My friend Jamie is guest posting today about her second Warrior Dash.  Be nice and leave her lots of comments, then have an awesome Wednesday!

I’m baaaacccckkkk!!!  Ok… Ok… OK!  Contain yourselves.  *Sheesh*  🙂  Thanks to Athena for having me back (yet again) to babble about my beloved Warrior Dash.  Third blog’s a charm, right?  Anyways, the first time you heard from me I was just discovering a new-found love for working out.  And the last time you all heard from me I had just finished Warrior Dash Connecticut in June and because I am brain-damaged LOVE obstacle filled runs I signed up for Warrior Dash New Hampshire.  Now for those of you who missed my last blogs and haven’t heard of Warrior Dash, it’s a 5K run with obstacles thrown throughout the entire thing.  In short, it’s an obstacle course for adults (and it’s freaking amazing).  And for those who really need an excuse – there is free beer and entertainment, including bands and drinking games!  Really – How on earth can you possible go wrong???  Check it out here!

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Well, folks, I did it!  I successfully completed Warrior Dash New Hampshire on Sept 15.  You all should be impressed by this because this was my first weekend back after a 10 day cruise.  That’s right.  I came back from binge drinking, eating, working out NEVER (yup, not once in that 10 days – Sorry Athena!), and ran a race that weekend.  So let me tell you about this Warrior Dash and all my glory, because I was after all GLORIOUS!

See all the glory?  (Yes, I am covered in mud… more on that later.)

The day of the race the hubby (bizarre word, right?  Anyhoo…) and I drove out to NH bright and early and made our way to the battle ground, I mean race course.  It was held at Gunstock Mountain Resort, which was amazing because they have zip lines and all sorts of stuff to do there.   I received my free t-shirt, free beer ticket (doubling as a race timer tying onto your shoe), and number.  From there I headed to the St.Jude tent.  Pause: “GIANT SHOUT OUT TO ALL WHO DONATED HERE!”  At the St.Jude tent I was provided free food, drinks, private bathrooms and… drum roll… a shower!!!!  While I got to support a great cause and raise money for St.Jude, it also enabled me to get clean and eat after the race.  Anyone who decides to run this should raise for St. Jude.  It’s a great cause and takes very little effort to help out.

A bit before my heat I got lined up, aka corralled, and we got amp-ed up to go!

Notice I am rockin’ my St.Jude Warrior buff.  Another bonus to being a St.Jude Warrior – free swag!  While we counted down the MC had lots of fun with us, forcing us to play along to Simon Says.  I have to admit that it kept us entertained while the clock ticked down.  Before I knew it the fire flared and we were off!

…and then many of us stopped.  You see this was at a ski resort and they sent us up the ski trail… straight up.  Yes, a ski trail.

While it doesn’t look like much from this picture, it got much worse.  Although from the top I was wishing I had a camera.  The views were amazing, simply stunning.  Here’s a pic the Warrior Dash folks took.

Part of the fun of these is the overheard conversation.  This was amongst my favorites:

Guy: “We PAID for this?!?!?!  Like, paid them to run up a ski trail.”

Girl: “Quick whining and pick it up.”

Guy: Scowls at girl

Now on my last Warrior Dash I just ran right through.  This one, which went up the ski trails not once, but twice, I admit was walked on several occasions.  It was unavoidable.  Now, the obstacles are my favorite part.  At one point I came upon a large tarp laid down the mountain side with hoses spraying water all over it.  While most were being careful to run down without falling, I went full speed, screamed at the top of my lungs, and jumped onto it on my backside sliding all the way down.  When I got up I was giggling like an idiot, fully enthralled with my fun on the makeshift water slide.  (Insert odd looks from snobs running here.)  I was there to have fun dammit, and screw whoever doesn’t like my brand of fun.  Sticks tongue out at snobs.

I also got to do rope climbs, jump over barricades, crawl under barbed wire, net crawls… the list goes on!  But the finale involved leaping over fire and then crawling through a giant pit of mud.  You have to admit the child in you is screaming “PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE CAN WE GO?!?!?!  CAN WE MOMMMMM????”

Please note I clicked my heels like a giant tool, but I was giddy.  What can ya do?

The girl in green who looks like she thinks her life is ending lost her shoe, and caused a nice back up in the mud pit.  I managed to get around her and into the deeper part, which yes does have barbed wire hanging over it.  There’s no strolling through this!  You get in and get dirty!  After the mud pit I raced across the finish line, slamming down a couple of cups of water and eagerly found Chris (aka hubby) for my mud-covered photo-opp.

TA-DAAAA!!!!

So there you have it… my mud filled afternoon of running through a crazy course on a ski mountain.  It was an amazing experience and you can bet your A** I’ll be doing it again in 2013.  If anyone is interested in running check out the Warrior Dash website or find them on Facebook and Twitter.  And if you do…

😉  That is all… until next time!

Thank you, Jamie, for your (third) guest post!!