Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Warrior Dash- A True Test Of My Ninja Skillz

I had several different titles for this post in mind, one was "American Ninja: Redneck Version",  another was "I Got Down & Dirty This Weekend", you know, something to catch your eye, but I went with the true highlight of this weekend. My Ninja skills were on display at the Warrior Dash. I am not really sure how Ninjas fit into the whole Warrior scene, but it's my post and I think it fits.

Click this link, so you have the right music playing in the background as you read on, it will enhance this post. Trust me...

A sweet hat, a medal, shirt and my bride!
The Warrior by Scandal cause Bang Bang, I am the Warrior...

Last weekend, my bride and I ran the Warrior Dash in Jackson, Mississippi. We had decided to make it a weekend getaway, cause I am all romantic like that. We drove to Jackson with a couple of friends from church and had a great time running through the mud and being locked in our hotel room together. Wink Wink. The race was an absolute blast! We did not have a time goal, we just wanted to stick together and have fun, and I can say that we accomplished that goal! It was alot of fun to do this race with friends from church and from work! So I am going to give you an obstacle by obstacle account of the race minus all the mud pits (cause that would take awhile).
  1. Tire Step- Here we had to do the old fashioned tire drill, just like we did in football practice, except this thing was 30 foot long. Alot of people went down on these tires because we had just gone through our first mud hole and it was slippery.
  2. Rubber Richocet- This was basically more tires to walk through with a bunch of tires hanging down from strings. It was really more of a nuisance than an obstacle.
  3. Storming Normandy- This was annoying. It was basically a military crawl under a bunch on nets.
  4. Barricade Breakdown- We  had to jump over a 4ft wall and then go under some barbed wire, we did this about 4 times! My wife flew through this section like a cameraman from COPS!! I had to yell at her to wait up for me! (I got behind some slowpoke or I would have been faster)
  5. Teetering Traverse- This was like walking the plank on a ship that went up and then it went down like the shape of an M. I kinda felt like I was on Survivor! It was a slow walk due to all the unbalanced people, and I was afraid I was going to be the one to fall off! But I saled through it right into a mud pit.
  6. Chaotic Crossover- Going on all fours to get across a cargo net. No problem, cause I gots mad Ninja skillz which came in handy!
  7. Great Warrior Wall- This was a 20 foot wall you had to climb over using a knotted rope! This was a little bit of a concern at first, but it really wasn't too hard, again, thanks to my crazy Ninja skillz! We saw one lady fall about 8ft to the ground and land on her back, but like a true Warrior, she got up and tried again! Tackett (guy from work, see pic below) almost got knocked off the wall by me, but I promise, I thought he was going faster!
  8. The Trenches- I hated this one, we had to burrow under some wood and bushes on our belly. Wasn't a big fan of it. I got all scrapped up and there was a line of barbed wire across the end of it. Steve (see pic below) got caught up in the barbed wired, which was not good for Steve.
  9. Vertical Limit- This was a wall to climb using the rock wall climbing handholds, they were so muddy, that I thought it was going to be tougher than it actually was. My bride eased up the wall quickly and then I climbed the wall like a ....you guessed it, a Ninja! Once we got on top, we had to slide down a pole, which was not as fun as I remember it being in grade school. It was kind of funny to watch people slide down the pole!
  10. Tipsy Tightrope- Tightrope walk. No problem. I hate to keep saying it, but I credit my Ninja skillz once again!
  11. 
    Stopped for a quick kiss
    
  12. Deadweight Drifter- Here we swam through some freezing cold water (almost saw a dude drown and we moved up a spot!) and then we had to go over logs that were floating in the water. It was really hard to swim with my feet being caked in mud! I think I almost swam over Tackett to get to the other side, but the water was cold and Daddy wanted out of that water!
  13. Cargo Climb- Climb up and over a huge cargo net. I did not use my Ninja skillz on here as much as I used my American Gladiator skills going up this net (which is what it reminded me of, you know the final eliminator challenge?)
  14. Warrior Roast- Jump over fire. No biggie, although being wet, cold and windy, I could have stayed there for a minute.
  15. 
  16. Muddy Mayhem- We had to scramble through a huge mud pit under barbed wire. Just as you got halfway and thought you could walk it in, they had dug out a huge trench you couldn't see, (note the big machine in the picture) and with that next step, you went under! And as soon as you took that step, the crowd along the finish chute would let out this "Whoooooaaaaaa" cry in unison, cause they were all just waiting to watch you go under! (We eventually joined in this chat as it was much better doing the Whoooaaa instead of being the victim of the Whoooaaa)


Now those are just the main obstacles. There were many, many more mud holes we got to go through, some were thigh high deep, and the suction of the mud would almost rip your shoe off! And did they stink! There was absolutely no way you could avoid getting dirty. It was great. My wife and I crossed the finish line together in 1:05! But, we could careless about the time it took, cause it was a blast. We were there with friends and co-workers having a great time, what could be better? We waited around for everyone to finish, before heading over to the rinse off area, which consisted of two guys with big water hoses spraying you down like we were some kind of protesters. I can't wait until my boys are old enough to do this race, that will be "boss" (my oldest son says "boss" all the time, I think it means cool).



Warriors! Jford, Eford, Tressa and Steve

Warriors! Tackett, Buck, Gary and Jford
   

4 comments:

  1. Looks like a blast! Love the difference in the color or your and your wife's clothes in the fire picture vs. the end of the race. Really cool you ran it together too!

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  2. Mikle it was a blast and I highly recommned it! I never noticed the color difference, but the fire jump was literally 20 feet away from the biggest mud pit!

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  3. When I did this race, it was a serious blast!!!

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    Replies
    1. Next up is the Tough Mudder! I know this will be alot tougher!

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