Surprisingly our other two house mates, I-eat-too-much-pizza-and-chocolate and I'm-the-worst-client-my-PT-has-ever-had (otherwise known as Jess and Farrell) expressed interest too!
I blasted Facebook with posts of enthusiasm, the official website and YouTube vids and soon comments were popping up every few hours.
With a good potential of 10 people to join our team I went on the site and created "The Invincibles". Rat Race have this great option that if you can get 5 people to join, you'll all receive a tenner back on the entry fee and if you can get 10, you'll receive a 20! My hopes where high; brothers, friends, colleagues were all getting involved, I just had to sit back and wait for people to join The Invincivbles.
Have a look at this 20 min video a guy made a year ago with a wrist cam as it gives a very realistic representation of the feel of the race.
I especially like this snippet of dialogue between the camera man and a racer being interviewed; it makes me chuckle every time...
"Tell me about your race so far."
"...I'm a wuss, I don't like getting wet...I don't like getting cold..."
"What ever possessed you to do this, then"
"My mate who never came...I hate you mate, who never came, you know who you are!" (points finger at camera)
Fortunately MY mate, who sparked the idea DID come, however, I know how he feels in relation to the other EIGHT people who I think wear the title of "wuss" much better than that muddy racer on YouTube.
Once, signed up and paid for months in advance, Clarkey and I were so busy that the weekend stalked us like a preying tiger and finally bit our asses into action that fateful Friday 9th May.
The 13/20 mile assault course is set across the vast 12, 750 acres of the majestic Elizabethan Burghley House. It's carefully planned to get you climbing, crawling, swimming and wading, over, under and through 150-200 obstacles depending on whether you've chosen the Half or Full Mucker.
There was a camping ground to accommodate 1000's of participants and supporters over the 2 nights (you can pay for camping and a party pass to join your friends even if you're not taking part in the race).
The BIG TOP was set up with a bar and stage for the after party but aside from the obvious, the organisers had though of everything! There were posts with pens to scribble your race number over any bare skin (most chose to decorate their faces) little guarded envelopes to place valuables in, a hose to wash off afterwards and enough toilets that we didn't have to queue! (unlike the beginning of a tri race where going 3 times before the race just doesn't seem to be enough and you still feel the need to battle through cross-legged people to bag one last toilet trip even as your wave is being called to the starting line)
We did originally pay for camping but Sarah managed to book us a hotel which, for reasons I will tell later on, I am very grateful for. Registration opened the afternoon before so we drove straight there Friday night into a field tiled with cars; you pay a tenner to park (come and go as you please) for the entire weekend.
Upon checking in, you receive a brown envelope full of presents! Timing chip, Rat Race T-shirt and best of all, knowledge; the key to filling up your calender with more tough Rat Race events, held all over the country for the cautiously challenged people to throw themselves into trouble.
Our wave was called to the pen around 10.05 where 2 men in morph suits gave us an aerobic warm up and a brief, then at 10.15 we were set free!!!
First hurdle was a 6ft "wall" and I am chuffed to say that after giving Sarah a leg up, I took a running jump and hauled myself over confidently much to the surprise of a guy there who offered me a hand. As I dropped off the other side, I grinned as he said "some people just love to show off" HELL YEAH!
We kept a steady jog going in between all the obstacles; there were groups of others running, walking and waiting around us, and I have to say it was great to see so many teams sticking together. We came across a fair few couples too, clearly taking a brave step in their relationships; willing to show their wettest, muddiest and potentially shittiest looking selves to each other- what a great test!
It wasn't long (about 3 miles in) before we met the bit I had been dreading; a carefully crafted trench in the woods filled with grey gunge. There was actually no choice to avoid it. You either threw yourself in willingly or crawled under the netting with as much fear and poise as a hissing cat meeting the neighbour's dog for the first time. We chose the second option and avoided the shoulders, face and hair getting caked in mud for a gallant 5 seconds longer than our gung-ho counterparts before slipping and falling on exit of the mud bath. Sarah slid into fame as her performance of a fall was captured 5 times by the strategically placed photographer.
