The Warrior Dash

This past weekend, Curtis and I competed in the Warrior Dash, with our friends Erin and Brad. Erin has been a huge motivation to me!! Doing the Warrior Dash together was actually her idea, and when things were hard, I made sure I reminded her of that. Originally, Erin and her husband were going to do it together, just like Curtis and I were doing it together. Unfortunately, Jim Bob had to work, so Brad came. Brad and Curtis did the Tough Mudder together.

Our wave started at 12:30. We got up that morning and enjoyed our St. Partick's Day breakfast, loaded all the Krajcas and Brad into the car, dropped off the kiddos with AMAZING friends who watched the kids ALL day, and headed to Splendora. As we were driving, I started getting very nervous about our time. I wanted to make sure we had enough time to get there, pick up our packets, find Erin and get everything ready. I also really had to pee!! Curtis was speeding slightly, so when he said, "Oh crap!" I assumed we were getting pulled over. No such "luck". We had a flat.

I may or may not have flipped out at this point. But because I knew it wasn't the craziest thing I would be doing that day, I decided to just go ahead, pee on the side of the road, and do what I could to help Curtis. Curtis is such a stud and had the donut on in no time at all.

Did I mention that all this happened about a mile from our exit?! Ahhhh!!! Very stressful.

We parked, and headed to the line to wait for a bus to take us to the starting line. While walking across a field type, I rolled my ankle. I was fine, but keep that in mind for later in the series of events. Here we are, thankful to be in line waiting for the bus, but still a little anxious about making it on time.

We didn't make the first bus that came by, but were positive that we would make the next bus. Needless to say, when the next bus came to the BACK of the line to let people on, we were less then thrilled. At this point, we were considering walking, but were unsure of where we needed to go, and how far it was. I called Erin, who was waiting for us, and she told us to just wait. Finally, we made it onto a bus, and got to the race location. We even had time to snap a few pictures!

As we were standing at the starting line, waiting for our start time, I told Curtis that I was somewhat thankful for the distraction of the tire. I didn't have as much time to get nervous. But at this point, the nerves were setting in.

One of the longest running stretches was at the very beginning of the race. Though I hadn't been able to build up the endurance that I had hoped to, I was hoping that I would be able to run the entire first part. I didn't take into consideration the mud. It was so thick, making running very hard. I rolled my ankle again, making running slightly painful. More than anything, I was just nervous about hurting myself more. There were a couple obstacles, but I felt really good tackling them and moving on.

I continued feeling very optimistic until we reached the Giant Cliffhanger. It was a 15 ft slope (made out of plywood) that we climbed up using a rope. The part that increased my anxiety was seeing people slide down when they were 3/4 of the way up. I was afraid that if I lost my footing (keep in mind my shoes were wet and muddy) and fell, that I wouldn't have enough strength to go again. I was so focused on making it to the top, that once I got there, I couldn't think what to do next. It was actually quite amusing, I'm sure.

We hit the half way point, and I was exhausted!! Brad and Erin went on ahead, since I wasn't running any at this point. Curtis was AMAZING!! He found the perfect balance of motivating and pushing me to keep going, but also encouraging me when I was struggling. With his help, I completed every obstacle and finished the race in 5773 place (out of 7357) with a time of 1 hour 10 minutes.
I wouldn't classify the Warrior Dash as fun. I didn't have fun doing it. But the sense of accomplishment at the end was incredible and more than made up for the tough parts where I was willing to throw in the towel.

The best part of the Warrior Dash was being able to throw myself into something physical, something that I could have given up on but DIDN'T. I pushed my limits. I challenged myself. And I had a blast doing it!! Curtis and I are planning on doing another Dash, hopefully in the fall. My goal this time was to do every obstacle and finish. My goal next time is to finish in under and hour, and run more of it.

Till then, I'm looking for a new challenge. At the moment, I'm thinking I'm going to try to finish the Couch 2 5K program, and maybe attempt a 5K in the next few months. As crazy as this is, I'm starting to get addicted to these events! I strongly encourage you to find a way to push your physical limits! It's an incredible feeling when you realize that limits only exist if you let them.