24 Hours of Shale Hell pit crew

The action is nonstop - not long after BattleFrog is 24 Hours of Shale Hell!

I felt some kind of peace of mind once I switched to the Beast. I can stop fretting about certain things now! 

I've heard that Shale Hill is an OCR destination in Benson, Vermont, with some crazy hard obstacles that'll make most other obstacles pale in comparison. I saw a bit of the madness while volunteering at the 8 hour Polar Bear Challenge back in February. The penalties were formidable, to say the least.

New this year is the 4 person relay team, so initially I was going to pit crew one runner (Jen) but since she joined a team I guess they inherit me as well. 

As I usually do when traveling through Vermont, I suss out a craft brewery en route so this time I do some sampling at Otter Creek Brewing (Middlebury, VT). The bites I've ordered on the side blew my mind - brie with strawberry habanero jam on crostini! Whaaat!!

I arrive on site and the owner and creator of the Shale Hill madness, Rob Butler, gives me a warm welcome. Whoever's arrived has started to set up camp; I meet Paul Jones, one of the main players of the New England Spahtens, and he's already chilling with a drink. The space eventually starts to fill up with tents (from 2-person ones, to a 1970s behemoth we dub 'The Green Monster', and a couple of 10 x 10 EZ-Up tents overhead), as well as camping gear, coolers, water jugs galore and enough food to last for days.

The guys' tent with a little accessory

The evening starts off with a meal at the restaurant (The Wheel Inn) in the village, and we end up meeting a number of New England Spahtens. One of them, Sandy, had completed a 30-day stint at Shale Hill so I immediately ask if I could accompany her on a lap the next day, since she'll be full of tips and info. 

There's also a blue moon in the sky - now I wonder if there's something rare and unexpected that will happen (maybe we'll spot a unicorn! Or the Trix Rabbit!)

I haven't been camping much, but I absolutely love waking up when the sun comes out. The camp comes alive and amongst the camping stoves here and there, only 1 kettle can be found. Hm, will have to be strategic with my timing when I brew the coffee. 

The team is awake; Alex cannot be missed as he is in his trademark Pac-Man pj bottoms, though I'm told he's in the zone when he's wearing them. 

At the morning brief Rob explains how the event is going to go and how the penalty (30 spider-man pushups) for elites will be counted as the rounds go on (by the 5th round, failed obstacles means zero penalties) His zigzag wall has more than 1 section and the penalty will be multiplied by the number of failed sections. Yikes! 

The racers take off at 9am and the sun is already hot and blazing overhead. I hope it won't affect too many people.

After less than two hours the first runner, Evan, comes in (he'll eventually win the event with 10 laps completed, and he never really stopped for the whole 24 hours!); after 3 hours or so quite a few have finished their first lap and many have started cooking their 2nd breakfast - the aroma of bacon is everywhere. 

An amazing pit crew, Bill

We figure out how to fire up the older-model Coleman stove that was sent along with the team, and Alex cooks himself up some bacon and eggs and takes off on a lap after eating. He ends up running a penalty-free lap and has earned the title "The Canadian Ninja" from fellow racers! 

It isn't long before I get ready to go out on a lap with Sandy and 4 other NE Spahtens. I've pretty much brought a full set of gear to do a run, all I'm missing is my hydration pack (hey, I wasn't really expecting to be sweating up a bunch). I really don't know what to expect; up until then; I had never been on the Shale Hill loop (about 10km with 51 obstacles). I'm feeling some slight trepidation - will it be hard obstacles that I'll have a lot of difficulty doing?

Not long into the loop we see Rob's edition of teeter totters - the 2nd one is longer than most, so it takes a bit of shuffling towards the middle before the end drops down to the ground. 

I'm not going to reveal much on the Shale Hill course (come and try it for yourself!), but one of the obstacles I really liked was the Lincoln Log. It reminded me of the tree climb (with the rock climbing grips) at the 2013 Montreal Super Spartan. On another climbing obstacle (Abacus) I whack my shin on the descent, and it stings. 

Up I go on the rope ladder

There are a lot of obstacles that are grip heavy (hello, hoists!) and some involve a bit of tricky climbing against gravity. There's also an inordinate number of hay bales to jump over. Several obstacles I chose not to attempt (the tyrolean traverse, for one) since I was pit crew and I had to be coherent and functional (ie no blistered hands) just in case. 

We make a small detour to a taco stand that has homemade frozen fruit pops - mostly frozen crushed fruit, some have a bit of cream mixed in there - that are almost as long as a giant Mr. Freeze (but 3 times wider). It was totally worth it! 

4 hours later (we walked, after all), my new racing buddies and myself finished our lap and rang the bell at the start/finish zone. I am POOPED. The evening goes on and I'm trying to stay awake in case if my teammates need me to run with them (safety reasons - it's an extra headlamp) while they go out on a night loop.

9:45pm feeding and I STILL fell asleep despite the coffee!

(The take-out spaghetti tastes fantastic and curiously enough, the noodles don't seem to be traditional egg noodles. I can see myself tucking in a large bowl of these swimming in chicken broth on a winter's day.)

I tell the guys I'm going for a power nap, and expect to be woken up later on. 

