Viper Challenge 2014

we made it. we conquered viperchallenge 2014. 

i was super looking forward to viper challenge. eugene countless time mentioned that viper stepped up their game and its going to be an experience, and an experience it was. the viper team definitely did amazing. it was a story to tell. i'm pretty sure everyone who conquered viper had their own stories to tell, all equally amazing as my experience. 

i ran with tyler pretty much the entire course. running was the easiest obstacle for me. well technically i wouldn't consider it an obstacle but my team was adamant that it was the most difficult obstacle.

so our flagoff was at 6am, i ran with tyler at a steady pace. we really wanted to avoid que-ing for obstacles. less than a few hundred metres, we were already greeted with a spraying hose. wind, water, and temperatures at 6am in the morning was a recipe for COLD. 

obstacle #1: the first obstacle was the knee-ups obstacle. it looks deceivingly easy. running through this was actually quite tiring. 

obstacle #2: we continued running, in the dark. me and tyler were talking about the ice challenge-how we were hoping that it would be at the end. and speak of the devil, we turned the corner and saw viper slushy. we went damn! it was really cold. i came out the other side feeling like i couldn't breath. and the howling wind right after, didn't help. but we ran on. well i mean running would warm us up so we ran on. 

obstacle #3:next up was the case of danger. basically you tread in this lane of mud water, with a cage above you - not good for the claustrophobic. i'm not that tall. so towards the end, as it got deeper, i was like i'm going to drown in this. haha. 

obstacle #4: next up was the spider wall. i could not see a thing. it was still dark when we got to this obstacle. me and tyler were so confused as to what it was. 

obstacle #5: it was then quite a chillax run to the next obstacle. me and tyler were really slow as we crawled through this. the next guy just went pass us in seconds. we just looked at each other and was like wad so fast. so this is probably where i got my cuts and bruises. 

obstacle # 6: next up was the haystack. first thing tyler said was the hay is going to be painful to touch. haha thankfully he was wrong. 

obstacle #7: this part was really funny. the side parts had no mud. and we didn't see the stuck in the mud sign. it was still quite dark and the sign wasn't very conspicuous. so we weren't sure whether it was an obstacle. so we went to the side and walked through the side. someone from the other obstacle right ahead had to come to us to tell us it was an obstacle. so we went back and went through it. 

obstacle #8: next up were these hills that you had to run down and up the mini hills but the soil was loose. i thought i did pretty okay. i managed to get the hang of it and managed to do this on my own. 

obstacle #9: fire is not my thing. i have this fear of fire. so imagine my worry when i see fire. it took me some time to gather up the courage to jump across the fire, with some encouragement from tyler. actually i didn't want him to wait for me, so i just took a deep breath, ran and leaped. and i never looked back. 

obstacle #10: the rappelling wall-i have never done something like this before, not like i have done any of the obstacles before but this one was high and im scared of heights too. so i did question whether i would be able to make this one. i was so happy when i got off the other side on my own. 

obstacle #11: next up was the electric field with no electric. 

obstacle #12: after that it was quite a run to the incline wall. i had some trouble with this. i jumped and jumped but could not reach the top. i tried using the ledges at the side but my shoes were too muddy and i kept slipping down. so tyler who already went pass the wall came back to give me a boost. 

obstacle #13: this was where we saw eugene. we were like yay eugene. until. we saw the wall behind eugene. we were like what the heck is that thing and how do we get over. it was this massive massive wall. we had to wait for people to catch up to help us over. much thanks to the people who gave me a boost over this. they weren't kidding when they said define gravity. really more like defying gravity. 

obstacle #14: next up was the mini walls. there were so many walls we had to go over. and there was noone there. just me, tyler and the photographer. he took so many pics of us. although i have no idea where the pics are now. we had a few pics at each wall. i think the photographer had nothing better to do, and got really bored. so he decided to follow us from wall to wall. 

obstacle #15: wall street. i was really proud and happy because i made it up this wall on my own. but when coming down i kinda fell. well i let go of the top and landed on my back i don't know how. but i was just overwhelmed with joy. the volunteer went 'do you want a medic' and i just got up and continued running with tyler. at this point tyler had cramping issues. 

obstacle #16: ring swings. again we were really lucky we did not need to que up for this. 

obstacle #17: lake crossing was okay. wadding through the lake like a duck. 

obstacle #18: the next obstacle was this red floating weird wipeout thing. i landed on my face. it wasn't pleasant. i thought it was so funny i just couldn't stop laughing at myself. 

obstacle #19: i liked this obstacle alot. it felt like i was on american ninja warrior. i took quite some time to pull myself up. but i managed to do it. 

obstacle #20: the final obstacle -- everest. i kept trying. i ran. i tumbled i fell so many times. i think about 8 times. then on the 9th or 10th time, i ran and caught hold of tylers hands. thankfully. that joy u cannot imagine. in my head i went don't let go don't let go don't let go. i think alot of people struggled with this obstacle. the later on people used shirts and they even brought out a rope after. 

not too sure what other obstacles i may have missing. but it was a fantastic experience. i enjoyed every single minute of it. i even went 'i should have bought tickets for both saturday and sunday just because i wanted to relive the entire experience.

im sure my team had a great time as well. although we weren't exactly running as a team. i am proud and happy for everyone who completed it. they really gave it their all. and it was amazing seeing them accomplish this. my friends who came to watch, i am sure were inspired by the spirit everyone had, and they were the first to sign up for viper 2015. it was great to see them being inspired to do things like this. i love this kinda thing - im weird. 

something to be on your bucketlist.