Warrior Dash 2012

FIRE! And random people! On Saturday Brendon and I ran the Warrior Dash, and we had a lot of fun! This is the second obstacle course/5k I've run, Brendon and I did the Rebel Race in June. This was the second time Brendon did the Warrior Dash, he ran it before when we lived in Denton.

Compared to the Rebel Race, I think this course was way easier. The Rebel Race was basically a 5k cross country hike/run through ditches and gulleys and real big hills (covered in gravel), while this one was relatively flat. The obstacles were easier, I felt like there were fewer of them, but they were spread out pretty evenly. I am thankful for this because I was in much better shape back in June. When I moved to my new store in July I basically stopped running because I was and am just way too tired (and lazy). I love my job but it wears me out! 

Regardless, I still ran more this time than I thought I would, and we actually started off really strong, passing all the slow folks. BUT, of course, I pulled a muscle in my upper thigh (butt) on the first obstacle. Whomp, whomp, super embarassing. So we had to take a little pit stop for a few minutes. I was so pissed. It kind of screwed us over because it threw us behind a whole pack of slowish people so when we got to new obstacles, we basically had to stop running and wait in line for everyone to get over/around/through them. Not so fun. AND about half way through, while standing around waiting for people to climb up a hill, I got stung by a bee. Because that is my luck. I felt something tickling my back, so of course I went to grab at it and boom, stung on my pointer finger. Hurt like a mother, but luckily we pulled the stinger out pretty quickly, climbed up the hill, and I finished the race just fine.

The Warrior Dash had "cooler" obstacles than the Rebel Race. We got to jump over fire! And the mud was higher quality stuff, it smelled much less like animal feces and more just like mud. But instead of a shower station to rinse off, they just have these big water trucks that spray down a mass of people. Not very efficient. We were still really muddy when we got home.

Now pictures! These are all via my iPhone (cinco! It actually takes pretty dang good pictures!) because I was not trying to bring my good camera out there to get all muddy.

Pre-race! We were a little on the sleepy side. It was also really windy and a little cold!

Post race! There are no muddy pictures because we rinsed off before we dared to touch our belongings.

Muddy evidence left on the bottom of my pants.

We got big ol' medals, warrior hats, t-shirts, and free shades from Nissan! My sunglasses match my car now, y'all!

The best part of these things are the people who show up to them. Everyone is so fun! There was a stage with a DJ (I think a band was going to play later in the afternoon) and everyone was dancing!

See those people on the right? That's what everyone looked like after the race. MUDDY.

Of course they played Gangnam Style and we danced our butts off. Brendon was rockin' it.

We had a whole lot of fun. We were a little reluctant on our way out there because we have both been going nonstop for weeks and are hella tired these days, but it was so worth it. It's so much fun. If you have a chance, sign up for one of these things. You don't have to be in good shape (I'm proof!), just do it. It's a blast, I promise you'll love it. And if you have a choice between obstacle courses I highly recommend the Warrior Dash. Although it was pretty dang crowded and a bit easier than the Rebel Race, it was way more organized. A much better "event" in my opinion.

Just don't get stung by a bee and end up with a fat sausage finger for a few days. Because it's no fun. And not cute.

Although it doesn't really hurt, it burns, tingles, and itches like a mother. Bee's are stupid.

Rebel Race

Yesterday Brendon and I ran the rebel race! And we whooped it's butt! It was definitely not easy, we climbed over walls, through tunnels, and of course through lots and lots of mud. And we ran up and down hills. Again and again and again, through the woods. We had a blast! And Brendon was a great coach, he had to slow down I'm sure to match my pace, but he kept it positive the whole time.

Pre-race shot, sporting matching bandanas.

Post race, quite soggy:

After the race we were extra nasty. It doesn't look like it so much up there, but were coated in pond scum and mud. The water we went through was gross. It smelled terrible and I swear one of the bodies of water we had to basically swim across was a cow pond. Yum, huh?

I only sustained one little injury. At the beginning of the race there were monkey bars you had to swing across, and I was so excited that I actually was able to do it successfully (after watching a quite a few girls fall on their butts), I didn't pay attention to how crazy my legs were while swinging around, or Brendon saying, "watch out babe!"; there was a lovely slat of wood that I smacked my shins against at the end. I have a feeling they're going to turn all kinds of lovely colors soon.

The weather was great and the location was awesome (minus the cow ponds), I think it was on a giant farm/ranch. At one point we were on the top of a big ass hill (or small mountain), and we had a spectacular view of the surrounding area. We were in Smithville about an hour outside of Austin. Very pretty out there! We were running through some really beautiful stuff. Tons of wild flowers and everything was so green!

If you ever do one of these obstacle races, I highly suggest running in one of the first waves. We were a part of the second wave (I think) at 10am and it was still fairly cool out when we started. Plus you're running with a typically older crowd (versus younger folks), so they're easier to pass! And the lines for the showers/food/beer were waaaay shorter when we finished rather than later in the afternoon.

The lunch of champions.

Brendon doing a pullup challenge thing, he's pretty strong!

Pullup prize! A new water bottle.

This race was sponsored by the US Marines. It was pretty cool, but compared to the Warrior Dash that Brendon did last spring, it was highly unorganized. It was a little bit of mess actually, registration was insane. But I think this is only the second time they've held it here so I'm sure it will run more smoothly the more they do it.

I am really proud of how we did. How I did. I was really nervous, but I made it! And did decent! I'd say we did way better than most in our wave, we passed tons of people. I'm interested to see our times once they post them online. But I honestly don't know how anyone could run the entire thing, it was more of a hike than a run. We were basically just hiking up and down seriously steep ditches and creeks for a good portion of it. The obstacles were a lot of fun though, except for the grossness of the mud and water. And then running with shoes full of mud afterwards. But I enjoyed climbing over and around stuff, felt like a monkey!

The bad news is, this was the last hurrah for my shoes. The bottom of one literally fell off after the race, so I said farewell and we parted ways after over half a decade. I should have taken a picture of them, they served me well. Now I am without any thing to run in! An odd feeling for sure, how do you work out without tennis shoes? I plan on getting some new ones asap!

The moral of this story is, I am no longer a wimp. Or less of one anyway. Signing up for this race sparked my desire to get active. These last two months have been life changing and I'm so glad I made an effort to get healthier. And here's to more of this! There are all kinds of obstacle races similar to this one and we plan on signing up for more. They are so much fun! And I would also love to start working towards running a half marathon. That's a big goal for me, but with work I think I can do it. Eventually. 

Keep on keepin' on. Work hard, play hard.