Warrior Dash

I thought I had run everything….

Back in February I got a tip about this crazy race. So I googled it and signed up. I showed up June 27 Sunday at a community college parking lot in Amesbury MA. I donned my Pirate of Cape Cod costume & joined the migration to the front of the campus. Yellow school buses shuttled people upon people, in groups and alone to the “starting“ line. Upon arriving at the Amesbury Sports Center, I said to the woman next to me, “Is this a soccer field?”

“I think my oldest son played travel soccer here.”  She had no idea.

I had less than 30 minutes to get my number & check in my gear bag… lots of people bumbled around. Got my number, passed in the gear bag, making sure I had everything I needed on my person for a good race. When I signed up I thought, “Hmmm, a Mud run & 12 obstacles: Lots of 20’s & 30’s for runners”. I stood in my bandana “hat”, home made “Pirate of Cape Cod” shirt, black gaiters (more for costume than use). I said to the 3some beside me, “It is good to see more people beyond their 30’s”… these folks had about 8 years on me.

The gun shot off for the first heat of 350 runners which would start every 30 minutes of 350 participant starting at 10am and last group would start at 3pm. At the gun, two breaths of dragon fire went into the air from the overhead starting banner. Music blasted loudly up the muddy slope we traipsed. Most people were not mountain slope ready so they were well out of air by the top of this slight hill. We turned left into a downward slope of deeper mud sprinkled with roots.  Careful footing here. I ran near a gal dressed like Daisey Duke, my Pirate self, arrgh. Our first obstacle was under some wires close to the 5 inch deep mud floor… several steps under I touched the ground.

Now my hands were covered in mud, remember not to wipe sweat off the brow with muddy hand… Up and down a zig zag of trail deep in mud, it had rained over night & 6 hours of runners ran this yesterday. The course was a well worn beaten trail and MUD beyond your wildest imagination, deep & dark brown in color. The mud for this part of the course was of sandy consistency, yet I could identify the middle of the trail that once had grassy center. Our next obstacle was up a 4 ½ foot wall, jump into the mud on the other side, go under a wall of wires, repeat 3 times, over, under, over, under. Run more mud of varying depths 2 to 6 inches. Scattered with roots & /or rocks. Next wall had slats to put your toes in, climbing 12 feet high, over the top, climb slats down, scarey. More mud trail, lost Daisey Duke. A greater zig zag to see other runners ahead & behind deeper darker mud. Hanging tires swinging to go between with deep mud for footing. A 12 foot wall to climb, use the muddy rope to help you get up, over, and rope to help get down.

A more fun obstacle faced us: a jungle gym of spider-web to traverse which covered 20 yards of area. I passed several less flexible men on this challenge. A slope upward, of mud of course. Another wall of 12 feet to climb covered in rope like a pirate climbs the mast of a ship, up, over and down… A man stood at the top of a hill shooting a fire hose down the muddy steep slope. This is a mud slide indeed, no running it, you sit down and slide. Got a good bit of air for at least one of the bumps, dirt up the pants for sure. At the bottom, you finish the last 50 yards in deep manure color, smelling mud.

I crossed the finish with people saying I was first woman of the day. Every person finished covered in mud toes to waist at very least. I gathered my gear bag after replenishing my water loss. Took out the camera to snap some dirty people in the frames. Under a tent of certain Viking warrior hat shape I watched the results tally. Each consecutive “heat” was added in…. I may not have been first woman all day, I was first in my 40- 44 category for the day.

Absolutely a day of playing in the mud. This was a first for me, a sure fun run.

If you ever happen upon a Warrior Dash or Spartan Race, this indeed is fun,

BUT you have to be open to getting VERY dirty.

Keep running, and running, and running, and biking (when in recovery).

~ Kate Naples