When I woke up Saturday morning, one of the first things I did was check my finishing time from last year's dash. 32:18...that's what I had to beat. The top female did it in 26:54. Holy fast!
We were on the bus at 6:30, ready for the trip. We made it to Windham with little time to spare before our heat we got out bib numbers, checked our bags, and lined up at the start. We only had about 4 minutes until the horn blew and we were off. It was a slow walk until I heard the chirp, indicating my clock had started and it was go time. Just like last year, it was about a one mile trek uphill. I ran as much as I could, and walked fast when I needed to catch my breath. There were twists and turns on the way up, and not many flats for a break. I lived in New York City for 10 years, and know if you want to make any headway in a large crowd, you need to stay on the outside of the crowd - so that's what I did. As I was coming up behind people, I would say "coming through please"...a nice way to say "get out of my way!", right?
The first couple of obstacles came and went pretty quickly - the Barricade Breakdown, where I jumped over and crawled under about six or so walls, then Road Rage - hopping through tires, and climbing over broken down, beat up cars. After Road Rage, there was a little more of a climb up the mountain, but then a short downhill run to Tetering Traverse, where my balance skills were tested on boards that I ran up, down, across, and up and down again until I was off and running to the next obstacle.
The timing of Deadweight Drifter was perfect - this was a waist deep water obstacle with logs in the way. The choice here was to climb over the log, or dunk my head into the muddy water and go under them. Although I was sweating, and the cold water felt great, my choice was to stay as clean as possible for as long as possible, so over the logs I went. Off again, up and down some trails, maneuvering through the woods, and if my memory serves me right, another water obstacle, this one called Cliff Hanger. The water here was only knee deep so I ran through it as much as I could. At the other end of the "pond" there was a rope which I used to pull myself up a slanted wall. More running through the narrow trails in the woods, trying to go fast, but being careful as there are rocks and boulders and tree roots all over the ground. Any misstep, and my ankle could roll, so I was moving cautiously fast. "On your left, on your right, coming through" Get out of my way!!!!
As I approach Deadmans Drop, there are people standing around...I have no idea why, maybe they need a break, maybe they're trying to figure out how to get up and over this wall. It's nothing crazy, really. You just have to take some steps up several two-by-fours, to get to the top and slide down the wall to the other side. When I get to the bottom of the wall, I turn around and see a big hill - going DOWN! Yeah, it's certainly more challenging to run uphill, but it's a lot harder on the body going down, so you have to be careful. I saw some people that looked wildly out of control, so I did my best to steer clear of them as I ran down, looking forward to whatever obstacle was coming my way next.
It was called Rubber Ricochet. Warrior Dash describes it as a rubber jungle...tires hanging from ropes that swing around when you run through them. It could definitely get a little tricky if there were a big crowd of people all going through it at the same time, but I was fortunate enough to only have one other person in there with me, so I got through it pretty quickly. This reminded me of the Electroshock Therapy at the end of Tough Mudder, only without the electroshock, thank God.
The course continued downward to the Cargo Climb, then the Chaotic Crossover. The climb was about twenty to thirty feet up, then back down the cargo net, and the crossover was traversing across the same type of net. You move a little faster through both of these obstacles with a little hand/eye coordination. The trick here is to also pick a path that seems to be moving quickly - otherwise you're stuck behind someone who could really slow your pace.
I was a little disappointed with the Petrifying Plunge this year - this is a water slide obstacle where you dive head first to get down. Last year it was much steeper, and you FLEW down. I'm thinking they may have had a few incidents last year with crashing, so they may have had to make it less steep. My own experience last year sent me flying into the girl who was ahead of me - if I didn't grab onto her feet and push her the rest of the way down, my head would have ended up where the sun don't shine. Probably would not have been a good time for either one of us.
Anyway.... after getting up from the slide, I'm really in the home stretch of the race, spectators are on the side line cheering everyone on as we pass. I happen to notice a photographer taking pictures, so I do the old "Rocky"pose and hold my hands up over my head for a victory shot. Then, like a giant ass, I trip! It was epic, but thankfully it was quick. After gathering my pride, I run to the Warrior Roast, where I leaped over fire as gracefully as I could, then right away on my hands and knees for the final obstacle, Muddy Mayhem - the low crawl under barbed wire.
I crossed the finish line with a time of 32:08, ten seconds faster than my time last year. The rumor was there were more hills incorporated this year, and the obstacles were more challenging. I concur. I took first place in my age group, beating out 746 other women. I was the tenth female finisher out of 4532 women overall. I'm certainly happy with those results, and look forward to competing next year!
