Warrior Dash 2011

 Well, at least this race came already named, saving me from having to! 

The Warrior Dash is a race where you "dash" a short distance (a bit over 3 miles) and complete 12 obstacles along the way. (if you were to ask me, there were more like 234 obstacles, because those hills were like 43 obstacles each. I mean, who has a running race running UP ski hills?!) 


Anyway. Patty and I were running late (mostly because she got lost and didn't trust my totally accurate navigation skillz). Parking? In a farm lot, where you took a hayride to a shuttle, which took you to the start.

 

See how relaxed we look despite the fact we just realized we have about 20 minutes to make it to the race, get our packets, check our bags, get situated, and start?

We made it though, and even had time for some clean pics! 

 

The run? Obstacles included running through tires and jumping over sets of cars (4 sets), army crawling through a "bunker" , over a set of barriers & barbed wire, over ropes courses, over walls by rope... and so forth! The last .75 miles was almost complete mud, and the last .25 mile? You were soaked by a hose, went down a huge "slip and slide", jumped over 2 fires (As seen below. That is not me. Trust me, if someone had gotten it on camera, it would have looked way less cool than that.)

(...not even to mention the sight seeing along the way. I saw more men and women running in underwear than you could imagine. Actually, don't even TRY to imagine, it was that bad. One guy? I am not sure the briefs he was wearing were legal, much less what was poking out the front.)

 Finally, you jumped into a mud pit about 3 feet deep with barbed wire above your head and army crawled your way through it to the finish line. 

 Followed by the obligatory pictures of you and friends covered in mud to show how tough you are or are pretending you are.

 

At this point, all I could concentrate on was getting (somewhat) clean, and buying a turkey leg. Everyone was walking around with a turkey leg and I decided I need my own club.) 

You know those machines that make snow? Yeah, that is what they used to "hose" us off. Yeah, I still had mud in every imaginable surface. 

(FYI: Turkey leg was a total bust. Those things? Have the most skin, cartilage, and bone I have ever seen. The skin? THICK! Multi layered! Sick!)  

And this was just from walking to the exit. The mud was unavoidable!

Overall? Great experience, and a great way to draw attention to a beautiful little girl and her story. (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/baileymoore)