Race Recap: UIVA Warrior Challenge

UIVA Warrior Challenge 4/22/18 Coralville, IA

Weather: High 40s, sunny

Trails: Mix of grass and concrete/asphalt

Distance: 5K, 8 obstacles

Started the spring/summer race season with a small, local 5K urban obstacle race that benefits the University of Iowa Veterans Affairs. The course is 5K on a combination of grassy paths/fields, local recreation trails, and sidewalks/parking lots. I arrived at around 7:45 AM for a 9 AM start (packet pickup ends at 8:30 AM, which is odd). The parking situation isn't ideal, as the designated lot was a 5-minute (fast) walk from the start area, but there were certainly enough spaces for everyone and it was free. Pickup itself was smooth and the swag was plentiful. Got coozies, sunglasses, a Bears lanyard (I HATE the Bears, but I can give it away), a technical fabric t-shirt, and a dog tag, along with my bib and chip. At a meeting just before race start, the course was totally explained to us. There would be no surprises today! Waves were being sent off with 12 people every 90 seconds. I think they were organized by sign-up order because I signed up quite early and was in wave 1. Highly recommended!

Race started on time in a grassy field, where we encountered our first obstacle, a balance beam of zig-zagging 4x4s that had only a slight wobble. From there we ran through grass to the next obstacle about 1/4 mile away, which was a low crawl under plastic netting (about 2' high) for about 40 feet. Thankfully I practice crawls and was quite fast. Then we had to run through a small field of tires for about 40-50 feet before getting onto a recreation trail and going up a VERY steep hill to a parking lot which held two obstacles. First was a double sandbag carry out and back to a line, for a total of only about 50 meters. The sandbags weighed about 25 total pounds, making this quite easy. Then was a tire flip where we had to flip a tire about 10 times to another part of the lot. The tire weighed about 150 lb and was very easy to flip. Neither of these obstacles had male vs female distinctions - everyone carried the same sandbags and flipped the same tires. Compared to Spartan male tires, this would feel extremely easy.

From the parking lot we continued on the trail to a low and high wall. The lone water stop was at this point (they handed out bottles to anyone who wanted one) so I knew we were halfway done. The low wall was about 4.5 feet high and I actually had a bit of difficulty trying to get over it without screwing up my shirt (we had to pin bibs to our fronts and I did NOT want to risk ripping my lucky Packers tank top!). The high wall was around 9 feet high and had boards going up to climb up, making it fairly easy. At the top I had to figure out how to get my feet up and over, but from there it was an easy grab-and-drop to the ground and keep on running. This was the longest continuous running stretch, about a mile straight and mostly downhill. Easy to coast! It was on this stretch of road that I finally got caught by a woman. I was pleased by my front-running abilities :)

Near the University of Iowa football complex we finally came across another obstacle - 2 A-frame walls in a row, both about 12 feet high with about a 75-degree pitch. There were 2x4 boards nailed across the walls in a sort of ladder/step that was easy to climb up and over as long as you made sure where to place your feet. In these two walls I put some distance between me and the ladies in my wave (I had been doing that on all the obstacles, actually - training pays off!). I needed a bit of a walk break though, and they caught me going into the next obstacle, which was a paracord maze that resembled the way a jewelry store might have lasers crossing the room in all directions to sound an alarm. This was trickier than it looked! I almost tripped several times and got a cramp in my abs that thankfully eased up as soon as I got through. Also thankfully, I managed to keep my gap with the other gals in my wave! So far only one chick had passed me in this race! 

The paracord maze was the last obstacle, leaving about 1/2-mile run to the finish, which was again largely downhill (we got to go back down that VERY steep hill that we climbed up earlier). On the downhill I was passed by a pack of 3 sprinting ladies. All good front-running must come to an end when wave starts happen! I was determined to run all the way to the finish and I did. I estimate that I only walked about 10% of the distance of this race, total, and most of those walks were uphill. My finish time was 36:20, which was in the top half of females in this race and far better than my goal of "under 40 minutes." Apples, bananas, bagels and water were available for finishers.

Pros:

-Small. It's nice to do a race that isn't crowded. The wave start was well done and I liked the fairness of having people start based on their sign-up date. I never had to wait to do an obstacle and never felt like the trails were congested. 

-Price. The race cost me $40 because I signed up early, and it's nice to be able to practice on some obstacles and know that part of my entry went to a good cause.

-Swag. Liked that they had some different offerings, like sunglasses and a lanyard (even if the Bears are evil incarnate).

Cons:

-No bells and whistles. No bag check, no finisher medal, no photographers. If you require these features, look elsewhere.

-Few obstacles. There were only 8. They were good, basic obstacles but presented very little challenge for people accustomed to the difficulty of, say, Spartan or Abominable Snow Race. That would be a pro, though, for total beginners or fairly untrained participants.

Race Grade: B. With only 8 obstacles it is more of a runner's event (I am a bad runner), and there aren't tons of amenities, but it is a quality race and a good way to spend a Sunday morning!