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September 19th: The Groupon of the day was a deal where you paid $30 for a normally $75 entrance fee. That was the moment I knew I was going to run the Warrior Dash. To be fair, I never would have done it for full price. I don't enjoy running or pain that much.
I attempted to find some fellow runners through work but no one took the bait. So I was on my own. I hadn't ran once while I was in Austin. My guess was that it had been a good year since the last time I had actually ran. I had thirty days to change that.
There is a manmade "lake" across the street from my work and they have trails that encircle it. I decided this would make a good training ground. You can do a loop around the entire thing, or there are a few shortcuts along the way that you can take which makes the laps quite shorter. My first time out, I did two of the short laps and called it a day. It was clear that I had a lot of work to do. On my last run before the race, which was this past Wednesday, I made 4 laps around the complete trail. It was quite the turnaround from my first attempt. By my calculations, each complete loop was more than a mile so I had worked my way up to 4+ miles in under a month.
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Yesterday: a bunch of coworkers and I went out for happy hour after work. Generally I would get pretty drunk at these happy hour meetups but I knew I had to take care of business at the Dash the next morning. I ended up going home before 9pm. Not many things take precedent over beers and bars in my life. The Dash did though.
I was running at 11:30am and the place was about 45 minutes from my apartment. I set my alarm for 8am with the idea of leaving at 9. Nerves and excitement woke me up at 7am.
I got to the site right around 10 and the place was already packed. I had an hour and a half to kill to so I made the rounds, checking things out. I was able to check out 4 of the 12 obstacles that would be looming in front of me. This enabled me to get a feel of what was in store for me. What was in store for me? Mud. ("I didn't say mud, I said crud..." Such a great quote from Black Sheep. BS and Tommy Boy may not have won any awards, but damn were they funny. Whenever someone inevitably asks for my favorite movie, I generally throw out Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, and Tommy Boy. R.I.P Tommy Callahan/ Mike Donnelly. )
And back on target... _______________________________________________________________
As the 11am wave of runners went off, I quickly moved into line for my 11:30 wave, only a few spots from the front. This was a prime spot, as there wouldn't be many people in front of me and not many people I would have to run around as I sped past them. That was my thinking at least.
As the DJ counted down and the huge flames shot into the air, we were off. The first stretch took us across the farm and past horses, who were running alongside the fence as if attempting to become a Warrior. My plan of moving to the front of the line was seemingly working. There were only a handful of people in front of me and nobody was passing me. I was actually doing quite well. Then the terrain went from flat to hilly.
The trail I practiced on was by no means flat. It had some sloping hills and I thought that would better prepare me for the run. I even started running on the grass as opposed to the sidewalk so it would be even less flat. Well that plan was fine and dandy but it did not prepare my legs for the steep hills I would face. On more than one occasion, I had to stop running all together and carefully walk down the embankment, careful to not trip over a log or cactus in the trails. Did I mention there were cacti in the trail? Texas, people.
It was about this time that we came to the first obstacle: climb/jump over waist high walls and crawl under barbed wire. I realized I don't bend down as quickly or as far down as I used to be able to. My shirt caught the barbed wire a few times.
The first obstacle came after about the first mile. After that, they were pretty close to each other. Up next was the first mud pit. I say first because there were three total. As I went through and came out of the pit, I had mud up to my thighs and my right hand was covered. Surprisingly, mud is quite slippery and I had put my hand in to catch myself from falling. They don't call me Grace for nothing.
Next up was tires and old cars. I gracefully glided over the edges of the tires as opposed to stepping in the middle of each one. I then acted out every cop action movie by running over the top of a few cars, hood to bumper. I felt like Will Smith, or Jaime Foxx, or Jean-Claude Van Dam in every action movie set in New York where they inevitably come to a gridlocked street and the bad guy is getting away. Up and over the cars was fun.
I think this is the point we came to the second mud pit. This one was different from the first as there was a narrow strip of dirt all the way to the left that one could walk across without going through the mud. You know when you were younger and your parents always told you not to jump in the puddles after it rained? And you always wanted to jump in them? Well I jumped into that fucking mud pit. There were about 10 people going along the dry path and I was the only that went through the mud. If I'm going to do the Dash, I'm doing it right.
Other obstacles included steep, muddied hills that we climbed up with the aid of ropes, a series of narrow boards roughly 10 feet in the air that you had to balance across, and trenches that we had to crawl under. These trenches were filled rocks and dirt and were extremely painful on the ol' knees.
