It all started last year when I signed up for the race. It has been so long since I signed up for it I almost forgot it. About 2 months ago I was like, when is the Warrior Dash? Once I knew the date it was time to plan a bit. Well, not really but I needed to to decide leave in the morning for my noon start on August 27, 2011 or get a hotel and have a more relaxing event. This is where my lady Stephanie came in, get a hotel she said. Well that was that and I booked a room at the Huntersville, NC Hampton Inn.
Now time for the actual weekend of the Warrior Dash. To start this was a bigger event than I planned, I thought it was just going to be me, but I had company. Stephanie, her daughter Lacey and her friend Stephanie came along for the ride. They were scouting the event as they want to get some of their friends and do one in the near future. I was glad to have them along for the ride.
Anyway, back to the event. We arrived at the Huntersville, NC Hampton Inn and to our surprise, this hotel rocked, very nice. Once we settled it was lights out.
The day of the event Hurricane Irene was in town but we were just far enough west to have great weather. It was partly cloudy with a nice breeze to cool you off. Once at the location the first thing I realized was, a lot of people do this. 1000 people every hour 9 to 4 Saturday, they repeated it on Sunday. We got there a little early to, but that reduced my stress so it was all good. I went straight to packet pickup and got my stuff.
A picture while I am clean
We walked around a bit and watched the fire pit and the mud, here are a few more pictures.
A quick picture of Lacey and her friend Stephanie.
How did that happen, no picture of my lady, sad face.
On to the race itself. The start was kicked off by flame throwers, very hot! Well I took off! Once we rounded the corner a few obstacles came into view, a big 12ft wall and a raised walking plank. Well our path was going the other way, guess I'll need to save energy for the wall. After about 1.25 miles we came to our first obstacle. We had to go over a 4ft wall and under a wall, about six times. Then a quick jog over to the next obstacle, run thru tires and climb thru a dumpster, about five of these combos. Well off to another 3/4 miles of running. I rested a bit and walked some, as these obstacles tired me out quite a bit.
Now we are back to the 2 obstacles I saw near the start. First was the elevated plank. I walked over those pretty quick and started eyeing the wall. I grabbed my rope and my sweaty hands slipped. I thought don't tell me I can't get over this. Try number 2 was as good as gold, made it to the top, flipped over and jumped down. The 12ft wall was behind me. Water time and about another half mile till the next obstacle.
The blackout box! Here you crawl on your hands, belly, knees about 40ft in pitch black. Near the end I grabbed a hold of someones feet and they jetted out of there lol. Once I was out I had to adjust to the bright light and then off to the elevated net. Here you climbed up one side, rolled on three sections of netted rope and climbed down the other side. While on the net you could see the next task, it was a climb up and slide down a pole for about 10ft.
Now we made it to the nasty part although I was already dirty from a lot of crawling. The swamp! We had to wade thru a waste deep swamp and go over 3 floating logs. It was cool water but nasty water, I'm still worried a parasite now controls me. Finally the home stretch can be seen.
The home stretch is like the money shot in a way. First it was over a 15ft net wall, it was fun and the marine shouting orders to his buddies was cool too. Once off that, it was time to climb over another wooden structure. Then we got to jump some fire, hot! Now the last but the best obstacle. The mud pit. I stopped at the edge and jumped in, waste deep red clay mud pit, I then had to crawl in the mud under several pieces of barb wire stung across the pit, one scratched my back. Once out of the 40ft pit came the finish line. I was a muddy mess but I finished, completed every obstacle, got my medal, and had a blast.
Post race picture
A few more pictures
Well when I was done, I took a shower from a water truck with 50 other people, that was fun. Now it was time to donate my shoes, here is a picture of the pile.
My medal
Official Photos
See y'all next year at Warrior Dash 2012
