Sunday, May 20 - Warrior Dash COMPLETE (with pics)!

Sorry I forgot to post about the race – I made a Shutterfly share page and posted the link on Facebook and in e-mails to friends, so I forgot about updating here.

In summary, my friend K and I had a great time! It was just a perfect day for it – not blisteringly hot, but warm enough to enjoy the big "slip n slide" and of course getting the mud hosed off of you afterwards.

If anyone's curious, here's the course map and description of obstacles: http://www.warriordash.com/register2012_maryland.php

The race was 3 miles long, with 12 obstacles in between. Here’s a promotional video from the website: http://www.warriordash.com/index.php

I think we did pretty awesome, if I do say so myself ... out of 1231 in our age group, we came in 772 (her) and 773 (me), finishing it in 63 minutes.

Most of it was enjoyable and the obstacles weren't too bad, though they were high – if we fell, something was breaking, for sure. But I found the mud to be the worst – at the very first obstacle (going over a low wall in about 2 feet of mud), my arms failed me and I had to try again, only to have the mud pit eat my shoe. Thankfully, another dasher rescued it for me and I tied them on extra tight to get on to the remaining 2.99 miles of the race (sheesh!).

After the first big mud obstacle, there was about half a mile of straight running, no obstacles in between. I was proud I did well jogging through that entire stretch without any walk breaks. I did end up walking a bit the rest of the race, though – some of the paths were straight up big hills (the course was set on a motocross race track!) and walking was all I could manage. My racing buddy K was a great sport through it all – we were more about having fun together rather than going as fast as we could.

All-in-all, I really enjoyed the experience, and I love that I was able to take my disappointing fertility events of the beginning of the year and use what otherwise would have felt like “itchy” down time in a productive way. As bonuses, I got healthier, exercised regularly, and lost about 15 pounds in the process.

So I exited May victoriously with an awesome fuzzy horned Warrior hat, t-shirt, medal, several brushburns, mud that stayed for days under my fingernails AND toenails, brand-new sneakers to replace those trashed in the race, and gleeful pride.    

PICTURES:



My friend K (left) and me (right) before the race ... still all nice and clean!




The race begins! Unfortunately, there were no photo ops between the beginning and the end of the race.
See you in 2 and 1/2 miles!




K jumps valiantly and excitedly over the fire.




I jump tentatively while screaming my head off.




I'm no dummy. The sides weren't as deep as the middle. And that mud reeked to high heaven!




Almost there!




Hallelujah!




The triumphant Warrior Dashers "after."




Can you believe my husband wouldn't ante up a congratulatory hug?




My nephew didn't like playing "Mud Monster," either.




Getting hosed down afterwards.



My awesome hat, shirt, and bling.