Warrior Dash 2013

With this national race series’ popularity boost in the last couple years, i’d figure the events would keep getting better! Unfortunately the only thing that did was the finisher’s t-​shirt (for some… ask my guy friend who got a baby tee as a men’s M or Mike W. that got a dress for men’s L).
This is my 3^rd Warrior Dash event, my first in Washington and the other two here in Hawaii. I feel they made the obstacles much easier to accommodate the range of people whom are participating at all fitness levels. This is fine but to drive a nail through it — generic medals (no year, etc.) and NO TURKEY LEG?! WTH!!!
Last thing I’d like to bitch about is the rinsing off of mud situation — one hose for a ton of people? Insufficient. Anyway, I just let the mud marinate and sat on towels on the way home.
What I did love was seeing so many friends whom were participating or there for the festivities and there’s never any better excuse to smear mud all over your friends than by participating in a muddy obstacle race! :)
If you want some useful tips, check out Sajili B.‘s review, I concur with all of his tips!

I had a good time at this Warrior Dash. I decided to do something I’ve never done before, run for a cause! I helped raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Aside from that it was another Warrior Dash check in the box for this year.
Key tips:
–Go early, force your way to the front if you want to run competitively or at least for good time.
–Don’t get too frustrated for all the walkers.
–But also, WALKERS please pick a side to walk on especially if you are in a big pack. Imagine someone twisting their ankle trying to run around you!
–If you typically run these things hungover or after a night of drinking, hydrate with Pedialyte.
–Pack a trash bag, an extra large beach towel (for your car seat), and a sweater. You’ll get cold.
–They have a bag check, large enough to hold all your essentials.
–When trying to find your friends walk around and pick one super obvious meeting spot, phone tag sucks.
The first half was all trail running, you didn’t get in there until the second half.
I’d do this every weekend if I could: D Well, for free of course. Make sure you register early next year for the early bird price.

My mantra for this year: «Everything truly great lies outside your comfort zone.»
Inside Comfort Zone:
–Eating Ice cream
–Sleep
–Watching TV
Outside Comfort Zone =
–Anything which involves mud
–Anything which involves running
–Anything which is not indoors and makes me sweat
Yes I know, I’m kind of a princess, but DAMMIT why would God invent air conditioning if he didn’t want us to use it!!! So when I had the chance to do the Warrior Dash, I begrudgingly FORCED myself to sign up. Although I do consider myself to be athletic, I HATE getting dirty. I don’t even go out in the sun for fear that it’ll age my skin prematurely. You can laugh but in 30 years I’ll still look 30 and you’ll look like the Crypt Keeper!
After running the 3+ mile course and conquering all the somewhat easy obstacles, I have realized you don’t do Warrior Dash because you want to get into better shape or prove that you’re in shape, you do it for the following reasons:
1) You’re a princess like me and want to prove to yourself (and possibly your friends or your macho boyfriend) that you are capable of having fun and going on an adventure.
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2) You want to wear an awesome costume and hang out with your friends.
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3) You want to drink beer and wear a giant helmet.
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4) You’re kind of a freak. (I’m not judging, I’m just stating this for review purposes)
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For those of you who are worried that you’re not in good enough shape to do the Warrior Dash, keep in mind the obstacles are fairly easy and you’re just a little winded from running. I don’t ever do cardio and was completely fine!
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BUT let me warn you, you will get filthy disgusting dirty. You will crawl under barbed wire in the dirt and mud, jump into gross lake water, and yes you WILL SWIM IN MUD + POOP which equals, you guessed it, MUD POOP!!! Ewwwwww… the princess in me almost fainted as I swam through the mud and the smell of manure hit me. Like I said, OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONE DAMMIT!!! Because no one is going to tell me I’m not FUN! I have pushed three little people out of my body and can swim in MUD POOP. The conclusion I have drawn from this is that there is NOTHING I CANNOT DO.
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Will I do Warrior Dash again next year? Oh HELL YES!
Because I enjoy swimming in MUD POOP? Oh HELL NO!
Because I enjoyed the costumes and revelry and going on an adventure? YOU BET!
Next year I want to hang out with these guys: (
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And now I’m going to go back into bed to eat some ice cream and watch TV. I love my comfort zone, mostly because it’s a warm cozy place which does not smell like poop.

