Part III: "Alpha! Alpha! ALPHA!!".... ALCATRAZ

The grand finale of the obstacle elements resided in a structure, appropriately called "Alcatraz". It is a 3-tiered structure of galvanized piping, enclosed tunnels of crawl space, and challenges the mental aspect of overcoming the fear of heights. The obstacles themselves are not as technical as previous ones, though Alcatraz demands focus, overcoming fear of heights, and requires upper body strength and endurance. Here in Alcatraz, resided my childhood nemesis, Tree Tops. It also contained, one of my favorite childhood playground activities, monkey bars (or as they call it here, Gorilla bars).

Gorilla Bars - Oh Gorilla bars! You are suppose to be my easy, piece-of-cake obstacle. This was the start of 3 microsecond split decision mistakes that I made that ultimately affected my outcome.

Oh. My. NEMESIS. At a childhood camp experience, I encountered a ropes challenge called the "Leap of Faith". It was part of a ropes course challenge geared towards encouraging teamwork and trust. The last element of that rope's challenge was to climb up to the top of a tree (of course safety harnessed in) and jump out onto a platform and then climb down a ladder. Back then, I recall not being able to focus on jumping to the platform. Seeing the ground below, 25-30 feet down, was paralyzing to the legs. Needless to say, I did not make the jump and held on to the harness as they lowered me down.

Tree Tops --> Various levels of platforms to hop across roughly 30 feet in the air. The distances between the platforms varied as well, though I would estimate no more than 5 feet wide. This was definitely a mental challenge and really not much of a physical one.

Roger's 1st attempt... made it on 2nd.


Ryan on TreeTops


Connie's knee buckling on TreeTops

... cries of "ALPHA! ALPHA! ALPHA!" and an Alcatraz rescue/extraction operation begins..

Kelly on TreeTops



Broken Bars --> They are vertical, horizontal, skewed, higher, and lower hanging bars that move. So the challenge is that you do not have a consistent movement or grip while traversing them.

The initial move goes from minimal momentum getting on the first bar, to having to reach up high to a second uneven bar. Not an easy move. This IS Kelly's AWESOMENESS as anyone will clearly see. First attempt seems daunting...


but she follows through with Determination. Tenacity. 110% sheer toughness. All done with a smile. =) So glad the GoPro captured this so I could replay and see it!


Keith on Broken Bars


The End.

Alpha Warrior completed!

The joy of victory... and oh, the agony of defeat!
Overall, Alpha Warrior's obstacles were challenging, but not as hard as we thought it would be. It is definitely doable for the average athlete, and seems more about technique. Grip strength was a plus, which seemed to come easy to the rock climbers of our group. I should have thought better about the grip strength, as Gorilla Bars with gloves was my first downfall mistake. Split second decision to use gloves to protect the hands resulted in very slippery grip. Second mistake was to make an attempt with the gloves, knowing it was slippery. A fluke awkward fall led to injury of the knee, though I did not think anything of it at the time and continued. Third mistake. I continued onto TreeTops and TreeTops finished off the knee. Initial ortho consultation indicates ACL injury.. so, looks like I'm going to be out for a while, at least for the 2013/2014 season. I am bummed as I will not be able to compete in any more races for a long while.. as well as the road to recovery will not be an easy one. I have spent a week eating sweet sugary comfort foods as I re-focus on what is next. The unexpected, though not welcomed, is an opportunity to switch gears and to create new goals. Regardless of the outcome, Alpha Warrior was a great experience. It was fun for the family and friends, and it was great to really focus and develop a disciplined training. I will Alpha again... if it comes back around in 2-3 more years. =P