Warrior Dash 5K---May 20, 2012

Back track to Warrior Dash May 2011:

Lee and I ran this race last May 2011.  We really had a blast on this 3.2 mile race with 11 obstacles and plenty of mud to boot.  This race reminds me of what I can only describe as the "Woodstock of Running".  The costumes and the themes are just all so interesting in a Woodstock kind of way.  This race is also a total physical challenge as it tests total body strength as well as your cardio endurance with a mix of beer and fun! 

In 2011, Lee and I run at least the first mile together and then Lee tells me to go ahead.  This was the hardest decision I have ever made as Lee and I were debating before the race if we should stick together or not.  On the one hand, I've been signed up for 10 months ahead of the time for this race, and I wanted to murder this race.  I am aiming to kill it.  It's all I can think about for 10 months as it's the only race I have planned because Lee works every weekend.  But, this particular weekend, Lee is taking off to run with me.  The funny thing is is that I didn't even know he was signed up for the race until about 3 months prior to the race date!  He wants me to run a great time, but at the same time we both want to run it together.  I was in a quandry.

Long story short, I finish at 30:30 minutes on this race.  Out of nearly 7,000 runners that day, I place 349th and that's the top 5% of the total folks running.  I ran it hard and temporarily conquered my fear of heights when I climbed that 15 foot wall like a little monkey and took my sweet ole' time at the top.  I didn't care that there was a gal waiting on me to cross over that little board at the top.  I am scared by God, and I am taking my time.  But, over that wall I went eventually.  The 2nd half of the race, I passed this guy on all the running sections and then he passed me on the obstacles.  I did come ahead of him at the end by maybe 2 minutes?  He told me after the race that he was trying so hard to out run me.  He laughed because he could not believe how fast I was.  I laughed too, because what I lacked in strength, I made up for in speed. 

I had so muh fun at this race, that I ran it a second time with my high school track mate Tommy.  Tommy ran in the same heat that Lee and I did initially,  and won his age group for the day!  He also placed very high in the standings.  Tommy is by far the fastest 5k guy I know, and it's the first race we've run together since our track and cross-country days. 

Lee came in about 4 minutes behind me.  I am so exceedingly proud of him!  He finished alot faster than I thought he would given how little he actually trained for this.  This is the thing about guys..they are stronger and with just a little training they can be as fast as I am.  They cannot be as fast as I am and be competitive with guys in their own age group.  To be competitive with their age group they must run faster than me!  haha  But, I am getting off track here.  What I want to say is that Lee is so excited and pumped after this race that I am really so happy for him.  We had so much fun, and I am excited to hear that he wants to do it again next year!  We also go back and forth about running it together this year, after the fact.  On the one hand, we are both glad that I set out to do what I wanted and needed to do for myself.  I am so proud of myself for having run this race as well as I did and better than I thought I would.  And, on the other hand, I really really wished that I would have run it with Lee.

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Warrior Dash Training 2012:

So, now here comes the fall of 2011 and Lee signs us both up for Warrior Dash May 2012!!  This time our friend Russell decides along about Jan 2012 that he wants to run it with us, and he wants to get in shape.  Lee needs to get in shape for it too, so we decide that the three of us will train for it.  We start training for it slightly before my Hostelity race, but get more serious after that, and it helps me in my recovery from 38.5 miles...hehehe

So, Lee and Russell just crack me up.  They are hilarious together.  Here I am so serious about running and neither one of them take me seriously at all.  They do not care about running technique, form, strategy, training,  a set schedule.  They don't even care and are not the least bit intimidated that I can run them to the ground which makes it even more fun.    They are everything that runners are NOT.   Russell has the motivation but lacks cardio endurance.  Lee has slightly more cardio endurance but lacks motivation.  I have to pull teeth and need a big boot to kick Lee out the door whereas Russell is willing to go out the door but just can't catch his breath. 

