This was an obstacle almost too closely placed to the one before it. We Had pretty much just finished crawling under nets before we went around a bend and were facing off with 3 lines of hay bales. Again, not the hardest obstacle: you simply run towards it, jump at it; haul yourself over it and off the other side, to do it again three more times.
But by this point in time, I know my forearms and shoulders were starting to get a little tired from the hauling. My legs were holding up rather well, considering all the uphill climbs there were that day, but my leg thigh was starting to give me little hints that it wanted to try and cramp up. As I ran towards the first hay bale, I jumped up and lay on top of it on my belly, for a moment just tired enough to stay still. Bad idea, momentum is your friend in this, so I had to bodily haul myself up and over the other side. The leg gave a quiver of almost cramp but held on as I ran towards the second bale and used momentum to up and over myself. The third bale was a little worse for wear and I could almost step up and over it because it was starting to fall apart.
Here was where I pulled my team to the side to get some of that energy gel in and take some Tums. I cannot remember where I learned it, but apparently the sodium bicarbonate in the TUMS helps prevent muscle cramps. Whomever taught me that, I would like to thank because it has save my bacon more times than I can count. The boys also grabbed energy gels and TUMS, because apparently they were hurting too but pride was keeping them silent. We are truly a team of idiots. At time point in time we all felt tired, but confident. And I was about to get very, VERY rattled.
