Warrior Dash 2011 - Nothing Like It!

The Warrior Dash; It's like nothing else I have ever been to, and believe me I've been around. Here normal, everyday, hardworking people can go out on a limb and express themselves. They can let loose and push their limits. They can challenge themselves. They can be anything they want to be for a day. Want to be a smurf, a viking, a ballerina. You can! Then you can test your endurance, see how far you are willing to go. See if you can make it and hang with the best, or just see if you can survive.

I told you there would be smurfs. La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la.

The one on my right is my husband Steve, he's a professor at a Christian College. The one on the left is one of his former students. He was there with his college mountain biking team. Yes, they were all wearing pink sundresses! Neither of them was aware the other would be there. Imagine their surprize!

Obstacle one was going over these walls, about 7 of them and then rolling under that many barbed wire walls.

We came to obstacle two and found an abandoned warrior in one of these dumpsters. She was giving it all to get out, but it was just too much to do alone. The Warrior Dash motto is 'Never Leave a Warrior Behind' so we didn't. Steve hoisted her foot up and helped her get over each wall of all 5 dumpsters. This challenge wasn't easy, you have to have some arm strength to push up cause there wasn't anything to get a leg up on.

Giant chicken coop run, no problem!

20 ft high rope climbing wall. This my friends is the only one I walked around out of 12 obstacles. I didn't do it for fear of injuring my elbow worse. I know I made a good call.

Tent of darkness. This one is creepier than it looks unless you are closterphobic which I am not, the stones just hurt my knees.

This was one of the hardest for me, spider walking on the rope wall horizonally. We were about 6 feet high too.

Biggest fear factor for me. Fireman's pole! I did it though with a little help from Steve and another Warrior.

See the green algae floating on top...ugh! And it stunk of poo, I'm sure it wasn't the caveman stinking that we met there! After you jump into the murky water, you have to crawl over logs suspended on top of the water, about 5 of them and then crawl out the other side.

One of my favorites! Thought it would be harder, but I would have gone over this one again:)

Barn frame of death. Well at least one girl fell off and broke her arm. The boards were slippery and far apart, and with all those people on it it was shaking ever so slightly.

Now...this is the one I feared. What if in my clumsiness I tripped and fell into the fire and caught fire? Not good! So I waited until I was the only one going through and went for it. It was hot but not burning. Kids: Don't try this at home!! And kudos to my husband for an awesome pic!

Here is the grand finale! Mud, mud, and more mud:) The sand cut into your knees, but after you figured out you can't walk in it or crawl in it and just pull yourself along it wasn't bad. Well I say that, but you should have seen me trying to get this out of our clothes! ICK!

My Warrior Cry of Battle: Woo Hoo! At this point the exhilaration is incredible. You are ready to run through the finish line and be a surviver. PS The man who won this did the whole 3.12 mile course in just over 26 minutes. You go dude, whoever you are!

The triumphant duo at the wash pit. Great big water trucks were there to spray you off with fire hoses! Insane. All the while the rock and roll bands played on...it was like Woodstock without the LSD!

Sabrina, me, Steve, and Lizzy. Sabrina was the one we saved from the dumbster and Lizzy was her friend. So much fun:)

Steve donating his mud soaked shoes to third world countries. They pressure wash then and ship them to people who have no shoes.

A rewarding feast for an exhausting day.

Steve digging in.

After the mud is washed off and the turkey legs are eaten it's time to sit around with our new hats and meet new people and listen to the music wafting across the field. We found a little patch of shade to hang out. Heaven. So satisfied with the knowledge that we had done something that day that many don't dare try, much less even think about doing. You know me though, I'm a people gatherer. I love to drag my friends along to the fun. So next year make plans to join us at this awesome event. The more the merrier! Walk it, run it, do it in your pjs for all I care, just do it. It will make you stronger. And that my friends is life changing. And if you can't get to North Carolina they have these all over the country and I think Canada. http://www.warriordash.com/ or you can Google 'mud races' and come up with a dozen varieties of this one. If a squishy homeschool mom can finish this, so can you;)