I Survived The Warrior Dash

The past Saturday (Oct 1), I ran in my last race of the season; the Warrior Dash. I’ve run in several trail/obstacle races and this is the toughest I’ve run in to date. Teresa told me that this is the first one she noticed that I showed signs of being tired afterward. It was tough. The t-shirt and metal I have from the race has “I survived the Warrior Dash” and I can say that this is more than a motto.

The race is only 3.5 miles but the obstacles are tough. The race is focused on showing your toughness like a Viking so the names of the obstacles reflect this ideal. The obstacles included Barricade Beakdown which is hurling over 8 4-foot walls with 8 crawling under barbed wire walls; Rubber Forest which is tires hanging and you run through pushing them out of the way; Road Rage which were three cars parked bummer to bummer and you had to climb over them but before and after the cars there were tires you had to run through like football practice; the next obstacle was, Chaotic Cross over which was crawling over tangled nets (the nets were 8 feet over the ground); Deadweight Drifter which was wading through waist to chest deep water and climbing over three huge logs; Teetering Traverse which was balancing up and down 6 inch beams; Deadman’s Drop (the craziest one for me) which was a 12 foot high wall you climbed up easy but on the other side you only had a 2x4 to hang from and drop 3 feet to the ground; Great Warrior Wall which was a 10 foot wall with a rope you had to climb up it (the other side was some slats the climb down); Rio Run which was at least 100 yards of wading through waist deep water of the James River ; Cargo Climb which was 15 foot high climb up and down; Warrior Roast which was leaping over two fire pits (yes fire pits); and lastly crawling through a mud pit. There were total of 12 obstacles that are designed to kill you or challenge you.

All and all it was a fun and tough race. The night before, I got an e-mail saying that Charles City would not issue the race a liquor permit so no beer would be severed. It was no big deal to me because I don’t drink but since the whole race centered on being a warrior beer and turkey wings were to be served. Since no beer was allowed, our parking was free ($10 savings) and I can run the race at another location this year or the 2012 races. We will see.

Below are some photos Teresa took. The photos from the official race will be ready after Oct 7. I’ll post those on Facebook.

The before picture; nice and clean>

Warrior in training.

Warrior hat; check.

Getting my mind ready for the race and trying to think warm thoughts. It was raining at 56 degrees. I warmed up real quick when the fire was releast. See video below.

The start of the Warrio Dash.

Getting to the top of the 15 ft cargo net.

Coming down the cargo net.

Making my way through the mud.

Dirty, muddy, and tired but I'm still able to smile for my ladies.

Fun for One Person Could be Weird to Another

In 2000, I discovered I weighted 220 pounds so I went on a diet; I lost 45 pounds. From 2000 to 2005, I gained about half of it back. In 2006, I put myself on a diet (again) and added going to the gym; I lost what I gained. My exercise routine at the time was walking on the treadmill for an hour. When I lost my weight, I kept going to the gym and added weight training and swimming. I went from walking on the treadmill to running outside. In 2007, Teresa told me that the route I would run was equal to a 5K so I started training to run in my first one in 2008. My first 5K was in April of 2008 and I never looked back. In that same year, I race an 8K mud race and the Va Beach Rock-n-Roll half marathon. The following year, I ran in another half marathon and my first extreme trail race (“Muddy Buddy”). I enjoy running in regular foot races but I’m starting to love these extreme trail races. In 2011, I’ve only done one street race and I’ve done two extreme trail races with another one planned for October.

After completing the Merrell Down and Dirty on August 28, I sent this note to some friends;

“After this weekend, I wanted to register for a race called “Tough Mudder” but I saw that it was all full. The race is Oct 22-23 and it was full by July 7. I may try to do it next year if they come back to VA. The good thing about it being full is that I won't be missing church because the race is in Wintergreen, VA. I was talking with one of the directors here at work about how I wanted to do one more extreme race and he told me about "Warrior Dash." I looked it up and I've told Teresa I want to do this one. It's just south of Richmond and it's being held on a Tuesday (Oct 1). If Teresa agrees, I'll take a few days off from work and we'll go up as a family. I look at it this way, I can do these things now and one day I won't be able to but I'll have the memories.

Remember, pain is weakness leaving the body. Sanity is over rated! PEACE!”

The Warrior Dash has obstacles that are little more intense than what was in the Down and Dirty but I think it will be fun. Below are some photos from my last race. Remember, what is fun to me might make others wonder if I’m crazy. The answer is yes but sanity is overrated.

First obstacle (low wall) done and 6 more to go.

Doing the cargo net.

Coming over the net.

Almost done.

I'm giving the announcer a thumbs up; he asked how I was doing.

Out of the mud pit and almost at the finish line.

Celebrating the completion of the race.