&&& I wake up 5 hours later. Must have been exhausted (and probably overtrained, at this point) after that lap.

It's about 3am and some runners are still trickling in and out. Turns out Alex is on course, and teammate Andrey looks like a ball in a sleeping bag in the tent.

The sun comes up just before 6am and I make my way back out. The fire that has been going pretty much all night is shrinking, and Rob has been hanging out with other racers around the fire. We spot a figure in bright green running the last section (Anaconda) and we guess it's Andrey.

Heeeere's Andrey! Ringing the bell for the team's 8th lap

After making sure Andrey won't fall asleep standing up by having him drink a complimentary chocolate milk (a bonus for Shale Hill racers - the chocolate milk is AMAZING!), the morning winds away and the event's 9am finish approaches. There are pops of champagne corks here and there in the camp; people are eating their breakfast and simultaneously sipping away at the bubbly. My kind of event!

Another Spahten, Hannah, has a table of plenty which includes a large bottle of bourbon whiskey. Ok, where do I sign up for the next race?

Not long after the event officially ends, Rob proceeds with the awards ceremony.

The Canadian contingent wins 1st place with 8 laps completed! 

Writing's on the wall...now who named them the Ottawa Titans? Awesome

What a great weekend, met lots of cool fellow OCR runners (aka New England Spahtens - thank you Sandy, Steve, Tora and Sue for letting me tag along on a lap) and I will definitely be back at Shale Hill for at least training weekend and a few events. Another frozen fruit pop won't hurt, either!

What a team! Photo courtesy of Jen Milligan 

For a racer's perspective of this edition of 24 Hours of Shale Hell, check out Jen Milligan's post

BattleFrog Xtreme New England and a big reality check

Time flies now, doesn't it?

While the weather outside is still indicating that summer isn't completely here yet, I've blinked and it's already the end of July.

...it means BattleFrog is finally here!

I'd been hearing a lot of things about this event and those of us registered are chomping at the bit. I've decided to try the Xtreme - originally the 15k course followed by up to 3 laps of the 5k course - but the format changed and now it's multiple laps of the 8k course, with racers not allowed to start another loop after 3pm.

Obstacle order was changed that day..

We're a bit skittish about how we get there (parking then shuttle to the venue) but it's a very short distance (less than 5 minutes) so we start to settle in. There is a tent for the Xtreme participants, but what has me a bit hesitant is, it's just a tent with a couple of tables, chairs and giant trash cans (also bananas and water). There doesn't appear to be any personnel guarding the tent or having it racer-access only.

Pre-race chaos in the BFX tent

Half an hour before the BFX wave starts, there is a short briefing on how the event is going to go, with instructions on where to run in order to start another lap and not accidentally cross the finish. Simple enough, right? We are also told it's the biggest BFX wave to date. Big emphasis on not doing burpees at BattleFrogs, but 8-count bodybuilders (basically a glorified push-up)

A helpful race packet

The elite men take off, and the elite women are all lined up with Coach Pain giving his usual motivational pre-race speech - he is very, very good at delivery. As he's talking to the ladies, a figure appears over the 7 foot wall to climb (before the start) and tries to inconspicuously weave his way through to start the course. It's PlatinumRig Dom, but with his bald pate, lumberjack beard and orange Platinum Rig shirt he can't hide from anyone!

The BFX wave starts and there is a general idea to take the first lap easy and gradually ease into the rhythm. Me, the turtle crawling in peanut butter, at some point I'm trailing the group but that usually happens. Call me a creature of habit, but I also hadn't had a single drop of coffee prior. Not far into the course, someone calls my name, and it's Sara catching up after a slight delay at the start. Yay, a race buddy! I hope I don't slow us down too much..I end up chasing after her for most of the race, which is good training for me. I'm a little faster than I give myself credit for.

One of the first obstacles is a rope climb - gee, this will be fun as the day goes on with more mud caking the ropes and the grip failing. It's a bit shaky as the ropes are strung up in the trees, and I may regret not having worn longer socks as the rope chafes my shin on the way down.

We run some neat trails in and out of the woods, find an 8 foot wall and an obstacle I haven't seen before - 60 Degrees. Picture an incline wall, but 5 metal bars to climb over instead of wall. The turnaround at the top is a little tricky but quite doable. Sara is in love with this obstacle.

The trails lead to piles of rocks that Sara gracefully skips across and I pretty much plod through - note to self, work on stride so I don't keep crash-landing on my feet with every step.

Jerry can carry - ladies get 1, men get a larger one, and compared to the Ottawa Sprint, this one is much lighter. The loop is maybe 600m and goes up a small hill, with a photographer at the top, clicking away. He'll be seeing a lot of us as the day goes on. We dodge cow-pies along the way (hey, it's a farm after all)

On our 3rd lap

More trails, more rocks to skip over, and then we turn the corner and find something...fragrant? Mounds of Grounds is next and at first glance appears to be some mud hills and trenches, but it's giant piles of ground coffee. It's still slippery when we try and climb up, and the water is not as shallow as it appears in some spots. The mess the wet grounds leave on socks is incredible.

