Sunday, August 11, 2013

LiveFit Trainer Phase 2 Day 35 and WARRIOR DASH!!

On the trainer today was supposed to be a rest day, but who needs those, right?  I signed up to run in the Warrior Dash Ohio II race in at Clay's Park Resort in April with my knee newly injured.  While enduring physical therapy, my goal the whole time was to be able to run in this race and complete it!  Today I DID IT!!!

I will reiterate for those who don't know me: I AM NOT A RUNNER!  I loathe running with a passion, but when you add in obstacles to climb over and mud to swim through, you are calling my name!  I don't exactly remember how I first heard about the Warrior Dash, but I knew immediately that it was something that I would eventually want to do.  I figured the obstacles would break up the running enough that it wouldn't feel like so much of a chore like the other 5Ks I have done.  Plus it's for the amazing cause of St. Jude's Children's hospital.  I had talked to people who have previously completed the race, and they told me that while you need to be able to run a good distance endurance wise, you need a lot of strength for the obstacles.  I have gained a lot of muscle doing this trainer, and the obstacles were tough but smooth going.  However, I will start at the beginning.

My wave started at 9:30 AM, and there were three waves before mine.  I wanted to get there early for packet pick up and to watch the other waves, so my mom and I got there around 8:15.  I got my over 21 ID bracelet, my Warrior t-shirt (which I am wearing as I write this post), my race bib, a shoe tracker and a fuzzy Viking hat!

I started to get a little bit nervous when it came time for me to line up, but I started talking to people at the starting gate.  Everyone was so friendly!  At 9:30 on the dot, we set off!  I started out toward the front of the line, but as I am not a very fast runner, I ended up kind of in the middle of the pack through the first stretch into the woods.

As you can kind of see from the course map, the first stretch is pretty long, so I made it my goal to run the whole way to the first obstacle.  Met that goal!  I climbed over a bunch of walls, swam through the lake, dove into some muddy trenches, trucked it through some tires and ran my butt off until I finally made it to the last three obstacles by the finish line.

The cargo net climb and the Warrior Roast.  That's me in the black pants and grey tank jumping over the Warrior Roast.  Then came the epic mud pit.

I was the most dirty I have ever been in my entire life, but it felt so good!  I didn't care how dirty I was!  I cannot even describe the fun I had during this race.  I actually caught myself smiling a few times while running!  Plus it didn't hurt that I had good friends and family there to cheer me on!

This was the perfect thing for me to do after completing phase 1 of the trainer.  I feel like I have renewed motivation to continue on with phase 2.  It also gave me a chance to have a much needed cheat day filled with a giant turkey leg, beer, loaded frozen yogurt and homemade pizza!
I am so proud of myself today, and I can't wait to get back in the gym tomorrow!!


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