Warrior Dash Race Report!

What a crazy super fun weekend this was!  Hubs and I were signed up to do the Warrior Dash New England on Saturday.  We drove down to his mother's house, which was conveniently about 15 minutes away from the location of the WD.  Sat. am we woke at 5:45 ish to the most God-awful loud thunder and lightning storms.  It was like a monsoon out there!  I was a little worried about whether they would call off the race because of the lightning or not.  Fortunately, we were signed up for the 6:00 p.m. wave and the weather report indicated that it was supposed to stop raining and clear out. 

We arrived and got front row parking because both of my sister-in-laws are disabled and have handicapped parking passes.  That worked out nicely for us because we didn't have to park a mile away and take the bus.  My SIL's were there to watch us, take pictures and watch the kids for us while we ran. 

What a great atmosphere!  Around 9000 people were scheduled to run on Saturday in 1/2 hour waves.  There were people everywhere!  Everyone was friendly, and in a party-have-a-good-time-mood.  It was great!  Mud was everywhere!  Muddy sneaker piles were everywhere!  People were encouraged to leave their muddy sneakers and the event coordinators would collect them, clean them (I hope!!) and distribute them to needy countries.  Nice idea, huh?  Here's what the pile looked like.

B and I met up with some friends of mine from high school.  H (in front the sneakers) is 3 years younger than me and the last time I saw her (when I graduated), she was much shorter too.  She was at least 4 inches taller than me now!

B and I got a few pictures before the race, while we were still clean!

Then it was off to the start line.  I think there were around 300 people or so in each wave.  We jumped in on the earlier wave so we wouldn't have to wait around another half hour.  Who was going to notice 2 more?  Not sure if you can find us in the start....I couldn't.

Craziness!  The start was slow going.  Most were walking as we couldn't really go any faster than the people in front of us.  We tried to get to the edge to get around some people, but as you entered the woods, the path narrowed right down and we were back to walking.  I believe the trail was supposed to just be a rocky, root covered trail through the woods, but due to the monsoon rains that morning and the 4000 or so people who ran it before us, it was 4-5" of mud.  With roots, rocks and holes that were filled with water.  We were able to get around the slower folks, the ones who weren't interested in running.  B went ahead of me on this part, I was having a hard time maintaining my balance on the slippery, muddy path.  It was almost like being on a balance ball, you were constantly fighting for your balance.  After 1.5 miles of going downhill, it was time to go back uphill.  This part was much easier for me, I was able to get better footing and B and I were able to pass a lot of people here.  We had a few obstacles to go over, but they were pretty easy.  Ropes to pass through, a balance beam to walk on, hanging tires to run through.  We also had to rope climb a wall, jump over a small fire, and two more rope obstacles.  My daughter was able to get a pic of us going over the final wall.

We are the two on the top to the far right.  Here's another of us sliding down the hill.  Me on my ass and B on his belly.

Once we made it down that hill, it was just small rope obstacle and then a short run to the finish!  My ass took a beating on that slide though.  Humungous deep purple bruise on my upper ass cheek and lots of small scratches and scrapes all over my butt.  It kinda looks like someone threw me down the stairs, stairs that were covered with blackberry bushes.  Sorry, no picture of that... :)

Finish time 47:40.  We crossed the finish line holding hands.  Awww. 

I'll bore you with just a few more photos.  My friend from high school at the finish line--he finished in 30 minutes!!  Freakin' fast!

Warriors!

I finished 66 in my age group out of 606.  Not too bad.  It wasn't all about going fast, but I definately could have done it faster, especially at the beginning when everyone was walking.  If you can get around the crowd, you could make some good time. 

This was the hubs first race ever and he did great!  We both had such a great time, we're thinking of coming back for the Spartan Sprint in August.  They also have a kids race so our kids can try it out too.  I'll leave you with one parting shot--just to give you an idea of how muddy it really was.

Happy Monday Warriors!