Remember when I announced I signed up for Toronto’s Run For Your Lives? No, I didn’t cop out and not go: I just took forever to get my photos in order and write about it. Ahem. Since it’s now almost winter, I figured it was about time to write about this September event.
If you didn’t figure out how I faired from reading the title of this post, let me give you a (visual) walkthrough of the day.
The day started like this:
Three flags, alive and kicking pre-race!
There was a lot of hanging around, since it was way less busy than we anticipated it would be – possibly because it was FREEZING and raining that day, so people were less inclined to stick around post-race.
At 3:30, we survived our first obstacle as the “entrance” to the race went from this:
The race entrance: we were in the “entree” line. (Photo by Capstone Photography)
To this:
Yeah, this happened.
…while we were INSIDE of it. One girl sliced her leg up pretty bad, but other than that their were luckily no major injuries. Why they didn’t think to STAKE DOWN a giant, wood-and-tarp structure placed on TOP of a hill during a storm was beyond me.
After a lot of waiting while they bulldozed the destroyed structure, we were off!
A lot of this happened:
You can’t tell in the photo, but I’m about to sprint through mad zombie mayhem. (Photo by Capstone Photography)
Heather OWNING it over a crawler
Crawling under barbed wire (Photo by Capstone Photography)
The water was really, REALLY cold.
This (and the remaining 45 minutes I spent soaking in 8 degree weather before changing) resulted in me getting REALLY sick, but it was worth it.
Then, we found our long-lost zombie friends! Who want to eat us, I’m pretty sure.
Or maybe they want to hug us! And yes, that’s me & The (Zombie) Boy. (Photo by Capstone Photography)
No, no… the hugs were just a ploy to get brains.
Finally, this happened:
Okay, it actually happened BEFORE the last obstacle you see (the water), but whatever – this way was better for dramatic effect! ;) (Photo by Capstone Photography)
Yup, you guessed it! That means…
Muddy, tired, and “dead” – but happy.
All in all, it was a great day (even with the “getting sick after”). Although I totally dropped the ball on training (aka I didn’t), I made it through the 5K course (though not running the entire thing!) and even completed all the obstacles.
I even got to eat a pulled pork parfait, which is EVERY bit as delicious as it sounds (think the following in a parfait cup: mashed potato, pulled pork, BBQ sauce, more mashed potato, more pulled pork, more BBQ sauce. yeah, OMG is right!)
I’d do it again – in fact, I HAVE to do it again for a “rematch” and to, uh, hopefully live this time – but since Run For Your Lives isn’t returning to Toronto next year (boo, hiss) I’ll have to settle for the Tough Mudder instead.
Yeah, which I’m registered for. Surprise! I actually AM training for this one… and am terrified, but more on that later.