Warrior Dash

If you've followed the blog for any length of time you know that I like to run.  Not any decent length, mind you, no marathons or even half-marathons.  5k is just about my speed.  But when I came across a race billed as "The craziest frickin' day of your life" that was a 5k and episode of "Wipe Out" all in one, I was all about it.

I went off to Ohio last weekend to compete in the Warrior Dash.  There were originally 4 of us.  Slowly the came to their senses and dropped out, leaving just Sarah and I for the trip.

The weekend began like any normal weekend trip.  We drove to Cleveland, checked into a downtown hotel and found dinner.  Then drinks and dancing.  At this point we were intentionally ignoring the fact that we had to get up and run a race in the morning.

The following morning we headed to Canton, Ohio, a 20-minute drive from the race course.  Since we had plenty of time we did some sightseeing. Canton has two major choices- the National Football Hall of Fame or the William McKinley Presidential Library and Museum.

We chose the later, which is neither a library nor what you would expect from a presidential museum.  Sure, the former president was interred there and there was a nice-sized monument.  But the museum had none of his personal affects- just campaign propaganda from his era. 

... and a beehive.  And a dinosaur.  And a saloon, electric train set, snakes, fish, and planetarium.  It was a very eclectic mix, but we spent a few hours wandering around while trying NOT to focus on the fact that we still had to go to the race.

When we did finally head to North Lawrence and Clay's Resort we rode in stunned silence.  Why on earth had we signed up for this?

Arriving at the race and seeing the mud-caked participants only enforced that question. 

We signed in, got our t-shirts, bibs, and fuzzy warrior helmets, and changed into costumes.  Yes, there were costumes.  And then we were off.

Although the mud was pretty awful at the finish line, we made good time and had fun on the obstacles.  It wasn't until a few hours later that the "holy crap!" set in.  We swam across a yucky, muddy, river.  We climbed up a 15-foot wall and and had to drop to the ground on the other side.  We jumped over fire!  We climbed cargo nets!  We hauled ourselves over walls and under barbed wire and crawled through MUD!

... and it was fun.  Muddy, messy, don't want to do that again any time soon fun. 

Until next year, same weekend, in the Poconos.