I'm Officially a Warrior! Michigan Warrior Dash Recap

A couple weeks ago I had the awesome experience of Warrior Dash.  I had signed up for this 5k+ several months ago and had some reservations about it since I had never ran one before.  I’m by no means a natural when it comes to running so the thought of adding obstacles to a 3 mile run added a bit more worries to this race. I just have to say, I TOTALLY LOVED it. 

This event was a blast and I couldn’t have asked for a better 5k to break me into races.  And you know what, I think I finally understand what everyone means about the runner’s high and addiction of running races such as this.  I can’t wait to do it again and am super excited to see that they are already planning on coming back. 

The weather that day was great.  A bit on the hot side, but lots of sun and a slight breeze made it more bearable.  It was great to see that this event brought so much revenue into the Flint, MI, which it desperately needed.  The Warrior Dash brought in nearly 26,000 participating runners, and that's not including all the spectators!

Ryan and I were signed up for the noon leg.  We had originally signed up with some other friends, but unfortunately they weren’t able to make it.  We made our way to the front 25% of the line in order to try to avoid the backlog that we had heard about at the obstacles. For the first mile and half we ran together, but I was having issues with breathing since I was fighting an infection and could not breathe through my nose AT ALL so I encouraged Ry to go run ahead because I didn’t want to hold him back.  I needed to take a couple run/walk breaks to catch my breath between obstacles, which was disappointing, but I’m still pretty excited about the run.  I wish I had been able to trim my time down some, but I’ll take what I had.  Now I have another, more specific goal for next time.  I also met some great people along the way. Everyone was so supportive, friendly and really looking to have a great time.

Some of the obstacles found at our event were:

• Junkyard/tire run
• Blackout (so hot in there!)
• Raised nets to climb over (easiest if you roll)
• Teetering traverse (balance beams of a sort)
• Up and downs (jump over wall, climb under, etc.)
• Logs to climb over in water
• Peg climb
• Rope climb
• Tall net
• Fire!
• 2 mud pits (one was so deep/thick and smelled like poo and the end one was much thinner, but had to crawl low)

I have to commend them on a well put together and organized race.  It was so easy to register and get to where we needed.  The swag was pretty fun too! It was just a great day and so much fun to get down and dirty and spend time with great friends that we met up with after our race. If you never ran a race like this, I highly recommend it.  I know that I’m HOOKED!

The fun hats everyone got. This is before we've ran. Notice the white shirt!

And after. There was mud everywhere! 

I'm sad I missed his front flip into the mud!

The wash station.  Not that the mud really came off. My shirt was ridiculously dirty after 3 showers in that so I just dumped it.

My knees and shins got completely jacked up! Bruises and scratches everywhere, but it was worth it.
I like battle scars ;)

So many shoes were donated! I wonder how many pairs they have after all the races? All shoes get cleaned and donated to third world countries.

They had awesome, huge turkey legs for $6.  I was starving!

Two of my favorite college girls, Holly & Angie. I love them and it was so great to spend time with them.

This guy ran the whole race as the cardboard robot.  I can't imagine climbing nets with all that bulk.

Angie killed it! She beat all of us girls with her time. Nice job!

My favorites!

We spent a lot of time at the finish line watching people bomb the mud pit.

The question now is: What's next?  I need to find another challenge for myself to keep my running going.  I think I'm going to do a little web research tonight to look for another race to run. There is the Dirty Dog Dash in September in Pinckney, but I'm thinking that something local might be more feasible (less money and easier to get to). Maybe we'll do the Turkey Trot that is held every year in Detroit. Either way, we're at least signing up for something soon!  

How do you keep yourself going after reaching your first goal? Do you have any fun races/events planned? Have you ran anything similar to this?