I should have written this post about a week ago but life has a tendency to get in the way of writing. Not today. I competed in the 2011 Ruckus Run Kansas City on the 5th of November. It was held out at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley, Missouri. You can see the course for yourself here: http://www.runruckus.com/kc-course.html
For those of you pondering doing an obstacle style race, similar to Warrior Dash or Tough Mudder this is a good place to start. The race itself is four miles long with around twenty five obstacles. In this particular incantation, the course was flat but very muddy, so the speed during the times between the obstacles was tempered by the caked shoes and bleeding legs (more on that later). The race is also divided into waves, starting at 9:00am and going off every thirty minutes until 1:30pm. They scheduled a championship heat for 2:15pm. In order to qualify for the finals you had to finish in the top 10% of your division, not wave. My division was 0-44 men with the majority coming from the ranks of the 20-30 age bracket.
My race started at 10:30am and lucky for me because we got lost on the way there and missed the 10:00am wave that I hoped to run in. I wanted that one because my company, Perceptive Software, had organized a team of twenty people that were going to run together. I can tell you right now, my intention was to start with the team, but my goal was to beat all of their asses. As we lined up at the start the usual butterflies abounded in my belly as I jumped and shook the chill out of my legs. It was overcast, around forty five degrees, and had rained a few days before so I would say conditions were ideal. As I looked around it became rather apparent that I was grossly underdressed for this endeavor. All around me dudes had on gloves, high socks, trail running shoes, goggles, for a moment I had an oh crap moment but at that point what can you do. Also, in front of me were around ten guys, a few of them had various KCFD shirts on and looked rather serious. I was wearing my race running shorts, t-shirt, and mandatory headband. Not mandatory from the race officials, mandatory to my personal racing philosophy. As last minute instructions were blarred out from the starters megaphone, I could think only of how long it was going to take me to pass these fools.
BANG! Off we go! We started out with some baricades and then through a long straightaway calve deep mud, once we got through that we hit some walls and then up a steep slope with a rope. I had to have some help from the back on this one, as I chose the middle route (they were yelling at us not to take it) and some gent had to shove me hard on the backside so I could scamper up to the top. Once that debacle was behind me it was smooth sailing. After a variety of obstacles I was out in front and by myself after about a mile. The rest of the race alternated between completing an obstacle (walls, ropes, nets, mud, ramps) and running. I felt like I was carrying a good pace but I couldn't tell without mile markers and my watch was covered in mud it made me focus on how many foot strikes I was making per minute. While I do love math, it becomes difficult to do calculations when you are schimming along 15 foot high ranger bars.
Somewhere between mile two and three, I just started passing people from the previous heat. That must be discouraging. I am of the belief that you don't speak unless you are spoken to if you are passing someone. That is not to say you don't say, "excuse me" or "on your left" if you have to but telling someone, "good job" or "keep it up" when they are struggling or looking terrible is just pouring salt on your wound.
The finishing area on for this event was pretty cool. Both participants and spectators had to walk under one of the obstacles to get to the finishing area. My girls thought that was so cool. Watching grown people flounder around on netting while dripping mud was a sight to behold. Ruby kept remarking that mud was falling on her as she laughed and ran under the obstacle again. I saw my wife and kids when I entered that last area and they cheered me on. I flashed Emily the, I'm in first place sign, and she started pumping me up. I literally felt like I was dominating the obstacles, skipping ropes and just running up things. As I passed the final ropes and hit the finish line a rush of satisfaction hit me. I won my heat.
Regarding posting results, the Ruckus beats every other race I have ever ran. Literally five minutes after I finished they had updated and posted results. At that time I was fourth overall and second in my division. That meant I had qualified for the finals. I didn't run in them. Basically, I thought I had to work at the bar that night (ended up getting texted that I didn't need to come in) so I didn't think it made sense to make the family wait around for me to run just to race back home as soon as we were done. In hindsight, I should have done it. I think I would have gotten second place overall. I ended up 13th overall and 11th in my age group: http://racewire.com/ruckus_kansascity_results.php?firstname=&lastname=Keefe&town=&bibnumber=
The first place guy ran a 24:41 and I ran a 31:44. That dude was seriously hauling tail. You have to think it took at least four minutes to compete over twenty obstacles so that mean in actuality he wasn't running six minute miles but five minute miles. That ridiculous. The second place guy ran 28 minutes, I could have caught him if I was racing.
Finally, this race offered a couple of other things that were first times for us. Ruby got to run in the kids mini-ruckus. She tore it up but was disappointed because there were no mud pits. I was disappointed as well because there were no mud pits. Come on, these are kids they love mud. After hosing myself off and doing my best to get somewhat cleaned up I kept having this nagging feeling that the inside of my ankles were burning. Well this is what remains of a rope burn from ten days ago.
Sorry for the picture but words to not do it justice. I have this on both legs. One of the obstacles was a rope that you had to hook your legs around and pull with your arms to cross a span of about twenty feet. Who knew that rope burn was possible? I came to that realization when in the shower I thought someone had set fire to my ankles.
