Maryland Warrior Dash

Today I ran the Maryland Warrior Dash with my friend Emily.  It was my first time participating in a mud run or race with obstacles and I wasn't sure what to expect - it ended up being harder than I thought, but a whole lot of fun.

Emily ran a similar race in Florida a few months ago and warned me that it takes a while to park, pick up packets, and check gear before the race.  Being as the race was an hour and a half drive from DC, we set out at 7:30 - 4.5 hours before our start time.

As per usual, Em was right and while the drive passed quickly, parking took a while.  This could have been easily remedied if they didn't charge for parking ($10 to park in a grassy field in the middle of nowhere is a bit steep, not that I'm annoyed by this surprise charge or anything), but the race directors deserve credit for strategically parking the cars coming in and out during different time ranges in different areas - getting out of the parking lot was pretty easy.  Our early departure meant we had plenty of time to get our race packets and get ready to run.  Before we checked our bags we took a couple of photos:

Our shirts read "Ladies who lunch..." on the front and "in the MUD" on the back.  We also wore Mardi Gras beads that looked like pearls and fascinators that Emily made - she's so much craftier than I'll ever be!

Once we finished our mini-photoshoot we checked our bags and made our way toward the start line.  The race finished a few yards from the start line, so we got to preview the fires we would be jumping over and the mud pit we'd be slogging through to get to the finish.  The runners finishing the race looked like they were having so much fun!  Until they hit the mud pit they also looked suspiciously clean...

With 15 minutes to go, we lined up at the start line.  It was quite the party over there with music and people tossing beach balls.  As we counted down to our start time, flames ignited above the start sign - we were literally fired up and ready to go.

The first mile or so of the race was a trail through the woods full of mud pits.  I was simultaneously thankful I'd tightened and double-knotted my shoelaces and regretful I hadn't duct-taped my shoes to my feet.  Quite a few people around me lost their shoes in the thick mud.  Soon it was time for our first obstacle - we had to jump up and over a series of short (3'-5' tall) walls.  This would have been a lot easier without our feet getting sucked in to the mud.  Once we cleared the walls it was an uphill sprint to a series of 3 obstacles involving climbing up and down wooden structures around 2-3 stories tall.  We didn't have a camera with us, so here are a couple of examples of these obstacles from the Warrior Dash website:

After those, mercifully, there was a water stop.  The sun finally came out and it was starting to get get really warm.  We hoped we'd have a chance to cool off soon and quickly realized we should be careful what we wished for... because our next obstacle was a crawl through the mud under barbed wire.  I was pretty muddy after that crawl and wondered aloud how everyone at the end of the race looked so clean.  Minutes later, as we crested a steep hill, I got my answer.

As I looked down at the massive adult-sized slip 'n slide covering a long, steep pitch I thought "fun! we'll cool off and this obstacle doesn't involve us doing any work."  Sidenote: I'm an idiot.  At the top of the slide, I forgot about gravity and used my arms to move a bit faster.  Huge mistake.  I flew down the rest of the slide and managed to catch air toward the bottom, landing on my elbow.  I can no longer painlessly rest my elbow on anything due to extensive bruising.  Emily, being smaller than I am, was less fortunate - while I was pulling myself out of the well of dirty water at the bottom of the slide, she caught a lot of air and came down, hard, on her backside.  Most people would have dropped out of the race at that point and gone somewhere safe and obstacle-free to ice their bruised and battered backside; however, Emily is a trooper.  Insisting on finishing the race, she pushed on as multiple people stopped her to ask if she was ok.

Off we went, up another hill and over another wall.  After that, we had to crawl through the dirt under logs and barbed wire where I managed to shred my left knee and both elbows.  That obstacle looked like this (courtesy of the Warrior Dash Facebook page):

After that, we had a few more climbing obstacles, a crawl across a cargo net, a balancing obstacle, and another uphill run before heading down the hill toward the finish line.  At the bottom of the hill, we were two leaps over fire and another mud crawl away from the finish.

The mud crawl wasn't what I was expecting.  I knew from watching other people finish that it was thick and relatively deep, but I expected to be able to crawl through it.  The final mud pit looked a lot like this:

What I found was the pit was far too deep for me to be able to reach anything with my hands - my choices were to swim or partially stand up and walk bent over at the waist.  Both choices were slow, but walking carried less of a risk of kicking another runner in the face so I opted to do that.

When we finally finished, this is what we looked like:

Just a bit muddy.  Luckily there was a station set up to hose us down, free beer to ease the pain of our scratches and bruises, and live music to entertain us while we cleaned up and drank our beers.

A lot of people stick around and hang out after the race, so you can easily make a day out of the experience.  You can donate your dirty sneakers at the finish line so you don't have to drag them home and, as mentioned above, we were able to get out of there really quickly.  All in all, the race was a great experience and I'd definitely do it again.

One more thing:

I couldn't help myself.