Footsteps are heard behind us and not long after a blur with red hair streaks past us - Allison Tai! She's flying on the course, but turns around long enough to say hi, then zooms off.

Trail leads to some waist-deep puddle crossing, then the obstacle I've been dreading since I signed up: The Dirty Name, aka Gut Buster, aka Sternum Checker. It's terrifying! I don't quite make it over, and hence begin my 8-count bodybuilders.

On my second lap, I figure if I jump a little farther and a little higher, I'll make it over, right? I throw caution to the winds, and leap..

...whoosh!

SLAM! Land on my back, on the ground.

It happened so fast I didn't have time to brace myself. The guy who jumped after me also slid off the same way (we basically clotheslined ourselves) and it didn't help there was a girl who was getting carted off. Only later on did the organizers put hay at the bottom to cushion falls. Dangerous much?!

I get up and figure I'm ok (maybe it does pay to be an athletic therapist as I run through a quick checklist in my head) and I can tell I'm going to be bruised on my back end. I hope I didn't scare Sara too much. I'm fairly certain there's a package or two of squashed Shot Blocks that (slightly) cushioned my fall.

Ryan and Corinna debunk the Dirty Name (video courtesy of BattleFrog)

Onto Normandy Jacks - the 'jack' part looks like wooden jacks and there's wire strung between them. But it isn't barbed wire and is done in such a way where racers still have to duck low to get under but don't have to worry about snagging hair, clothing or hydration packs. I get to keep my shorts for another week!

12 foot rope walls are next - picture Spartan's slip ramp except it's a straight up wall (with a few beams acting as footholds). This should be interesting once the grip is failing as it's a lot more upper-body reliant.

Wreck Bag carry - 50 pounds of Wreck Bag, 600m loop, 4 foot wall as part of the loop. On the first lap I toss the bag over the wall before jumping over, but like most everyone later on we perch the bag on the wall and hop over it so we don't have to burn energy picking it up again. I'm glad I got a practice round with mine, figuring out how to set it on my shoulders. At the 3rd lap the volunteer asks us to drop the Wreck Bags in a giant bin which is taller than either of us! I also am not sure how my legs would handle a 4th loop of this carry.

Slant wall to jump over after some trails, I think I'm getting the hang of this one. And then it's a big, bad, long Platinum Rig traverse (that even Dom gets stuck on! Hahaha). I make it maybe 1/3 of the way the first time around. Sara flies through the obstacle and everyone around me has become an admirer. I did say she was the climbing expert!

Unfortunately a number of us were given the wrong directions from a volunteer and were steered to the BFX tent after the Platinum Rig and back to the start line, even though there was still about a mile to run with 5 obstacles mixed in. As of the 2nd lap we were directed to a tire flip obstacle.

What we wound up missing for two rounds was the 12 foot delta ladder (picture huge wooden A-frame to climb over), OUT walls, a revamped Tsunami (not the original slip ramp run, but it has now become a giant slide), a 6 foot wall, an incline wall to run up (I get a bit discouraged after 3-4 tries but maybe I shouldn't have stopped), two 12 foot ladder walls to climb. Lots of climbing and jumping, and as we ran the last section we were wondering why we weren't seeing the finish line.

Tip of the spear - just when the grip is pretty shot, it's some incline walls with ropes, finger grip holds and more ropes to shimmy across. My hands are pretty toast and I find it hard to get across the first part of the wall. More 8-counts.

We mug for the photographer as we cross the finish line, and the volunteers have armfuls of different medals for the racers. "8k or 16k?" one of them asks. We answer with "Xtreme", and out of another bin she unfurls the lanyards to reveal the hugest medal I've earned to date. We also go to get our 3 stars, even though we feel it's an incomplete merit.

Ok, I put the stars on the wrong side initially!

Morgan McKay ends up being the female BFX winner, so awesome! After the race we end up exchanging notes on pre-race coffees. Turns out she was late for the BFX pre-race brief because she was at Dunkin' Donuts getting a cuppa joe, and we're giggling nonstop at this.

Our race mates Jen and Alex have gotten in 5 laps (5th star awarded is a silver one), maybe next year I'll get in 5.

BattleFrog Xtreme was a good challenge and fun at the same time, but some of the obstacles we were looking forward to were not on this course. I hope that situation gets rectified and we get a crack at the original Tsunami. It is also a good test for the upper-body strength needed for obstacles involving grip. The format (minimum 3 laps to earn that gigantic medal) is also a pretty good indication about training for a Beast.

Can I get a 'HOOYAH!!"

During the weekend I got to talk to Jen and Sara about their Ultra Beast experiences and I'm grateful they were very honest and straightforward with the facts, including me being told at some point that my current pace likely wasn't fast enough to make time cutoffs. Had I gotten in 4 laps of BFX I would have figured I'd had something of a chance at the Ultra Beast, but after 3 I realized I am just not ready this year to take on such a huge event.

I've still got a long way to go, and I wonder if I'll ever get there.

Check out Allison Tai's blog at http://yomamasofit.com/ and see what it's like to be a mom and an OCR runner

Spartan Sprint Ottawa Weekend July 4-5

Hello again, Ottawa area races.

