Sunday, June 14, 2009

Austin 10K+ Adventure Race - Race Report

Several weeks ago I ran in the Austin 10k+ Adventure race. This was a 10k run that also included an obstacle course. I was intrigued by the idea of some obstacles on the race course as a mid run distraction. The race sounded fun and I like to do races on different courses to take in different scenery and get a change from the same old routes.

For the pictures of prior races I knew there were some beams that you had to climb over and there was a wall that you had to climb over using a rope. I did not know if that was all or if there were obstacles. I was a little worried that it would involve running or crawling through mud.

Seems like there were a little over 200 runners for this event. Some were running as a team, some were relays and some were individuals. We were about 2 miles into the race when the obstacles started. The first obstacle was a rope web that was attached to the back of some bleachers. You had to climb up the web and over the back of the bleachers. This was not too difficult and made it over the bleachers easily. Right after this was one of the most challenging obstacles. You had to climb over 2X6's that were about 4 1/2 feet tall. There were six of these in a row. To climb over each one you had to hoist yourself up and get you leg up on the beam and jump on the other side. This was more difficult because the beam and the structure were wobbly and there were other runners climbing over the beams at the same time.

Next were some easy ones. You had to run through tires and walk across three balance beams then jump onto a platform at the end and crawl ender some ropes. It was about this time that I had the thought that this was very similar to the challenges in the reality TV shows like Survivor or the Biggest Loser.

The next obstacle had three thigh high barricades that you had to get over followed by a tunnel that you crawled through and then three more barricades. The last obstacle was the wall. This was the toughest one for me - in fact I had to get the race officials to help me over the wall. By this point I was very tired and really hot. I think that I had the strength to make it over the wall on my own, but was I was lacking was the technique. I ended up getting too far up the wall with my feet and not moving up far enough with my arms.

The finish line was right after the wall. I was happy to finish. My time was 1:02. I will be looking to run these types of "adventure races in the future.

May the Force Be with You.

Chad