I am back home and in one piece! It was such crazy experience this weekend, and I certainly learnt a lotl! I could not sleep at all the night before, the fan was too loud, it was too hot, and so on...and I didnt want to drink much water, as I have a bit of an issues with going to the washroom every 5 mins when I am in the car (this became a huge issue on the way home from the cottage where I drank 2L earlier in the day). We reached the race early, and only had about 3 glasses of water before we ran, and 2 coffees earlier. Standing in line to go I felt thirsty, and I am used to having water with me.
           The first bit of the run was through what was probably a stream earlier in the day, but had turned into a mud puddle. Many people lost their shoes here. For about 1 mile after this we ran through a forest and up and down hills. An attendant by the 2nd obstacle (cords woven through the trees that we had to duck in and out of) told us there was a water station immediately after the third obstacle, which was barbed wire that we had to duck under and then fences to climb over. There was no water. Up and up, and up hills we went, I was struggling. A lot. I forgot my puffer, and had a stitch in my side. Finally we reached the top, I believe it was a black diamond. I drank about three glasses of water and walked some more, until we began the decent down the mountain. The first water station was at the 2 mile mark. There was another brutal hill, after crawling through dug out tunnels under more barbed wire. At this point my back was aching (from the back workout I shouldnt have done the day before) and I crawled up on all fours like an ape for a while. I considered bailing here and waiting for my team mates which  I had left behind. At this point a girl behind me was mentioning to her boyfriend that hearing others breathe was throwing her off. That would be me, gasping for air and wheezing. I had really bad indigestion and stomach pain all week long (from a new prescription) and at one point considered throwing up.
        Finally we hit a water obstacle and the rest was a piece of cake. I ran full speed down the hill and attacked the cargo nets, teetering traverse, and horizontal hike. The fire was easy, and I swam through the mud to get to the finish. It was a great feeling to finish, although such a struggte to get through. I loved seeing women wearing the "Strong Is The New Skinny" shirts that I mentioned in an earlier blog, a 50 year old man pass me, and boy and girl friends helping each other on. I loved that my upper body strength made the obstacles easy, and I got muddy even though I wasn't sure about that ;) My toenails have dirt underneath despite socks and shoes which had to be thrown out. It was great to hear about others overcoming their fear of heights and pushing forward.

        Training for next year is already in the works. Looking for  a good pair of shoes and hills to train on, please let me know if you are interested in joining next years run. I ended up running in 47 mins...2605 out of 6689 overall and 369/1265 in my age group. Going for under 40 next year.