Ever since I've become a Mudd Queen, in 2015 alone I've driven west on the 417 more times than I have in my entire life up until last year! 

Perth Kilt Run was a charming, lovely event (bonus - the kilt!) that I may consider next year. The Warrior Division sounds rather enticing. Now who would kindly show me how to properly hammer throw and caber toss without causing bodily harm to myself, or the volunteers?

Most people who ask me about my event calendar know that of all the Spartan Sprints, Ottawa has been my favorite, still is. I wasn't really planning on running both days, but with a season pass and most of the girls running both days or some only on Sunday, why not? It's a good test (of what, I'm not sure...my insanity?)

Friday had some of the Ottawa Senators' prospects run the race as part of a relay with open participants. Not going to lie, I felt a surge of pride as the Mudd Queens swept the podium on the womens' side. Unfortunately, Jen's relay partner injured his ankle on course and DNF'd. The other funny tidbit the girls told me was the Sens players limping to the podium. Guess it's not every day they get to run an obstacle course race!

1) Sara 2) Crystal 3) Patrice Way to go, ladies!

I heard the race was a bit shorter than the other Sprints so far (since when is 8+ km considered a Sprint?? Only here haha) so this could be a bit more enjoyable. 

Saturday morning starts off cool but once the sun is out it's great. Finally get to pick up my season pass chip and bag drop bag. Another familiar sight is the emcee - tall guy wearing full Spartan costume (I heard he's a runner), been seeing him at Spartan Races since 2012. 

Wall jump to start line, then soon enough off we go, and the familiar hill climb to kick off any Spartan Race. It isn't long before we get to some hay bales and a large log (that could pass for a balance beam) to jump over, and some OUT walls.

Soon the monkey bars appear and there's already a lineup. I haven't had a big problem in monkey bar crossings this season, but somehow, using the swing approach, I feel myself stop and don't get far at all. After 30 burpees I look at the set up and they appear to be angled slightly...uphill?

Some nice trails and not long after the spear throw comes up. I'd been practicing my release (it's hard to throw that in a straight line!) and I somehow end up sticking the spear partially standing up  with the point in the bale. Hey it counts, right?

Other fun oldies but goodies included Atlas carry, parallel bar traverse (right after a muddy crawl!), incline wall (again, hands full of mud), tire flip - I think I picked one on the men's side but it was fun to flip nonetheless. The pancake carry went through some awesome trails that I'd love to run all day. The slackline has become my new nemesis, barely took 4 steps and had to step off (didn't help they were set up on a downhill!) Linda has completed the traverse, but the bell is strung so high she can't reach it!

Downhill towards the rope climb followed by the Platinum Rig (ooo! Sneaky!), I almost make it through but do not have enough momentum to reach one of the rings that are higher up. There is also a volunteer who is doubling as burpee police - going up to every racer and asking, "Where you at?" <answer a number between 1-30> "Keep going!" Tough love, held everyone accountable, no malicious intent. Hey, can we clone this guy and put him at all the obstacles that have high burpee yields?

No I'm not cheating, my left hand was stopping me from initially bashing into the beam

I almost fell off the zigzag wall but held on and massively cramped my left calf, enough to have me running funny on the last section towards the jerry can carry (also suspect lack of adequate hydration). Genevieve and Andrea are finishing up; Gen has a few words of advice: "Take your time. It's at least 50 pounds..." Oh, lordy. Shades of Killington Beast difficulty with this carry, as the loop seems to go on forever.

The only thing that I missed on this course was the spraying of the mist (aka snow making) which would have been refreshing, but that's a small detail. We'll see if tomorrow I'll succeed where I'd failed.

Sunday Sprint

Seize the day!...just let me have some coffee first.

I'm not really sure if today I'll run for fun, or try to beat my time versus yesterday. Thinking about yesterday's cramping episode, I chomp 2 eLoad eDISCS before the start. I get maybe 3/4 of the way across the monkey bars but fall off again. I whiff my spear throw as well, it went straight (at least) but shot through the bottom of the supporting frame.

On the downhill towards the finish, we notice the slacklines have been removed. I later found out there were too many ankle injuries at that obstacle..I somehow find myself counting how many pulls it takes me to climb the rope (7) thanks to a little chat with Sara, our climbing expert. The Platinum Rig has been changed and I lose momentum and have to burpee out. (I'd been told by an observer that I dead hang too much and don't swing enough.)

Zigzag wall - fell off at the same spot that made me cramp, ugh. The jerry can carry has been shortened by perhaps half the distance, but that thing is still bleeping heavy.

Barbed wire fun

Cool item added this year in the festival area - Protinis snacks! Good way to try these much ballyhooed chicken snacks that feature Hayley Wickenheiser on the TV commercials. They're tasty!

I also pick up a Wreck Bag, but the one I'd paid for is on the Platinum Rig truck which is nowhere to be found on Sunday. Claude Godbout helps out and eventually I get one from the display pile (with one corner of the box mysteriously covered in what appears to be blueberry yogurt). Oh right, I have to get this back to my car...!

