Where to begin?

Pre-race, Andy and I agreed that I wasn't going to place, so I should probably just have fun and run slower so I could run the race with him. He said if I slowed down he would meet me halfway and we would shoot for 8:20ish miles. It was definitely a big switch in roles as he used to destroy me at races, but with him having 2 kids under 2 he has stopped training.

The race start was awesome. The guy on the megaphone did a good job pumping up the crowd, and they had flames shooting out the top of the starting line. I should also mention it stormed the night before so everything was muddy, which added to it. I loved the wave start because each wave was off the course for the most part before the next wave started, and the first mile was pretty clear of obstacles so the people in your wave were spread out enough so there were no bottlenecks at the obstacles.

Once we started I knew I wasn't going to be going very fast because Andy was having a hard time. I didn't want to leave him so I took the long way around turns, waited at the top of hills etc. Once we hit the obstacles though it was clear that he wasn't going to be able to maintain a pace that would be fun for me so I took off.

I can't remember the order of the obstacles very well but here's the list:

1.)Junkyard Jam - rows of beat up cars you had to jump over. It was a blast jumping on the hoods of cars. I wanted to try a Dukes of Hazzard Slide, but I thought that might be asking for trouble.

2.)Tunnel crawl - The trick on these things is to keep your knees off the ground. Stay on your feet and hands and power through.

3.)Satan's Slopes - a steep muddy downhill that led to the

4.)Balance Beam - very slippery and looked like it would hurt like hell if you fell.

5.)The Swamp - A pretty big mud pit. I lost my right shoe in there and ran the rest of the race (~1 1/2 miles) with only my left shoe. This really sucked during the gravel portion of the race. On the plus side I had fun asking all the spectators if they had a size 11 shoe I could borrow.

6.)Warrior Wall - A set of walls about 4 feet high. I killed these. Hands on top of the way, jump with both feet. Easy.

7.)Wooden Spools - Easy to jump over

8.)Hay Bale Climb - No problems running up this bad boy

9.)Cargo Net - When I got to the top, I paused to look over the course for Andy. Didn't see him. Not a good sign. So I got down and chatted with a volunteer about whether I should wait for him or finish. He suggested I just wait at the end before the mud pit. I thought that was a good idea. He didn't give me his shoe though :(

10.)Hell's Hills - Man made mounds about 7 feet high. Maybe 12 or so. One had two trees covered in poison ivy on top. Not cool!

11.)Wall of flames - Higher than I thought they would be. And TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME to jump over. I'm not kidding. This was the coolest thing I've ever done in a race. It felt awesome

After that I got to the mud pit and chilled for about 5 minutes waiting for my buddy. He looked rough. I grabbed him and threw his ass in the mud pit and we scrambled across. We hit the finish line together!

So ... not worried about race times/age group placement since I waited for my friend. I'm glad I did. It's hard for me to do that since I'm competitive, but I'm glad I did.

Well, if I had known 8:20's weren't going to be an option I probably would have taken off from the beginning, but heck it was cool to spend time with my best friend and finish the race with him. I don't get to see him much since he lives in Louisville and I'm in Dayton, we're both married now, he's got two kids yadda yadda

I waited for Andy to stop hyperventilating and then we picked up the backpack, gave away our free beer tickets, and headed to the showers. I rocked out to Miley Cyrus along the way. I offered to give a clean volunteer a hug and she was frozen in fear. I was covered in mud from head to toe.

The shower set up was awesome. They had a water truck and a guy with a hose. So friggin cold! But it took the mud right off! I put on my finisher medal and warrior hat and we headed back to the car.


Andy. Sorry bud!


This was the best organized race I have ever seen. For having 17,000 people registered they did an AMAZING job. No lines at the port-a-johns. Barely a line at gear check or registration. Tons of shuttles. Tons of water and food afterward. Incredible volunteers doing all sorts of things (putting fresh straw down at the mud pit exit, hosing us down, etc. etc.). Best fun race I've ever done.