Interesting test this weekend

[samurai69]

A beer before hand I'll pass that one up

It was an American "light beer" so it was essentiall0y water.
The good stuff was saved for after wards.

#
Isnt that all american beers

[Cookie]

This is right up your alley Cookie. I think you will absolutely have a blast. I would recommend starting in the first heat and as close to the front as possible. We were in the team category and our team, despite pre-match carb up, finished really well because we were consistant and started near the beginning.

Running in last race of the day. Hopefully it'll be clear by the time we hit the first few obstacles.

Our running was nothing special and in a straight 5k would have been down right pathetic but we were consistant on all fronts and when it came to the obstacles we were alot stronger than the others. Indo board baby!

Indo board has been gathering dust

Unsure what my 5k is.

Most teams had 3 strong runners or coarse people to them, but nearly all had 1 weak link that would have to walk for a duration and you were required to finish as a team.

With there just being 2 of us running we are not in the team section. If I feel confident enough & mate is fine with it I'll see if I can up the pace just to see what I can really it in if I'm pushed hard.

Talked to a few of the really serious single competitors that were wearing the vibram 5-fingers and they loved them for this type of event. None of them liked them for on the street or pavement races, but for mudders and mountain races really loved them. One team wore cleats (metal) and I thought that was real smart. Did not get to talk to them afterwards to see how they liked them but they did finish ahead of us, because I followed cleat marks till the end. I would recommend against Chuck Taylors, they worked fine for everything, especially the obstacles, but on the muddy hills were a real hindrance.

Was wondering about what to wear. Their website says to wear old trainers because you'll just want to throw them away afterwards. Vibram's get good reviews but are dam expensive. Could use my NEO's its whether they would be fit for anything else afterwards.

All and all a fantastic time, tailgated before and after. Great vibe. I think you will be really stoked at the end of it and given your athletic background I expect you to do really well.

High & low points?

Fave / least fave obstacle?

[Melas Zomos]

Isnt that all american beers

Nah, I would put it at 98% though

[Melas Zomos]

Yeah, they have big trashcans set up at the showers just for shoes. And walking through the parking lot you see a lot of people leaving their shoes with their trash, assholes can't even throw either away. I mean you show up to run a 5k and then can not walk 50 yards to throw something away afterwards????
Shoes, however, will be salvage-able afterwards if you really wanted them too unless they were straight leather. Any shoe will work, Chucks worked great for the obstacles, but not on the hill climbs or the wet forest. Nothing major just a few traction problems, but the advantage I had with them was they did not cake at all with mud as shoes/boots with more aggressive treads might.

Low point was diving into the mud and getting my contacts clouded up for a bit. The uphill run in the last mile was getting a little annoying too.
The ice pit was probably the most difficult, only because it took me by complete surprise and it was near the tail end of the race, so body temp was high and the ice cubes got stuck under my mask because like a dumbass show off I dove into the pit head first.
High point was watching all the chicks, about 1500, try and clean themselves with the hoses.
Seriously the high point were the obstacles and just obliterating them. Most of the people could run fine, but many of obstacles required some upper body strength.
Indo work came in handy for the log run, which most people took as a walk and this caused them to fail as we just waited for them to fall off and then took it at a quick pace. It also came in handy for the rope crossing, which was a piece of cake once you figured out that if you pushed up on the top rope and extended yourself on the bottom it stabalized it alot better.

[Cookie]

Yeah, they have big trashcans set up at the showers just for shoes. And walking through the parking lot you see a lot of people leaving their shoes with their trash, assholes can't even throw either away. I mean you show up to run a 5k and then can not walk 50 yards to throw something away afterwards????

Most people can't be bothered to put there rubbish in a bin when on the high street never mind after running a race. Did a 10k last year in a major city. The rubbish strewn everywhere after the race was a disgrace.

Shoes, however, will be salvage-able afterwards if you really wanted them too unless they were straight leather. Any shoe will work, Chucks worked great for the obstacles, but not on the hill climbs or the wet forest. Nothing major just a few traction problems, but the advantage I had with them was they did not cake at all with mud as shoes/boots with more aggressive treads might.

Taking a couple of pairs now & will look at how those running before us get on with what they are wearing before I make a choice.