As I'm weaving my way out of the site with the box perched on my shoulder I realize I'm carrying the cardboard, rectangular equivalent of a BATTERING RAM. The box measures about 3 1/2 feet long and feels awkwardly heavy as I trod on. Claude had asked if I was ok carrying it, but now I'm wondering if everyone around me will be fine as I try not to kamikaze them with my new toy.

Reflecting on this race weekend, I realize that there are still some things I need to work on and master in order to improve my times. I won't chalk up any excuses on my obstacle failures, as each one was doable. That, and I probably could have run a bit faster on some stretches.

Next up BattleFrog Extreme New England!

Down and Dirty Obstacle Race - Hartford, CT

Anyone been to Hartford, Connecticut?

Not me. I asked around and no one's been. Hmm, it's a city that used to have an NHL team, so how come no one's visited?

Subaru Down and Dirty Obstacle Race (formerly Merrell Down and Dirty Obstacle Race) has been on my radar for a couple of years. This season I finally get to cross it off my race bucket list.

There are two distances, 3 and 6 miles, and the extra challenge called the Brick Division - participants bring an empty backpack, the bricks are provided, and the choice to complete either the 3 or 6 miles with those bricks.

Of course I wanted to try 6 miles with bricks, hey it's perfect prep for GoRuck, right?

Hartford is about a 5 1/2 hour drive, but I get to drive through Vermont! Funny side note - telling the border guard exactly the nature of my visit gets him all curious. When I get to the part about the bricks, he's clearly amused. "Niiiiiice!" he answers.

Once I'm on site to pick up my race packet, I try not to look at the obstacles set up but invariably the camera comes out. It's also super humid (about 30C with humidity) so tomorrow should be a hot one.

Race packet includes a Brick Division finisher shirt (orange! yay), bib and small goody bag - Subaru buff, snack-size Larabar, two sample size Paul Mitchell leave-in hair treatment (whoa).

Pre-race fueling habits of a couple of my teammates are rubbing off on me, & thanks to Chowhound I find a cool burger place to check out - Plan B Burger (several locations in Connecticut), plus a decent beer menu.

Undecided about which burger to choose - 3 slider option!

Shout out to Mr. Lew and his burger quest, I think he may approve of their classic burger offering - freshly ground hormone and antibiotic-free beef, topped with lettuce, tomato, onion & their house special sauce. Simplicity rules!

Next day is race day, and interestingly enough the 6 mile heats are all before 8am. The venue is Riverside Park, a large and beautiful park that's pretty flat terrain-wise. I also check out a few of the activities happening before I load the pack.

A carnival game!

Anyone participating automatically gets a Subaru paracord bracelet (with another bracelet going to a member of the armed forces) As I'm mentioning to the volunteer that I can't sign in with a Canadian address, a guy nearby who overhears this mentions he's originally from Laval. Small world!

More freebies found in the Subaru VIP tent: lip balm, sunscreen, eye black stickers, Subaru lanyards..The bonus here for Subaru drivers is a parking lot just for owners (even a Subaru owner yes/no on the registration form!) The Subaru VIP's also got some snacks, coffee, and a Subaru-branded towel. (Wow, I just said 'Subaru' multiple times in the same paragraph! My English prof would have had my head for repetition)

The Larabar tent has 2 different flavours to choose from in bite-size format, as well as stickers!

As the start time comes closer, I finally head to the brick pile:

Men get 5, women carry 3; they weigh 5 pounds each. Participants were also advised to bring duct tape and packing material. Bricks get taped together, and like my rucking training - wrap them in towels (not the best move, as I'll find out later) to secure them and soften the edges.

There aren't many runners in the Brick Division, and since I haven't done an obstacle course with a weighted backpack yet I'm hoping I don't look like the rhino from Jumanji.

Brick Division participants get a head start before the open 6 mile runners, so it starts off with a short, grassy hill climb, then quickly back down to the first obstacle, the Mud Pit (first of two). Anyone with a backpack has to take it off and push it in front of them as they crawl under the banners.

The terrain is mostly flat, wide (enough to allow 2 runners to run side-by-side) and quite agreeable, so I manage a slow trot. Open participants start to pass and I wistfully think for a second, "If I wasn't carrying this rucksack with bricks..." then I'm forcefully reminded to run my own damn race (thanks, Solo. Now how do I get your voice out of my head? Hee hee)

Along the way, I get shout outs and encouragement from the runners, some think I'm crazy for wanting to run with 15 pounds strapped on me. When Brick Division participants pass and cheer on one another, there's a small bonding moment, as we call each other "brick." "Good job, brick!"

Behold the course map!

From an obstacle standpoint, none are very complicated or extremely difficult, and several involve variations of a cargo net climb.

- Low Crawl: crawling in a pool of water under a net. Again, the rucksack comes off, and it is dripping with water once I'm out. Uh-oh, the towels have soaked up the water, adding weight to my load. Suddenly the towel idea isn't looking bright in the least.

- Give me 20: just like in the army, drop and do 20 push-ups. Did them all on my toes, with the bricks :)

- Plank It: set of parallel bars that participants had to cross while in a push-up position (me on XMan's version) This was probably one of the harder ones simply because of the bricks. The girl next to me is grunting and groaning with effort.

