Superhero Scramble NIGHT WAVE 2013

I was ready for this race and pumped a week out. I have never done a night run before and a night trail run sounded challenging and fun. But I know me…I know how much of a klutz I am and I have been having nightmares about getting lost or hurt in the trails and having to be carried back to civilization. Common fears…right.

 But as it got closer and closer…one friend after another bailed on me…all the way up to race day.

I pulled into the parking lot (grass lot) at Amelia Earhart Park and text the last of my friends set to race…see where she wanted to meet up and ask if she was here yet, and surprise…I didn’t even get a text back, she had bailed as well.  So it was the 2^nd race of 2013 and the 2^nd race of 2013 that I would be doing alone. I did have a co-worker that I knew was going to be there with some of his friends…so at least I would be 100% alone if I got lost or hurt in the woods. :)

The Night Wave started at 7:30 PM and boy was it dark! YES you did need to have a headlamp to run, and you needed it. We are all so use to living in the city (or some type of civilization) where there are street lights and traffic lights and store lights…but in the middle of the park…where none of that is visible, it got dark!

So I set off to do the race…alone. I have a feeling that doing runs alone is going to be something trending this year for me, but as long as I get to my 24 I don’t care!

The trail was backwards from the ways I had done it in the past (with the Down to Earth races) and this trail took me to different parts that I had never seen before (or I had but didn’t recognize because it was so dark).

At every obstacle, they had attendants there with lights to help you if anything happened, which was really great and because it was the night wave there were not many people so none of the obstacles had any lines (I was also at the beginning of the pack, so I can’t say 100% that the lines didn’t form later). Some of the obstacles were closed for the Night Wave for safety reasons, but we still got to take the leap of faith, climb over walls, run through tires, carry buckets of water, do the military mile (which was my favorite – lungs, burpees, push-ups…I beat all the guys!!), jump over fire, dive into freezing water, slide down the MASSIVE slime slide and much more! It was 4 miles of fun! I really did enjoy it! My GPS went out about 1.5 miles in so I am not sure what the exact result is.

**hopefully my water logged GPS starts to work again soon!**

My co-worker btw totally smoked it and I watched as he slowly vanished leaving his friends and me in his wake (boy is FAST!)

So while alone, stumbling through the trails (we – at the front of the group – were pretty much spread apart now that no one was right in front or behind me) I ran into a new person. I meet this guy Mike from South Miami area. He had already run the race in the morning and had gone off to do the Jungle Obstacle Race down south and come back for the night wave of the Superhero Scramble. Talk about a BEAST! But at least it tired him out to run along with me so that if I did get attacked by a Florida Panther or a Water Moccasin someone would be around to call for help and drag my dying and bleeding body back to civilization. Plus he had a very nice and bright headlamp (mine was dim and crappy) so it was nice to be able to see the roots popping out of the ground trying to drag me down instead of falling over all of them.

As I am sure you other runners/racers do…I had been keeping my eyes out to see how many people were in front of me and how many females passes me and about halfway through the race…I was pretty sure I was in first place.

By the time I crossed the finish line I was hyped with adrenaline and ready to know what my time was!

Well I may have been disappointed with myself for race #1 of 2013 but I CRUSHED race #2!!

1st place overall female

1st place in female age group (19 – 29)

10th overall night wave

My time was 1 hr and 9 min, but I was totally proud with that considering it was trails…at night…with obstacles! BOOYAH!

The guy I ran it with Mike, also did really well, but my co-worker did amazing coming in at something like 3 overall for the night wave!

That is right I am one kickass lady! So even though I did this race let’s see if I can keep this momentum up for 2013!!  

My next race (3^rd of 2013) is the MIAMI ING!! WHOOHOO! I am doing the half, not the full J 13.1 is enough for me…for now. This will be my 2^nd Half Marathon and 1^st time participating in a race of this size. I am nervous and have NO idea what to expect, but either way, I plan to do my best and have fun!