Warrior Dash = Team Building!

Finally, after six months of planning and plotting I and a group of fellow work-mates completed the Warrior Dash Missouri on Sept 28, 2013.  I really enjoyed myself and I think my team did too!  I had wanted to do an obstacle race for some time but the opportunity never really presented itself.  It’s always better to do these races with a group than by yourself and obviously much more fun.

The 5 K course was out in Old Monroe, MO in the middle of a large area that they used for skeet etc and who know what else.  I was a little apprehensive but when we arrived there was an overall positive vibe and everyone was very friendly.  That worry quickly turned to excitement and I was glad to see it in my teammates as well.

We had t-shirts made that said:

TEAm on the front which stands for where we work – Transportation Engineering Agency then the “M” made the word team.  Super nice!  Then we all drew another persons name and came up with nicknames to go on the back.  My favorite was Bryan Hall’s “Runs with Two Beers”.  Just classic.

Our heat began at 1000.  They herded us into a waiting area like you see above.  It was a good time chatting with others before the race.

Finally, the clock counted down and fire came out of the Viking helmet  to start us off.  The first 1.2 miles was rolling trail.  A nice run to get you warmed up before you reached your first obstacle.  I want to say there were 10 obstacles of varying difficulty.

Favorite obstacle was the mud mounds!  This was insane and not easy!  What made it great you had to depend on your team and others.  There was no getting over this obstacle without the help of your fellow-man or woman!

The picture doesn’t do it justice.  The trenches are filled with water and there were no ropes to help pull you over not one but four mounds.  This was the third obstacle and it was physically tiring.  See the link below from the Warrior Dash Website to give you a better mental picture of the obstacle.

Mud Mounds

My least favorite obstacle was chained up.  It looks fairly simple but it was nerve-racking coming down the other side.

See chained up here.

Our last obstacle – muddy mayhem!

This is a race for all ages, young and old.  I highly recommend it for families or work team building.  It’s hard enough for you to succeed and have a great time.

I hope your week was filled with more positives than negatives – stay muddy my friends.

I know why you clicked on this link.  Hmmmm…not that kind of dirty.

I’m talking D-I-R-T-Y!  Woot Woot!  Warrior Dash Dirty!

You may have noticed on the side of this page in the “big event boxes”, I will be running the Warrior Dash Missouri on 28 September.  How this came about; I’m intrigued by these “novelty” races and thought this would be a lot of fun to try.  You would think after going through Army Basic training I would have gotten this out of my system all those years ago, but let’s hear it for glory days!  Last year I signed up for the Spartan Race.  We had a small team of people from work participating.  Unfortunately, the team fell apart and I didn’t want to do the 8 mile race it by myself.  My thinking has changed exponentially and now I would have no problem doing the race by myself.  It is what it is – if you want to do it – go for it, don’t let others sway you.  There is a lot of opinion when it comes to these races.  Like I said, don’t listen to the chatter if you want to run it.

Fast forward a year later a good friend of mine from work suggested we try to build another team and participate.  We have a team of 8 and we vary from 45 to about 25 years-of-age, and team t-shirts to boot!  I do believe I might be the oldest participant.  Sweet!

The purpose of this race is team building and frankly good old fashion fun.  The building up to this whole experience has been a blast.  Some of us get together once or twice-a-week to swing kettle bells or do some speed work.  Teammates are loosing weight and building confidence.  I highly suggest, if you’re looking for something to “bring” people together, whether it be at work or family this is a wonderful tool.

Let me put on my old Army Officer hat – it’s about working as a team to accomplish the end goal.  Not running over Grandma and Grandpa in front of you.  I say this with all clarity and sincerity as I sip my Samuel Adams Boston Lager.  What’s that you say?  No, I’m not wearing a Viking hat and have a turkey leg in the other hand.  No, I don’t plan to throw the beer bottle out on my running route – It’s not light beer silly!

Let’s get dirty ya’ll!