Notes
Savage race maryland 2017
First obstacle course race. Went in with high hopes (of maybe winning, since i'm so fast after all)
Started with leader Yuri Force. Discovered quickly that trail running is hard. Uneven ground, very steep slippery ascents and descents. Crossing creeks. It all def through me off.
Stuck with Yuri through first mile and ~2 obstacles. He was super efficient over them! I wasn't... a couple people passed me while I paid for my fast pace. Then found a group to latch on to with me in ~6 or 7 place.
Made it through all obstacles on first try for first ~6 miles. Harder ones were the rock climbing wall traverse (had to focus, take time, and make smart decision on which holds to use) and sawtooth (i.e. monkey bars. on the descent i tried to use every third rung, which made me feel like a bad ass but very nearly caused a fall). Barb wire crawling wasn't hard in the sense that i'd fail, but rolling made me dizzy and crawling burned up shoulders.
I ditched a group of two that i was with at sawtooth (mile ~2 or 3) and was stuck in a big gap (~60 seconds to guy in front, ~30 seconds to guys behind). Stayed there and had lots of fun on the obstacles until the second to last: Whirlie bird.
This one required grabbing ropes on a rig and swinging from one to the next to get across. Failed my first attempt ~2/3 of way through and couldn't make it on subsequent attempt. Shoulders and grip were too spent. But most shoulders i think.
For next time: be better at trail running. And do more pull ups / hanging and swinging from things.
Overall: really fun. will give it another go at same course in September