TM So Cal Winter 2013 recap

So even though it sounded like I was whining on facebook, I am actually pretty pleased with how I did.  I paced myself much better this time (Dad timed me which helped) I hit the 3 mile marker in 36 minutes and finished the race  in 2:15, which is about 11:45 mile pace ( the course ended up being right around 11.5 miles).  I handled all of the obstacles pretty well,  I even got over the twelve ft walls on my own this time.  I was worried about "Just the Tip", but got through that pretty easily.  I fell off "Twinkle Toes" but I think I would have made it if not for the volunteer that was stomping and making the beam shake.  I got right to the end of "Funky Monkey" and fell again.  Ran up "Everest" and failed completely, tried again and grabbed the lip, but just couldn't pull myself up, tried again and failed, tried again and grabbed but lost my grip, tried again and grabbed and fought to pull myself up and fought and fought and fought, finally someone gave me a hand. No B.S.  I swear I wasted 10 minutes on this obstacle.  I could have come close to breaking 2 hours with better arm and shoulder strength.  I did cramp again, but not as bad, I was able to fight through it.  All in all I walked maybe a total of 100 yards (I even jogged the "WWP Carry" with a 200 lb guy) and most of that was on hills I would have struggled to run up with fresh legs.  If I compare it to Snow Valley I would say my legs, chest, core, and cardio all felt stronger, but my arms and shoulders felt the same or a bit weaker.  Lower altitude may account for the better cardio,.  There were still a lot of hills, but not like Snow Valley so that might account for the better leg strength.

Anything you can do to help with the monkey bars, and arm/shoulder strength in general would be appreciated.