This is Alpha, the first-born, when he was 2YO.
This is Beta, the second-born, when he was about 2YO.
This is Gamma, the third-born, when he was about 18MO.
Warrior Dash 2011, Part I
Aug
8
2011
Since I know most of you weren’t there with me at the Warrior Dash, here is my recap of the day:
Background
Warrior Dash is a 3.1-mile race with about a dozen obstacles, most of which require climbing or crawling plus mud.
In my preparation for the half marathon in September, I wanted to do a 5k in July and a 10k in August. There were some 5k races in July around here, but this was the most appealing. If I want to run 3.1 miles, I can do that just about anywhere. A 5k obstacle course, however, doesn’t come along every day.
Getting There
We (a couple of co-workers and I) were in the 8:30am wave. If all 10,000 people ran at once, the obstacles would get clogged very quickly and it wouldn’t be much fun for about 9,500 people. So Warrior Dash starts in waves, a few hundred runners every half hour.
I met my co-worker at 6:30 so we could carpool (parking was $10 per car), and we got there about 7:45 am. It was in an out-of-the-way area, but they were well prepared – cones on the main road to separate WD-traffic from through-traffic, guys with orange flags directing you in the parking lot, police cars and officers stationed at intersections, well-marked areas with signs, etc.
First Impressions
Warrior Dash is big.
Not just in the sense that it is very popular and gaining popularity, but the event takes up a lot of real estate. With most races, there is a tent for packet pick-up and a few tables for post-race food and water.
Not so with Warrior Dash.
There is a tent for packet pickup, a tent for liability waivers, a tent for first aid, a tent for information, a tent for merchandise sales, a tent for selling turkey legs, two tents for selling adult beverages, a stage for the band, a tent for the race results, stands for the spectators at the finish line, and the showers.
Goods and Trinkets
At the packet pickup, they give you your Viking hat. That was disappointing. The promos and photos that you see ahead of time make it sound impressive, but don’t get your hopes up. They aren’t so much horns as they are fuzzy bananas.
I like the medal they give you at the finish. I’ll show it here since this is the section for stuff.
Pre-Race Photos
I was hoping to see some of the course before we ran. Not so much to prepare for the race – I just wanted some pictures of the obstacles.
But the course was fairly well secured with fences and stuff. Since the races go throughout the whole day, they want the race area to be clear of spectators. Plus they had an undocumented obstacle (most obstacles are listed on the course map online), so perhaps they want to maintain an element of surprise for that one.
Regardless, the only obstacles that I was able to photograph were the three at the end, visible from the spectating area.
Cargo Climb
Warrior Roast
Muddy Mayhem
And since we were early in the day and the races hadn’t started when I was taking photos before my race, I wasn’t able to get any action shots.
The Start
We lined up in the starting chute about 15-20 minutes before the wave time. We didn’t have too much of a choice, since the chute was already half full.
It was only 8:15, but sweat was dripping down my back already. It was hot, sunny, very humid, no breeze, and we were packed together. We were so glad we weren’t in the one of the later waves.
They had a small tent at the starting gate, for the MC/DJ/host guy. His job was to keep the crowd (in the starting chute) entertained and ready to race. Most races play Springsteen’s Born to Run at the start of the race. Warrior Dash played things like Queen’s We Will Rock You and Beastie Boys’ You Gotta Fight.
The host guy would also ask questions (“Are you guys ready to become warriors?”), make statements (“Look at those guys, with the swords – they came prepared!”), and try to elicit noise from the crowd (“Let me hear your best warrior yell!”). I noted that his job would get old pretty quickly – dozens of waves over two days.
We were maybe a third of the way back from the front. The race started (no starting gun here – instead they shoot flames from the starting gate’s posts) and we were off.
The First Mile
No obstacles the first mile – WD does that on purpose to let the crowd thin out and avoid backlogs at obstacles. Things got quiet pretty quickly – no more chatting, although there were a few people who apparently had excess noise inside them and needed to randomly yell while running that first mile.
The crowd thinned out pretty quickly. We were on trails that first mile, but they were dirt tracks meant for cars, so it was smooth and wide enough to pass people. The worst part of that first mile was that much of the car path was sandy. Sand is not fun for running. It takes away your energy – prevents your stride from producing forward motion. I tried to run on the edges of the path, where the grass was.
After the first mile, we came to the first obstacle. WD had signs before each obstacle, warning that there’s an obstacle ahead, but they had no clocks anywhere, so I have no idea what my time was for that mile.
This post is getting too long, so I’ll continue it tomorrow.
How can you say, ‘We are mighty warriors,
And men valiant for battle’?
Jeremiah 48:14
This little article thingy was written by Some Guy sometime around 6:58 am and has been carefully placed in the Sports category.
August 8th, 2011 at 9:52 am
Great, now I have to start calling you “Sir.”
August 8th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
This is confirming my decision to not do the Warrior Dash this year. A bunch of my friends are doing it and I’m scared.
August 9th, 2011 at 12:27 pm
There are all sorts of people who run the Warrior Dash. Some people take over 2 hours to finish it. At least go to WD with your friends, even if you don’t run it.