So, imagine our training program.  Lee and Russell are side by side walking and running and I am behind them cracking my imaginary whip.  I am timing them on my watch/phone and making them run 2 minutes and then walk1 minutes.  I am a drill seargent.  After about 5 minutes of the walking and jogging repeats, they are done with the running and are happy to just walk.  I am like oh no..this is going to take awhile, and I am thankful we have time on our hands.  The guys are not the least bit worried.  It's ok, as I am worried for them.

We get outside a few times a week and keep trying.  The guys are getting better as they start to run longer periods of time and walk a little less until they get to the point that they just stop and walk the rest of the way.  They surprise me sometimes because they start running fast and even though they do not last long, they are getting faster and they are starting to last longer before they have to stop.  Sometimes they even run uphill...imagine that! 

One memorable day, they thought they were done running for the day and they planned to walk the rest of the time, but as we are going downhill, I shout "BONUS ROUND, RUN".  To my surprise, they actually start running, and Lee is like, "DAMN, I am going to bonus round you at 3am"!!  We laugh so hard at this that even I can barely run.  But, damn if those 2 sorry excuses for runners didn't run all the way down to the cul de sac!  They made me proud!  It's with this training exercise that I begin to have hope that they might just survive Warrior Dash afterall!  LOL

A week or two before Warrior Dash, I actually turn the guys loose a few times on their own so that I can catch my own run and they are doing well on their own and actually last a long time.  They have made decent progress in a short period of time.  Russell has lost 20 pounds up until this point and the three of us are excited about that!

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Warrior Dash May 20, 2012

The day has arrived!  Lee and I are again in a quandry as to whether I should run it with them both or should I run it on my own.  On the one hand, I don't know if the guys just want to stick together or do they want me to join them?  Lee is riding the fence.  Finally, on the drive down there I decide to run it with them since by God, I've put up with their shit for 4 months now...I should at least see my efforts pay off! hahahaha  But, seriously, it might be really fun to run it at a slower pace and just enjoy the race.  It's not really a "race" but more of an "event".

So, Russell's wife and our friend Felicia comes along with their 2 children, and we have our kids.  Felicia and the kids are going to watch the race and take pics. 

We do all the pre-race stuff and line up for the race.  The costumes are awesome again this year.  People are there to have fun.  We are lined up like sardines, as there are 500 people to a heat and there is a new heat every 30 minutes.  It's a hard race to run for time, so I am glad that I am doing it with the guys.

We start running, and we run almost all the way to the lake before Russell needs to take a brief walk break.  I am so proud of him for making it this far!  I am even more amazed with Lee.  In fact, where is my husband?  This man I am running with has as much motivation if not more than I do....where did this guy come from and can he stay awhile??  LOL  Lee is encouraging and pushing Russell.  He is excited, and I can tell he wants to GO.  We hit the lake, and I don't know why except that I do have a protective nature, but I take Russell's hand and kind of lead him through the water when it gets deep.  I'm sure he didn't need that I just felt compelled to help if I could.

We cross the lake and then have to crawl on our hands and knees under barb wire.  This crap is hurting our knees, but here we go.  Then we get to walk stooped over under chicken wire.  Then we get to the hurdles and after climbing over the first one I feel a little pull in my groin that hasn't healed from where I tripped on a rock at my March DRT training run.  It's always these small little pulls that hurt the longest. And, then I feel a shakiness in my legs and worry about my blood sugar that drops at times, but I somehow move past it. 

Next we come to that stupid 15 foot wall.  I have told the guys to run ahead on the obstacles as I know they are physically stronger than I am, and I'll catch up on the running sections.  The guys do go ahead and here again I struggle getting across the top.  It's scary trying to swing one leg at a time across a thin board 15 feet high! OMG...I want to die as I think I am more scared of this than I was last year.  But, I do manage to get my 2nd leg over it and then I get down just fine.  I run through some tires and catch up to the guys.

