Warrior Dash

Today a group of NerdStrongers and I did something that I didn't think I'd ever do my entire life.. I did a Warrior Dash. Warrior Dash is a 5K Mud Run with 12 obstacles in Prado Regional Park, Chino. If you told me I'd be doing this a few years ago I would have laughed but with the encouragement of friends and the hard work I've put in at NerdStrong I felt comfortable and capable of completing this.

I carpooled with several friends Rob and Pooja. And met up with more when we got there... Anne, Micah, Brian, Lindsey and Josh, also Naomi, Josh's girlfriend, Rob's sister and her boyfriend come out for moral support.

We took to the starting line and the gun went off.. or I should say flame throwers shot Fire into the air. We ran for almost a mile before hitting out first obstacle, "Mud Mounds". These are exactly what you think they are.. large piles of dirt. There are three sets and in between each set is a pool of muddy water. As I was going over the first one I noticed that lot of people were going to the left side which didn't have much water. I thought to myself.. hey it's a mud run I'm going to jump into the middle of the water.. what I didn't know is that under the water was about a foot of mud that I sunk down into and when I went to pull my foot out my poor shoe almost came off. It took some effort but I managed to get out of the bog and over the other two mud mounds. My shoes were completely covered in this thick layer of mud that we fling all over the place as I ran. It also added a few extra pounds to my shoes.

We then ran a short distance to the next obstacle called "Under the Wire". Here we had to get on our hands and knees and crawl under barbed wire. It was probably about 20 feet we had to crawl to get to the other side. It wasn't that bad.. just had to keep your butt down.

After Under the Wire we reached second obstacle and it's not listed on their web site so I don't have a name but we had to walk across 2x4 over pools of water while ice cold water poured down on us. This took great balance as you didn't want to fall into the cold water but you also didn't want to hold up your team and take forever.

Next was "Diesel Dome", which was this large monkey bar type structure made out of wood. This wasn't to difficult.. you just had to take your time and make sure you had a good hold of the wood. I think the trickiest part was when you got to the top and having to then turn around and make your way down the structure.

We then had to run a good distance to get to the next obstacle, "Chaotic Cargo". This took patience and you had to go fairly slow so you didn't fall through or get tangled in the cargo net.

I'm sensing a pattern here.. all these obstacle require you to go slow.

Next obstacle was called "Giant Cliffhanger", this one took some arm strength as you had to climb up this vertical incline with the help of a rope and then back down the other side. I didn't do to bad with this one. I think the hardest part was waiting for someone to finish a head of you before you could make your attempt.

We ran for a bit before hitting the "Trenches". These are exactly what you think they are. At first when you get on your hands and knees the outside area looked dry but as soon as you go under the tarps it's a muddy mess and at points your just pulling your body across the mud. I had a great time getting muddy in this one. I think most people were trying to keep themselves out of the mud.. I was trying to get as muddy as possible.. I mean it is called a mud run.

Next we went through the "Pipelines" this was a rope type thing. As you wait for your turn you are watching people do it several different ways.. just crawl through on hands and knees, or scoot on your back or go head first and use your arms to pull yourself across. I choose the last one and it was tough. Might have been better to have just crawled across.

We then came across the "Shocktop Unfiltered", which is just a sponsored obstacle. We had to climb over, under, over, under, over under and over various obstacles. This wasn't too difficult.. I think the worse part was crawling over grass that had some sticky things in them.

Next as "Fisherman's Catch", you had to walk across a cargo net while ice cold water as sprayed on you. They had rings and handles you could hold to help steady yourself but being only 5'3" I couldn't reach them so I have to get down on my hands and knees and crawl across the cargo net.

We then came upon "Goliath", this was a huge slide that dropped you into a muddy pool of water. You had to climb to the top and then slide down. What you don't know is that the pool is pretty deep and the water is ice cold, so as soon as you hit it you want to get out of it.

The final obstacle was the best but also the hardest... it's called 'Muddy Mayham" and this is just a big pit of very deep mud. It was like trying to get out of quicksand. There are so many people in it that you have feet in your face and other's behind your trying to drag themselves closer by using your legs. Don't get me wrong.. it was pretty awesome but extremely trying. I remember looking over at Lindsey and the look of exhaustion we exchanged was priceless. I don't know how but I manged to claw my way to the other side and once Lindsey was out my NerdStrong companions all clasped hands and walked across the finish line together.

We stood in line to take a picture with the official DASH WARRIOR sign and then headed to the showers, which was really just a power hose. You can't really get that clean, you just hope to get off the big chunks. Luckily I had brought a change of clothing so I wouldn't dirty up my car.

Overall the experience was amazing. The running wasn't bad and all of the obstacles were a blast.. if not cold. I do wish they had more water stations, especially towards the end, and I was really looking forward to the final obstacle which was us jumping over fire, but for whatever reason they didn't have that obstacle..  and on last thing.. the shower situation wasn't great but other then those minor issues I had a blast and I can't wait to do my next one.