Before I detail my experience with the Warrior Dash, let me say thanks to everyone who donated to St. Jude on my behalf. As of this post I've raised $525 with most of it coming from co-workers.
The Warrior Dash itself was a great experience. I intend to do it again next year and will probably register before the end of the year so that it's much cheaper to go. It was definitely worth it though. It was the first race I've ever participated in and while I probably could've finished a little faster, I can't complain too much about it.
Overall, my time was 37:34, which is a little higher than I'd normally run if there weren't obstacles in my way. My last run was 3.3 miles in 32:05, so my pace was slowed by the obstacles somewhat, especially early on since the water ones gave me a little trouble.
For those wondering, I had a tutu on, which isn't all that unusual for the event. What made it real neat was the fact that Payton had a matching tutu, I had a beater that said "Jerkface" on the back, and Payton had a shirt that said "Team Jerkface." There were several comments made to us about the outfits and to me, it was only appropriate to wear one with Payton cheering me on.
In any case, the race starts off innocently enough. It's mostly running, but the trick is that you have to run uphill in several spots, which slows things down considerably. The path also becomes narrow in spots, which makes getting around people difficult at times, and a few were already walking up the hill.
After a little over a half-mile of that, you finally reach the first obstacle, the Barricade Breakdown, which consists of climbing over a board, then going under barbed wire and repeating 3 more times with each. It's actually one of the longest obstacles and the combination of pulling yourself up then dropping down is more grueling than you realize at first.
Almost immediately after you finish that one is the Rio Run, which is essentially running in a shallow creek for a brief period. This one isn't that difficult except for the people in front of you suddenly going from a brisk run to a slow walk. Unfortunately, they became the victim of a massive splashing as I ran by without slowing.
Shortly after that came the Deadweight Drift, which threw some people off since it was earlier than the map online showed. It slowed me down as I realized the tutu was sliding all the way down as I flung myself over the logs. The water was also much deeper than waist high in spots, which complicated things slightly. This one took me the longest to complete just because of the wardrobe malfunction.
Immediately after that was the Capsized Catamaran, which was a floating island with two separate barriers to climb over. Essentially, you pull yourself up out of the water, climb up the barrier, jump down, climb up another barrier, jump down, then jump back in the water and I had to actually swim to the riverbank before pulling myself up out of the water.
After that, there was another long stretch of running before finally reaching The Trenches, which wasn't quite like the map had depicted it. It was supposed to be a trench covered by logs and you crawled under the barbed wire under the logs, but the log part was missing when I went by. It was relatively harmless except for those who were very tall. I feel for anyone who was really tall since I barely was able to squeeze under the first set of wire.
Chaotic Crossover was the next obstacle after another brief run through the woods. After you came out, you could see the wooden structure with the cargo netting stretching between a couple of sections of planks. What made this section funny were the guys who tried to stand and run across the netting. Most made it a couple of steps before falling, while another tried to walk across the side beam. He made it halfway before falling off. I decided I was going to crawl my way across and ended up passing by the other guys who had tried alternative methods of crossing.
After I finished that obstacle, I came across a group of people who were dressed as Waldo. The sad thing about that was that they were from the previous group of runners, which means in 45 minutes they hadn't finished the course that I was halfway done with. After running past them, I came across Deadman's Drop, which seemed more daunting than it actually was. You had to climb up one side of it, swing yourself over the top, then lower yourself down until you were close enough to just fall to the ground. When you're on the top of it, it seems like a much more difficult task.
You head back towards the woods after finishing that and after a short while, you hit the next obstacle, Leader's Ledge, which is another obstacle that was much easier than anticipated. The ledges are wide enough to where you can get a good portion of your foot on it, then it's just a matter of grabbing on to the handholds that are protruding out. I actually moved pretty quickly through this one.
Following that was a pretty good run from the woods into the open area before you encounter one of the final obstacles, the Horizontal Hike. This is another one that seems more intimidating than it actually is. You have to climb up the wooden beams, work your way across the top, turn yourself around, and climb back down the other side. It's a matter of concentration and remembering that you're no more than 20 feet off the ground at the highest point.
The Cargo Climb was the next obstacle and it wasn't too challenging either. It takes a little time to climb up the netting, but then once you pull yourself up over the top, you just have to climb down, jump off, and head towards the final two obstacles.
The second-to-last obstacle was the one that worried me most, not because I thought it was difficult, but because of the material my tutu was made of. The Warrior Roast is two sections of burning logs that you have to jump over, and while the flames aren't very high, I figured if the tute got within 5 feet of the flames, it could go up quickly. I jumped a little higher to ensure this didn't happen before plunging myself into the final obstacle, Muddy Mayhem.
There's nothing difficult about muddy mayhem. It's just a matter of staying low, in the mud, so you stay clear of the barbed wire above you. After that, it's a short run to the finish line where you can greet everyone with a mud hug, which I attempted to do with Payton, who was NOT thrilled with it at all. Nor did she enjoy the hose down for that matter.
Overall, I felt I did pretty good for my first race. I know a little more about what to expect for next time (and there will be a next time; I fully intend on registering for the 2013 Dash) and figure I'll be better trained as well.
The experience was really neat as well. Because I had raised at least $250, we were able to enjoy nicer accomodations, such as private bathrooms and showers, free food and drink, and a tent to sit under (which was unfortunately infested with tiny insects in the back). The weather was warm, but it didn't bother me at all, at least not until afterwards when I was trying to cool off.
Payton enjoyed being there as well. She was yelling "Team Jerkface" as I came down the home stretch, and after initially being mad at the mud, realized how much fun it was and tried to spread the joy. Rachel ended up with some minor mud spots as well, but Payton received the worst of it. I will try to get pictures on the blog soon; I'm in the process of setting up a cloud-type storage so I can get to the files easily.
I ran into my friend Sarah and her boyfriend Eric there as well. She wasn't thrilled with her time, but like me, she can say to people she finished it and has the medal to prove it. She's also talking about doing the dash next year so chances are good we'll see her up there again.
I'm already registered for my next race, the Run of the Dead, which takes place in October. Rachel and I will both be doing that one and it should be a lot of fun. It's a 5K run/jog/walk with a treasure hunt and people trying to scare you. Costumes are encouraged so we might be unveiling this year's costumes at that event.
In the coming year, I'm also hoping to do the Color Run and if I train well enough, consider signing up for the Tough Mudder. I really enjoyed my experience this past weekend and can't wait to do some more running in the near future.
So thanks for the donations and thanks for the support. It was fun and I can't wait to do it again.
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