I didn't really have to do any special training for it. I'd been rock climbing three days a week since the beginning of the year and have been playing 3-5 indoor soccer games a week for a long time. I did participate in a couple of Ultimate Fitness Classes through my gym, which are basically an hour-and-a-half circuit training that included flipping tractor tires, dragging tires, swinging sledge hammers, rattling heavy chains, and many other plyometric exercises. Again, right up my alley as far as working out goes. I'd also climbed several large volcanoes, which turned out to be great preparation for the event.
We had a team of three for the run, including one of Dante's high school friends. I'll spare all the details of the race and just mention a few highlights. Our start time was 10:40 on Saturday (third heat), which was good because we started well before it got too hot. The event was held at Wilson Ranch Retreat in central Oregon and the weather was 70s with not a cloud in the sky.
For 20 minutes before your race starts, you listen to an MC discuss the Wounded Warrior charity and course rules. He explained that it was a team event, not a race and that if you saw anyone injured or in need of help to stop and hold your arms in an "X" over your head to notify medical staff to come over. We got to use our Xs right away. As our heat of ~100 people left the starting line, a few members of the Wilson family rode in front of us on horses. One of the horses stopped and stood up on its hind legs, attempting to throw its rider. The horse fell back, on top of the women riding it. Dante, Brian and I were at the front of our heat, with a first row view. Our whole heat stopped and held our arms in Xs over our heads, not knowing whether to continue the race or wait for help. The woman got up, saying she was ok. We found out after the race that she had broken a couple of ribs.
Many of the obstacles required climbing over wooden walls and logs and crawling through mud or swimming through muddy water. In some places the mud was knee deep and smelled like manure.
The second obstacle of the race was called Arctic Enema. It's basically a giant dumpster full of water and ice that you have to jump in, swim through, duck your head under a log, then climb out the other side. By the time I was climbing out, all of my muscles were tight and felt like cramping. With the warm weather and running ahead, though, I warmed up quickly.
There were two electrocution obstacles on the course. Each had dangling wires carrying up to 10,000 volts of electricity. The first, Electric Eel required you to crawl through muddy water while being shocked. It is impossible to avoid the wires. I probably got shocked a dozen times, despite crawling as quickly as possible. With each shock, your muscles contract involuntarily and violently. The worst were the shocks to my head. They felt like a combination of being punched in the head and blacking out. Some people described it as a "brain reboot". That's pretty accurate.
The second electrocution obstacles was the last obstacle of the race, Electroshock Therapy. For this obstacle, you could stand up and run through the dangling wires. Per the suggestion of one of the race coordinators talking to the spectators at the obstacle, Brian, Dante, and I linked our arms before entering. We starting running and made it about half way, getting shocked simultaneously, before a shock sent Brian to his knees, pulling me down. The last half of the obstacle was an every-man-for-himself dash to escape. The shocks hurt.
Three hours after we started, we'd finished the race and received our free beer. We watched other competitors run through Electroshock Therapy (and some chicken out). I flipped a 400 pound tractor tire 10 times to get two more free beers. All in all, it was a very fun event and I look forward to doing another.
Since a lot of people ask, the hardest thing about the event wasn't the obstacles. Team work is highly encouraged, often necessary and makes the obstacles relatively easy. The hardest part was the hill running. I was in pretty good shape from soccer and mountaineering, though, so the hills and running didn't phase me too much.
Here's our team picture just after crossing the finish line.
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