Races 26 & 27 Warrior Dash / Gladiator Run

I waited until I finished BOTH races 26 & 27 to update my blog because, let's be honest, they were the same darn race - 5k obstacle courses

Warrior Dash - July 28 - Mt Morris, MI

This was my second time running the Warrior Dash. It's a lot of fun! Rope walls, climbing over tires, swimming through mud pits, crawling under barbed wire, etc. No really, it's fun! I ran this with my cousin Melissa and her brother-in-law Ian. This was the second time Melissa and I have run this, first time for Ian. This is advertised as an intense event, and yes, there is some danger involved. But we completed the obstacles without problems...almost. On the second obstacle, a pretty simple over/under (get yourself over a 4-foot wall, duck under barbed wire, repeat) I landed a little "off" and twisted my knee a little. And this has only just recently started feeling better. So, while the Dash is fun, I've been feeling a little bitter about it because I hurt myself a little. So I was bummed about that.  And that injury made mean really not want to do...

Gladiator Rock & Run - August 17 - Stoney Creek Metro Park

So my fear of further injury made me pretty reluctant to run this one. But... I had committed to run this with friends and I didn't want to back out. That and, to be honest, this was the most expensive race I had paid for this year and I wasn't going to waste that money!  So I went with the plan to take it easy and have fun and just finish. I ran this with Becky and two guys from SEMR, Jeff and Mike. We jogged for the first part, but mostly wound up walking it. I skipped a few of the obstacles - hate to sound like a wimp, but I just can't climb a rope or complete a set of monkey bars. Maybe some upper body training would be a good thing for me to add? ;)  This one did have a few different obstacles from the Warrior Dash, but it was the same idea. The best part of this one is that it was at a beach, so we could just hop into the lake to clean up once we were done. 

So...I now have done Warrior Dash twice and the Gladiator Run. They ARE fun, but I think I'm done with the obstacle course races. I'm tired of getting mud EVERYWHERE.  I'll find some new challenges for 2014.

Now - I am SUPER excited/terrified for the next nine weeks. Next weekend is The Crim, a 10-mile race in Flint, which is supposedly a blast. I'm really looking forward to that. After The Crim, I have a 10k, then the half marathon for Run Woodstock. Run Woodstock will be my first trail half since Back to the Beach in 2012. Then I'll have the Brooksie Half and the Heroes on Hines half in back to back weekends. And THEN the Free Press half at the end of October.  So that's a 10-miler and four half marathons in an eight week period. (There's a 5k and a 10k in there as well). So the next nine weeks will be pretty intense. But I'm ready!! I think...