Adventure Race

My first Race!!!
Dear hubby and I entered our very first race. It was the Jailbreak (www.runthejailbreak.com), run for a charity called Sower of Seeds. SOS drills clean water wells in India.

The trail was 3.8 miles chock full of crazy fun obstacles. Dear Hubby (DH) and I arrived early. We parked at the Texas Motor Speedway and took the "prison bus" (aka Northwest ISD school bus on loan) to the Jailbreak course at Adventure Park DFW.

We were sporting our very cool bright prison orange t-shirts that we got in our race packets. That was very cool, the picking up of the race packets the night before the race. Packet distribtion occurred at a very fancy Marriot hotel. This being our first adventure of this magnitude, we were scoping out the competition as it were. We realized that we were not going to be the fattest or slowest runners in the race and felt a little better about ourselves. Our self-confidence rising, we waited our turn in line. As we approached the table to pick up our packets, the elderly lady behind the counter looked us up and down, raised her eyebrows and asked dubiously, "Are you here to pick up a race packet?" Our rising self-esteem started to ebb quickly. We assured her that we were here for the race, and tried to act as if we knew what we were doing.

We picked up our race numbers and t-shirts and headed off. Our anticipation was growing again. We had race numbers! We were running in a race.

The bus dropped us off and we explored the public area of the race. The stage was ready for a band, Monster representatives were handing out free samples, which we passed on. The bbq stand was smoking...

The starting area was fenced off and the runners were sent off through a large gateway covered in lights. The runners were sent off in waves every 30 minutes after a quick warm-up.

We scoped out the finish line and wandered around for about an hour before our wave. I looked around and saw that most people were wearing shorts. We were decked out in our BDU pants. I kept asking DH if we looked out of place. He didn't seem to care about that. I think he was worried about the snakes and various other Texas swamp critters we were bound to encounter in the wilderness. (I have to interrupt this story to give my readers some background on DH. He was born and raised in the CITY. I think the most exposure he had to any type of nature was limited to the various city parks he frequented as a child/juvenile delinquent. The first time he visited our farm after we started dating, we took a walk in the woods and he walked through the grass with his hands held over his head, keeping his fingers safe from harm. And when we moved to Texas, the entire drive down here he envisioned the ground writhing with snakes.) That being said, I was pretty impressed that he only required that we wear the BDU's, and not chain mail, bear bells and snake repellent. I was also impressed that he seemed so calm and together.

We clumped up with the other racers as our wave approached. We certainly didn't want to be first out the gate and run the risk of being trampled by the competitive people. We were also feeling brave and confident again and wanted to break away from our natural state of non-joiners, so we clumped ourselves right in the middle of the group. Those of you who know us well are probably shaking your heads thinking, "YEah right, here comes the fiction." No we really didn't go last.

Our wave didn't get the traditional warm-up. The race director stood on the trialer that doubled as a stage for the warm-up boot camp people and quieted us. He told us that they had their first serious injury of the weekend and that it happened on the water slide. When we got to the water slide, we were to lay flat, feet up and be sure not to try to slow down or stop ourselves. Then "ready, set go" or was it "1, 2, 3, Go?"

Either way, we were off and the off-duty sheriff's deputy started blaring his siren as we herded off to our "jailbreak." DH and I took off through the gate and immediatley down a very steep hill, surprised that we didn't tumble down like Jack and Jill. Avoiding breaking our crowns was high on our list of race priorities. Up and hill and over some jumps and junk and stuff. Then through the first watery muddy obstacle. I immediately slipped and tumbled face first into the mud. Laughing and sprawling around, I managed to get up and run, thick mud drying on my hands. 

We ran and ran and ran through some tunnels, more mud and a some railraod cars with some crazy man shooting paintballs at us. We came upon our first major water obstacle. We had to ford a dirty lake. Ewwwww. In we charged, grinning from ear to ear. DH had his hands above his head, but this was to protect his cell phone, which he had along in a plastic baggie.

After each of the water obstacles, there was a long stretch of very slippery mud. This slowed us down a great deal. We tried quick stepping and slow stepping and even mud skating, but it didn't matter, it was slow going.

We forded another big swampy area, and ran, according to my calculations about 100 miles, through the woods. We had to run through another paintball shooting obstacle with some girl dressed in a creepy outfit making strange sounds (not sure how that fit into the whole jailbreak theme, but whatever) and some guy yelling, "Get back into your cells." That was fun. We finally came upon our first water station and the volunteer shouted, "Great job guys, 1 mile down."

