Warrior Dash Midwest 2011 - Race Roundup!

This past weekend, I succumbed to the new 'in thing' of adventure racing.... Yes, five short months ago my running bud and I received an invite email 'enticing' us to 'don't miss the chance' at the coolest new type of running and adventure challenge:  a mud race.  Yes...It was January 20th.  Yes, we had X feet of snow on the ground at the time...and yes, swimming in a mud pit only seemed like a blissful wonder.  So, what did we do - we signed up for it!  Something called the 'Warrior Dash'...we were told - that was a combination of running a 5k and conquering some 'obstacles' in a  fun costume.  The night we both agreed to sign up for the challenge, I think the phrase 'How Bad Can it Be?' might have been uttered by one or both of us :)

Fast forward five months.  Two weeks before race day, we start cramming to figure out our costumes and start following the race on Facebook.  Each week other 'Warrior Dash' races are happening in various cities around the country.  I even long on to http://www.warriordash.com/ and look at some of the obstacles and challenges in the races nationwide.  And then I pause.  I call my BFF and utter these exact words: 

WHAT IN THE WORLD DID WE GET OURSELVES INTO?!?

As the next two weeks approached, anticipation of the race rose.  News articles were covering it, friends were discussing it, and I really started to get nervous.  I mean - really.  I am in week 2 of marathon training for my fall Full in October, and I'm risking my healthy and safety for a fun time in the mud?!?  Seriously? Then, the day before the race I hear that my friend from high school - who fights for the UFC as a PROFESSIONAL mixed martial artist - is coming up from St. Louis to Chicago to participate in the race.  Then possibly at that very moment, I knew I was out of my league :)

Well, not one to leave any registration money on the table or allow any logic, for that fact, stop me from moving forward on something I'm already committed to, I decided no turning back.  When the alarm went off at 5:30 Saturday morning, I knew it was time to wake up and run the race.

I caravaned with two friends over to Channahon - leaving town at 6am sharp.  Lucky for us, the I-80 construction wasn't too bad yet, but it still took us about 50 minutes to get there.  When we arrived at the Dollinger Farms location - boy were we excited!!!

After you stomach the $10 parking (yes - in BFE where you expect ample free parking!) - you quickly realize what all the 'Hype' is about.  It's worth it - entirely - and we realize this before the race has event started!  The costumes, the facilities, the music - it's all part of a transformation.  For a split moment, I think anyone in that area thought they could scale any wall or obstacle.  Because, we're warriors - DUH!



As we wait at the start line, some amazing costumes are everywhere we look: 

TMNT



The Jolly Green Giant!

  

Mario and Luigi!

The race was nothing less than - AMMMAZZZZING!  Of course, I can say that since I did in fact survive and did NOT get hurt.  I'm pretty sure this may be an annual event for me - as long as a very important condition exists:

• I'm in one of the first groups of day 1.

First, the mud existed, but I can only imagine how dangerous everything might be after 2 days and another 21,000 people slipping and sliding on the course.  Secondly, I'm a structural engineer and throughout the race, I found myself looking at each obstacle quite carefully.  Needless to say, many of them seemed to lack some structural 'resilience' and I'm not really on board with being the last one to hang from them...if you know what I mean :)

Here are some great views of the obstacles and events from Saturday:

Car trample and tire run

Creek Runnin'

Horizontal rope climb.

A great from the top of the wall...looking down!

Climb up and over the barn!

After all this...we enjoyed running OVER fire and thru the mud...excellent!

A little 'slippage' while entering the mud pit!

In the end, all great times were had by all - and we even enjoyed some amazing free beer and a $6 turkey leg...success!  We attempted to hose down the mud off of us in a very weak excuse for a water truck, but at least we had some fresh clothes to change into for the drive home.  We also donated our running muddy shoes to charity at the end of the race, so that was a nice touch.  I'm still wondering how they will clean them all before they ship them to the particular charities!

Post Mud - Pre 'hose down'!

So - short run, free beer, turkey legs, and warrior costumes....I call this a successful Saturday morning!  Looking forward to Warrior Dash - 2012!