HOGWILD MUDRUN ... PLAY BY PLAY OF MY EPIC FAIL AT THE TOUGHEST OBSTACLE

I will be posting a video compilation of the best obstacles in the September 7, Plant City  HogWild Mudrun after I get to a location with better upload speeds than my home Hughesnetsuckysatellite internet will allow.

In the meantime, I took snapshots from my GoPro video of the final climbing obstacle at HogWild. I think I have done a dozen mudruns since starting over a year ago, and this combo-upperbody torture obstacle was the most difficult I have encountered.

Congrats if you were one of the few who made it completely. Standing in line, waiting my turn for about 10 minutes, I didn't see a single person make it. The burpee penalty pit was pretty busy ... just sayin'.

In the scene below, the kid who was ahead of me is splashing into the water. He failed the rope climb twice and then turned to me and said, " I'm going to just skip the rope and leap for the trapeze swing."

Um, yeah ...good luck dude.

Luck was not with him on that idea.

The first part of this obstacle is a rope climb.

After the rope climb up, you were SUPPOSED  to make the traverse from rope to trapeze swing by clinging to baseballs suspended by chains. Standing in line and watching uberfit 20 somethings try that and fail convinced me that this was an obstacle to be completed anyway that you could. So I reached over the baseballs to the two by eight board and made the traverse that way.
(Almost everybody chose this technique even though the dude stationed there to keep things moving kept saying, "The baseballs aren't just decorations folks!"

Yes, ... yes they were actually.

After inching along that upper board, you had to transfer to a trapeze type swing. This was not as hard as what was about to come.
(Remember, this multi-challenge obstacle is at the END of the race... after your butt and attached parts have been kicked for 4+ miles of obstacles.)

After making it to the trapeze swing, you had to transfer to a moving cargo net. The net was moving because other people in other lanes were on it at the same time.

This looked easy standing in line until you realized that the chains were so short, you really couldn't get that trapeze swinging much.

I grabbed an upper wood brace and used it to monkey bar swing over to the cargo net.

The moving cargo net was looped like a "U", so you had to climb DOWN the side next to the trapeze and then UP the opposite side.

All the while, other people are coming behind you ... true, most of them fell without making the cargo net, but plenty did get there.

On the opposite side of the cargo net, hanging up high by 2 chains was a slippery covered plank.
At this point, you had to transfer from jiggling cargo net to slippery plank.

Muscles are screaming about now.

My mistake here was not getting a leg over this plank soon enough.
You really need multiple points of contact on these tough upper body challenges.
That didn't happen in time and my hands slipped ... even with my $5.00 Gorilla Gloves from Home Depot.
I don't mudrun without them tucked in my shorts.

By the way, the plank was not the last challenge on this obstacle ... just the last one for me!

This is the moment of epic fail.
I'm starting my fall after losing my grip on the plank.

And here is the moment of injury, I'm heading towards a splashdown in the dark muddy water beneath this obstacle, but my right foot is still looped in the cargo net.

That little fact is why I am limping today with a wrapped ankle.

Oh, and right after this moment, my head hit the water and the force knocked off my GoPro head mount.
So, I came out of the water GoProless and without a way to get it as I had to get out of the way of other runners.

This is what the camera saw for the 2-3 minutes that it was underwater after it got knocked off in the fall.
Yes, the photo loaded, it is supposed to be black.

Let me tell you, those were some long minutes.
I stood there thinking I would have to wait until the final wave of runners passed through and then go in to find it.
That was a tremendously funsucking, depressing thought.

As I stood there kicking myself for not grabbing it as I fell, a runner slipped off the same obstacle and splashed down in front of me.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I said, " Hey, if you feel something with your feet, it's my GoPro camera, I just lost it where you are standing."

He felt with his feet (I had tried that too before having to get out of the way), and then he ducked under the water only to emerge with my GoPro!!!!!

Sweet!

That's the camera rescue guy emerging from the pit.
Thanks Dude!


The video of this obstacle is pretty cool (if you ignore the several minutes of dark water scenery).
I'll edit that part out when I finally get it up to YouTube.

It was a great race, but this obstacle was ridiculous ... in a good way.

More to come.