TD 84 - Men's Health Urbanathlon: NYC 2011

this morning, DK and i went to citi field for the 4th Men's Health Urbanathlon held in new york city.  this was DK's 2nd time participating in it (2007) and i remember he mentioned that he had fun last time.  it was a good precursor to Tough Mudder: Tri-State, as the temperature was cold and the weather was rainy.  definitely a good kick in the pants at 8am.

"the before pic" - prior to acclimating to the cold & rain

it was a 9.5 mile run sprinkled w/8 obstacle courses throughout:

(1) police barricades (go under) & plastic barriers (go over) combination

(2) tire field and cargo net crawl combination

(3) chain link crawl (the website says jeep crawl- but it was switched out for the end... probably for marketing purposes) & Marine hurdles

(4) parallel bars and monkey bars combination

(5) traffic cones with poles and pallet walls combination

(6) stair climb #1 - arthur ashe stadium

(7) stair climb # 2 - citi field

(8) taxis and buses to jeep crawl to wall finish

my favorite combination, obviously, was the chain link crawl and the Marine Hurdles.  the hurdles were a good height and i liked the ever-present awakening thump to my midsection every time  hopped over one... the stair climbs were awesome because i got to enjoy the view of the inside of the venues. 

DK and i had different heats because of our age difference (haha, i was in the old man group).  we approached the Urbanathlon as a smooth training day and held decent paces throughout the 9.5 miles.  i've learned that i have to stop being stubborn and stop by the water/gatorade stations or bring some sort of performance gels throughout a medium distance course because i was cramping at the 9 mile mark.  other than that, the engine felt good and aside from my calves (slight soreness), my entire body felt great (and still does) after the race.

results
DK: 1hour 24min 11sec (196th/1,793 overall, 191st/1,473 male overall, 120th/511 males 25-29yr)
DV: 1hour 38min 34sec (690th/1,793 overall, 648th/1,473 male overall, 90th/346 males 30-34yr)

DK crushed my time! to include obstacles, he managed to keep a pace just under 7mph.  i managed to keep a pace under 6mph.

"the after pic" - 9.5 miles later

 all in all, i think it was a good prep for what's about to go down in 2 weeks!

get involved w/or donate to the Wounded Warrior Project

cheers,

-DV _ level ^ fitness
CrossFit Level 1 (CF-L1) Trainer