I am sorta ninja.

I am finished. With my first real race ever. And a freaking ninja obstacle race at that. What a crazy experience.

I woke up this morning feeling pretty good. I had eggs, bacon, a banana, and coffee for breakfast. I drank water, took preemptive Aleve, and took a multivitamin for good measure. I left a little later than I wanted to, but I had plenty of time. It was a 40-minute drive, which was just long enough to get myself totally freaked out on the way. Note to self: next time, make someone drive you to your damn race and play some good music on the way.

Thanks for the awesome tattoos, ladies!

I parked, and as I walked up, the first person I saw was my mom. I was so glad to see her and my dad. I turned in my waivers and then hung out to wait for my start time. Some awesome folks trickled in to see me off - my coworkers Rich and Delia, fellow Team Drea challengers Julie and Linda (who had awesome signs!), my personal trainer Alexis with one of her clients, and Andrea's wonderful parents who were all suited up in Team Drea attire (crazy socks and all). I felt really loved. And really freaking nervous. But I was there for Andrea. We were all there for Andrea!

So clean and dry!

Andrea's awesome parents :)

Making them smell me! Just kidding,
I'm actually trying to show off my tattoos.

It got to be 9:25, so I went to the start line and met up with part of my team - Emily, Scott, and Robin. A few other team members came a bit late, so we missed starting with them :(
It hit 9:30 and off we went. We ran for a little bit and then got to the first obstacle: low-strung ropes we had to crawl under. My bib was on my back and kept catching the ropes, and then while I was crawling, I noticed that the barrels holding the ropes had signs from the company where my dad worked for 35 years. Funny! Got through that with no problem and thought to myself, "okay. I can do this race." Well played, Ninja Challenge. That was one of the easiest obstacles, of course.

I jogged, jumped over big tires, climbed over walls, jogged some more... And at some point, I looked around and didn't see my team. They must've ended up behind me because I'm sure I would've noticed if they were ahead of me. Sorry about that guys! I'm such a space cadet sometimes.

I couldn't tell you what all the obstacles were. But I do remember coming up on the monkey bars. I rocked those things as a kid, so I was a little cocky. Ha! And sooooo wrongfully so! I tried once, got a few rungs in, and fell. My second try was better, but I fell again and gave up. The bars were at different levels, and I just couldn't hang (har har har). Other people were skipping, and I knew I could try to get across for 30 minutes and wear myself out and still fail, or I could just keep going after a couple of good strong tries. So I did the latter. Failed obstacle #1 of 2.

Then came this slanted wall with ropes. I heard someone yelling my name - it was my trainer Alexis. She said to run up the wall and grab the top of the rope to get all the way over. I scoffed at first, but she convinced me it was the way to go, so I did it that way. Thank goodness! Definitely the way to go. I still struggled to get over the top, but I made it. Then I had to jump down into a giant vat of water. I went all the way under, so I was soaked. Then I had to jump up to get out of the water and then jump down into the mud. I was scared I'd slip and bust my face; I think I might've fallen down, but I got up and kept going.

A few more obstacles later came the vertical rope climb. The ropes had knots, but that shit was HARD. I made it up about halfway before I slipped (I partially blame my wet shoes and legs, but I think it was mostly lack of strength). I fell down and busted my nose on a rope knot on the way down. I checked for blood (there was none), decided I was done with that, and kept going. Failed obstacle #2 of 2.

As I ran off from that stupid obstacle, I heard my heart monitor watch beep.  It does that sometimes.  But when I looked a few seconds later, it read zero, and then I realized that the chest sensor had popped off of the strap and fallen somewhere.  Dang it... but I apparently decided it wasn't worth going back to look for it.

A few obstacles later was the one where you have to run across floating boards in a pond. They move and they sink. I saw my posse (yay!) and my dad and trainer came over to give me pointers - stay in the middle, go fast, and do high knees. I watched the girl in front of me fall in the water and have to swim across. Then it was my turn. I hesitated, but I thought about my friends and family watching me, and I thought to myself, "Be brave!" and I went for it. I focused really hard, and I could feel my arms flailing like a weirdo, but after the 3rd board, I knew I had it. I just kept going and focusing... almost lost it at the end, but safely made it to land. WHEW!!! I cheered for myself (but not as loudly and awesomely as Julie did!) and then kept going.

After a few more obstacles, I saw the finish line area. I came around the corner to the last obstacle. It was one that looked hard but doable. You have to shimmy up between two side walls and make it up and over the back wall. I had to wait a few minutes, so I chatted with Rich and Delia beforehand. I finally got up there, and I started trying to shimmy up, but my back would not slide up the damn wall. It felt like my bib was stuck, but maybe I was just wedged too tight for fear of falling. I knew my posse was there watching me, so that made it worse because I got totally nervous and frustrated. I was using up all my strength just to try to move my back up that damn wall, and I couldn't even budge. I guess I just didn't have the right technique. A magical hand came down from above and a sweet voice said, "Do you need help?" I reached out and said, "Yes, I do need help." I struggled up and up and up and FINALLY got over that freaking wall.

I sat down on the other side and just pouted for what felt like 10 minutes (it was probably like 30 seconds tops). I was just SO done. I finally jumped down off the wall and started running toward the finish line. I wanted to walk so bad, but it was the last little stretch, so of course I had to run. I crossed the finish line and heard a guy say jokingly, "Good job! You're halfway done!" Before I knew what I was doing, I flipped him off with both gloved hands. A few people laughed, and they gave me my medal. I stepped off to the side and cried. I would've been fine (I think?), but that last obstacle just threw me over the edge. I was tired, frustrated, and emotional.

Over it!

The end was so anticlimactic for me. After that long, arduous journey, I just wanted to cross the finish line and go home.  Race time:  1:04:57.  My goal was an hour-ish, so yay!

It was really awesome to see my awesome people after I calmed down a bit. And Shelly, Katie, and Kevin came too, which was so great! Then, mostly inspired by Andrea's suggestion, most of us went to brunch at Jus' Enuff in Fuquay. I had a fabulous plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns.

"Friends become our chosen family" - so appropriate!

I wish I had had more energy - there was an AWESOME thrift store next door. I browsed briefly but was just ready to get home. I came home, took a hot bath, and pouted... A LOT. I got over that hump, and now here I am having a cider and some gluten-free cookies.

The race was hard.  I did well, but I seem to be focusing a lot on the things I could've done better.  I vaguely (if at all) remember the obstacles I finished with ease, but the tough ones stick out very clearly in my mind.  There were 19 obstacles. NINETEEN!  And I only failed at 2, and the last one made me cry.  That is pretty darn good, Carrie.  Give yourself some credit.  Sheesh.  SMH.

I tried to remember the obstacles... this is the best I could do... may or may not be accurate...

Thank you to EVERYONE who has shown me so much emotional support, and to everyone who donated. You all helped me raise over $1,000 for the Blazeman Foundation for ALS research, which is just freaking amazing. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Will I do more races? Meh......