Monson Family: est. 8.15.09: We Survived Warrior Dash '11

Warrior Dash is a 5k race that tours the country that is supposed to be unlike any other race. Sounds like the perfect first race for me! It has a huge following and had 2 days in Seattle with waves of hundreds of people starting every half hour from 8am-6pm.

We decided to do the first wave. I thought there was a chance it might get hot later in the day since it was in the summer, and I didn't want the obstacles all worn out. We didnt realize how good of a decision that was until we were leaving and saw the back-up of cars on i-90. Being the first wave we cruised to the parking field and hopped the shuttle bus right away.

As we looked around I started to feel way more comfortable. It looked like most of the people there weren't runners. We checked in and got our fuzzy warrior helmets, along with our timer chip which we tied to our shoe. (The medals came at the finish line but this is the only pic i could find)

You turn in your timer at the end for your free beer

We checked our stuff (thank goodness it was complimentary) and headed to the starting line. It was warm out but raining. With the blow of some torches, we were off. The trail was kind of skinny in spots and we were held up a bit. Tip: If you want a good time, do the first wave and stand at the front. I was in no rush so we didnt mind a bit of walking. The terrain was really lumpy and we tried hard not to break our ankles running through the field that they had plowed grass down for us to run on. We reached our first obstacle: there were several baracades followed by barbed wire that we had to go over, then crawl under. Andy helped some ladies over the barracade. We continued on through some mud and hit the scariest obstacle. You had to climb up a huge wall with a rope. It was really tall and climbing over the top was really scary. We did several other obstacles incuding climbing over junk cars, over a net, through swinging tires, and through a tent you had to crawl through on your hands and knees but it was pitch black inside.

We were going along good, but due to the wet terrain, I got the worst blisters of my life about 2/3 of the way through. I pretty much walked on the outside of my feet the rest of the race and was disappointed, but since I didnt really care about my time, it wasnt a huge deal (apart from extreme pain.) As we approached the end of the race, we could hear the music and I pushed and jogged the last part. There was a huge net we had to climb over

Then we jumped over some fire (which was nice and toasty)

And then through a mud pit. It was a lot worse than it looks. It was like a foot or more thick and you SUNK into it...walking was impossible. You had to crawl under the barbed wire, but if you had even tried to walk, you wouldn't have made it.

We reached the finish line, my tutu falling off from the weight of the mud, and got our banana and finishing medal! We wanted some pics while dirty so i had to wipe my hands of on random things to get the following pictures. We eventually rinsed off in the rinse station, which was water trucks with FREEZING water. Everyone was hyperventilating in the process.

Overall, it was an awesome first 5k. I cannot wait to go back next year, hopefully without blisters so I can run the whole time. It was some of the most fun I have had! I don't know our times yet because we got cold and left early, but I will probably post it in the future. They had food (turkey legs) and a band and stuff so it will be cool to stick around next year when my parents can come (they didnt want to hold beans out in the cold) and take good pictures and stuff :)