Making of a Warrior

May 14, 2011 - Warrior Dash!

Today I crossed an event off of my Bucket List... Warrior Dash!  Not only did I complete all obstacles, but completed the entire length (3.02 miles) in 36 minutes!  Taking into account the obstacles and traffic jams, when we ran (and we ran almost the whole way) that makes a less than 10-minute mile pace!  Yay us!  I'm sure I wouldn't have kept that pace without Sarah's support and guidance.

So, the first obstacle was basically wading through shoulder-deep water (sometimes deeper) which made your clothes, socks, and shoes 15 pounds heavier!  As soon as we got out of the water, there were cars, vans, and trucks blocking the route which had to be climbed over or through.  Between the cars were laid out tires.. very hazardous on the ankles!  After navigating the junk yard, we hopped over a wall (about 3.5-4ft high) and immediately under barbed wire.  Up and down in that fashion about 8-10 times (I wasn't really counting, I was just getting through it).

Then came the most intimidating obstacle... The Great Warrior Wall.  This was a 10ft (?) wall with a dozen ropes dangling from the top.  Climb the rope, feet on the wall, get over the top, and climb down.  In retrospect not difficult, just daunting.  We climbed a large set of tires to get up the next hill and proceeded to run again.  A little ways down the route, we climbed a rope net up and over in a similar fashion (and height) as the Wall but with less of an incline (that is, not vertical!!).  About a quarter mile past that (uphill through the woods) was another rope net, this time horizontal about 4ft off the ground.  Some folks cheated and walked the beams holding the net up, but Sarah and I did it right!

Then came a long stage of running and uphill walking.  In the middle was an obstacle called Arachnophobia, which was just lots of bungee cord tied between the trees.  Turned out to be a team building activity since we were all working together to not get smacked in the face by bungee that was let go too soon by the person in front of you.  I think this obstacle was meant to create a huge traffic jam and space out the racers before the finish.  Just my opinion though.  Pretty soon we came upon what appeared to be a low-lying hut made of black plastic.  I mention low-lying because the point of this obstacle was to navigate, on hands and knees, through near pitch black darkness.  After that came more running and then the real fun began!

You haven't seen a slip 'n slide like this before!  I can't really describe it too well since Sarah and I both dove right on and down, down, down.. face first!  Hooyah!!  After crashing at the end (and then being crashed into) we headed straight into the mud!  A scramble on knees and elbows through thick thick mud, keeping low due to the barbed wire about 6 inches above the mud.  I felt like I was in boot camp.  But, I was getting dirty, which is what I had planned from the beginning.  After the mud pit came. what I called the Warrior Wash.  More water, but this time we had to crawl/climb/hop over logs and barrels that were floating in our path.  There goes all the mud.  And finally, now that we've been rinsed, time to dry... The Warrior Roast, where we leapt over two flaming piles of wood.  (Not dangerous, really, more of a photo op, but still fun!).

So there we have it!  Now officially a Warrior!  Got into clean dry clothes to feel semi-normal again and went back for beer, turkey legs, and live music.  Good times had by all and worth every ounce of energy spent.