So we headed off down the mountain again, coming across another unofficial obstacle. Those tubes we had to climb over at the very beginning? Now we go to climb THROUGH them, all while other Mudders were climbing over top of them. If you are claustrophobic, that sucks. I no longer consider myself claustrophobic because my fear of being in small spaces has yet to be enough to stop me. Besides, how often do you get a chance to see what it’s like for an action movie hero that’s scurrying through ac ducts or pipes? It’s kind of cool. My left thigh by this point in time is seriously trying to cramp up, but I adjusted, letting it stay more stretched out as I scurried on hands and right knee. The fellow in front of me however had a major leg cramp mid pipe and I got to play the hero as I told him to keep his legs straight and crawl with this hands, I was going to push on this feet. So I pretty much shoved him forwards like a pipe cleaner and hauled myself out as well. THEN I turned around and helped haul my husband out because he’s simply too TALL to crawl on his hands and knees through that; he’d been dragging himself on his forearms like a worm pushup.
So we cut across the mountain only to take one massive swoop back up it. You should have HEARD the groans and grumbles from everyone. Not whining, so much as ‘the beer at the end of this better be worth it’, to which my brother replied ‘oh yeah, they’re using the arctic enema to keep them cold’ and I threw out a ‘nah man, I’d rather have a beer the SIZE of the arctic enema, who cares if it’s cold at this point, just beer me’.
We were all very tired by this point but the spirits were still good. It helped that the Mudders we saw going down the mountain near by kept cheering us on and we cheered on those behind us. And then the beautiful words were heard: THIS IS THE LAST UPHILL! Oh what a surge of energy THAT will give you. My left thigh was sitting on the precipice of full Charlie horse cramping but I managed to keep shaking it loose so that it never full on cramped in this last climb. By now my blisters had ruptured which oddly enough made it hurt less, though my husband was onto the painful part where he needed to get the grit out of his shoe or start screaming.
On our way down out of the mountain, we go to make up for that wounded warrior carry we missed. One woman was limping badly, her friends all hovering around and concerned. So I asked if she was alright and her response was ‘my knee has completely blown out.’ So my husband got her onto his back and piggy backed her down a mountain.
(HOLD ON A SECOND, I SKIPPED AN OBSTACLE SOMEWHERE!!!!)
At some point during the day, we did an obstacle called Carry Your Wood. Basically you pick up a log, put it on your shoulder and walk a quarter of a mile. Through the mud and then you put it down and continue on your way. Most people were pairing up to grab the longs, my husband, my self and my brother all grabbed ones on our own and went in a hurry around. I think that was all the way back, after the mud mile and before just the tip.
(BACK TO THE STORY AT HAND)
So my husband gets the girl settled down and goes onto the next obstacle, Everest. It’s a quarter pipe that you have to run up and try to get to the top of. Last year no one had been strong enough to help my husband up, and I was helping take the injured woman to the medic as he did it this year. He made it up though, and let me tell you it is awesome to see someone achieve something they didn’t think they could manage. Especially after he got to be a hero to someone who needed his strong back.
