Alpha Race

It was another race filled weekend for The Carnaroonies, although this one was in a whole different ball park!

(awesome Alpha Race gear, personalized dog tags and all)

This race was the Alpha Race.  Charlie and I ran it last night and Ethan and Morgan ran on Saturday.  This is not your typical go run 4 miles and cross the finish line...oh no.  This was running at 10:00 at night in the pitch black with head lamps in the rain in 45 degree weather and facing 12 military style obstacles along the way.  The last one being a 200 foot slip-and-slide ending in an army crawl through a giant mud pit. 

The unfortunate part of the entire thing was because of what we were facing bringing a camera along would not have worked.  We did our best to snap some before and afters but we have no real footage of the actual event. 

We ran the race with some of our closest friends and stuck together the entire time.  We found ourselves many times along the route just the 4 of us and it was prefect.  We laughed and threw our bodies up and over walls some of us more graceful than others.  I often refer to myself as Little Miss Sissy Pants since I am not quite a thrill seeker.  However, last night when I found myself balancing over top of a huge cargo net with nothing but the light of a small headlamp to guide my way I think I may have retired that self given nickname!

The second 1/2 of the race was filled with obstacles and boy was I getting tuckered out towards the end.  I had a huge smile on my face the entire time and I found myself just giggling more and more as the race went on and loving each obstacle more than the previous one.

Here is our after picture.  We may not look all that different but trust me we were soaked to the bone and FREEZING cold.  It all seemed like a dream just moments after we finished.  I can honestly say though that this just may have been one of the most fun nights I have ever had in my entire life and it was so great to share it with amazing friends who will be leaving us in a few short weeks.

We got home and hopped in some hot showers as fast as we could....man did that shower feel good!

The next day was the kiddos turn.  I don't know if they were excited or intimidated after seeing all our messy gear that was left on the floor from the night before but they got their numbers on and were ready to go.

Ethan got to race with his best friend and they also ran with some friends from church which was fun for all of them.  The kids race was 1 mile with 3 obstacles to face and theirs ended the same wonderful way as ours did.

Morgan was the first to finish in our group.  That girl is unstoppable.  They both did great and had fun and I was proud of them for trying something new and difficult.  It was chilly so to convince your kids that it is a good idea to go run through water and down a giant slide and then throw themselves into the mud can be a difficult request but they did wonderful!

The really fun part was after all the races were done they had a chance to help break the current book of world records for the most people down a slip-and-slide in 1 hour.  Charlie and the kids went down a bunch of times but the cold won out and we headed home before the hour was over.  We will have to wait over the next few days to see what the results are.  Either way it was exciting for the kids to give it a shot.

The race was a huge success and a night and day I will NEVER forget.  Anyone up for joining me next year????

UPDATE:

I just checked the paper and it looks like the current record for total feet slid in 1 hour was 82,080 feet.  Drum roll please!!!!!  Our record came in at 118,200 feet so we have oficially broken the world record!  What a fun thing for my kids to be able to say they were able to take part in.

Here are two pictures from the race held Saturday morning that were in the paper.  It will give you some small idea of what we faced!

And last, here is some video footage of Charlie and the kiddos breaking the record!