I did it! Warrior Dash trip report

Victory!!!! Saturday was the race I have been training for since last February. I've always wanted to run Warrior Dash and never thought I was physically fit enough to do so. Last year I thought, "Why not me?" and decided I would train and throw myself at it. I was originally slated to run  Warrior Dash last fall, but it fell during the last remaining weeks that my mother-in-law was well enough to communicate, and I wanted and needed to be with my family.

So I signed up for the May race. Here's the course:

I mapped it at 3.6 miles, with uneven, wet terrain (mostly through a forest, so lots of branches, leaves, and streams), elevation ranging between 43 ft. and 167 ft. at intervals, and 12 obstacles. You can probably guess from some of the obstacle names what they are, but here's the breakdown:

Muddy mayhem: Army crawl through the mud puddle under the barbed wire. There were also several waist-deep mud puddles scattered throughout the course to catch you off-guard.

Barricade breakdown: Hurdle a waist high wall, then drop and crawl under a length of barbed wire. Repeat multiple times.

Chained up: Climb a tower of horizontally, loosely hung chain link rope. Since there are no vertical cross-ropes you wobble the entire time.

Teetering traverse: Walk across a teetering foot-width balance beam while water sprays at you from all sides and then run down the balance beam on the other side

Diesel dome: Giant dome-- probably 10-15 ft. high, made up of slats of wood. Climb up and over.

Petrifiying plunge: Exactly what it sounds like. A tarp laid over the side of a giant hill with water spraying onto it. Go down the waterslide and land in the giant mud puddle at the bottom.

Warrior wall: A 10-15 ft. high wall with a rope on one side to pull yourself up, and then a narrow ladder on the other side to climb down.

Storming Normandy: Crawl under and through the netting and criss-crossed wooden boards that are covered in barbed wire.

Vicious valleys: Similar to the warrior wall, but the boards are at a diagonal so they make a zig-zag shape and there are no footholds, just ropes to hoist yourself up and over.

Cargo climb: Climb up and over the 20 ft. cargo net

Warrior roast: Leap three rows of fire!

Trenches: This was the final obstacle. Crawl through trenches of mud the thickness and consistency of wet cement. Don't lift your head up or you'll run into the barbed wire. I saw at least 20 pairs of shoes so deeply entrenched in the mud that they could not be retrieved. A few folks needed help getting out. I realized quickly that you have to move as fast as you can or else you will sink and get stuck!

Sound nuts? I can't tell you what an absolute BLAST it was. Here I am arriving, still mostly clean and sporting my Conan the Barbarian shirt:

When the flames go up, the runners start. That's me, raising my hands in the air...and probably screaming with excitement:

My father-in-law got a great shot of the Warrior roast obstacle:

The cargo climb:

Here I come!

Attacking the trenches like a champ:

Somehow extracting myself...

Success!

Victory is mine!

With my biggest fan:

I raised money for St. Jude for this race, and since I raised over $300, I got access to a hot shower following the race. So here I am all clean with my medal, Viking helmet and "We are Warriors" victory shirt! Race shoes were donated to USAgain, a shoe recycling program.

Awesome medal:

My husband and father-in-law took me out for a steak lunch after the race (YUM), and I spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and recovering.

My official time was 1 hour flat. I finished in the top 10% of women in my age group, and 1413/8270 overall. My best yet for any race!

I'm still (days later) finding bruises in places that I did not know could bruise, but I am already itching to do it all over again! I've definitely caught the obstacle race bug and am considering doing the Dash again in PA in the fall...or giving Ruckus DC a go.

One thing I have discovered about myself since surgery is that my motivation to exercise requires goals. Without the Dash in front of me, I don't know that I'd have pushed myself as hard with weight training and yoga. I'm signed up for three other races this summer, so this is no time to rest on my laurels. But I did want to share with you what's possible. This is coming from someone who (all of this is prior to WLS) is missing cartilage in her knee, has hypermobile joints that pop out of place when they feel like it, has exercise-induced asthma, achilles tendonitis, and has had one rotator cuff surgery. You can be strong. You can find exercise that works within your limits and expectations. And if you put your focus on a goal--and there will be days that you think you're nuts for setting it--you CAN DO IT.

So what goal will you set today?

It was so much fun! I wasn't sure going into it that I would be able to complete all of the obstacles, but I did! Even better that my husband and father-in-law were there at the finish line cheering me on. Usually, I don't ask them to come to races because it is kind of boring to stand around while someone does a 5k. But this one was such a big party that I did and they had a great time.

MY HAT OFF TO YOU!!!!!!!!! Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to go!!!! Definitely my she-ro!!!! How absolutely awesome and how challenging.... Best wishes for many many more victorious dash races .... I will run them vicariously through you .. because this sista is soooooooooooooo not crawling or dashing in the mud LOL but you are soooooooooooooo AWESOME and DARING and ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS .... I am sooooooooooooooooo happy for you!!! and in AWE!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! 

Haha, thank you! I thought of it as making up for all those times that mom told you not to splash in the puddles as a kid. ;-)

Wow, sounds like a blast!  :)  Good for you for being able to do that!  You look so happy as well. :)  Congrats, Madame Warrior! :)

Neen, congrats on your race! I always find your posts/stories so interesting, informative and motivating. One thing you said really hit home for me- that your motivation to exercise requires goals. I've been having some sleeping issues lately, and it's really demotivated me at the gym. While I know I need to get the sleep issues under control, I also think that I could truly go to the gym more and am using my tiredness as an excuse. I need to find a balance. Nevertheless, I finished my first 5K about a month ago, and have lost a lot of motivation for the gym since then. I'll need to take a page out of your book and find a new goal to keep myself motivated!!

That is exactly what happened to me after my first 5k. I realized that I didn't like running when there wasn't a goal or a purpose, so most of my training is yoga and weight lifting. When I run races, I do ones that I know will be entertaining like The Color Run, the Glo Run (wear neon clothes and run through black lights--it looks soooo cool), and the obstacle races.

I joined www.fitocracy.com to help motivate me. It is basically like Facebook for people who like to workout. You log your activity and get points for it, there are little quests that you can complete (i.e lift x number of pounds, run x number of miles, dance x number of minutes..) and the community is unbelievably supportive. There are a lot of different groups for people who enjoy different exercise, and it's a great place to find fun kinds of exercise that you didn't even know existed. If you end up joining, I'm on there as bananafish711. Feel free to follow/friend me!

Congratulations! I know that had to have been the best feeling in the world right then to accomplish something you wanted so bad. It looks like a awesome time :) I saw this http://www.runforyourlives.com/ and decided once I get enough weight off to start jogging and getting into shape I'm going to do it along with the Color Vibe. Hope the next obstacle you face is just as amazing.