- Marine Hurdles: like wall climbs, but looks like we're jumping over balance beams.

- Balance Beams: it's hard trying to stand up on it with a shifting weight on the back. Thanks to some kind and attentive volunteers, I get across.

- Cargo Climb: Classic cargo net climb.

- Monkey Cross: quite the original obstacle https://flic.kr/p/jnxRmC
(Pulling on the rope overhead means whoever's on the far side has less rope to work with)

- Tires: tire crossing but some are random stacks of two to prevent racers from running across. A neat twist

- Jim's Jungle Gym: variation of cargo net climb https://flic.kr/p/ngru3C
The footholds have enough real estate to plant and push with a leg to get up

- Ladder Wall: climb up one side, climb down the other. Located after a small, small hill climb.

- Military Walls: not quite a five foot wall, and as a little bonus we grab a slam ball (different weights for men & women)  to toss over the wall before we hop over. I try the usual of planting hands and jumping to get myself over - nope, not when I'm about 20 pounds heavier. Note to self: practice getting over smaller walls with rucksack.

- Tunnels & Original Hurdles: the "tunnel" looks like a fabric tube found in an indoor playground. Cannot fit self on all fours with rucksack in opening, so off it comes. Original hurdles = not quite five foot walls to jump over, and again need a boost for these.

- Sand Bag Haul: different weights again but not super heavy, short loop to carry

- Heavy Hoist: like Spartan's Hercules Hoist but with sandbags

- Chill Out: also found a few ice chunks floating near the surface

- Rock Wall: rock climbing handholds on wall. Pretty cool, however I'm getting fed up with the bricks and opt out of the highest wall

- Slippery Mountain: at first I thought, "Why is this so small?" when I saw it the day before.

Turns out it's covered in soap and we have to pull ourselves up while on our bellies. Nice!

The second mud pit is next and the water is GROSS. Light brown in colour, it leaves us stained that same colour, and I almost tip over backwards when I put my soaking rucksack back on. The second water crawl doesn't help much with rinsing off.

Finally, we get to the last obstacle, the Monster Climb: same thing on the way up & down

Finisher medal looks like a large, painted dog tag.

There's body wash provided at the rinsing stations. Yay! Smells like coconuts.

Finally get rid of the bricks, and two guys who are also emptying their rucks congratulate me on finishing. I mention I'm practicing for GoRuck but not sure how the actual event will turn out; one guy answers while grinning, "If you're crazy enough to do this with bricks, you'll be fine!" 

I figured I'd swing through downtown Hartford to grab a coffee (not Dunkin' Donuts) for the road, and find that everything's closed. It's close to 11am and no signs of life anywhere. The small town of Brattleboro, Vermont has more charm and character! (Except for the microbrewery not yet open when I arrive...)

Final thoughts on Down and Dirty Obstacle Race: glaring absence of photographers on course. Racers were invited to share their photos on the Facebook page, but not even one camera at the finish line? Minus 1.

I'd qualify this one as an entry level, and the 6 mile option is for someone who wants to test the waters of a slightly longer run with obstacles. I can already think of many fellow racers who would hit the ground running at full speed and never look back, since the only slowdown at some of the obstacles was the wait. Add the challenge by choosing the Brick Division, so at least there's some effort involved.

Would I do this again? Maybe, maybe not, but I realize the next day that my rucksack is beyond filthy even after a quick rinse after the race. It takes me almost half an hour to clean every single corner, seam, and compartment (many of which I discover while hosing the whole thing down multiple times) So I'd hesitate knowing the cleanup that follows...even as I'm posting this, I'm still finding hidden dirty spots.

Results are posted the next day, and I find there were 18 female Brick Division participants. Did I end up like the Jumanji rhinoceros? Well, close enough, as I'm second to last. Some people just took off at the start despite the weight, so that's something I'm going to have to practice. 

Crossed this item off the race bucket list, now next is another item - Perth Kilt Run. Will there be a Guinness record set that day?

Mud Hero Ottawa - the epic birthday shenanigans

Good Sunday morning, everyone.

I take a look at my legs and spot a few more bruises and scabs that I didn't see yesterday. Oh well, at least today we're in it for fun.

Up until now I've never run Mud Hero, and I've only heard good things about it from people of all fitness levels. That, and everyone is always sporting huge grins in the finisher photos and they are extremely muddy. 

I also get my first dose of Bridgehead coffee, hmm this may be my Ottawa go-to to fuel my caffeine habit.

We all gather and await the birthday girl and her entourage - we know something huge is coming up, we won't expect anything less. Plus, they've been very secretive. At some point we spot sombreros...

...they have dressed up as the 3 Amigos! I'd almost walked by them until I spotted someone wearing a team shirt (thanks, Justin)

We mug for photos along with mustaches before heading out to the start line. Already people are noticing the detailed costumes.

One of the plans is to push Tanya the birthday girl in the mud while she's not paying attention. Or perhaps engage her in a mud fight.

Since the race is being held at a paintball site, there's plenty of background decor for shenanigans. But first, some small incline walls to jump over, then some mud and water crossings. Someone gets the idea to ambush Tanya as she emerges out of a wooded area by throwing mud at her. Surprisingly, it holds its shape, almost like a squishy snowball! 

