Run: Mean Streats Urban Obstacle Course

Red faced, sweating, dirty and hot...but I did it. And I can't wait to do it again.

On Saturday I ran the Means Streets Urban Obstacle Race. It was just shy of a 5K and a shit ton of fun! The race consisted of 16 obstacles ranging from dumpster diving to cargo climbing with some running (or walking) thrown in shits and giggles too.

I received an email from Groupon about this race and clicked through to check it out. I thought it looked fun and had decided to do it whether I could find someone to run with me or not.  Thankfully my neighbor, Angie, was willing to run with me. I purchased the Groupon and got us all signed up for the race.

Mean Streets invited the participants to dress up in costumes, but it wasn't mandatory. Looking back, Angie and I wished we would've dressed up in a super hero shirt or something else fun. A lot of the runners had done so. We'll be prepared for next year. I did wear a sweatshirt, crazy. I was sweating so much I got sweat in my eyes.

The race was ran in waves that went ever 15 minutes and started at 5PM. Our wave was at 530. Most of the other people in our wave looked like runners so we opted to hang out at the back of the pack since we figured we'd end up being passed up anyway and were going to take our time. That's exactly what happened. The lady said go and the pack was off with us trailing behind. We were a good ways behind our group...so much so that 7 runners from the 6PM wave passed us up (there was no 545 wave). As the 7th runner passed I said to Angie that I wasn't going to let anyone else pass us and no one else did.

It didn't matter how fast we ran, we were going to finish the race no matter what. The obstacles definitely made it a little more difficult. There was a lot of climbing and crawling. Of the 16 obstacle I only skipped over 3. And I only skipped them because I didn't think I'd be able to defeat them without getting hurt (I did have to work the next day). I was actually surprised that I did more of the obstacles than Angie did since she's been working out about 5 days a week for the past couple of years. She's definitely more fit than I am.

After the race we had some snacks provided by Mean Streets, listened to some music and watch some of the other participants finish the race. As one gentleman was attempting the balance beam slipped (straddling the bar) there was a collective groan from all the men. It was fun cheering others along.

Part of what I enjoyed about this race is that our course wasn't blocked off from walking traffic. We had to dodge people walking along the side walk and even passed by a wedding reception and a couple of other couples taking wedding pictures. It was hard to contain ourselves. I wanted to photo bomb the fancy wedding reception with my red, sweaty face. Instead we ran past waving our arms in the air and shouted that zombies were chasing us.

I definitely want to run more of these races and am looking into a mud run and another color run. They're definitely more fun when I've got someone to run with me. Looks like I need to find someone who doesn't mind getting a little dirty.

reading - Six Earlier Days by David Leviathan This post brought to you in part by: