5.19.12: Warrior Dash

Last week I ran my first ever mud run.  It was super fun.  Since I ran my one and only half marathon a few years back I've thought of myself as a "serious" runner.  This was far from serious, but all my friends were doing it, so I jumped off the cliff with them.  I wanted them to like me.  We dressed up as super heroes, but that's what you do at non-serious races..  I was Quail Man.  A few people knew who I was.

I started running a few months back to get ready for this race.  I was, however, unprepared.  I did not do my homework.  I used to walk all the courses the night before a race (back in high school), but I didn't do it.  I knew I wasn't at my fastest so knew I wasn't going to win.  But the fact that turning my chip in at the end of the race earned me a free beer should have told me something.  That this really was not a serious race.  Had I known, I would have pushed myself harder.  I came in 160 something out of over 6000 runners.  I got 8th in my age group.  I was 8 minutes off the top finisher.  This will not happen again.  Next year, I'm taking at least 5 minutes off my time.  I will be victorious.

Anyway, so the race was a 5k.  The first half or so was just a run.  Then the obstacles started.  One about every 400 meters or so.  My strategy was not to push myself too hard because I wasn't sure what the obstacles would be like.  I wanted to have steady breathing and not be panting too hard to get over the obstacles.  I've seen enough reality shows to know that panting is bad for obstacles.  Well, this was not a reality show.  Nobody was trying to knock me off the obstacles.  There were about 10 in total.  Mostly rock walls or other like things to climb over.  The one I really didn't expect:: the pond.  The pond that I had to swim through.  About 2/3 of the way through I started looking for the life guard.  I was sure I was going to die.  When I couldn't find the life guard (there was one, I just didn't see him), I decided to not die and keep swimming.  

I don't know if I'll ever run a regular race again.  Despite the mud, the obstacles really broke up the monotony of running.  Greg has even considered running so he can run it with me next year--that's how fun this nonsense was.