I AM WARRIOR!

Yesterday my brother, Mark, and I ran the Warrior Dash near Lake Wales. It was incredible! It's described as 3.02 hellish miles with about 12 obstacles along the way. Kari and Mark's wife, Nicole, came to cheer us on and take pictures. The race is arranged into waves of a few hundred people every 30 minutes on Saturday and Sunday. We had a 12:30 time and were both driving in to meet up around 11:00. The fun started when we happened to find each other in the massive parking lot (think thousands of cars), parked just a few cars apart. And then Mark and I ended up in matching blue shirts and black shorts, totally unplanned.

There were a lot of costumed runners: superheroes, girls in prom dresses, jailbirds, a penguin, a bride (I don't know how she got through the mud in such a big dress), etc. Here at the start you can see some spartan-like warrior running backwards in front of me with his sword and taking pictures.

The race was more challenging than I imagined. I actually thought it was harder than a half-marathon. It was a different kind of challenge. With the half's, I was also better-trained, but the Warrior Dash still required more muscular strength and heart-pumpingness. I felt like I was out of breath the whole time; whereas with long runs, you can get into a rhythm and cruise without feeling that taxed.

About a quarter mile into the race, we turned a corner, out of view of spectators, and hit a 100 yard stretch of mud. Mud like I've never seen. There are no pictures of this mud. It is not on the Warrior Dash website. I don't know if people would sign up if they saw this mud. It was thick, black, heavy, and deep. I plunged into the middle, thinking I could just power through. My leg sank with mud above my knee. As I tried to pull my leg out, it felt like my shoe would pop off. After a few steps like this, I thought I would try to spread out my body weight and crawl. Bad idea. Now my legs and arms were stuck. Runners were stuck everywhere. Shoes were left here and there all along the course. I made my way to the edge where the mud wasn't quite as deep, but it was still challenging.

By the time I emerged from the pit, I was out of breath and black from my shoulders down. We proceeded to run, but I soon discovered that almost the whole running trail was that fluffy, sugar sand, like you can find at a beach, but gray. The sand clung to my mud shoes, forming heavy little bricks. I've run the distance of a marathon, but here, in the very first mile, I needed a walk break. A few obstacles in, we had to swim across a cold pond. The cold didn't really bother me, though, as I appreciated being able to get some of the black mud off my clothes and shoes.

Besides that initial mud pit, the constant sugar sand was the hardest part to overcome. Mark was so impressive. Nothing seemed hard for him, and he was zipping through the sand. But he was such a good sport, waiting for me when I got behind and didn't complete an obstacle without me. He always made sure I was okay and I watched him for a better strategy as to how to tackle an obstacle. At one point near the end, there was a pyramid of large concrete pipes - like something they would use in construction. I opted to walk across the lowest one, as I watched Mark leap onto the top pipe, run , and jump off like a kid on a playground.

We finished the race leaping over fire and then crawling through "nice mud" under barbed wire in front of the spectators. This is nice mud because it is liquid on top of a gummy mud bottom and you can actually move through it.

It was so fun to finish with my brother and celebrate together. After it was over, I immediately thought I would do it again. But I'd train better. I want to do it and be able to legitimately keep up with Mark. We hung out for awhile, got Kari a smoked turkey leg, and then tried to hose off as much mud as possible for the ride home.

And I want to thank my ever-encouraging wife, Kari, for making this happen. When I first learned about the Warrior Dash over a year ago, I wanted to do it. I always put it off, not sure who I could run with, not sure if I could do it. Kari never stopped prodding - lovingly pushing me to make my dreams happen. She never thinks my goals are too big, and shows me every day that abundant life comes in the journey of trying to meet your goals. When I first mentioned the race to Mark in November, I even spent the next month wondering if I could still do it. By the end of December, I was still hee-hawing. I am so glad for Kari's, "Do it. Just do it. Call Mark and sign up today."

However, as much as I love it, Kari does not want to get dirty.