Ohio Warrior Dash 2011

Todd & I drove about an hour outside of Columbus early yesterday morning to Logan, Ohio for Warrior Dash. I had wrote a post about doing it back in April and couldn't believe it was already here! The race was 3.1 miles long and consisted of 13 different challenges throughout the race such as jumping over fire, crawling through a mudpit under barbed wire, and climbing over cargo nets. Every 30 minutes, starting at 8:00 AM until 7:00 PM, 550 people would start the race. We got there around 8:00 AM, just when the first heat was going off. We were able to see a few of them finish and wow, were they muddy! I think this is when I finally started to get just a little bit nervous. Todd had some friends doing the race at the same time as us and Tracy, one of my running buddies, was also doing it. This was the first time Warrior Dash had been in Ohio and it was definitely a popular event to do!

Todd & I before the race, still nice & clean

Tracy (next to me) and her cousin & sister

We started the race and immediately got bottlenecked as the course narrowed. Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't really running this competitively, but still, I was a little frustrated to be walking within the first minute of starting the race. We headed into the woods and up a huge hill that was between a quarter and half mile long. Most people had started to walk at some point so Todd & I were running or walking as we tried to get around all the slow people. We got to the top and immediately went down a long steep downhill. I was extra cautious on this because it was slightly muddy and I didn't want to completely wipe out. We reached the first few challenges, which included running through swinging tires and climbing over walls and under barbed wire. The next challenge we reached, we had to wade through a pond and over logs. I wasn't anticipating the water to be as deep as it was--it was almost over my head at a few points!

Todd carried my camera in a waterproof bag to try to take some pictures of the course...that's me in the white tank top about to head into the water
Heading in to the water...I must have been scared to get wet since my arms are above my head

Another view as we walked/swam across

Once we got out of the water, we headed back into the woods and up another long uphill. I was actually surprised how much of the race was uphill and one of the Warrior Dash workers told us this course (Ohio) was the hardest course they have had to date. In the woods, we had to climb under and over a bunch of elastic cords attached to trees. We then came upon a dark tunnel we had to crawl through. If you were claustrophobic, this obstacle would not have been for you. It was dark, hot, and you couldn't see in front of you until you got to the end. Once out of the woods, we headed up and over the cargo nets and walked the wooden planks.

Cargo nets (this was the only point of the race, besides the finish, that spectators could watch)

Wooden planks

After the wooden planks, we had to run down the river in waist deep water before getting out and pulling ourselves up and over a giant wooden wall. I knew we had to be pretty close to the finish at this point and after crawling across more cargo nets, we turned the corner, jumped over fire, crawled through the mudpit under barbed wire, and attempted to sprint to the finish.

My camera died during the race so after the race, I took some pictures with my phone to capture some of the challenges at the end.

Running through fire

Crawling through mud

The finish line!

Todd & I after we were hosed off with water

Our timing chips also got us a free beer

Just to show you how muddy you get (and since I didn't take one of Todd & I right after the race), here is Todd's friend Erich after finishing

Enjoying my beer & turkey leg on a nice summer day

The battle wounds...I had a bunch of scratches on my legs and a big bruise on my shin

Todd & I finished in around 34 minutes. We had thought originally we could finish under 30 minutes but you definitely get slowed down by all the other people around you and sometimes have to wait at the challenges before you can go. We hung around the race for a couple hours afterwards to wait for a few friends who ran in the 9:30 heat and drink our free beers. It was an awesome race and I would definitely do it again if it came to Ohio next year.