We run some trail for awhile, and I find my happy place.  We are laughing and just enjoying the run and the mud and trying to becareful as there are still alot of people.  I do not particularly enjoy crowded races!  Anyways, we come across this lake and it's a new obstacle from last year.  We jump in and the water is really over our heads.  We get to this floating obstacle whereby we have to completly pull ourselves up by a rope but my feet are dangling in the water and I have nothing to push off of.  Lee makes it onto the float and it's not steady and he is standing there like it's nothing.  I forget how strong Lee really is.  He pulls Russell up like he's a toy block, and then he reaches down for me and pulls me by the waist of my shorts right on that float.  Lee walks fast across that float like it's nothing while I am holding onto the back of Russell.  It's a wonder we don't both just fall in like dominoes as we are both unsteady on this float!  We were glad when we get the hell off of it!

Then we run up on this 15 foot wall that's like a rock climbing wall.  The blocks to brace our feet are really wide.  Now, I am 5'9" and mostly all legs.  Lee is already at the top of this, Russell makes it to the top, and here I am stuck.  I cannot get my 2nd foot up high enough to step on.  Lee is telling me to "Come ON", and I am telling him I can't get my foot up there.  He is telling me to "REACH"...well, WTF..I am reaching...then this guy behind me pushes my foot up to the block and up I pull with my fingers.  I get to the top of this thing and OH HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, I have to step about 3 feet away into nothingness and grab ahold of a fire pole and slide down to the bottom.  Meanwhile the volunteer is shouting, not to use the first 3 poles as people have slid down so hard that there have been BROKEN ANKLES that morning! 

When he said that, I thought this shit isn't worth it.  WTF...I didn't sign up for this..I do not do HEIGHTS.  I am really really scared.  I cannot go down it.  In fact, I am NOT going to go down it.  I am soaking wet.  Lee is yelling at me to just grip the pole and squeeze my legs together to slow me down so I don't land too fast.  I am thinking if I break my fucking ankle there goes my running...and I already paid for about 5 races not to mention all the runnig I have in me left to do.  I am trying to dry my hands the best I can, and they are not getting dry my clothes are wet.  I see some girls going down a side wall.  It's not meant for that but hell fire if they can get down the side of that wall I can.  Russell already slid down that pole, and I am happy for him, but I am not doing it.  But, I get to the side wall, and OH FUCK..I don't really think I can get down it.  Lee is at the bottom trying to tell me  how to get down it.  Finally, I manage to get down it.  I really apologize to the guys and tell them I was really really scared and I was really freaked out by the broken ankle comments from the volunteer as he was warning the runners about those poles!  I feel really bad for not facing my fear but at the same time I weighed the risks vs. benifits ratio , and for me the risk outweighed the benefit.

We keep moving forward and get to the big slide.  The guys go down in front of me, and I slam right into Russell but there is no stopping, and I was worried that it was going to hurt him, but he just laughed it off.  We then get to the cars and jump over the cars.  I stop briefly as I see a guy limping about...turns out he slid too hard down that stupid pole, but his friend that's with him says he's ok so I keep going.  We then get to the end of this race and have to go face first and crawl through a big mud pit under barbed wire and we are drenched with mud.  We then emerge from the mud and the three of us finish the race!  WE are done! 

It's my slowest 5k to date but who cares?  We had so much fun, and I couldn't have been more proud of Lee and Russell as they both really surprised me and did so well.  I felt like I was the one that crapped out with my fear of the poles.  That obstacle was also not there last year!  Lee and Russell both want to do this race again next year.  I am not so sure that I want to do this race again next year as it may just have to be a guy thing.  The verdict is still out for me, but I am more than happy to crack the whip on them anytime to train for it!  I think I'd rather run 50 miles instead ... hahaha

But then at the end of the race, we see a blind mind jumping the fire pit.  Here to find out he did the entire race and he was completly blind!  I am always amazed when I see people with such physical limitations do some really amazing things.  And, I must agree with Lee when he said, " if a blind man can do it then anyone can!"

The pics below I borrowed from the Warrior Dash Facebook post of the blind man on the obstacle course.  I thought he was just amazingly brave.