Warrior Dash Recap!!!

On Saturday my Mom and I had the opportunity to run the Warrior Dash up in Amesbury, MA.Originally the location for the race was Bridgewater, Ma but got switched last minute. A bit of an inconvenience and about an hour and a half difference in travel time but I will tell you it was definitely worth it! 

First off I have wanted to run one of these races for some time now. I knew it would be a blast and a bit challenging but so much fun. I have only heard great things about them so needed to get in on the fun!

 A little background on the race each warrior dash is around 3 miles long and it can be through trails or woods and there are roughly 12 obstacles through out the race ranging from climbing over 20 feet structures, crawling through the mud and swimming through mud pools. Beware there is a lot of mud involved and I mean a lot. They have the races all over the country and in my opinion  you get a lot for your money.

The race cost around $40 if you sign up when the race is announced and the price increase the closer it gets to the race like all others but you get a lot for that. A t-shirt, a warrior helmet, a kilt coozy, a bottle opener medal, free beer (for those that are 21 and over), pictures through out the race and a finishers picture that can be uploaded right to your facebook after taking it. Not to mention an awesome 3 mile course of mud, obstacles and fun!

We got to the race around  8:45am checked in got our bib numbers, shirts and warrior helmets, then got ready for the race. Our start time was at 9:30am, They have start times every 15 minutes. We started off up a steep, steep rock filled hill. At first it was slow getting started a lot of stopping and walking and I thought is it going to be like this the whole time. I think the guys in front of me were feeling the same way because they kept saying things like "Just jumped a rock, must be the first obstacle" but then things got interesting. We curved around and up and down hills in the woods for a while and then hit our first two obstacles crawling over things and climbing up big dirt piles. We then headed back into the woods down an incredibly steep hill jumped over some trees that had fallen down and through TONS of mud puddles (beware of the mud sucking in your shoe!) Some people were going around the mud, I was running straight through my goal was to get as muddy as possible, hey that's why I was there right! This continued for a little bit making us extra tired then we hit some more obstacles, ones where you had to climb up and then swing your body over and climb down. I am afraid of heights so the biggest thing for me was not looking down but I still got freaked out a bit. There were lots of obstacles like this but the end ones were my favorite! Before the last few obstacles we had to jump over this line of fire, which dummy me stops in front and says to the guy "Are we suppose to jump this?" He said yes patiently, had I been him I would have answered to myself "No idiot walk through it see how that goes" but legally I think maybe they aren't suppose to say that. Anyway I backed up a bit and ran and jumped over it screaming while they took my pictures and then headed toward the mud pool. Everyone seemed to be swimming through so that is what I did. I crawled out covered in more mud then I have ever had on me in my life and then climbed up the last obstacle where you then slide down this pretty large slide into a pool of muddy water. This is where all the mud from swimming in the mud pool gets washed off. Once you finish with the you then run down a steep hill that I almost face planted on thank god it flattened out and then you are finished and soaking wet with mud in areas you really didn't want there to be mud. 

The down hill finish

My mom and I stuck together the whole race and finished pretty much the same time.It was by far the most interesting and fun race I have run. I literally laughed through the whole thing. Not to mention the people who were out on the course running with you were so nice and helpful. I had gotten to the top of an obstacle and was unsure of how to get down so a runner ahead of me climbed back up to assist me down. I love when I run races and have awesome strangers around me! 

Following the race you can go get your picture taken on the warrior dash cut out that they upload straight to your facebook. This I thought was very cool I had not encountered this at a race before and I really liked the idea. Following that we went and changed into clean clothes,  you can rinse off but we just changed our clothes and stayed muddy. We then went over to the merchandise table which was also great, all registrants got a free kilt coozy and we also bought tank tops which were only $12! What race can you buy a cute shirt for $12....none of them $25 maybe but not $12! We headed over got our free beer, bought some food again which was really reasonably priced and they had a pretty wide variety of things ranging from veggie burgers to pulled pork, hot dogs and cheese burgers. We sat on the AstroTurf field for a bit in the sun then headed home in desperate need of a shower....I also had to wash my hair several times to get all the mud out! 

Finisher Photo

Take top I bought

This to me is a race that even if you are not a runner you can do. If you can walk three miles and handle some obstacles you will have an absolute blast. I am definitely going to sign up for this next year hopefully with a group because it is a race that everyone will enjoy. Well done Warrior Dash I can not wait for next year!

The aftermath of dirty clothing

Disclaimer: Although I was given a race entry for free all opinions are my own.

QOTD: Have you done an obstacle race if so which one and did you like it?