Warrior Dash Part II: A Lonely, Wounded Warrior

In my first running of the , I mentioned that for my birthday we would be running it again.  So Sept. 10 dawned a bit chilly and overcast and I was not really looking forward to a wet, muddy event but what the heck, I headed to Carrollton. 

I was given a very brief warning about traffic but I was in no way prepared for what I encountered.  Traffic was backed up for miles and moving at a snail's pace.  As would be expected in Carrollton, I had no cell phone service to contact the friends I was meeting there.  Five miles and an hour and a half later (yes, 5 miles in an hour and a half!!), I had missed the heat I was supposed to run in and had no idea where my friends were.  Probably not necessary to say but I was not happy.  If they had still made me pay for parking, I might have hurt someone!

I raced through registration and checking my bags and hoped against all odds that I would be able to find my friends.  I was at the start corrals and just made it to the 3pm heat but kept fighting with my instinct to try to look for my friends still.  I stepped out of the corrals and took a quick loop to look for them one last time.  I thought I still might be able to make it back for the 3pm start.  I just kept telling myself I would have felt awful if I jumped in the race and they were still waiting for me.  Well, I missed the 3pm heat but guess who was running that one, yep, my friends.  They had waited as long as they could but some had to get home so couldn't wait any longer.  If only I had just run it then!

Instead, I waited for the 3:30pm heat.  I was feeling pretty down, lonely, and self-absorbed in my own pity.  I almost left because how fun was this going to be by myself.  I quickly realized that I needed to stay and do it and get in the right frame of mind!  I headed to the corrals and got my warrior on.

This course was really hard. The mud was ankle deep for a good deal of the time.  I did make some friends along the way and at times, they were the only thing that kept me from falling.  A new obstacle was dumpster diving and that is where I took my fall.  I was jumping out of a dumpster and landed on a tire.  I went down hard and bruised my arm and shin and in the mud caking my legs, I could see a little bit of blood.  Soldier on brave warrior. 

The end includes the fire jumping and mud pit.  I helped encourage another warrior over the fire (she had walked around it at the last Warrior Dash and really wanted to do it this time).  I crawled through the mud and came out on the other side, alone and wounded but still a warrior.  I finished in 57 minutes which wasn't a bad time for this challenging course, and I finished it on my own.

This was a good lesson for me in self-reliance and confidence.  I really wasn't sure if I could do it on my own but I also knew that if I didn't try, I would never know.  Don't get me wrong, I would have rather been with my friends and I missed them terribly but I know that when I need to do it on my own, I can.  I am a Warrior (again)!