All of the aforementioned obstacles were in the middle of the track and therefore were a surprise and are sadly unphotographed. The rest of the obstacles were closer to the end so I was able to see them from afar and get pics.
This was a giant wall that needed to be climbed up and over. On the backside (that you can't see) there were ledges in the wood for your feet but you had to use rope to get yourself up and over. Once over the top, you climb down like a ladder, as evidenced by the chick who's ass is in the air. To be honest, that could be a dude. This was taken from about 100 yards away.
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| Pictures!! |
This next one is pretty self explanatory. Rope ladder up, rope ladder down the other side.
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| Rope ladders are fun until your foot slips. |
This next one was a series of ropes you used to cross over a pit of water. There is a rope under your feet that you try to tightrope across while balancing yourself with the rope above your head. The whole time I watched this obstacle, I didn't see one person fall into the water. Very disappointing. This was the second to last obstacle.
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| There were a lot of group costumes/same colored shirts. |
Last but not least was the final mud pit. Pit doesn't do it justice. It was more like a mud pool. A big fucking pool of mud. Also of note: you couldn't run through it because there was barbed wire that you had to go under. I guess you could have ran, but it wouldn't have been pleasant. The most effective way to make it through was to swim. Literally. When I finished, I was covered in mud up to my chin. The final mud pit was so awesome that there's not one but two pics of it.
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| Kinda curious as to how many people pissed in it while crossing. |
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| The bulldozer would dump more dirt in every half hour or so. |
It was such an amazing feeling to cross that finish line. This was my first ever race and I had a fucking awesome time. I wasn't shooting for any specific time and I actually don't even know how long it took me yet. There were thousands of people and I didn't feel like looking through all the names to find me. The results should be online sometime soon so I'll look then. I can't recommend the Warrior Dash enough. I'm already making plans to do it again in 2012, even though the closest it will be is 3.5 hours north. Check it out and sign up. If you'd like to participate in the Forth Worth area with me in April, I'm all for it.
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The Warrior Dash wasn't just a bad ass race, it was a spectacle. They had a stage with bands and DJs playing throughout the day, plus they had food and beer. The following is what I ate after my race. I felt like an actual warrior eating that thing. I like to think that Leif Ericson, Genghis Khan, Pocahontas, etc. all ate giant turkey legs as well. (Really think I need to update my idea of warriors.)  |
| That must have been some big ass turkey |
The shoes I used throughout my training and the race were ones I'd had since high school and they were torn and a little bit small. Before I even got to the race, I decided that I would just throw the shoes out since I knew they would be muddy and they weren't in great condition. Well there happened to be a charity that was collecting old shoes. I assume they give them to the less fortunate, but someone was going to have to clean the shit out of those shoes. I ended up tossing my shoes onto the pile where they were collecting them. Along with a few hundred other people.
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| Mine are the black ones |
That's my story about the Warrior Dash. I was asked if I would continue running now that my training and race is over. I would like to think that I will keep it up. It's obviously a great way to stay in shape. Not to mention that Austin has great weather so I can't really use that as an excuse. Seriously, I've worn shorts and a t shirt every time I've ran except once, when I wore a long sleeve shirt and shorts. I just need to buy some new shoes and stay motivated. Easier said than done.
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| Sums it all up |
I'm going home on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. I haven't been home since June so I'm uber excited. As previously mentioned, we're having a family Pilgrims and Indians themed drinking night on Friday, which will include arts and crafts. Meaning we'll draw hand turkeys or some shit. Or Indian headdresses. Needless to say, CAN'T WAIT.
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Basketball update: we've had two games since last time I wrote. Unsurprisingly we lost both. We are currently 0-6 and have one game left on Dec. 1st. Here's hoping we don't become the Detroit Lions of the Austin Sports League. Also of note, I have scored in both of our last games. Finally got myself on the board. Because really, it's all about me. Is there an "I" in team? There should be.
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Oldest sister Katie and I went to a Santa Bar Crawl last December back home in Chicago. 150+ Santas walking around the city, singing Christmas carols, having a snowball fight, all while getting bombed. If you can think of a better way to spend a Saturday in December, I'd like to hear it. I've looked and found one in Austin this year as well. Come December 10th, I'll be crawling in my Santa suit. It was extremely fun last year and imagine this year in Austin will be no different. I suggest looking into it for your city. Try SantaCon.
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Y'all come back now...
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