With grit in our shoes and a hole in our pride we squelched on to the next obstacle. The organisers had some kindness in their hearts as only a short jog later, we were climbing into a reservoir and getting to wash off. I loved getting into the water, my (not bad) mood lifted as the goo floated away and we got to cool off. And I tell you now, never so quickly has delight turned into as much disgust as when we got to the end where a gaseous smell smacked us in the face and "refreshing water" turned into shit. Sarah coached me well through that one- thank you Sarah for your encouragement!
Hay bales, ditches, walls of tyres, scaffolding climbing frames, balance beams over murky water, steep gravel ditches, log carrying, hill running and miles later came the big 80m water assault course and the beginning of my demise.
The sun that had graced us for the first part of the race had buggered off. The wind had picked up and the clouds cast a grey shadow over the meadows. It was then that I realised it was external factors keeping me warm in my soaking wet clothes. My body heat was dropping fast. First my teeth started to chatter, then my shoulders shivered, after that my legs were shaking uncontrollably. My lips had gone blue and my mood was gravely deteriorating.
Having said that the event was meticulously planned, improvements can always be made. I would say that a big failing here, was the build up of people at some of the obstacles. Bottle necks could have been avoided by a more even spacing of obstacles and in the case of the 80m water assault course, adding even one more queue for twice as many life jackets would have helped tremendously. I had cooled down too much. Sarah rounded up some military group to huddle around me, and when that phased out, she kept her arms around me. I started becoming desperate for some internal heat so removed myself from the queue to start doing press ups, I felt good for the distraction but it wasn't enough to sustain any sufficient warmth. I said to Sarah that she should go on, and I would skip that part as I couldn't wait any longer. She promptly skipped to the front, grabbed a couple of life jackets so we could continue straight away. Getting into the water again took so much mental determination; I just wanted to go. I didn't care where or how, I couldn't bare keeping still. We clambered over floating platforms, hauled ourselves up a slippery slope via a rope to see looming in front of us a couple of platforms (approx 3 and 5 metres high) with people throwing themselves off into a giant paddling pool. My heart sunk at the sight of another long wait and more water. It's such a shame as I would have loved to have made that 5m jump. We began ascending the scaffolding, Sarah ahead of me. A man with a microphone doing karaoke (queue entertainment?!?) announced we'd have a 20 minute wait here and I panicked. I swallowed a sob, tried to called for Sarah but couldn't. I reached out to get her attention and immediately broke down on her shoulder.
We were pointed in the direction of the space blankets and "warm air" tent. It wasn't working and plus even in my hypnotised state, I knew that space blankets don't warm you, they keep you warm if you're dry and warm, if you're wet and cold, you need a towel first. So we put 2 fingers up at the tent and toiled on.
The sun came out, land opened up, blue skies were visible, miles went by and my core was slowly warming through our laboured jog. From that point on, I could tackle the rest of the high, low and wet obstacles with as much vigour as if that episode hadn't happened.
We enjoyed watching few guys complete the world's longest monkey bar challenge (120m) and soon we were working with the fellow runners to scale the mammoth final hurdle:
Anyone can do this kind of challenge. There's no pressure, only fun. We saw all shapes, sizes, ages and a pretty even mix of gender taking part in this weekend. You will only know if you try and it's worth it for the sense of achievement when crossing the finish line. You will not be doing it alone. There's so much team work involved; you offer help where you can, even if you're a skinny 5'4" girl offering a hand to a hunk of 6" man muscle (because girl, he's the one that's going to boost you up all those 10" walls) - it's all appreciated and makes the day a pleasure for everyone.
Take with you, clothing and tight, fast-drying determination and you'll make it!
The cherry on top, our medals...
ARE BOTTLE OPENERS!
CHEERS GUYS!
http://www.ratracedirtyweekend.com/
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