Call Me Fearless

Immuvit Fearless Challenge

Among the races I’ve completed this year was the Immuvit Fearless Challenge, which consist of two obstacle trail run and one metafit race.  Surviving is one thing but going through the whole experience is another.  To tell you honestly, I never expected I can finish and survive all obstacles thrown at me.  I was even expecting to use the 2 minute time penalty rule in case there were obstacle that I can’t hurdle.   Trail was an unfamiliar terrain and so was jumping through fires, climbing oil, skipping through tires, military and mud wall which ranges from 20-50 meter, jumping through log hurdles, walking a kilometer against the rapids and going through a chest deep swamp and the other obstacles.  Even a Metafit Race was a unique concept.  I guess that’s what 2012 was all about my running experiences, trying out new types of races.

Leg 1: No Surrender – 10K Obstacle Run – La Mesa Nature Reserve (Pre Race / Race) – August 26, 2012

La Mesa Nature Reserve was the perfect scenic place to enjoy my first trail run.   Learned my first lesson in trail running, while the surface is hard and even, it’s time to speed up as when it gets soft and slippery, it’s gonna be a struggle.  I was able to get past the obstacle from the fire jump, mud crawl, log hurdles, military wall, tire skip and a 20 foot vertical climb in a very slippery mud wall.  I suffered an inflamed tailbone after falling off hard on my butt in the military wall midway to the run.  In hindsight, I am still in awe how I was able to finish the race when I couldn’t even sit for the next few days without pain.  Somehow, maybe it was the No Surrender part that took over and that fueled me to finish my first trail run.

Leg 2: No Excuses – Metafit Race – Quezon City Circle (Pre Race / Race) – September 29, 2012

I was sidelined for two weeks not allowed to do any workouts because of the inflamed tail bone but was able to come back on time for leg 2 and it was a Metafit Race.  While I haven’t joined a Metafit race before, a beat-yourself-up core workout with a burst of running is not new to me as this is one of our frequent workout routine.  The Metafit Race was quick, intense and pain-filled as in less than 10 minutes, you get to do 20 sets of Rip60 Pull Ups, Tire Flips, 20 Swipe Push Ups, Tire Pull, Lunges with 40 pounds of weights and 20 sets of burpees with push ups. The race course was the historic Quezon City Memorial Circle.  That’s definitely a short bout with pain but this really helps improve overall condition and makes one stronger in the latter part of the race. 2 down one to go.

Leg 3: No Turning Back – 16K Obstacle Run – Nuvali, Sta Rosa (Pre Race / Race) – October 6, 2012

The last is definitely the toughest one and being included in the latter waves had me running solo for the first 13 kilometers of the run and that isn’t a good feeling if you’re out in the trail with no idea where you are with the only diversion were obstacles such as a fire jump a 5- foot oil wall, tire skips and mountains, log hurdles and sand bags.  The idea is no turning back so just had to endure going through the endless trails until I finally caught up with the previous waves in a kilometer long river crossing which was really exhausting.  Then followed the mud crawl, chest deep swamp and an even higher military wall.  Of course, since the slide in the military wall caused my inflamed tailbone, crossing the higher and more inclined military wall was satisfying and the final right of passage to being fearless.  One dip in the ice pool and fire jump later, there was the finish line and officially completing three leg of the fearless challenge.

Call Me Fearless

Getting my Fearless Shirt had me reminiscing on the fearless journey and a reminder that we just don’t know what we can do until we try it.  Going through 3 legs of hardcore challenges was definitely one of the highlights of the year.  I went through all the obstacles and got past all of it and I didn’t even use the option to take the time penalty.  It was definitely great to experience the trails with odds and obstacles like this.  It’s nice to belong to the pack of the FEARLESS.