It is advertised as "the craziest frickin' day of your life." Indeed. It was the craziest thing I have ever done. I am gaining strength and confidence from grueling hours of bootcamp. Bill asked me if that was something I had always wanted to do or if it was new - it is new. Very new. I wasn't entirely prepared for the obstacles and the length of the race. I think the hardest part was the terrain. For some reason, I wasn't expecting it to be hilly and slopey and kinda dangerous. Bill kept telling me to look down and watch for holes, roots, rocks, etc.
It was a bit of a long drive to get there. We left the kids home with a baby sitter - smart choice. I had thought about bringing the kids with the sitter because I thought they might get a kick out of watching but they would have been hot and miserable. So we got there and got our packets and laced our chips into our shoes. Shoes that we laced up and tied tightly, double knotted. Vanessa tipped me off - "you better tie your shoes to your ankles or you're gonna lose 'em." I heard that lout and clear!
They started waves of people every 30 minutes. So there wasn't really much waiting around for us. We got there, did our thing, and then stepped into the queue of people waiting to go. There were a lot of people in costumes. We should have ran in a costume. (I think Bill would look nice in a pale pink tutu and a pink polka dotted bikini top! Next year for sure!) The gun fired and every one took off. It took a while for the crowd to thinn out enough to be able to jog at a steady pace. Immediately, I realized that I was no where near ready for running in cross country terrain. Even though we do a considerable amount of running in boot camp - it is laps around a shopping center. It's flat.
The first obstacle was really early on. It was a big head to toe "spider-web" of bungee cords. My strategy was to stay on the heels of the guy in front of me. He stepped on the bungees below and I am short enough to not really have to worry about the bungees on top. I got through faster than Bill!!! He was disadvantaged because of his height!
There was a lot of running and stomping through mud. Up and down a shallow ravine, in and out of trees, more mud, more water, up and down the bank. It seemed to go on FOREVER.
The next obstacle - crawling through thick mud in a black tarp "cave." It was gross. It smelled like a toilet in there - and it felt like you were crawling through poop! The mud was really thick. But i got down on my hands and knees and crawled through it.
More running and stomping through mud and water. A few times I stepped in mud that came up over my knees. A lot of people were losing their shoes - the mud was sucking them right off their feet.
Another obstacle - climbing over walls and ducking under barbed wire. The walls were up to my shoulders, so I didn't even try to climb over them. I walked around them, went under the barbed wire, went around the wall, under, around, under, around until we were past that obstacle.
More running and stomping through mud and water. Mud and water. Up and down. In the ravine, in the trees, in the ravine, back in the trees.
Finally, we came out of the trees and up a hill and a big A-shaped cargo net was waiting for us. As we approached, Bill tried to talk me out of it. He wanted me to walk around the obstacle and wait for him. I am so stubborn - this made me want to do it even more. I could hear it in his voice and see it in his eyes - He didn't think I could do it and he didn't want me to try. (In his defense, he says he tried to talk me out of his because he was
afraid I would get hurt. Something about short legs and having problems
getting over the apex.) It was hard climbing up to the top. And I was most definately scared at the top. I didn't know if I could swing my leg up and over but I didn't want to climb back down in defeat. So I grabbed on and swung my leg over and surprisngly I made it. It wasn't graceful or pretty or quick. But I did it.
Up a smaller hill and then climbing through some hay. It doesn't really sound like a big deal - I definitely approached it with that mindset. It was surprisingly difficult. It was really soft - as you stepped in it, you sank all the way down. I tried to quickly jog through it and I fell a few times. But I could see the water station at the top of the next hill and I was soooo thirsty. So i just kept picking myself up and trying to run to the water.
Coming out of the hay, I felt like a chicken. The hay stuck to the mud and I had muddy legs with hay stuck to it. It was not cute. Standing there sipping (not chugging!) my water, I could see all of the obstacles standing between me and the finish.
We walked up a steep hill to the next obstacle - easy breezy. I don't know what it is officially called but you used a rope to climb your way up a steep incline and then ran down the other side. The next obstacle was a run through tires. I've seen them do it on football practices but I've never done it. I've never wanted to do it. I'd be ok with not doing it again - it was just annoying. I could hear Bill guiding me through "left right left right left right" x a million and then we were out. Another tire-themed obstacle - this time you had to make your way through a bunch of hanging tires. I could see how it would be difficult if there were a bunch of people in front of you pushing their way through - you would definitly get smacked in the face with a tire.
Up and around more hills and then up up up a bigger hill to a big muddy slide down to the bottom of the hill. We approached it and I wanted us to go together. So we stepped up, held hands and I flung my body down the hill. Bill slowed down and we let go and I went flying. I kept spinning around and I ended up going down backwards and slowed down when I hit a pool of mud.
We got up and jogged to the next obstacle - FIRE! I wanted us to go through side by side again but Bill wanted to hang back. He said he wanted to be behind me incase I fell down - so he could pick me up. He told me to run and jump over the fire on the right side, because the wind was blowing it to the left, so it wasn't as tall on the right side. So I kicked up my feet, ran and jump and run and jump. Holy crap - I jumped over fire. Twice!
I was ready to run it in to the finish but as we came around the corner we saw a final obstacle. More mud. This time you had to crawl through the mud under barbed wire. At first I tried to squat-walk my way through it, but my hair got caught on the barbed wire so I flung my body into the mud (gross!) and I crawled through it. I almost lost my shorts. Who knew mud had a vicious sucking power that could suck off shoes, socks, and pants!
We came up and out of the final mud pit, and we held hands as we ran through to the finish! AND! I got my first race medal! After ten years of supporting and spectating, I had finally earned my first race medal! I was psyched!
http://warriordash.com/index.php
We ran the race in Maryland - The obstacle map is not accurate. We had different obstacles - we didn't run over cars, do the cliffhanger, the logs thing. We had some different ones. We had a great time - I only wish the obstacles were more spread out. The last half of the course was spread out over a motorcross track - so I wasn't exaggerating when I said it was hilly.
It was exciting - we had so much fun doing it. I think the best part was just doing it with Bill. The next best part was just being a participant. I'm always at races for Bill - this time I was doing it. I did it! I laced up my first race chip, earned my first race medal and (OMG) I was shoulder to toe covered in mud. According to Bill, I had big chunks of mud in my "pretty brown hair." I had mud in my ears, my nose, my sports bra was full of mud, my shoes and socks were soaked in mud, and (worst of all) I had muddy armpits!
My first race chip - it was prompty redeemed for a free beer. :)
Us - Before
I'm really just holding this beer so Bill could take my picture (Free up his hands.) I had a few sips - I earned them! oh - and this is me AFTER I was hosed off.
This is us immediately after. Notice the head to shoulder mud coverage. The mud started to dry up and it made my arms look like I had elephant skin.
Bill got a better hosing off - you can actually tell what color his clothes were originally.
Sexy mama! We were walking around, enjoying the music and the crowd when I realized my armpits were caked with mud. SOOO DIGUSTING! This is my Warrior Dash hat. :)
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