The volunteers are great - full of energy, always encouraging, and of course (un)willing recipients for muddy hugs and high-fives. 

Gotta love paintball terrain settings

Standard obstacles like cargo net climb, Kong (part ladder, part cargo net) climb, seesaw run, Car Park - the one I've been looking forward to, which is jumping across parked cars. And then with about 2km to go, behold the mud crossings.

I've done quite a few of these obstacle course runs where getting muddy is guaranteed, or advertised as "muddiest (insert distance in KM)", but this stretch was maybe amongst the longest mud crawls I've ever encountered. It was either squishy mud that sucked your shoes off, or swampy crossings (where some of us ended up armpit-deep)  

The birthday girl realizing she may be in too deep

I was actually reminded of my first-ever Spartan Race (Tremblant 2011) where the mud crossings were something like what we saw. It's laborious, we hear sucking sounds everywhere, people fall in including Tanya, who somehow blames me because I'm the closest!

The mud doesn't stop and then we get to the huge waterslide. So much fun, enough of a drop to gather speed before we hit a giant pool of water. (Somehow, someone's sombrero stayed on)

Keep your hands inside the ride at all times

Once we think we're de-gunked, then there's a huge mud pit crawl (under some wooden beams) to the finish. Combined with yesterday's event, I don't think I'll be properly clean for a week.

SO. MUDDY. There's even mud bulging in my side pocket!

A cool bonus is swapping the timing chip for a beer - Beau's Lug Tread! Yeah! Another cool bonus - at least 15 of us from the same team signed up so free Team Mud Hero buffs! Yeah yeah!

One of the best weekends so far in my race calendar - I do believe this edition of a birthday run may be something of a benchmark in terms of shenanigans. As for the rest:

- This song, and this song from the Rock Band party (now which one got stuck in your head?)

- en route to Ottawa, Jen remarks, "I think our stuff's beginning to smell now", but we also happened to be passing cows grazing

XMan Race Sutton part 2 - not having lunch = ?

Uh-oh.

As I said before, due to timing of changing of the volunteer guard, I didn't have a chance to eat lunch since I wanted to get in the next available afternoon wave. I don't think I'll bonk, but I also hadn't had a chance to fully hydrate. It's the cramps I'm worried about.

While waiting in the start line area, the 2nd to last obstacle (the warped wall - Dark Angel) isn't far away and the emcee is commenting on a participant's Speedo as he climbs over. It's Sexxy Eddy! I give him a shout out.

Off I go at 2pm and once again the course plotters have laid out some great trails. Some rolling climbs on grass, in and out of the trees...oh and obstacles, of course. 4 foot walls, log carry, a new one called Xosquelette (Exoskeleton):

There's lots of mud; unfortunately it's grey in colour, is rather pungent in odor and full of little rocks, some of which end up in my shoes. This will test the properties of my new socks by MudGear (review to come soon).

Barbed wire crawls (2 of 3), a tunnel crawl (Labyrinthe) get us all covered with mud for a stretch. Getting to the rope climb at that time of the day - the ropes are completely caked and I can't even get a proper J-hook and slide off, so I have to settle for the knotted rope.

When the angled walls appear, I help people get over, then I get a small boost. At the next wall, I'm all alone, so I throw caution to the winds and get myself over without looking too clumsy, or losing any teeth.

Top Gun (the paintball gun obstacle) comes up soon enough so I take a couple of extra seconds to guess where the barrel is pointing...and I hit the target with my first shot. Yay!

Making great use of the terrain and trees, we get to CZJ (Catherine Zeta-Jones), with crisscrossing strings to duck and weave around; Koalex - like Spartan's Tyrolean Traverse, without the water, plus it's angled downward. Thanks to CMQ spring training camp crash course, it's much easier to navigate (thanks Sara!!)

Still covered in mud, we slide under a fence and the 8 foot wall looms. I try to get over unassisted, but it's become a roadblock in my mind. Ugh. With a little help, I get over.

The monkey bars haven't changed, but once again I freeze and it's another roadblock. That, and maybe since I spent part of the morning pulling people over the SuperXman wall (or wasn't letting go of someone's hand...or maybe NOT HAVING HAD LUNCH), once I lift my arms to reach the first bar, they feel heavy. Arrrgghhhhh! I cooperate with someone and we help each other across. This is not how I wanted things to turn out.

Finally, a water obstacle, although at this point the mud is drying and looking like scales on my skin. It's like Tough Mudder's Cage Crawl, so once we are out we run down a slope towards none other than SuperXman. It takes me 2 trampoline bounces to get over that bad boy, so anyone who said they were too short for it...

Back in the woods we find another unique XMan creation, Le Funambule ("Tightrope Walker") - there are small knotted cords hanging at regular intervals, so particpants grab one and shimmy along to the next one to continue. The photographer captures participants in moments of extreme concentration:

"I have short arms...how will I grab this?"

Hell's Path, which is like Quintuple Steps, has been re-tweaked, I heard (steeper angles, wider apart). Both tries I fail so I run the penalty loop and move on.

