The Warrior Dash is a 3.22-mile race with 11 obstacles, and it was awesomely intense!
The race was in Mountain City, Georgia, which is about 2 hours away from Atlanta. My wave didn't start until 5:30 PM, but Jeff and I left about 2 PM so we could get there a bit early and enjoy the scenery.
I ate a whole-wheat bagel with peanut butter and a banana in the car to carb-up a bit. I also guzzled gatorade, being I knew it would be burning hot out there!
We had to park at a high school a ways away from the event because the event was at a park in the city with little available space for cars. A lovely shuttle picked us up and took us to the event. It was VERY well-organized, which is a quality I love in any kind of event! We picked up packets and chilled for a bit, checking out the other crazies that would show up for such an event.
Number 1 crazy:
Some of the other crazies:
Finally, it was time to line up!
The race went something like this, though I think I'm mixing up some of the obstacles in the middle...
- Main part of the run, maybe 2 miles, around the lake and up and down some hills
- Wade or swim through muddy lake (shoes now completely wet and full of mud)
- Run a bit
- Run through laid-down tires (military-style)
- Climb up wooden wall using rope
- Climb up and over fisherman's net
- Run over or through junked cars and trucks
- Run through (muddy) forest in mountains with no real trail
- Crawl through tubes
- Climb over 3 short wooden walls (no rope)
- Slide down muddy ravine on one's backside into 3 feet of mud and then crawl through said mud underneath real barbed wire strung about 1 foot over the mud
- Another wade/swim through the lake, this time with wood logs to climb/roll over
- Run a bit all dirty and muddy
- Jump over flaming chunks of wood
- FINISH VICTORIOUS!
Honestly, I didn't feel the greatest at the beginning of the race. I'm still not 100% recovered from my Haiti adventure, and while my endurance is still pretty good, my strength is lagging a bit. Running around the lake in the beginning was good, and I felt pretty strong then, but once we started climbing the moutain, I started losing steam.
I kept running until about the middle of the race; the trail run was STEEP and muddy though, so I walked a bit of it. I got a second wind after the trail run, and I finished strong through the mud, lake, and fire obstacles.
The fire was AWESOME!
After the fire I knew the end was close, so I gathered what strenth I had left and ran across the line! I got my water and medal and headed over to see Jeff.
I put on my free warrior helmet, got my free beer, and wandered around the finishing area a bit.
Jeff kept asking me if I wanted to wash off (you could jump into a different part of the lake to rinse), but I didn't want to! How many times in your adult life do you get to be covered head to toe in mud??? I loved every minute of it!
I'm a warrior, son!
I did the race in my 3rd-tier running shoes, which also went to Haiti with me. At this point, they were totally destroyed! I donated them to Green Sneakers after the race.
Queen of the Green Sneakers!
I'm TOTALLY doing it again next year!
Next up on Vegan Booty: Why you should not do a 9-mile run less than 12 hours after finishing the Warrior Dash.
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