Success

Well, I did it.  I ran, climbed, swam, crawled, and jumped. I was a warrior and couldn't be more proud of what I accomplished; what we accomplished together.  Although not all Yayas were present, and we missed them, we did it and not to mince words: kicked ass.

It was hard. I'm glad I worked for it. Next time I will work a little harder.

To begin, we had to crawl through some drainage pipes then on to some trucks we had to scale (up with a rope, across the top and down). We scrambled up and over rugged, rough moguls and then up some hay bales. This doesn't sound like much but the hay was wet and it was coming "unbaled" so it actually became slick like a slide.  We hopped across some small creeks, walked a plank or two then we got down to the nitty gritty.

It began with the "breathless bog"  I have never been in water so cold.  My legs were numb and it truly DID yank the breath from your lungs. I remember hearing my fellow warrior gasping as the water swooshed around her.   You had to swim out and climb over floating logs.  The trick was that they spun and if you caught it on the wrong direction, it flipped you and sucked you under. Did I mention how COLD the water was? yes. Well after half a dozen of those muthah-lovin logs, we crawled out and staggered to the walls.  Yep, "S" would denote more than one.  I ran up to the first one and realized it was chest high.  I had to hoist myself to get my leg over and then hop down. Five more times I did this: hop, hoist, roll. Pretty funny considering my ensemble. I looked like the hippo ballerinas in Fantasia.

We ran through another smaller "lake" and climbed the knee deep foamy mud. A rope was our best tool to get out and that still proved challenging. We began to hear the clatter of the cowbells and cheering...we were close to the end.

At this moment in time, a poor four foot long snake decided to cross the warrior path.  It would have been fine had one of our warriors not spotted it.  But she did and began to scream.  She was trying to tell us that there was a snake.  These words did not come however, only "AHHH!" followed by panicked pointing.  Every new person she saw, she warned in this manner.  "AHHHHHH" ... "AHHHHHH" The look in her eyes was one of complete terror.  Of course being her friends we were screaming too! "AHHH?" "AHHHHH!" and then came the true Yaya moment; giggling and pointing. A very nice young man helped her passed the snake and on we marched; just a little more hoarse than when we started. And on LONG snake with a headache headed for more peaceful ground.

We came to the last hill: one melting under the mud trekked on it all day.  We had to get down on all fours and use tree stumps as hand holds.  One warrior, (hint: "AHHHHH") started up the hill in the middle.  It had the clearest path, but as she discovered, the most slippery.  We heard the thump of runners' feet coming behind us and saw the pack, we began to hustle just to get out of the way.  She began to slide back into the masses.

"I'm going! I'm gonna go!"
vrooop! down the hill face first.
"Well I can't stay HERE all day! I can't get up! I'm stuck!"
more giggling and pointing. We were waiting for the words:
"No! You go on without me! Let me die here...I'm too weak." and that would have sent us right over the edge.
"Hey, why don't you use that stump right in front of you?"
"Oh..yeah..." Restored to full strength, we kept on moving.  The warrior (her sister) behind her was very happy since "Lil Miss Slip-n-Slide" had almost taken HER out and would have if Jen's elbow had not been "up her arse..."

We rounded the bend and as we heard the clammering, our hearts beat a little harder, a little faster and our pace picked up.

The last two obstacles: a mud pit with barbed wire above it and fire pits to jump.  We looked for a "good spot" but there was none.  We simply had to wallow. And wallow we did.  I was really happy to see Cheech and hear him cheering for me.  I loved seeing my son run along side yelling for his "warrior".

We did it.  We finished together, laughing and hugging, drying in the warm sun. There was mud in our ears and "hay in our asses". I could not have been happier to be with my fellow warriors.

What a great race; grand time, and wonderful memory.

I hope you enjoy the pictures. I thank you for all the encouragement and support. This was fantastic and we have begun to discuss next year's event already.

I can't frickin wait.
HOOYAH!
Enjoy your night. I'm heading for a hot tub soak worthy of a warrior.  My bruises will heal in a few days but my smile will not fade, I think for weeks.