So for the past couple months I have been training for the Warrior Dash, a 3-3.5 mile race with 12 obstacles throughout. I had never run any organized race before, in fact I've never really run for an extended period of time if I didn't have to. A group of us guys decided to run it together, not as a team but we agreed to stay together throughout most of the race. So we began training as best we knew how running different distances up to 4 miles, somedays with obstacles and some days just to get distance. If you have never run this race before I thought I would give a recap of how our day went.
Warrior Dash tours the country and hosts races each week in different states acr. This was their first year to host a race in Tennessee. In an interesting choice of venue, the race was held in Manchester, TN on the land that Bonaroo (an annual music festival for people who aren't upset if they don't shower for several days) is held on. This is the only other event that has ever been held on that land. Anyways, Manchester is about 35-40 miles from my house. Our group met at my place at 8:30 in the morning to head down to the Dash. Unbeknownst to us, several thousand other people were trying to get to the race the same time we were. Emily and I have been to Bonaroo so I have seen what alot of traffic does to that small town. Needless to say, we were late. We were supposed to run at 10am and didn't get up to registration until about 10:15. We went ahead and registered and made our way to the start line so that we could speak to someone about running in a later heat. As we got closer we began to hear alot of cheering and realized that the 10:30 group had just taken off a few seconds before. We all looked at each other and made a very quick decision to just start running and catch up to the 10:30 group. So, no stretching, no warmup, no pump up music, we just took off...
We quickly realized that we had immediately put ourselves in a poor position for recording good times. We were at the very back of several hundred people running at all different paces spread out as if there goal was not to finish but to merely inhibit us from doing so. For the first mile or so we were dashing in and out of groups, cutting in front of people, sprinting down the outside of the trail in hopes that we could find an opening where we could get a good pace established. We came to our first obstacle "Hay Fever".
I got stuck behind a group of people that seemed to have already started second guessing their decision to run the race. I tried to gain some ground with no avail. As we came upon the "first checkpoint" (I put that in quotations because ironically this was the only checkpoint) we tried to catch our breath and begin thinking about the obstacles that laid ahead. I grabbed a water in stride and began to feel my pace. Our group had decided to all wear the same shirts so as we came through the obstacles we were able to keep track of each other pretty well. After hopping over a random tree, that covered the gravel trail we had been running on, we made it to our next set of obstacles.
"Road Rage" was where I got behind. The other guys in my group went off to the left hand side while I followed some other runners to the right. As we jumped over the junkyard cars some people were stopping as if they thought the cars may drive off with them on top while others were taking one step and landing before they even began to think about what move to make next. I was getting a bit frustrated at this point as I saw the other guys gaining ground ahead of me. As we jumped off of the cars we landed in a field of car tires lined up next to each other for about 30 yards. This was an obstacle that we had been practicing in our training using fast feet and high knees to get in and out of the tires as quickly as possible. what we hadn't practiced is running through tires behind people who hadn't been practicing such things. I lost more time...
Prior to the cars, we had probably finished about 1.5 miles with only 1 obstacle. Now they were coming more often. As I said before, I have never really run a race before but I have always enjoyed circuit training. Once the obstacles started coming more frequently I felt more comfortable and almost looked forward to them to give me a break from running.
Still trying to gain some ground I sped across a cargo net that hung about 6 feet off the ground and was parallel with the gravel underneath. I think I nudged a guy with my elbow as I squeezed in between him and another large fellow who may still be on that net, so if you are reading this and that was you...I'm sorry.
The next obstacle was another one we had prepared pretty well for. We alternated scaling 4 foot walls and ducking under barbed wire fences for about 15-20 yards. I was able to pick up some ground after this one.
"Blackout" was the next challenge that was simply a 2 foot high black tent that forced you to crawl on your hands and knees in darkness for about 20 yards. This one freaked me out a bit because I couldn't see what was in front of me but felt a very distinct rocky, dirt path underneath my hands. Also, if I was able to bottle up the smell in that tent and make a cologne out of it, I wouldn't sell a single bottle. I started to wonder if this tent was where the Bonaroo hippies stayed until the music festival came back the next year.
The next obstacle was one of my favorites. This was the point when I could start relying a bit more on upper body strength and a bit less on my running "ability". The "Great Warrior Wall" had ropes attached to the top of a 2 story wall. By this time I was picking the people I followed into the obstacles a bit more strategically.
I know I'm getting some things out of order but by this point in the race the obstacles were coming pretty regularly and the sprinting to get initial position was starting to make itself known to me by way of a cramp in my side. As we got over the wall and through the first cargo net we were starting to split up our group a bit. The final mile of the race was a straight shot for .75 miles. We decided to finish at our own paces through this part. There were several similar obstacles that included more walls, a fireman's pole, several cargo nets, and of course more running...
As I rounded the turn for the finish line I had completely forgotten about the 2 craziest obstacles that still awaited. I had been so intent on getting through the walls and nets and keeping pace with the other guys that I overlooked the fire jumps and the infamous mud pit that marked the end of our course. I "sprinted" toward the finish line and hurdled over the fire making my way to the mud pit.
At this point I had put aside all aspirations to make a memorable entrance into the pit but just decided to run in and start bear crawling. As I emerged from the muddy abyss I could see the finish line about 20 yards ahead of me.
I got my footing, shook off the mud, and took off sprinting...2 steps and I fell flat on my back in the mud while spectators laughed and pointed. This took me back for a brief moment to Odessa, Texas-1st Grade. I was showing off to some of the ladies in the class (6 year old girls) by running around the little merry-go-round in an effort to get it going as fast as I could and then jump on. I did get it going fast, but the getting on part ended with me falling into the mud surrounding the horrible device while the ladies laughed and pointed.
...I digress, I couldn't let this mud covered situation end like the last one did over 25 years ago, so I jumped up and charged on through the finish line. We finished the day getting hosed off by a firetruck, eating turkey legs, and contemplating how to get all that mud out of our clothes. We had a blast and will be back next year for sure. In the meantime if you see some guys jumping over cars and scaling fences don't assume they are vandels, its probably us getting ready to #win next year...
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| "The Groomsmen" before and after... |
