Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Palmetto State O-Run Team Challenge Recap

This past Saturday, March 3, I participated in a 4 person obstacle course!This is the second year I have done this run and it lived up to it's name...a challenge! 

this is one of their advertising billboards..yes, that's me...back there in the back! that is sandy in the front! last year's team
 This year I ran with my sister, my running friend Sandy, and a new running friend Kim! 

Our start time for the race was 9:55 so I woke up around 7. I awoke to the sounds of whipping wind and pouring rain. Just what I wanted to hear!! The weather had been calling for rain and bad storms all week for Saturday but I tried to deny what I saw. It pretty much rained all night and all day on Saturday. Despite the rain, wind, and cold we were in this thing! :) And off I went to meet the girls!

We all met up at 8:30, sorted out our outfits, hopped in the car, and hit the road to Lynchburg where the race is held.
We got our swag, got signed in, pumped ourselves up, and were ready to go!

Enter: THONG DISTANCE RUNNERS!

we won the prize for best name and best outfit!

And there we go, we are off!

Most of this race is run on a trail through the woods. Spectators can't see most of the obstacles. The last 6 are in an open field where you can see. My parents came to watch us finish so they got to see a few of the obstaces and they got some great photo opportunities! 

The trail run was nothing but a path completely full of wetness: thick mud everywhere and huge puddles. All of us slipped at least 30 times as we tried to run through the mud. It made the course that much more difficult.

The obstacles were challenging, much more so than I remember from last year.


This is "the beast". A new one for this year. There were two of these structures with a robe tied in between them. We had to climb up and down the first one on to a platform. Then we had to shimmy our way to the other one across an extented rope. We were pretty high up there too. I was so proud of my team. All 4 of us got across the rope without falling. Not to mention there was also someone below us yelling at us the whole time, military style! 


This is the 12ft triangle wall. We had to figure out how to get our wet muddy selves up and over this thing. Yea, the structure itself was totally wet and muddy too. Thank you Missy for adding that one inch piece of wood the night before the race in the middle of this on both sides. If it weren't for that, I am not sure anyone could have done it! I am happy to say, despite the elements, we all got somewhat safely across!!!

Once we finished the run through the trail, we came out into the open field and here are some shots that my parents were able to get! 









The results say our official time was 1:24:24 which was good for 8th place in the open female category. We think there is some discrepancy in the time and some times didn't run with the same rules as we had to. Hopefully they can work those things out for next year. All we really cared about was finishing and having fun, which is exactly what we did!!! 






Despite the weather conditions we had a fabulous time! After the race we went back to the car, changed clothes, and had beer and mimosas to celebrate our finish and Sandy's birthday!! Yes, she raced this thing on her birthday!!! Best. birthday. party. ever. Chick-fil-a was out there selling sandwiches so we grabbed one, socialized with all our friends in the rain, drank some more, ate cupcakes from Sweet, and laughed and talked about the race!

the after party
I never thought I would say this, but I can't wait for next year!! Thanks girls for a fabulous, muddy-filled, day!! 

Photobucket

3 comments:

  1. I love this race - your team name - your outfits - everything! What an awesome event!
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thong Distance RUnners OMG you guys are hilarious! What a fun race! Looks like a blast.
    Yay for MCM!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, this looks so invigorating! Lovely blog! :)

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to know more about you! Please feel free to leave me some love!