After running a lot more (realizing after the first water station, that my calculations were a bit off, I just tried not to think about how far we were running at that point) we finally came upon the water slide. I had been thinking about it for awhile. I was trying to act cool and we chatted with some fellow racers in the line leading to the water slide. Meanwhile in the back of my mind, I was recalling all of the clumsiest moments of my life, worrying about the serious injuries that awaited me on the dreaded slide. I kept telling myself, "Just relax, don't try to stop yourself. It can't be that dangerous. It's already Sunday and probably 10,000 people have run so far and only one person has been injured." Just as I was starting to feel confident again, someone came rushing up from behind pushing us out of the way shouting, "Move aside, EMS." I looked at the bottom of the slide and some girl was holding her arm crying.

Oh boy. I was about to shove DH out in front of me to test the slide, when a girl behind me handed me her camera and asked if I would take her picture when she was going down the slide. Since I am very uncoordinated, I decided to go in front of DH so while he was sliding down, I could try to stand up and get my balance so I could take the girl's picture.

I stood at the top of the slide waiting my turn. The slide was made of plastic garbage bags lined up down a pretty steep hill. It kind of looked like something my brother and I would have rigged up for fun as kids. I sat down and pushed myself off, hoping now that I wouldn't get stuck in the middle like fat people tend to do on water rides. Whoosh. Just like that I flopped down the hill and managed to keep my feet in the air and plopped in the water unharmed and smiling like a goon. I snapped the picture, handed off the camera and we were off traipsing down the river about 100 yards.

Well, what goes down the steep embankment must go up again. At least that's how it goes in crazy adventure races. We had to climb the same embankment we just water slided down again. This time the embankment was covered with tires tied together like they had in the parks we frequented as children. That was fun. I climbed up grinning the whole time. (that is a animation of me climbing the tires!)



Off we were running again. Lots of running. My shoes were full of mud and bits of rock and I was hoping not leeches. DH climbed some hay bales, and I walked around them, drank some very watered down Gatorade and ran some more. Our last water obstacle was a real live Texas swamp with marshy areas and all. Even I realized that this was a snake priority area. I calmed myslef by thinking that since we were probably the 10,000th people to run through here, the snakes and alligators probably all got the memo and moved to safer quieter areas.

We sloshed through the swamp, falling in giant holes, getting stuck in sucking mud/quick sand and swalling mouthfulls of nasty muddy swamp water. It was so much fun.

Finally, I could hear the live band playing music. The end was near. We ran some more. I am pretty sure that the total mileage was more like 101.4 miles, not 3.8. The band got louder as we ran some more. Before the finish line, there was a huge mud hole and one of those low crawl obstacles, just like in the army movies. The camoflauge netting and all. I was going to walk around, but there were about 50 strangers cheering us on and I couldn't let them down, so I hit my knees and medium low crawled through the mud. We turned the corner and DH hubby grabbed my hand and we ran through the finish line together.

After we downed two bottles of water and got hosed off by a fireman, we ate our bbq sandwiches and reveled in our accomplishment. This was the most athletic thing I have ever done in my life. I was very proud of our effort. I wiped the mud off my watch and realized that we ran 3.8 miles (aka 101.4 miles) in just over an hour. Not great, but we weren't last. All in all it was a good day. We claimed our bags, gave away our free beer tickets to some guy who was very happy with us, boarded the bus, dripping and soggy and headed home.

We are going to do it again and we are already scouring the web looking for our next race.

Remembering 9/11

Today I had a class to go to for work. I left the house early and is typical the Saturday morning roads were mostly empty. I drove by a car dealership with those huge American flags blowing in the wind at half mast.

Nine years ago at about the same time I was drivng by those flags, our lives were forever changed. I will never forget where I was when I first heard the news. I was teaching a class of 4th graders. One of my students came in from speech class and shouted out something about towers and planes. Apparently they were watching it in class. I walked to the office and saw it for the first time- smoke pouring out of those two towers. As I was returning to my classroom, fighter jets that had been scrambled at a nearby base rushed by close overhead.

I called my husband and told him to turn on the TV. That was the beginning of a long few months of constant news coverage and depressing reports and heartbreaking stories. I think most Americans shed more than a few tears over the next few months.

