Warrior Dash 2014

Well I survived another year of the Warrior Dash. New obstacles and a new course. There were highs and lows but all and all a good day.

The before pictures are a must.

We got there and I was concerned about the big steep hills I was remembering from last year.  BFF said I bet they aren't as bad as your remember them as.  Well the hills still sucked and I did have to walk them.  Last year it had rained the day before and everything was so slick and muddy I fell several times and this year it was dry and dusty. The dust/dirt started aggravating my breathing and asthma pretty early on. My lungs & throat seemed to be on fire for the rest of the run.  I had forgotten to take my allergy meds and use my inhaler before the run.

Lets start with the highlights of the run, the obstacles!!!! I am proud to say that I did EVERY obstacle!!!  We only did 2 of the 3 mud mounds but that is because DH got a huge mud ball in his eye and contact so we spent like 10 mins trying to get it all cleaned out and put back in.

Our First Obstacle, Plugged my nose this year.

yep this mud was gross. LOL!

Going up the mud mounds

Falling down the mud mounds. LOL!

 Perhaps my biggest proud of me moment is when I conquered the wall I fell down.  I had a moment of panic when I reached the top and I looked down to see that the rope on the back side didn't have knots for my to hold on to.  I wasn't sure how to get down. The feeling of falling down this drop all came flooding back and I froze.  Our Neighbor who is one of DH's BFF's said that was the only time he saw fear in my eyes.  But I did it I got down w/o falling and was so happy I didn't chose to skip it.

Going up the wall that kicked my ass last year.

Here is that moment of Oh CRAP!

Climbing down not falling!!!!

Another highlight was the new biggest obstacle called goliath.  It was by far the most fun one. You climbed up this big cargo net then rolled across more, climbed up a wood ladder and then slide down into a huge mud puddle.

Goliath

That is my BFF making that splash. :-)

Some of the lows. They added more running somehow. I swear this had to be longer than a 5K this year. They added all these switch backs in the woods up and down hills.  Just to end up right where we started. So many hills my cardio just isn't up for that yet.  This left me very frustrated because with each hill I knew I was falling further behind my group we went with. DH stayed with me but I kept on apologizing for how slow I felt I was and every time another hill would be in my path I wanted to cry because I felt horrible that I was going so slow.

BFF pulling me up a hill

When all was said and done I told my BFF there weren't as many pictures of DH & I this year and she said well we had allot of time waiting around for you with photo ops. This confirmed just how slow I really was.  But when we'd meet up with our group I didn't stop for a break it was always keep moving forward.

My favorite pic of me from the run

And of course the after pic

I realize now that all my training wasn't enough.  I felt like I had been running at all.  I so badly wanted to feel like I owned it but I left feeling like it owned me yet again.  So now I am trying to figure out what I need to do to help my training and my cardio.  I've been running for coming up on 6 months. Not consistently but still way more than I ever have in the past. last year I hadn't ran at all before the Warrior Dash (last year's Warrior Dash blog HERE)  So it was still fun but it was allot more work than last year with allot more up and down hill portions.  Next year we hope to do the color run in the morning and then onto the Warrior Dash after that.  We have the slime run next weekend and then a break until next month.  I have to change up something and start cross training so my lungs will not be on fire and so my muscles will be strong enough to carry me faster. I guess the treadmill just doesn't cut it all the time. As the weather is coming into fall I am realizing I am probably going to have to take my training outside.