Time to get Rugged, Maniacs!!!

Frost on the grass, as well as a patch of man-made snow...

   From the event's information page: NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART, FRAIL OF BODY, OR WEAK OF MIND, RUGGED MANIAC WAS DESIGNED WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF NAVY SEALS TO PUSH YOUR LIMITS AND DETERMINE HOW RUGGED YOU TRULY ARE.
   This five kilometer course traverses some of the most rugged terrain the region has to offer, including a ski mountain, which we’ve amped up with barbed wire, fire, tunnels, mud pits, pools of water, barricades, cargo nets, scrambles, swinging pendulums and a host of other obstacles that make this course one rugged gauntlet of glory! After you've conquered the course, you'll have the right to declare “I am a Rugged Maniac!” and you'll get an awesome t-shirt to prove it. So come on out, push your limits and then celebrate with live music, food, beer and other like-minded maniacs!   

   You'd have to be a little rugged (and by "rugged" I mean "stupid") to run a 3.2 mile course with 19 obstacles--many involving water & mud--when it's 25 degrees. I fully intended to do the smart, adult thing and skip the water obstacles, thus avoiding chance of hypothermia--the announcer admonished this of us at the starting line. But in the face of chickening out on the very first, very cold mud pond, all sanity had vanished and I couldn't bring myself to run around it. I also couldn't allow a group of cops to beat me, so I managed to keep up with them. It's tough being a maniac.

Mechanical BS: I think I figured out why my adductor muscles are screaming...

Best costume of the day. Runner up: Super Mario

Quick snow angel break!!!

   After the race we changed into dry clothes and warned ourselves in front of the fireplace inside the lodge, then headed back out to watch the runners. We met a guy with an 180-lb Neopolitan mastiff named Duck. And despite his head (complete with ginormous jowls) and paws being massively larger than mine, his fearsome appearance belied the heart of a teddy bear.

Oh, look--a Duck!

   An awesomely fun day with old & new friends, including Captain Rich's team of police officers and his Chief, Charlie, & Charlie's charming wife Vicki. Charlie was hardcore: he flew through the race easily, waiting up for the rest of us as we straggled along, numb from the waist down from the icy mud-water, hoping to place each footstep securely on the rocky hills and slimy wooden obstacles, despite (potential frostbitten) tingly toes with served by seemingly useless nerves. All the nerve was in our heads and our hearts, and we conquered!
   I placed 556th overall out of 2250 competitors with a time of 52:12.9. Slower than Warrior Dash and Ruckus, but considering how steep the hills were (everyone walked—no one we saw even attempted to jog up them!), not too bad. Difficulty-wise, the course was the hardest for running due to the hills (which seem SO TINY when you're snowboarding DOWN them!), and it was second-hardest in terms of obstacles, after Ruckus. Warrior Dash was the hardest for the run portion due to the heat (over 90 degrees), and had the easiest obstacles. Kind of fun to try them all to compare... and I wonder what will be next for me!