At the time I was a volunteer first responder EMT in our rural county. My husband was a police officer and we have many friends and family in emergency services. Those were dark days for all of us. It was hard to continue on without being depressed or obsessed.

Eventually, the pain subsided and eventually we all went on with our normal lives. Now, nine years later, I wonder how to best honor that day and those heroes who gave all so that others could live. Not only that day, but the many days and many years since. We are still dealing with the after effects of that tragedy. Americans are still out there fending off forces that fight against us. How would they want to be remembered? What is the most respectful way to honor their lives and sacrifice?

I thought about it for awhile and this is how I choose to honor those days and those people:

I will remember. I will fly a flag. I will pause in reflection. I will bless their lives. I will live my life. I will laugh with my children. I will tell those that I teach who are too young to remember how it felt that day when we were under attack. I will hold them while they cry as they experience that defining day in their lives. I will stand up for what is right. I will appreciate every day and every breath. I will live to honor those whose died to protect my life.

Rehab setbacks

Ugh...did I tell you that injuries suck? I guess I have. Well, a massage, three trips to the chiropractor and several acupuncture visits have not made a huge impact on my situation. I started to make some really good progress, then I woke up one morning back at square one.

My first adventure race is in two weeks and I am terrified. I am pretty sure I will attempt it no matter my condition and that is what is really frightening.

A friend of mine wants me to do an extreme adventure race next month. I told her "We will see." I think I am a lunatic. I can barely get out of bed, can't bend over to pick anything off the ground, have to lower myself into a sitting position using upper arm strength, and then do strange contortions to get back up again trying to find the least painful movement.

Ugh.

Recovering from Injuries

I really am opposed to whining. But every now and then we must all indulge from time to time. I hurt my back a couple of weeks ago and it has been driving me crazy. I can't bend over and sitting down to pee is an act of torture. If I was a captured spy and the evil minions made me pee in this condition, I would have talked.

I had been pushing myself really hard lately and driving forward on the fitness thing like a maniac. I was tired, my body was tired and then it happened. The first workout went something like this: CrossFit Hero Workout "Adam Brown" 2 rounds for time (for those of you who don't CrossFit and have not been following my blog of very informative content- for time means "do it as fast as you can").
115# deadlift x24 reps
box jump x 24 reps
wall ball 20# x 24 reps (10 feet high)
70 # bench press x 24 reps
box jumps again x 24 reps
wall ball again 20# x 24 reps
70# clean x 24 reps
(yes, then you do it again and look at your watch to see how amazing or un-amazing you are)
I did all of this in 41:33 minutes. I am not that amazing...yet

Well, then the next workout the next day consisted of 3 rounds for time:
70# ground to overhead x 10
200 m shuffle sprint (50m down and back x 2)

I don't know how long all of this took, since I didn't write it down. I think I was in too much pain to remember what was going on. It probably took me a very long time. I remember thinking, "Wow my back is really hurting...I should probably stop now." And then I didn't stop. I am somehow obsessed with finishing the job.

So then I went to bed and woke up the next morning with so much pain, that I cried when I sat down to pee, wishing I didn't have to sit down and pee. And I remember I think I had penis envy for the first time in my life.

Rehabbing has been excrutiatingly slow. It seemed for awhile that my back would never heal. However, I have learned some things in all this pain and agony.
1) I should probably be much softer with myself and rest more frequently.
2) I didn't gain any weight while on a 2-3 week break. In fact I lost a few pounds while I ate poorly. I guess my metablism is getting better.
3) My legs and thighs and hips are so tight and inflexible. I need to really focus on the basics before I go on to adding so much weight again. So now I torture myself each night rolling my IT bands on a hard foam roller on the ground while the dogs lick my face and roll around on the floor believing with all of their hearts that I am on the floor with every intention of playing with them.

So I am back to square one. Goal number 1: Do a proper squat....hmmmm more on that later.

I finally decided to go see my chiropractor about the back injury. Well, he listened to what has been going on in my life lately (AKA lots and lots of stress) and laughed. I asked why he was laughing and he asked me if I really thought this was structural or stress induced....

So he did something called NET (neuro emotional technique) and we cleared up some strong emotional issues related to stress in my life. He adjusted my femur with his little thumper thingy and sent me on the way. My healing started to progress rapidly and now I am almost back to where I started. Ah, you thought I was going to say I was almost back to normal. Well, no. I would never claim to be normal...