Moore On Running: Warrior Dash 2010

This past Sunday I drove up to Mountain City, GA, and ran the Warrior Dash!!!

"Warrior Dash is the ultimate event for thrill-seeking athletes. This running series is held on some of the nation's most demanding and unique terrain. Participants will conquer extreme obstacles and celebrate their feat with music, beer, warrior helmets and muddy shorts."

I drove up with my six year old son (Peyton) and two of my friends (Coach Greg and Allen).

We left Charleston at around 6:00am. The drive took about five hours and as soon as we got to Mountain City I knew we were in for a treat. The small town was overflowing with all kinds of crazy people getting ready to run the race and muddy people who had already gone through the course. Over 14,000 people had signed up for the race (Saturday and Sunday).

We found a place to park, paid a local guy $10, and walked across the street to get our packets. It was
crazy how many people were dressed up for the race (including me). I had decided the day before to dress up as a warrior (Spartan Warrior).

As we made it up the hill to the packet pick up we could hear the band and crowd. When we made it over the hill we saw people getting ready to race, washing off in the lake, and laying out in the field listening to the band. It was crazy!!!

After putting our things away we made it back to the starting line for our 1:30pm heat. I took off my cape and moved toward the front of the line.

The start was so cool. There was a countdown and then fire shot up from the sides of the starting line. We ran straight down a hill for the first half mile then turned onto a trail. The first obstacle was running over planks and mounds through the water. Then running chest deep in the water for about twenty meters. The water was cold, but felt great! We climbed over a hill and then ran to the second obstacle. There were tons of tires and I decided it would be faster to just leap over them and land on the side of each tire (it worked). We then had to jump over four walls that were about four feet high. From here we ran up a trail to a slanted wall with a rope. I climbed it without any problem. We headed up the trail and then climbed a rope ladder up and down. Next we ran up a trail and then had to jump over old cars (loved this section).

The trail was steep and most people were walking up at this point. I finally found a way around a few people and started running again. The trail started to come back down and everything was muddy. We came out and had to run through a tunnel then kept running down hill. We ran to the mud pit and had to low crawl through the mud and under barbed wire (real barbed wire). When I first jumped into the mud pit my shoe got stuck and came off my foot! I had to dig it out and then my other shoe came off. I ended up crawling through the pit with both shoes in my hands. I carried them for the rest of the race.

After the mud pit I ran to another water obstacle where I had to roll over logs in the water. From there I ran up a hill and saw the "Fire Pits"! It was too cool. As I ran up to the obstacle I heard the commentator yelling, "Here comes a real warrior! He's going barefoot through the fire!". I could feel the fire and was pumped as I ran down the last hill to the finish line!