Prison Break Montreal - many firsts

Contrary to what some may think, no I haven't had a chance to run all of the local races yet. There's always a first time for everything.

I learn from one of my aunts that my cousin, Genie, had signed up for an OCR in August but she couldn't tell me which one. Once I found out it was Prison Break I jumped on board. (Bit of backstory here: when the Spartan Race used to be in Mont-Tremblant, on my way back home I'd stop by and visit my cousin - partly to have one of the wonderful cookies she bakes and serves - and she'd usually see me with fresh scratches and bruises)

En route I spot big signs indicating where to go for the race site (something glaringly missing at Spartan Race at Owl's Head) and find out parking is $5 (it still exists for this price?!?) Big plus for parking: huge grassy field. There is a bit of a walk to get on-site, but since it's a narrow-ish road it's probably to prevent participants from becoming hood ornaments. The site is also a bison farm so of course, on the way in, a small herd of bison are spotted grazing.

Across the road, we see the volunteers dressed as prison guards all hanging out at the hay rolls. I can count at least 10. Last time a bunch of disguised volunteers tried to snatch flags off of my belt, it was at The Zombie Run two years ago.

One of the Mudd Queens, Anne-Marie, has her tent and medal racks on display and she's wheeling and dealing. Glad to see things are working out (http://1000podiums.com/shop/)

Registration is easy to get through and look, a good ol' bib with safety pins to affix to myself. Soon enough, I find my cousin with her hubby and two of their co-workers. I can tell she's excited and a bit nervous at the same time, but who isn't at their first OCR? I still feel the same.

Good to go!

The emcee gathers us before a makeshift prison and proceeds to get everyone pumped up and informed about the race. I've heard many an inspirational, motivating, be-true-to-yourself speech (looking at you, Coach Pain) to "have fun and kick ass" ones, but this is the first time the emcee is making everyone laugh. He singles out my cousin's hubby (a tall French guy) for not cheering enthusiastically enough; emphasizes that the volunteer prison guards are not real policemen and we should not be pulling MMA or WWE moves on them, or if we see blue flags we are cheaters on the kids' course.

Off we go, and once we scramble over the pyramids of hay bales, we turn around a bend and encounter our first batch of prison guards. Much like when we were in elementary school and playing tag, there is a lot of zigzag running, squealing and laughter as we try to escape their attempts at snatching our flags.

A few cars to jump on and over (the last one being a BMW), then we head out to some little trails in the woods. I miss running on that type of terrain.

I'm not going to go into too many details on the obstacles, there are standard ones like barbed wire crawl, bucket carry (the ground being completely destroyed so we were slopping through shoe-sucking mud), monkey bars, under-over walls..One neat obstacle was using a sledgehammer to smack a small tractor tire along a path.

A series of obstacles involves a slam ball (25# for ladies, 50# for the gents), and the last part has us rolling the ball down a short slip ramp, followed by us sliding down. It's pretty fast and I try to land on my feet, but my forward momentum has me threatening to faceplant. I do the first thing that comes to mind: tuck and roll. It works! The volunteer has probably just spotted me tumbling and rolling and asks if I'm ok. First time I channel some inner action hero, haha.

We continue on, high-fiving and cheering people that we pass on course, and I realize that I'm having a blast. Our mood is light (aided by some good-natured ribbing of my cousin's husband), and we hoot and cheer at the water dunk obstacles. Note to self: holding hands while sliding down makes me veer sideways.

Who smiles at barbed wire crawls?! Apparently, I do

We get to the mud trenches that are a bit slick to climb out of, as the mud pile has nothing really to grab onto. One of the girls, Émilie, notices two small frogs swimming in the trench water. Another first.

The slip ramp is a tricky one - near the top I don't remember exactly I did, except for quickly hooking a leg at the top to get up. We end up helping people over because it is caked in mud and everyone is wet from the trenches. My cousin stubbornly tries several times to get up, but since she's wearing old running shoes she doesn't have any traction. Her hubby climbs down to help her up, and we are on our way.

One last dodge past the guards and we still have flags meaning we've escaped successfully!

At the rinse station, Arbonne reps have shower gels and shampoo for racers to sample. I'd always wondered why there isn't some body wash or detergent promotion at these events (Lever 2000 - for all your 2000 muddy body parts! Or a whole new meaning to Sunlight's "Go ahead, get dirty")

Looking back at today, I can't believe how much fun we all had, it should borderline have been illegal. Prison Break had lots of obstacles, nice trails to run, and was the right amount of difficulty for newcomers and experienced racers. Perhaps next year I'll get to sink my teeth in one of those bison burgers.