Tough Mudder Race Report Part II

Okay, back to the race report! As I mentioned previously, the start was awesome. We charged a quarter mile down the ski mountain and then quickly turned to charge another .75 up the hill. It was hot and it was hard. I kept wishing the snow makers were on. Just before the top, there were layers of hay bales you had to climb. I took a run at it, but definitely needed help up and over (as did most people - it wasn't that I was a total wimp). After that, we were sprayed with fire hoses. We then did the "Boa Constrictor." We had to enter these black tubes which went downhill into water, cross a few feet of water, and then climb back up. The difficulty in these things was that there were rocks in the tubes and they were pretty smooth on the inside, so climbing up wasn't the easiest (although certainly not the toughest obstacle). However, I had torn up my knee a week earlier from a spill on my bike. I was hoping to keep it bandaged, but to no avail. After this obstacle, my poor knee took a real beating!
Next up we got to run DOWN the mountain. Now this was FUN! I love running downhill, no matter how bad the footing or how much my quads will protest later. It was super fun! The next obstacle was the "Funky Monkey." It is monkey bars (about 20 of them) that are sloped up, then down. Many are greased and many spin. I was really hoping I could make it at least half way and I knew I had the strength to do it. But dang, I fell on the third one into the waist deep water. Wimpy wimpy wimpy. The three guys with me (including DH all made it across), both girls feel in. Darn! We ran down the mountain further, then a steep, steep climb up. This time we walked on the uphill since it was so steep and we did not want to completely burn out.
We then came to our first set of Berlin walls. These bad boys were 12 feet high - no ropes, nothing. DH let me put my foot in his hands and gave me a boost. I reached for a guy's foot (who was sitting on the wall) and hoisted my self up. I then sat and was the foot to be grabbed for a couple of my teammates. I underestimated getting down though. Even fully extending myself before I dropped, it was an almost 6 foot drop on uneven ground and I promptly fell on my arse. It was pretty hilarious though. Onto the next one (they had 2 in a row for each). This part was pretty hard on my forearms when I boosted myself up and over.