Prathima's Miles & Milestones

It was utter madness! But it was a blast for sure. “Go big or go home” was the mindset everyone had for these obstacle courses. The time to relive the moments of ‘Takeshi’s castle’ 🙂

On D-day, we started early wearing the free gear provided by the Devil’s Circuit team which we picked during our bib collection — Head scarf, ankle sleeves, etc.

All we had to do was trust the strength training we imbibe in our endurance journey. Warmed up & we split into groups — Some had enrolled for competitive batches & some into non-competitive which had no timing chip inbuilt on the bibs.

The warm was super good — better than any marathons as it was with trained choreographers. It was super energetic Bollywood songs & moves were classy. We burst into laughter & over-enjoyed when it was Kannada songs & the signature moves as well.

People were segregated in waves waiting for their turn. I was a part of at least 3 warm-ups as I loved the choreographies. Soon it was my turn. The introduction was honest, true, and upfront with no beating around the bush. One of the sentences is ingrained in my brain. “No matter how fit you are, there will be at least three obstacles that you cannot conquer. If you go beyond your limits, Manipal Hospital is just next door. Ambulance is ready & waiting.” This mentally prepped us to move cautiously, leave the ego behind for many more races on our calendar to accomplish & remind us of our previous injuries & the break. They also promoted the same race in multiple locations in case we fail, prep, & attempt again.

The event started with dry/land obstacles first. The entire course was a threat to shorter people in general. In the non-competitive, there were many helping hands which I loved. As a short girl, I had to rely on the support used to set up the obstacles & do all the monkeying around. Some later used my shortcuts. Monkeying around includes — crawling, climbing, jumping, or making sudden switches.

After reaching the heights of some land obstacles, I realised the reason we signed the “waiver form”. It was risky. But worth the risk as well. Sunlight & dust in the air did add to the trouble of the obstacles after reaching the top. Nothing grows in the comfort zone as they say. The feeling of accomplishment after clearing one after the other was unmatched. The list of obstacles is listed here for reference.

Technically, we land in the water obstacles after the land/dry ones where one’s hand is supposed to be dry for all the climbs & ropes. The course was well thought of. The best part of water ones is the no fear of injury if we fail though it was dirty, muddy water 🙂 Shoes were in unrecognizable colours. Some were individual & some needed a command & teamwork. Though we helped each other, we could not recognise each other later on in the course as we were covered in mud. It was fun though. The childhood dreams of getting dirtier were claimed in this course.

And, in an hour, we ended up in the final one — Brain Freeze. Logically, it was a good way to end the course with recovery. It was a slide landing us in a pool of ice at a temperature of 10 to 20°c. It was literally a ‘brain freeze’ moment. Even my little toe felt the freezing temperature. It felt way heavier to get out with the water & lot of force! The watch was beeping for a high heartbeat & finally finished the course as a strength workout in the smartwatch. Out of the world experience. Would definitely attempt it again & again.

Leave your experience in the comments, if you have attempted an OCR or any of the Spartan races.