Where to begin… This was a race I was dreading for a while now, I don’t even know why. Weather was up in the air, I had no idea what to expect. Well, the day finally came. The weather actually held up for us all on Saturday. No rain, decent warmth for a race. However, Of the several venues I’ve been to, “Sacramento’s” Van Vleck Ranch (it’s really in Sloughhouse) impressed me the least. Sure it has some good short, steep rolling hills. Random pools of water, which was never used in the race. But the overall terrain was so boring. I could blame the California drought but I’d doubt it would help the scenery. There weren’t even any cattle or other animals to look at as we pass by. Fresh off my race in Seattle, I was hoping for a little bit of trees and greenery. Nope. Just dead looking brown everywhere. Enough with the scenery, onto the race itself.
I didn’t find this race any more or less challenging than any other Super. There were a few surprise obstacles and one big one missing. For instance, the Hercules Hoist was impossible for me to bring up more than maybe 75% of the way. I’m at about 50% success rate if I don’t count times I had assistance. While other times I had random people help me with the Herc Hoist, but not this race. There was a second plate drag, but instead of on the ground pulling the plate to you via rope, you pulled the plate like cattle right behind you across the small area. Not an obstacle per se, but the trudging through the grey cement-like mud was interesting alone, but add the tadpoles too?! Weirdest obstacle ever…
Missing was the Memory Wall… THANK YOU! Even if I AM currently 100%. I can do without the memory test. Sadly after the first couple Memory Walls, I added this to my training. When I’m running on the streets I pick a random letter and phone number on a business and try to memorize it by the end of the run. The stupid part is, I have no idea if I’m right until my next run. Oh well, I’ll do burpees whenever.
Present were the usual suspects: Atlas Carry, Tire Flips, Multi-Rig, Bucket Brigade, Monkey Bars, Spear Throw, and (of course) Rope Climb. I’ll have to add, I nailed the spear throw and no one was around to see it! 🙁 This success made my record 2-8. I figured out a small trick about my successful spear throws that works for me; take a few steps back then forward to get enough momentum forward then throw the spear similar to a football or dart. If I had a back yard I’d be able to practice this more… One of these days I’ll get a successful spear throw recorded on my GoPro.
Another obstacle missing from the venue was the ever loved Fire Jump… despite it being on the map and someone mentioning on social media there was going to be a Fire Jump at the venue. Mega sad face. So here I end my review with a sad finish line picture.
FYI In case you didn’t know that’s me on the right…