Friend of Julie: Another Hurdle Crossed!

As many of you know from the FaceBook page, I "ran" the Warrier Dash yesterday. 45 years old, never ran "anything" in my life, and I choose this to be my first one? What, am I crazy? You bet. For sure. BUT GUESS WHAT? I did it!

Saturday morning, my alarm goes off, and I get up. Kind of putter around the house. What does one wear to the Warrier Dash? What's it like outside? Cool? Warm? Seems a little warm, so, I choose shorts and the neon green shirt that my office chose to wear (so we could keep an eye on each other. We were all Warrier Dash "virgins" and knew to keep close as best as we could. There were HUNDREDS of people there!) Off I go with hubby to meet up with the others, and 1 1/2 hours later, we are in Thompson, CT at the Thompson Motor Speedway, numbers attached, port-a-potty's used, and a little stretching completed.

Me (Jennifer) on the far right with my dental office co-workers and some family members, before the dash.

Next thing we know, BOOM goes the signal for us to start running. 3.2 miles, with 13 obstacles to contend with. Now, I have never run outside, nor have I done rope walls, run in mud, or jumped over fire. One minute into this, I think, what the hell have I done? But, everyone else was running, I guess I might as well keep on going.......

Most of the course is out of view of spectators, so, you will have to use your imagination when I tell you that I ran on the Speedway, up and down a couple of hills, then through tires, over cars, through tires swinging, crawled under barbed wire (yes, it was REAL barbed wire) and rolled under mesh through hay, and then up and over a rope wall. No problem! Easy! OH NO---What is that ahead?!?! A 15 foot (maybe 12) vertical wall with rope to climb up, and slats to climb down. I am DEATHLY afraid of heights. Can't even cross a train tressle over a street if I can see the ground below me. DO I? DON'T I? Hell, I told myself I would TRY every obstacle. I see people fail, succeed, then it's my turn. Do I have the upper body strength? Can I climb up this? Someone I know is at the top of the wall-His name is John-And he is telling me to do it, he will help me. Hand over hand I keep climbing up the wall. By the top of the wall, I am having a good ol fashioned panic attack. DONT LOOK DOWN! John, my guardian angel, is telling me to calm down, take a deep breath, all I have to do is slowly make my way over and then down the back of the wall. Which I do, shaking like a leaf the whole danged way. I DID IT!

I would have stopped then and there, called it a day, but the 3 other ladies I ended up running with (only one of them went up the wall too, I might add!) kept plodding on, so, on I went too. Up a steep hill, over a water obstacle, another vertical rope wall (my angel was waiting there for me-What a gentleman to wait for me!), then mud. Mud, mud mud. Waist deep muddy water. A rope bridge to cross. Is that the finish line? NOT QUITE~~~~

Me coming out of the woods and the mud, mud, mud.

Up and over 3 more walls, each getting progressively higher, then, more barbed wire! This time with 200 feet of mucky muddy water to crawl through, then the fire, then the finish line!!!!!

Me and my office manager emerging from the mud/barbed wire obstacle

1 hour and 22 minutes later, the four of us crossed the finish line, gathered our medals, got some water, sort of rinsed off, and, it was over!!!! I did it! We did it! Out of the 13 obstacles, I did 11. And I survived!!!!!!!!! Battered and bruised, exhausted, adrenaline pumped...And how hilarious to see what they offered to us "Warriers" at the end-A beer and a turkey leg!!!!! (I didn't get either, but the turkey legs did look good-I just wasn't hungry, so, I knew not to get one!)

Warriers after the Dash!!!

The pile of muddy shoes that we donated at the end of the race.

Was I one of the last ones in the heat to cross the finish line? You bet. Did I learn anything new about myself? You bet. Was it a team building experience? You bet. Would I do it again? You bet. Am I hurting today? You bet. Do I have Julie to thank for this? You bet.

Anyone else wanna join me next year? __________ (You fill in the blank)