August 31, 2011
COMPLETED!
I’ve been so excited to share this post with you but I had to wait for photos from the race to become available.
We had a great time at the Warrior Dash and I would absolutely do it again. While Hurricane Irene ravaged the North Carolina Outer Banks some 300 miles away, we experienced a sunny and balmy day. We arrived a couple of hours before our start so we wandered around and took in the sights; the last 4 obstacles were set up all at the end so plenty of spectators could watch and we were actually in the minority for NOT dressing up. We saw plenty of girls in tutus, guys in superhero costumes, a splattering of spartans and vikings, and other generally random dressed up people with face paint and matching t-shirts.
We were in the 2:00 wave and with a countdown and a blast of fire, we were off! I managed to run the whole first mile and then we hit the first obstacle, which was low walls interspersed with barbed wire. Because of my infamous lack of upper body strength, I flung my leg on top of the walls and pulled myself over using my just my legs. For all six walls. Closely following that obstacle was a series of (empty) dumpsters interspersed with tires to run through. I did the same trick with my legs again, resulting in very fatigued legs!
We ran another mile back and encountered our next obstacle, which was a balance beam type structure, quickly followed by the dreaded rope wall. The wall was about 20 feet tall and had a few foot holds. I didn’t think about it; I just grabbed the first empty rope and started climbing. Nearing the top I almost looked down but realized that would probably end me so I just kept going, believing completely that I could make it over without plummeting to my death. Grabbing the rope beside mine, I carefully went over the wall and climbed down on the ladder type structure built into the wall. Of all of the obstacles, I was the most proud of myself for completing this one.
The next obstacle was a tent-like structure that had curtains of tarp throughout that blocked light, resulting in you crawling in complete darkness. Fine, but I managed to crawl right into a 2×4 that made up part of the wall. I scraped my knees too, which is probably a first since I was 10.
After that we climbed over a cargo net structure followed by a bleacher-type structure, which you climbed up and then slid down a firemen’s pole. That was followed by a slimy pond (complete with icky green film floating on top) where we climbed over submerged logs.
What remained were the four obstacles all in view of the spectators: a jungle gym type structure, a cargo net wall, fire, and the mud pit. I had forgotten to tighten up the drawstring in my shorts so after getting wet in the pond, when I jumped over the fire, my shorts almost fell off!
Jumping over fire!
I tried to rather gingerly jump into the mud but it was like quicksand and almost sucked my shoes off. I waded through the waist deep mud to get to the barbed wire. Crawling on my hands and knees through the mud, spectators were yelling at me, harassing me, saying “You aren’t a real warrior! Get on your belly and do it right!” That was a little weird but I just ignored it and kept on.
Emerging from the Mud Pit
I cleared the barbed wire and ran grinning across the finish line where they immediately adorned my neck with my Warrior Dash medal, insuring it would get terribly muddy.
(Notice I'm holding up my shorts?)
Here’s a video of the obstacle course (not done by us, of course, but gives a better impression of the obstacles I tried to describe above):
We met up with Lydia and Steve (preggo Lydia couldn’t run it, obviously, much to her chagrin) and Steve finished about 10 minutes before us (Alex and I finished in 53 minutes). We grabbed a quick, muddy group shot before heading over to try to get sprayed clean by the water trucks. It mostly just got the mud that was caked on but thanks to the wonderful red clay of the North Carolina foothills, we were stained pink.
We gulped down our free beers (my first Bud Light and I was so tired and thirsty, it was the best thing I tasted all day), Alex grabbed a quick turkey leg, and we decided to make our way to Alex’s parents, who lived nearby, to take proper showers. In his mother’s clean bathroom I peeled off my mud stained clothes and realized a veritable pile of dirt and other debris had fallen off of me! It took 3 scrubbings and I was still slightly pink.
I loved every minute of the Warrior Dash and had a blast. I would totally do it again and would hopefully even improve on my time!
What do you think? Would you do it? Have done it, or something like it? I know Stefanie has!
AWESOME! Congrats!! Your pics are too cool, seriously.
You look like you are having so much fun – truly enjoing life. Is that Alex behind you in that last picture?? It looks like Swamp Thing
Having been through two military boot camps, I can say I’ve completed similar courses (minus the fire). The confidence courses were about the ONLY thing I enjoyed at either boot camp. You really feel like you can handle anything that comes your way after you finish.
Yeah, I beat Alex by 4 seconds so yeah, that’s him behind me. I loved it, although I’m sure it was a little different from boot camp! I walked a good bit between obstacles and didn’t have a drill sargent yelling at me!
Hands down: Your scraped knees were one of the most endearing things I have seen in a long time. And, that huge grin on your face is a testimony to the childlike fun you three had all day. What a blast! Can’t wait to join you next year.
My little Warriors!
Gratz on completing the run! i’m training to complete my marathon but i’d love to do something like this (any excuse to get covered in mud)
I’m not jealous of your marathon training-I’m SO glad I’ve done that and over that! But good luck in your training and hopefully after you’ll get to do a whole bunch of fun runs like these!
LOVE the post and the pictures. I JUST registered to do Warrior Dash in Northern California. Honestly, it’s on my 40 to do before 40…but I was kind of skeptical about actually doing it…until I read you’re post and I’m doing it…for sure…October 30th!! Thank you for sharing!!
Awesome! I hope you have as much fun as I did!
First thing – You look fantastic! Woo hoo. Second – You haven’t had scraped knees since you were 10? Oh how I envy you! I think I fall down and scrape them every couple of months. Which leads me to believe that I don’t think I’d be very good at this race. However, your pictures are truly fabulous. What a great experience!
Thanks! Yeah, people kept asking “you never fell down during your marathon training?” to which I said “I constantly look down when I run!” so, no, I’ve actually not fallen down since I was about 10. But if it makes you feel better, I think I’ve managed to scar my knee so I have that little keepsake from the race!
Yeah girl! You did awesome; and may I say you looked awesome as well. Great item to complete.
Wow, you got really muddy doing this. I guess that’s where some of the fun comes from though. You really look like you’re having a lot of fun too.
I would have a blast doing this and I can see why you’d want to do it again. Although that really is weird how spectators would yell at you while doing it. Ignoring that, it seems like the whole thing would be memorable and fun.
Thanks! Yeah, it was a little weird having people yell at me but they were definitely in the minority so it wasn’t that big of a deal. It was totally a blast!
Girrrrrl look at you! You look like you are having an absolute blast in those pictures! I have a few friends who do a similar race here in town and they love it. Congrats on your race
I love that that’s the one thing people keep saying: you looked like you were having a blast! Because I was!
Really cool photo of you jumping over the fire!
Jessica, you’re my hero. Love the mud pic!