Low point was diving into the mud and getting my contacts clouded up for a bit. The uphill run in the last mile was getting a little annoying too.

Contacts! you didn't want to wear glasses & have me throwing around the Harry Potter jokes?

The ice pit was probably the most difficult, only because it took me by complete surprise and it was near the tail end of the race, so body temp was high and the ice cubes got stuck under my mask because like a dumbass show off I dove into the pit head first.

PMSL

From a clip I've seen they throw ice cubes onto your backs as your scrambling under barbed wire in the race I'm doing

High point was watching all the chicks, about 1500, try and clean themselves with the hoses.

Seriously the high point were the obstacles and just obliterating them. Most of the people could run fine, but many of obstacles required some upper body strength.
Indo work came in handy for the log run, which most people took as a walk and this caused them to fail as we just waited for them to fall off and then took it at a quick pace. It also came in handy for the rope crossing, which was a piece of cake once you figured out that if you pushed up on the top rope and extended yourself on the bottom it stabalized it alot better.

Climbing I'm not too worried about.

Cold water? it'll just be a case sucking up the discomfort.

Carrying heavyish loads for distance, should not be an issue or I'll fail badly then get the Mickey taken out of me left, right & center

Agility shouldn't be too bad, its stuff like hitting a target which I'm not very good at & they seem to have things like spear & tyre throwing which could slow me up if I fail in the first few attempts.

[Melas Zomos]

Update: Officially our team was 31 out of 794. Not bad for none of us actually training for the thing. Makes me wonder what would happen if we trained for it and left the brews till after

[samurai69]

when i used to race MTBs and smoked 20+ a day (sometimes during the race) i used to place quite well and now often wonder how much better i would have been if i hadnt smoked

[Melas Zomos]

when i used to race MTBs and smoked 20+ a day (sometimes during the race) i used to place quite well and now often wonder how much better i would have been if i hadnt smoked

Whoa! I got nothing to comeback on that one.
During the race? Did you need it, or were you just trying to standout?

[Cookie]

Update: Officially our team was 31 out of 794. Not bad for none of us actually training for the thing. Makes me wonder what would happen if we trained for it and left the brews till after

Should be very proud of yourself.

[Melas Zomos]

Update: Officially our team was 31 out of 794. Not bad for none of us actually training for the thing. Makes me wonder what would happen if we trained for it and left the brews till after

Should be very proud of yourself.

Thanks, It was a little surprising to be honest. None of us really took this race seriously in the least. It was a last minute type of deal, however once you get going that competative nature kicks in. Although I do have to note the top ten finishers times were almost half of what ours was But we certainly had more fun as whenever a pool of mud came up we did not run through it, but rather bellyflopped into it as to make sure everyone around us got just as muddy as us

[Cookie]

Been looking at the UK site for these after something kicked off on Facebook about a race being cancelled in Texas with no refund given. Upshot was the Spartan Race organisation has given those that have lost out a free entry into one of their own races. Anyway looked up the prices for the tough mudder races & I'm disgusted at what they are asking for entry.

Early Bird Discount..19 September to 19 October £70..£50
Tough Discount..20 October to 4 December..£80..£60
Two Month Special..5 December to 20 January..£90..£70
Mudder Entry..21 January to 20 April..£100..£80
Standard Entry..21 April to 19 August..£110..£90
Running Late Entry..20 August to 26 October..£120..£100
Final Entry..27 October to 10 November..£140..£120

The above is for races on 17-18 Nov 2012 in UK

I know the races are around 10 miles each but FFS I ran over 10k (6+ miles) for £30 at mine & we entered just 2 weeks before hand for that price. And they'll be charging a fee for spectators

Could rant some more but won't.

[Melas Zomos]

Right now this is what is popular, so there seem to be mudder races popping up left and right.

The one we did cost $200 for a team of 4, however all the proceeds went to a local Leukemia charity and one of my wresting buddies is on the board so supporting it was no biggie.

However, I do get your point and yes it is getting crazy, and yes charging fans sucks but I would have to see just how much overhead is involved as well as insurance before judging further. Remember we are SUE HAPPY over here. If someone spills coffee on themselves out of stupidity it certainly was not their fault, it was the place that made the coffee too hot.

Not giving refunds, now their is no excuse for that.