year! Although it hosted many of their signature,
Over the next 8 miles we faced a gauntlet of
challenging obstacles, the terrain and course
challenges. Early on we encountered a knee deep
itself was
trek through ice cold water and thick mud. With
completely different! The race felt
fresh and new, with a few familiar
portions that reminded me of
frozen limbs we then entered a trail run through the
woods that included a couple of forks in the path
the quality and adventure that
where runners were forced to select a direction.
defines the HMR event.
Choose the wrong path and you would eventually
This year’s event, hosted
atop a mountain at the Midstate
Airport in Philipsburg, PA, did
not provide the insane amounts
of elevation that we had previously encountered
(whew!), but the 8 mile course was not lacking in
happen upon a tree marked “end” and be forced
to make your way back to the fork to embark on
the alternate route provided (I thought this was a
really neat idea being that this is an un-timed event,
therefore taking the wrong fork won’t upset anyone
over time or overall place!).
intensity or challenge. We began at 8:00am, and not
There were walls to scale (8, 10, & 12 feet tall),
50 feet into the race, were greeted by two grinning
the darkest, creepiest tunnel crawl I have ever done
firemen eagerly pointing fire hoses directly into our
(seriously, it was pitch black), a 1 mile 50 pound
path.
sandbag carry (yeah, you heard me, one mile.), thin
Now that’s a way to wake you up! The freezing
blasts of water chilled us to the bone, propelling us
forward in hopes that running would quickly warm
our soaked bodies.
balance beams suspended over water, a
cargo net climb, and lots and lots of
running through the bright,
fall-hued woods.
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