration. A long line of anxious-looking people snakes out of the lodge, and we see drop boxes on the ground. The Ultra Beast runners haven't been checked in yet due to an unforeseen error...yikes! This in turn delays everyone else running the first wave.

Quick bag drop and I run to the start line with Tracy; we're about 5 minutes after the official start of the 9am heat. The hill climb is to be expected, with a couple of obstacles to hop over on the way.

There are parts of the course I recognize from last year; the lovely mountain bike trails we'd descended previously have now been planned in the other direction, ie we slowly run our way up.

Needless to say I was not having as good of a race as I thought, wasn't feeling completely up to snuff. Sure, I avoided 30 burpees by completing a lane of the Platinum Rig, but at around 15km my on-and-off Achilles flared and hated me with every step. Ow. Ow. Ow.

Run through the pain, some say? Mind over matter? At some point, when it feels like someone's shoving a shard of glass in your heel with every step even during a slow trot, it becomes hard to ignore. That and your running pattern is about as graceful as a 3-legged chair.

Plus, it wasn't all about steep hill climbing, the trails were great and I would have enjoyed them ordinarily, but due to feeling "meh" and the foot, I am waiting for this ordeal to be over. I'm telling myself, "Nope...don't want to do this twice!" At other times, The Nights by Avicii is buzzing through my head:

He said one day, you'll leave this world behind
So live a life you will remember...

"I remember that $@#% course plotter nicknamed the Luzzinator and @#$%&& burpees" (not true, we love you Dan!)

I thought I could succeed at the slackline, but halfway through I over-balance and head over to the penalty area. The volunteer is going on non-stop about burpees being our friend and how we like them. She's driving everyone crazy! The guy next to me becomes my burpee buddy as we both try to keep count.

The infamous monkey bar & infinity bar combo looms as we exit the water crossing, and I stand on the hay bale and...fingertips brush air. 30 burpees, then the traverse wall I fall off of so another penalty. Then the creek crossing with water cold enough to numb your feet and just deep enough to hide the rocks that lurk beneath the surface.

Monkey bars appear and I get about 2/3 of the way across when my tired hands let go. The fandangled obstacle is longer than we've seen in past races. Well played, Spartan...

...and the spear throw is next! I miss and am fish flopping during my burpees. My quads are cramping up and screaming at me, guess that's what happens when you whiff 4 obstacles in a row.

Slip ramp and fire jump to the finish line, yay it's over! Collect 3rd pie piece for the trifecta!

I'm so tired!

The girls finish their race and I wait at the finish line to hand them their medals. There is nothing quite like the hugs at finish lines!

I would have loved to see a few people finish the Ultra Beast, but we didn't stick around too much - who knows if we would have fallen asleep standing up once the sun went down?

Despite the less than ideal race experience, it was a great end to the Eastern Canada season. Met so many people, laughed a lot, grumbled a bit and learned a thing or two (no more raspberry flavoured gels - I kept burping out artificial raspberry flavour, yuck!)

Fellow Mudd Queens Jen, Genevieve and Ruth all got their coveted glow in the dark UB medals! Wow!!!

Now for a week off before the next treat in the calendar - XMan Race Sherbrooke.

A new journey, a new family - GORUCK

Howdy!

As I'm typing this my post about the Ottawa Beast sits unfinished. It will be up soon along with perhaps a quick bit about XMan Race Sherbrooke. But while this is still fresh in my mind...

On my bucket list this year, that I can now cross off is having done a GORUCK. For those of you who haven't heard of this, it is an event that is based on Special Forces training, led by current or former leaders in the Forces. Besides carrying weight (usually in bricks) in a rucksack, there are also teambuilding exercises and a bunch of other physical tasks involved to push anyone out of their comfort zones. Sounds a bit like OCR's, doesn't it?

Our fellow Mudd Queen JoLo who's quite known in the Canadian GORUCK scene has been encouraging us to try one and had a lot of good things to say about her past experiences. When I got to catch up with her a bit at the Ottawa Super, she gives me a mini tutorial about fireman's carries, and what not to pack. Good to know..

