I walked up to the metal gates and grabbed one of the spears. It was basically a broom handle with a nail in the end. I threw it, harder than I was expecting. Which probably would have been great, except for the fact that I was standing on top of the thin rope they had attached to the end of it--something I had neglected to notice before I threw.
As the spear sailed toward the target with surprising force, the rope coiled around my ankles and pulled my feet out from under me. I went down hard on my back.
The rope stopped the flight of the spear halfway to the target when it ran out of slack, and the spear crashed straight down to the ground.
Rick and Aaron on either side of me had just released their spears. Rick's struck the target perfectly (of course). Aaron's went sailing over it, as if his throw had more power than he was expecting.
When they heard the suctiony thump of my back landing in mud and the subsequent whoosh of breath leaving my lungs, the two looked toward me simultaneously. Gasping for breath, I watched Rick's eyes widen before he broke into a rollicking round of raucous guffaws. I turned to Aaron, who was doubled over in laughter as well.
I rolled my eyes, then went to work extricating myself from the tightly coiled rope.
"Thanks so much for helping, jerks," I muttered as I untangled myself with no help from the guys.
As I rose, I saw the others, still hopelessly lost in laughter, and I began to laugh at myself along with them.
When our laughter subsided, Aaron and I did our thirty burpees while Rick kept count. As I finished my burpees, I turned to Aaron.
"Those burpees were actually easier than I was expecting," I said to Aaron before jogging out of the penalty area.
"Yeah, I thought so too," he said. "Good thing 'cause I have a feeling we'll be doing a lot of those today."
I smiled at Aaron, and the three of us ran toward the next obstacle, which looked was three little hills of mud with water underneath and a wooden wall at the far side in a pool of water.
As I ran, I noticed the soft blue glow outlining my arms again. I ran faster. Whatever the weird blue outline was doing, it seemed to be giving me an energy boost. I looked at Aaron, and he seemed to be gaining speed inside his blue outline as well. Looking ahead to Rick, he didn't have the outline--but he always ran fast!
Rick leapt over the first hill and splashed into the water, eliciting shrieks from some of the nearby racers doused in the spray. Rick turned back to us, dripping with muddy water. He shrugged, looking sheepish. Aaron and I looked at each other then sprinted ahead and did the same thing.
Omigod, the water was cold! So freezing cold! I shivered as I struggled out of the muddy pit then slid into the next one. The final mud pool was divided in half by a wooden wall. They were going to make us go underwater in this filthy, frigid puddle?! I braced myself and dunked under water, eyes shut until I popped up on the other side of the wall. I wiped the muddy muck from my eyes and dragged a hand along the top of my head to wipe away some of the water. My ponytail dripped dank water onto my back, making me shiver with every drop.
"Yuck!" I cried out. Rick stuck out his tongue at me; I did it right back. We both laughed and continued on.
Next was the Z-Wall, an aptly named zig-zagging wall with small one-inch wooden holds for hands and feet. Having rock climbed before, we had little trouble with this one, making it to the end and smacking the little cow bell to prove that we had completed the stretch without touching the ground.
We ran for another half mile or so before the next challenge. Not only was I not tiring, I actually felt great! I was feeling stronger and more energized than when I had started the race! Which was good. Because next up was an obstacle I thought I might struggle with--the 16' rope climb.
We ran up to the obstacle. Rick leapt onto the rope and hauled himself up hand-over-hand until he rang the bell at the top. As he lowered himself, Aaron and I did the same. Incredibly, I didn't even need to use my feet. My arms were strong enough to haul myself up and ring the bell. I was completely amazed! I had practiced twisting my feet in the rope to allow my legs to help. Today, though, I was feeling so strong I didn't need it.
I looked at my arms and saw small bulges of muscle, significantly more toned than they normally looked popping out of them. Maybe doing these crazy races really was great exercise!
As we continued on, I noticed more striations in my leg muscles than I usually did as well. Sweet!
There was a barbed wire crawl setup at the edge of a river. I dropped down to hands and knees and began to slide myself under, when all the sudden a blue glow came from the water below me. The ground seemed to disappear from under the water, and I fell into the blue void before I could so much as cry out...
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