Ruckus Run

So I realize that I still need to finish my posts about the trip, and it really is just laziness on my part because I have most of the actual writings of the posts already done, it is just the putting them together and uploading pictures that I have left.

BUT right now I want to talk about this Run Ruckus Boston race I did 2 weeks ago which was basically like a 5K course with military-like obstacles. It was SUPER fun. It was also really hard, but it was great because they do it in waves, so once you finish you can look back out over the course and see people still running it and actually even over the next few days, I could just see the course and the obstacles in my mind, and think, "wow! I did that!"

Don't be fooled by the medals.
Everyone is a winner in the Ruckus Run.
I did finish in 46 minutes though and the avg. for men AND women was 45 minutes.
So yeah, you should be somewhat impressed. ;)

If you click on the link I put above you will be able to see a map of the course and some pictures of some of the obstacles they had. One of the first obstacles we came up to was "down and outs" which was this series of 4 or 5 mud pits in a row where you had to jump down into this pool of muddy water and run across it and then climb back up the other side and over a mound of dirt just to find that there was another one to go through and another and another and another. Although it definitely wasn't the hardest one, it was a little shocking to find such a wet obstacle right at the beginning of the race when you knew that it meant running the next 3 miles in soaking wet shoes and shorts.


Here is a link to some photos that were taken of me during the race. Two of the pictures were of the "gorilla bars" which when I heard about there being monkey bars on the course, I definitely didn't think that they would be one of the hardest obstacles for me, but these bars were made out of wood and they weren't stuck into the sides very well so they rotated around (I don't know if that was on purpose to make it harder, or just poor-craftsmanship) and so as you will see I was only ever able to get through 3 or 4 before dropping to my death below. And then the other obstacle that really gave me trouble were the 8-foot walls. I was able to get over the other ones that were shorter, but I had to pass after two unsuccessful attempts at each of the two 8-foot walls.

Anyway, it was a really fun and rewarding experience overall. I did it with 3 friends from my ward and I think that each of us along with other people we've talked to since the race will be running it again next year.

Brent, Melanie and I BEFORE the race

Melanie, Brent, Mary and I AFTER the race

And after a quick but necessary rinse.