The Matt Chronicles: Post - Navy Seal Extreme Challenge

So last weekend was the race, and man was it awesome! It was absolutely the funnest race I have ever competed in. When we arrived Friday to set up camp we met Dan, the leader of the Smoky Mountain Endeavors Organization & a 20 year Navy Seal Veteran; he was a really cool and surprisingly laid back guy. There was 1 team already there and about an hour later the next team rolled in. We never talked much to the team that arrived before we did, but we sat around the campfire and ate hot dogs with the other team; they were a team of 4 with 3 of their friends there supporting them.

When we woke up the next morning there was already nearly 50 people there. Luckily we had one of the camping areas higher up and away from the parking. As the race progressed we climbed several near vertical hills (the first two being a 600 ft altitude change within .3 miles), completed the uphill obstacle course, ran some more hills, crossed through an ice-cold water tank (body of water), went creek slogging (running along a creek bed w/ flowing water), & completed a practically vertical rope climb. Me and Cory were in fairly good shape for this race, so we had a lot of fun with it, however we talked Scott into competing a week before the race, so he was not in as good of shape. For the short length of time he had to train, he did well, but he did throw up twice. I give him props for pushing himself through it though, however, since we had to cross the finish line as a team, we were there supporting him throughout the event! We finished 4th as a team and were very pleased. Here are some of the pictures from the race, some aren't of us, but in order to show more aspects of the coarse I had to put in some of other people hope you enjoy. :-)