Warrior Dash

Blog is live...and away we go!  So I ran the Warrior Dash this past weekend and it was probably one of the funnest events I've ever participated in.  Those that know me know how much I enjoy all the relays (Ragnar) that I do but this may have topped it.  It was different though.  We were held for nearly 30 minutes because of lightning while we all complained that we signed a waiver and to let us go.  Either way, they have to be safe but in the moment it was dumb.  Plus we were getting tight and starting tight is never a good thing.

The initial hill was killer!  I found myself in the front of the wave at the top when we started on most the obstacles.  They were so fun.  There was a junk yard surrounded by tires that was crazy sliding through. The rope wall was intense because it was so high but was very surprised how easy it was to scale up.  Coming down was a little unsettling but I managed.  I did have one fall climbing over some barricades but tucked on the way down and made it appear as though I did the tumble intentionally.  Where's the picture of that camera guy shooting right in front of me??  Probably the highlight, as with most people I'm sure, was the finish.  I had no idea how deep the mud was but 1st place was just getting close to the finish and I couldn't even see anyone behind me so I decided to have some fun.  A cannon ball seemed like a good idea and I was hoping it was deep enough to avoid injury as I was in the air.  My whole plan for the run was to be smart and don't risk injury.  Well I got caught in the moment and was not smart.  Cannon ball put me under but it was about waist high so I was ok.  I've never crawled under barbed wire fencing through the mud before but I think I got the hang of it pretty quick.  The only way that seemed fitting to end the run was a head first dive across the muddy finish line.  I left some skin all over the ground as blood mixed with the mud.  Not a bad look for a Warrior but not the greatest feeling either.  Oh well, it looked cool!  All-in-all, an extremely great time!

Now I'm counting down the days to start my training for Philly.  A weekend away to do some fishing and relaxing...then the games begin (8/1).  For now, I'm off for a relaxing 5 miler.

My first Blog!

So I have made the decision that I am going to create a blog for my upcoming training.  I have no idea if anybody is even going to care about my training and how it is going but I'm giving this a whirl anyway.  If anything else, my Mom may check in from time to time.  So my goal is to break 3 hours in Philly.  My "official" training will start August 1st but I've got some other stuff coming up before that as well.  I guess this could be my test run while being in "maintain-style" training from the spring.  I also don't know for sure how easy this is going to be to stay up on.  I am also doing the Runner's World Challenge for Philly so my training schedule is online and easy to follow.  We'll see how much I post and maybe there'll be a direct link to it.  As is the norm with me and training programs, I'm sure I'll be making some changes on the fly with Ragnar's and other races requiring a tweak here and there.  Anyway, we'll see how this all goes.  I'm pretty pumped to get started!