"For Those Who Can't": tm tri-state '10 recap pt. 2 (obstacles 10-19)

(10) boa constrictor- just an annoying obstacle. this is where i would say most participants got the scrapes on their knees and elbows. not difficult.

on the way back... if i remember correctly, we passedd this obstacle twice.

(11) rubbernecking- at this point, you just grab a tire and go. not bad at all, was definitely a point in the course where you got to see a lot of things going on because obstacles 12 and 13 were in close proximity. (12) tired yet- it was pretty fun and i remember my calves acting up again. (13) firewalker- running through fire is a cool concept and you would think that this would be difficult for people who have an aversion to it. however, the difficult parts of running through fire and the winding turns were smoke inhalation and the smoke blinding you. haha, i was actually afraid of running into a bail of hay that was on fire. pretty difficult to see if you had a wrong gust of wind and soot get into your eyes. (14) devil’s beard- not hard, just annoying. even the TM website describes it as annoying. (15) the log bog jog- you can feel that you were definitely coming to an end of the course when you saw this obstacle. along with my calves, both of my entire legs were cramping up here and there. the only way to beat the pain was not to stop and to keep on pushing. (16) funky monkey- being one of the last runs, the monkey bars were super slippery and technique definitely played a factor. you could be really strong, but if you approached it the wrong way, you were taking a dip. the smartest method I’ve seen is the sideways move. i’d need a picture to actually show you what i’m talking about, but it was extremely efficient as it allowed you to bypass 2 to 4 bars. i did the one by one method and ended up falling in the water about 2/3s into it because my hands lacked endurance at that point in the day. they cramped up and I took a dip with just a few bars to go. i was definitely angry at myself. (17) twinkle toes- was pretty easy. slow and steady wins the race. (18) shock therapy- haha this damn obstacle almost ruined my day and ended my TM tri-state short of completion. by the time we got here, you could see the finish line… maybe about 1000 meters left, definitely less than a mile. this was the mystery obstacle that was revealed before the start of the course: basically a bunch of wires you run through that give you a little shock. well, as you know i was cramping up through parts of the course. once i ran through the first 75% of the obstacle, i was thinking, “they are liars!” they were not…. the last set of wires managed to give me a little shock… haha my whole body cramped up and i fell, immediately disabled, to the ground on my face. i looked up towards the sky and asked God, “really?” my teammates told me to get up and finish this thing… so i listened and we did. there was no time to feel sorry for myself. (19) insane bolt- this was supposed to be a 100 meter sprint to the finish line. by the time our heat began to finish, I think everyone stopped caring haha. It was just nice to see the finish line. 13 miles and a few obstacles in less than 2 hours and 40 minutes with a team of 8 and Doc TD. it was a great bonding experience and most importantly: we started together and we finished together. no man left behind.