On Saturday, July 23rd, I did the Warrior Dash race. It was described as “3.02 Hellacious Miles” and boy they were not kidding!

The photo above — while not mine — is an accurate representation of the final 10 yards of the run (after crawling in mud under barbed wire!). And yes, that’s a color photo.

Since it was at a ski resort, there were a lot of hills — including what I estimated as a half-mile uphill climb practically at the beginning of the race. That wiped me the hell out in the 90+ degree weather, so I pretty much walked the course. Some obstacles were easier than others and I finished in around an hour, which wasn’t bad as there were obstacles that I had to wait in line to even start. If I hadn’t had to wait for other people and I could’ve done them at my own pace, I would’ve probably finished 10 minutes sooner.

But my goal wasn’t to be fast or anything, it was to finish.

And I did!

Afterward, the “hosing off area*” was a guy with a snowmaker, so it didn’t do a very good job rinsing any of the mud and dirt off me. Those shoes got donated to a good cause and those socks went straight into the trash. I had the foresight to pack some soccer sandals (that are just hosed off to clean them) to put on after the shoes got donated. There were a lot of barefoot warriors walking back to their cars afterwards!

The bus ride back to the parking area was a muddy one, so I wasn’t too upset about the lack of getting perfectly rinsed off at the event. Again, I had the foresight to fill up six quart-sized Nalgene bottles with tap water before I left and packed some clothing that I would be able to strategically change into out in the open. It worked surprisingly well! Then I covered my carseat with garbage bags and towels and started my 1hr drive back home to a shower.

That was the best shower of my life. Also, it took a day to get all the mud out of my right ear canal (thanks to some overzealous racer in the mud crawl portion splashing around) and today, I finally got the last of the dirt out of my toenails!

I hope to do it again next year – but I definitely need to train for hills if I do!

Now it’s half marathon training time! Whee!

- – - – -
* – Other events showed tanker trucks with actual hoses on them for rinsing off, which would’ve been MUCH more effective than high-pressure mist.