For those of you pondering doing an obstacle style race, similar to Warrior Dash or Tough Mudder this is a good place to start. The race itself is four miles long with around twenty five obstacles. In this particular incantation, the course was flat but very muddy, so the speed during the times between the obstacles was tempered by the caked shoes and bleeding legs (more on that later). The race is also divided into waves, starting at 9:00am and going off every thirty minutes until 1:30pm. They scheduled a championship heat for 2:15pm. In order to qualify for the finals you had to finish in the top 10% of your division, not wave. My division was 0-44 men with the majority coming from the ranks of the 20-30 age bracket.
My race started at 10:30am and lucky for me because we got lost on the way there and missed the 10:00am wave that I hoped to run in. I wanted that one because my company, Perceptive Software, had organized a team of twenty people that were going to run together. I can tell you right now, my intention was to start with the team, but my goal was to beat all of their asses. As we lined up at the start the usual butterflies abounded in my belly as I jumped and shook the chill out of my legs. It was overcast, around forty five degrees, and had rained a few days before so I would say conditions were ideal. As I looked around it became rather apparent that I was grossly underdressed for this endeavor. All around me dudes had on gloves, high socks, trail running shoes, goggles, for a moment I had an oh crap moment but at that point what can you do. Also, in front of me were around ten guys, a few of them had various KCFD shirts on and looked rather serious. I was wearing my race running shorts, t-shirt, and mandatory headband. Not mandatory from the race officials, mandatory to my personal racing philosophy. As last minute instructions were blarred out from the starters megaphone, I could think only of how long it was going to take me to pass these fools.
BANG! Off we go! We started out with some baricades and then through a long straightaway calve deep mud, once we got through that we hit some walls and then up a steep slope with a rope. I had to have some help from the back on this one, as I chose the middle route (they were yelling at us not to take it) and some gent had to shove me hard on the backside so I could scamper up to the top. Once that debacle was behind me it was smooth sailing. After a variety of obstacles I was out in front and by myself after about a mile. The rest of the race alternated between completing an obstacle (walls, ropes, nets, mud, ramps) and running. I felt like I was carrying a good pace but I couldn't tell without mile markers and my watch was covered in mud it made me focus on how many foot strikes I was making per minute. While I do love math, it becomes difficult to do calculations when you are schimming along 15 foot high ranger bars.
Somewhere between mile two and three, I just started passing people from the previous heat. That must be discouraging. I am of the belief that you don't speak unless you are spoken to if you are passing someone. That is not to say you don't say, "excuse me" or "on your left" if you have to but telling someone, "good job" or "keep it up" when they are struggling or looking terrible is just pouring salt on your wound.
The finishing area on for this event was pretty cool. Both participants and spectators had to walk under one of the obstacles to get to the finishing area. My girls thought that was so cool. Watching grown people flounder around on netting while dripping mud was a sight to behold. Ruby kept remarking that mud was falling on her as she laughed and ran under the obstacle again. I saw my wife and kids when I entered that last area and they cheered me on. I flashed Emily the, I'm in first place sign, and she started pumping me up. I literally felt like I was dominating the obstacles, skipping ropes and just running up things. As I passed the final ropes and hit the finish line a rush of satisfaction hit me. I won my heat.
Regarding posting results, the Ruckus beats every other race I have ever ran. Literally five minutes after I finished they had updated and posted results. At that time I was fourth overall and second in my division. That meant I had qualified for the finals. I didn't run in them. Basically, I thought I had to work at the bar that night (ended up getting texted that I didn't need to come in) so I didn't think it made sense to make the family wait around for me to run just to race back home as soon as we were done. In hindsight, I should have done it. I think I would have gotten second place overall. I ended up 13th overall and 11th in my age group: http://racewire.com/ruckus_kansascity_results.php?firstname=&lastname=Keefe&town=&bibnumber=
The first place guy ran a 24:41 and I ran a 31:44. That dude was seriously hauling tail. You have to think it took at least four minutes to compete over twenty obstacles so that mean in actuality he wasn't running six minute miles but five minute miles. That ridiculous. The second place guy ran 28 minutes, I could have caught him if I was racing.
Finally, this race offered a couple of other things that were first times for us. Ruby got to run in the kids mini-ruckus. She tore it up but was disappointed because there were no mud pits. I was disappointed as well because there were no mud pits. Come on, these are kids they love mud. After hosing myself off and doing my best to get somewhat cleaned up I kept having this nagging feeling that the inside of my ankles were burning. Well this is what remains of a rope burn from ten days ago.
\Sorry for the picture but words to not do it justice. I have this on both legs. One of the obstacles was a rope that you had to hook your legs around and pull with your arms to cross a span of about twenty feet. Who knew that rope burn was possible? I came to that realization when in the shower I thought someone had set fire to my ankles.
I look forward to running this again and I already signed up for my next adventure, the Tough Mudder Missouri. You can get shocked by 10,000 volts in one of their obstacles. Sounds fun!
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