Warrior Dash

Big Shot in Vegas and now the Warrior Dash! Mid-life crisis? Maybe! Though I believe I am still a year or two too young to be "mid-life." Thanks to my great, and persistent friend, Jodi, I signed up for "the craziest frickin' day of your life!" The Warrior Dash. And it was crazy! Crazy fun! I was so not looking forward to this race from the minute I signed up but the day before the race I decided to change my attitude and embrace the craziness of it all. This race is a 5k, but we had 12 obstacles along the route to maneuver too. I had been training half-heartedly for a couple months but was still unable to run a full 3 miles by the day of the race. It turned out to be not a problem because there was very little runable terrain on the course. The first mile or so was obstacle free, except for the hills we had to trudge almost straight up. No one warned us about those or I would have done more hill work in preparation. It turned out the race was not focused on being able to run a 5k, but being able to endure through the 5k. My whole family was there to cheer me on and Jodi and her son rode with us too. We were so nervous before the race started but we did fine on the course. I was afraid I would be the very last finisher of the day and all the workers would be waiting for me to drag my behind over the finish line, but I actually finished 3820th out of 5400 competitors on Saturday alone! My time was a respectable 1:00:40.55 Jodi beat me by 6 seconds! I thought I did pretty well till I saw a 78 year old lady beat me by a few minutes. Oops.

I was most concerned about the fireman pole obstacle. I had no idea going into the race how its done without getting friction burns on my hands or legs. When I finally got to it I looked at it for a second and said the heck with it and climbed on. I was able to hold myself pretty well till I started to get lower where my wet pants had gotten the pole wet and slippery and I kind of just slid down. No burns! I was so happy that one was done! Our first obstacle was in the lake, climbing out of chest high water and slithering over huge logs in our way. Lets just say that one was a team effort. And really, the whole race was. Jodi was my own personal cheerleader, as well as everyone else on the course. We were all willing to lend a hand or a shout to keep someone moving through the race. It was very cool. The people that is. The temperature gauge in my car said it was 97 as we arrived at 3:30pm. Luckily 99% of the course was in the trees so it was warm, but totally manageable. Our families even found some shade to watch the runners so they were OK too.

There were plenty of climbing obstacles, cargo nets to traverse, wobbly platforms to run across, hills to climb, fire to jump, and of course, the mud pit. Not my favorite obstacle and one I could have done without, but it was the very last one of the race so at least we weren't trying to run with all that mud on us. As we got to the mud pit there was a ledge of mud to get over. A guy to my right thought he would launch himself onto it and I saw him belly flop and yell "UGH!" I knew there had to be a better way! I went as far left as possible to a somewhat less slimy part and was able to climb up the ledge and slide down into the pit on my booty. That's why I am a tad bit cleaner than Jodi in the pictures but I think Jodi had a GREAT time in the mud and wore it like a badge of honor!

We were so proud of ourselves. We didn't skip a single obstacle and we made it through without injuries and other runners behind us. What more could we ask? It was so much fun and I hope it is back in Oregon next year so I can do it again. I was cursing Jodi for getting my into the race but now I want to thank her. What an awesome experience with an awesome friend!

Here is one of the obstacles with some future Warriors!