Originally the location on Saturday was in the Old Port, but due to traffic, parking and the weekend food fest the start was somewhere on Mont-Royal. Uh-oh. 

We've learned there are 5 attempting the HCL (GORUCK's 3 main events: Heavy, Challenge, Light) so a couple of them are trying to recharge their batteries under the shade of a tree. They've been at it since Thursday!

Looking around, everyone (including people who are newbies like us) all have GORUCK GR1 rucksacks. Gee, feeling left out here with this enormous-looking rucksack (compared to the sleek GR1's). 

We meet the two cadres who will lead us during the event. I'm sure they can be very scary individuals when they are in their zones. It isn't long before the welcome party - Cadre JC asks for us to put all our food in a pile, which he then confiscates. Then we dump out the contents of our rucksacks...and get surprised when asked to pack everything back in 30 seconds. This is where I realize I had too many little packets (oh why did I leave that dry bag at home?) A hangnail on a finger is getting worse every time I stick my hand in a compartment. Ugh.

More welcome party madness and eventually I end up with a heavy rucksack (which doesn't exactly smell like roses, but its owner is on his way to an HCL, so all is forgiven). Another GORUCK surprise.

I'm not going to reveal everything as it would spoil the GORUCK experience (yes it's an experience, not just an event). I also find out that I'm bad at dragging heavy objects.

The other leader, Cadre J-Train, talks a bit about patrolling & attention to details, and walking quietly. As we all try it out, he zips ahead of us, taking a few photos along the way. That man MAKES NO NOISE when he walks. 

We draw many a curious stare, some applause and a few random comments ("Those people are training for the 3rd World War..."). 

I guess someone found out one of the cadres liked Gummi Bears, because many packages are pulled out of the food bag when we catch a breather. We eagerly gobble them down since we've been pretty much sipping water at this point. Surprisingly, I'm not that hungry or low on sugar (then again maybe I like chomping on one too many Honey Stingers)

Once we're ready to go, we head in a direction I'm all too familiar with...

...towards the stairs.

For those who have run on Mont-Royal, you know this is shaping up to be no good.

For those who have not yet run on Mont-Royal, you have to try the stairs at least once.

For those who do not plan on running on Mont-Royal, at least try walking these stairs.

Of course, being a military-themed event we are not empty-handed, so there's some extra bulk getting lugged up and down. Cadre JC has called this part 'Gluteus Maximus'. 

This part also has us really pulling together as a team, as one of the HCL's rallies us to do the last down-up of the stairs at a certain pace to avoid other sets getting added on. As our screaming legs plod ever upward, the girl in front of me (it's her first GORUCK and had been told that she couldn't do one) is struggling and muttering, "I can't..." I end up talking to her and gently pushing her up the stairs. She's not the only one getting a little help from the team, as everyone's pretty much gone silent.

The shadows - people who are following the event and taking photos - are whispering words of encouragement each time we make it to a landing.

More team-building as we are heading to the start point, "chasing the sun" as Cadre J-Train put it. Along the way are more buddy carries, and I choose to lug a jerry can most of the way in hopes of getting the extra practice for Killington.

The event winds to a close (not without a few finishing touches - burpees - of course), and us newbies get our very first GORUCK patches! 

Caroline & myself with our new patches...only the first one

But the real props go out to the 5 who stuck it out through the whole ordeal. How they're managing to stay upright and be coherent is beyond me. 

We pile into a sports bar downtown in our post-GORUCK glory (as one of the Shale Hill racers once said, "I am odiferous") and enjoy some grub, beer and chat with our cadres and fellow team members.

Looking back from this Saturday - and it's been 24 hours since the event ended - it was an experience that I didn't think could be so awesome. I can see why it's called a GORUCK community, as everyone is very supportive. 

The cadres have suggested we try another Light before moving onto the Challenge - something to look forward to achieving in 2016!