I was so stoked I was able to go this year, and it was way more than I expected!
The Dash
It was a blast! If you’re in great shape it might be pretty easy, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be fun. From what I heard, the course was much different and more challenging this year than last, so I won’t bother describing the obstacles. But for the most part, they were well made and thought out.
Beer
After the race once you’ve managed to get the mud out off and off of the critical areas — eyes, mouth, and nose, everywhere else can wait — go get your free beer! Beer was meant to be consumed ice cold after some hard, messy work.
Food
We had plans to eat in Haleiwa town so we didn’t partake, but they had some good looking grinds here, more options than just the advertised turkey leg.
Music
Admittedly, there was a bit too much country for my taste, but when it’s upbeat and everyone is having a good time, who cares? The music was good and there was plenty of room for dancing.
Costumes
I really wish I was able to see Beatle Juice crawl through the mud, but we had different start times. That would’ve been something else. I saw a herd of superwomen as I was leaving, a few Mario’s, and some other super heros. and I thought I saw Thing from Fantastic Four. but a lot of us looked like Thing afterwards. There was even a Chun Li and Ryu — yeah Street Fighter II !!
It’s an experience. Can’t wait till next year!

What a kick butt event! This was my first year doing this so I have nothing to compare it to. I also haven’t done any other runs of this sort, but I’m happy to say this made a good first!
It was only 3.17 Miles, so the actual running part was not so bad! Except the paths were overgrown and had a bunch of twigs! It almost made the run an obstacle in itself. But with some prancing and usage of ballerina style leaps you could run through them pretty okay.
The obstacles included a lot of climbing and some were pretty high up there. Everybody was super understanding and I felt safe and not judged taking my time with them though. I even got some hands offering help.
I liked how the obstacles were spaced. It took a while to get to the first one but after that they came at good intervals. Run, climb, run, crawl. Definitely got a good heart work out.
They also had two water stations but be careful of drinking too much water… No porta-​potties were placed along the track so… yea…
Some of the more interesting obstacles included the «swim» in the lake and having to climb over a platform floating in it (which was hard!!), crawling under barbed-​wire in mud, and of course the jumping over the fire. The fire was actually pretty scary to me … and some dude cut me off so I had to stop and redo my momentum.
At the end they had like two hoses with 50 billion people trying to get clean from them. So it was pretty impossible if you were a small girl to get some of that action. But the weather was nice and the mud crusted over my body. I didn’t really mind being dirty!
The free Miller Light they give you after was super refreshing and ice cold. I drank mines in like 5 minutes. And they also had the Monster energy guys giving away free cans of it which lasted like 30 minutes and they were all gone!
Rock music played on the stage and it was all super enjoyable. I definitely recommend doing the Warrior Dash especially if it’s your first time doing something like this! It’s a great and disgusting way to add some adrenaline into your year.
P.S Yes. The mud is gross. And makes your body surprisingly buoyant…

Another year of fun!
I felt like Warrior Dash 2013 was better than last year. The course was NOT the same as last year.
The staging area was a big mudfest right off the bat. Before running the course, my shoes already had an inch of mud. I think we can «blame it on the rain» that we had the last few days.
The layout of the course was similar. It was a mile and a half of running, then the obstacles came in succesion. One negative was that the first water station did not have a volunteer manning the station so the 5 gallon thermos they were using didn’t last long.
The course obstacles seemed more challenging than the ones they had last year. I like that it wasn’t the same and they changed it up a bit. There were more obstacles that we had to climb over this year. I do miss the vertical wall, which they did not bring back. But the large cargo net towards the end was still there and there was even an obstacle that had water dripping down on you, that was a nice touch since we had just come out of the swamp water!
At the finish line, the wash area was crowded and it took forever until you got to the front of the line. I got my free beer at the tent and enjoyed it, it was ice cold. Monster was giving away free drinks too. They also sold some chicken sandwhiches, pork wraps (I think), corn, and veggie burgers… NO turkey legs like last year.
All I can say is that I cannot wait until next years run!
See my pics for some obstacles towards the end of the race.
See you Warriors next year!