More obstacles - a tire flip followed by a playground fence climb led to the most technical section of the race, which included 2 creek crossings. A pattern I'm starting to see with both XMan and XTrail at this venue is coming out of a large drainage pipe into a creek. Instead of jumping in (and risk busting an ankle) I sit at the edge of the pipe and snag my shorts on something. Oops.

The water is pretty chilly so at some point I lose feeling in my feet. We go in and out of the water, up some rocks almost Gollum-style, and back down across another creek. This goes on for a bit until lo and behold we reach possibly my favorite obstacle - Indiana Jones! Again, zip line into the water, hollering the whole way down.

The technical sections continue until music and the emcee is heard in the distance. The goofy, Wipeout-inspired inflatable obstacle is next. I crawl across, then I choose to opt out of the Platinum Rig (seriously...I need to conquer that at one of the XMan races this season!) Finish the last obstacles and...done!

Cleaning up reveals the more-than-usual scratches and bruises on the knees and elbows, which is what I've come to expect from XMan, plus there were quite a few crawling obstacles on mud-covered rocks, or in PVC pipes (Les Égouts)

Mud's supposed to be good for the skin, right? On the drive to Ottawa our skin feels all stiff, crackly and dry. It doesn't really matter, because at our destination (Kelly's house) cupcakes await! Those, plus Rock Band with the girls tops off a great day.

Next up is Mud Hero Ottawa which includes a birthday run - shenanigans guaranteed!

XMan Race Sutton part 1 - introducing SuperXman!

Behold, a back-to-back event weekend: first up, XMan Race, followed by Mud Hero.

Typically I don't like to look at what obstacles I could potentially encounter on course since I like to be surprised. I'd been told that there were some insane creations for this year's XMan Race series so I had to bottle my excitement. What else can the crew have in store to make it better? Already there's a lot of good things being said by elites and open participants alike about the whole experience.

A few Ottawa Mudd Queens, Jen and Darcy, will get their first taste of XMan and see what it's all about! I hope I haven't hyped it up too much..

This weekend I am pretty much the designated driver for Jen, and Friday night kicks off with sushi and goodies. Saturday we get there bright and early; it's sunny with a bit of a cool breeze but once everyone gets running it should be alright. Volunteers are arriving in bunches as well.

Race packets are ready to go - racers get a finisher shirt, a headband, a bracelet, an XMan sticker and a beer ticket, plus a finisher medal at the end. I find out I'm assigned to a new obstacle (SuperXman) that has been revealed in a teaser video. Also, since it's more than halfway through the race, I get to test it out before everyone arrives to figure out how it works in order to help the racers (and myself!) conquer it. And who doesn't want to bounce on a giant trampoline?

The calm before the storm (photo credit Nikky Brenic)

Once again the giant Alpha Obstacle Training flag is spotted with Jesse in tow.

The elites go off and we make our way to our posts. Turns out next to the SuperXman is Spydex - a fun obstacle involving a rope swing into an angled cargo net.

It isn't long before the first elite is spotted - Marco Bédard - and he practically clears the platform right off the trampoline. He's pretty much done Spydex when Jesse comes barreling down the hill, grinning and waving at the photographer before getting some good airtime. Not too long after, the elite females appear, no surprise Claude is in front. I'd also had a funny Facebook chat with Judith Marcoux on how she'll find me on course since she won't be wearing her glasses. She's wearing an Elmo tank top (props to her for not taking things too seriously!) and is easily found as she approaches.

The elites put on a great aerial show (perhaps they've seen the video), easily flying through the air onto the platform. As the open wave participants start to come in, some take a couple of bounces before getting over, and some just slide on the trampoline surface straight towards the obstacle. I've noticed they're shining with dirty water, which accumulates on the mats on the platform, making them slick.

Jen makes her way over and the first thing she tells me is how much fun she's having. XMan is almost like a playground for obstacle course runners! Good twin Darcy shows up a little later on and she tells me the same thing.

I eventually climb up on the platform after seeing participants struggle to get over. This also puts me in a precarious position of not being able to leave a water bottle or snacks next to me. It isn't long before I'm covered in dirty water helping participants climb up, and trying to coach others to get over the platform. Some listen; some don't and painfully struggle, others miss and knees painfully bang into the platform. There is a lot of swearing going on.

It's not THAT high...if I can make it, you can!

At some point the blue padding on the edges of the trampoline keep coming undone, so I radio the section head and explain what's going on. Not even 15 minutes later he's there, temporarily securing the pads with zip-ties. I tell you, the XMan crew really care about everything.

I blink and Mudd Queen Brandy is on one of the trampolines, she succeeds in making her way over. I'm just bummed out that in the whole kerfuffle of the obstacle, I don't have my phone on me for a selfie.

I am relieved of my duty but since I'd like to run and finish earlier so we can head out to Ottawa, I wanted to get in the next available wave...which meant foregoing lunch. I'm frantically eating some snacks to have some sort of energy reserve (a protein bar and the ever-handy Fruit3 bar) Now I'm seriously worried at how slow I'll really go since I haven't had much to eat since half a buttered bagel at 8:30. I'd sort of planned to do a bit more pedal to the metal for this race, but..

To be continued..