Race Report and Review: Superhero Scramble Villain

 So . . . we signed up for the Superhero Scramble using a deal on Living Social a LONG time ago.  When we did it, it was for the Intimidator course, which was supposed to be 8 miles.  When we did it, I figured it would be a fun "last long run" before Ragnar (before I knew how crazy I would get it my training, to the point 8 miles really isn't a "long run" anymore . . . )  It was meant to be a fun chance to do something crazy with a bunch of girls at the gym, except most of them bailed/moved/were injured.  So it ended up being just Brad and I.  Brad and I don't usually run together, because I run an 11 min/mile +/- and he runs in the 9:30 min/mile territory.  Those two just don't mix well.     At some point, the powers that be at Superhero Scramble decided to add a "Villain" course to this race, which is advertised as "13+ miles".  They also moved the race from Miami up to Deerfield Beach, a LONG way from our house.

Whatever, we rolled with the punches.  We somehow ended up registered for the Villain.  Don't ask me how, I still have no idea.   We debated downgrading to the Intimidator, but decided we could swing 13 miles.    We headed up to stay with my friend Jess on Friday night, and she watched the kids.  The first wave wasn't supposed to start until 9:00, and our wave at 9:15, but we headed up to the park at 7.  We arrived by 8, and there was already a line for parking.  A short line, but a line all the same.  After we got our numbers, we started chatting with a couple ladies from New York, who said they were told the course was 20 miles for the Villain.  Wait, what?  What happened to "13+"?  That's a lot of "+".   But then the MC for the event announced 8 miles for the Intimidator, 16 miles for the Villain.  Okay, that's still a lot of "+", but better than 20, right??  RIGHT???   Right after that the MC announced parking was such a disaster that they would be delaying the start.   Our wave, which was scheduled for 9:15, didn't start until 9:40.  During this time, I managed to down half my hydropack, because it was already hot and humid.  In a major case of forshadowing, there was no water at the finish line water station, so I couldn't refill.  Oh well.  I ditched my shirt, because it was seriously hot.  I'm super selfconcious, but if we *were* running over 15 miles, I wanted to stay cool.  So whatever. 

Here we are before the race

Race started, there were some simple obstacles along the way.  And then we hit the trails.  HOLY TRAILS.  We were literally running black diamond single track mountainbiking trails for 4-5 miles.  It was INTENSE.  And hot.  And there was only a single water station on the entire course.  But we held our own.  I didn't fall on my face, which was a WIN considering how intense those trails were.   The entire time though, I was thinking what a PERFECT Ragnar training run it was.

Then, after what felt like hours, we finally got to an obstacle that wasn't a wall, and the chance to get wet.  The "Leap of Faith" is a 20-30 leap into the lake, followed by a 250ish yard lake swim.

Photo Courtesy of Superhero Scramble

When we got there, things were a little crazy.  Multiple people were having to be rescued.  There was  a rope for people to hold on to, but it went across the ENTIRE swim and was swamped with people.  We waited for a good 10 minutes while they sorted that out.  It got cloudy and started raining.  We finally got to go.  SO FUN to jump from that high, and the lake swim wasn't a big deal.  It was just awkward swimming in shoes and with the hydropack.

Climbed a net to get out of the lake.  Passed the *only* other water station on the course immediately after that.  About 10 minutes later, we stopped to provide medical assistance to a guy who had immobilizing leg cramps and was probably majorly dehydrated.  At some point we passed a mile 7 marker.  Only the 2nd mile marker on the entire course.  But whatever.  There was a balance beam obstacle, which was cool.

There was the Arach-net-phobia, which was seriously cool.   And no, I didn't mange to climb the rope.  I used to be scared to death of heights, so I felt pretty bad ass doing this obstacle.

Photo courtesy of Superhero Scramble

Other than some rock walls, which are always fun, there weren't any other "awesome" obstacles.  There was a row of deep, steep pits that were challenging.  There was a cinder block pull and a sandbag carry.  *Yippee*  NO mud.  Although it was nice reminder of how much Body Pump pays off.  :-)

As we were heading through the parking lot, we started strategizing how we would survive the next loop of the course.  Because it had DEFINITELY been way more than a mile since we had seen the "Mile 7" sign.   We stopped at the car to get extra nutrition and refill the hydropack.  Then headed out for our second loop.  We saw a guy right after the split for the Intimidator course who had clocked 9.5 miles on his GPS.  Yeah, NOT 8. 

We managed the 2nd loop.  But things were dire back at the first waterstop.  They had run out of cups, there were lines, 2 jugs, and everyone drinking from the jug.  DIRE.  We refilled our hydropack.  The 2 guys working the water stop said that they only had two jugs of water left.  We walked a lot on the trails during the second loop, but still passed a lot of Intimidator people from the later waves.  When the trails finally ended, we did the "Leap" again, and swam the lake.  Balance beam was harder the 2nd time around.   Similar conditions at the 2nd water station (no cups, 2 jugs, NO volunteers).  After that point, there were very few volunteers anywhere on the course. 

The end of the course was a total fail, IMO.  There were several obstacles at the end . . . a fire jump followed by an ice pit.  The ice pit had collapsed.   Here we are jumping over fire though.

Then the wall climb (which we skipped, because I watched a girl fall almost from the top and no. After 19 miles in the heat and humidity . . . Just no.)

Photo courtesy of Super Hero Scramble

The slide was FUN.  That's actually us.  One of the things I *did* like about Superhero is downloading race photos is included in the package.

The final obstacles were supposed to be a slime pit, mud pit, and battling past some people with giant pads.  EPIC FAIL.  The slime was dried up, the mud was dried up, and there was one person just standing there with the giant pad.  Oh, and Brad managed to cut his hand in the mud pit, which had all sorts of fun sharp objects in it.   Insult to injury, there was no water pressure in the hoses and no place to change after.

Shirts and medals were cool.  Except wait, what year it is??   Yeah, 2014.  The medal and shirt both say 2013.  Superhero says it is because it is because it is the end of the 2013 season.  Okay, whatever.  It would still be nice if it said the year we raced it in.  Oh well.  Otherwise, the shirt is awesome. 

Final thoughts:  We had a BLAST, and it was definitely great Ragnar prep.  AND I've been stuck at 14-15 miles for my max long run, so this got me over that hump.  But considering the hydration issues and issues on the swim, I am surprised no one died.  And I'm not joking when I say that.  I thought the obstacles at Warrior Dash were better.  Having *MORE* obstacles doesn't really do anything for me if its the same thing over and over, or if half the obstacles are dried up/broken/whatever by the time I get to them.   My biggest thing though, is I do NOT SEE how a race organizer can not let participants know the correct distance before the start of an event.  We were fortunate, because we overpacked, but there is a HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE HUGE difference between 13, 16 and 19 miles.  Its impossible to bring proper nutrition and water if you don't know the proper distance.  There was no nutrition on course and only 2 water stations over 9.5 miles.  I get that this race wasn't a supported race, but how do you bring proper fuel when you don't know the actual distance? There's even a pretty big difference between 8 and 9.5 for the Intimidator people.  Overall, this race was poorly executed, especially for a "World Championship."  We only do Obstacle Races once a year, and I don't think we'll do Superhero again.