I guess the true sign that you had a good time being outdoor is putting a load of laundry in the machine and having to set it to "heavy duty" washing mode and cross fingers your clothes will go back to their actual colour. :D
That's what happened after completing the very muddy Viper Challenge held in Sepang International Circuit for the second time two Sundays ago.
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| WOOHOO. |
It started looking upwards when I arrived at the event venue in Sepang International Circuit after an hour of driving from home (yes, it is THAT far), and met up with Emma (my running buddy from KVRC) and her friend, Cikut.
I have never tried my Salomon shoes on really hardcore muddy trail since I bought it, so at first I was quite worried that it will fall apart - like what happened to my Nike in the same event last year. But considering that I didn't have any other choice, I wore it anyway and thought to myself that this is probably a good time to test it out and see if it can endure what Viper has to offer.
We registered for the 7am wave, but for some reasons, flag-off was delayed for almost 45 minutes and by the time we started, sun was already out. Meh. Once the run started, all the climbing and sliding down muddy trails felt far too fun for my crankiness to survive and I ended up having a blast (with minor cuts and bruises included, of course). It did feel a little bit demotivating at first when I realized that 4 of our team members can't make it that morning, but thankfully the other participants of the event are the nicest people you can find and with a push here and a hand there, we aced most of the obstacles and the feeling you get after completing each obstacle was nothing short of amazing.
We took it slow and steady through the entire course and sometimes I caught myself smiling like an idiot as my shoes dug through the pits and puddles of the orange-y brown mud. If there is one secret to enjoying wet trails and something as grueling as Viper, it's really to just not give a shit. Once you stop caring, then you'll be able to enjoy the fun.
Knowing that I will be covered in mud, I didn't dare carrying my phone along while I was on the course. So I made you a really realistic representation of what I'm pretty sure I looked like from behind:
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| (My drawing is so good, it looks almost 3D, don't you think?) *pats self* |
The body balancing classes I took at the gym came in handy with the slippery downhills and I managed to complete the entire course without breaking any part of my body - an absolute victory in my books. To be frank, can't say that I loved every second of it (definitely didn't feel any love for the 4-hours-under-the-scorching-sun bit), but once I got into it, the time I spent enjoying it far outweighed the time I spent in the beginning wishing I was back in bed.
I didn't train myself enough for the event (well, for most events actually), so the muscle sore I had from Viper stayed for a good one week. Anyhow, I was happy that the following week rolled in nicely after a fantastic event that brightened up an otherwise pretty dull Sunday.
Since I didn't have any brag-worthy photos to show off here (except for the medal photo), here's a pretty awesome video (recorded by one of the participants) that brings you through how some of the obstacles we went through that day looked like. It's a 10-minute video, so you might wanna grab a can of soda and 3 big bags of chips before you press the start button. (Yeah, I'm all about eating healthy). :>
Here's the link to the video in case the damn widget won't upload: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy03WtXO7tw
If you may excuse me - now I need to go and figure out the quickest and easiest method to thoroughly get the mud off my shoes, which I believe is a whole workout in itself. *cry*
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| Anyone wanna help me? |
