HERE COME THE WARRIORS!!!

The Fearless Warriors after conquering "The Wall"....

We had our first practice for the Warrior Dash race coming up May 1st. Warrior Dash is a 3.5 mile cross country race with a series of 12 obstacles ranging from crossing a shallow creek to fire jumping. I am so excited to be a part of the inaugural running of this event in Texas! We have a group of 15-20 members of our local running club participating so it promises to be a good time! Consequently a group of us gathered last Saturday at a local running trail to “practice” for this race. The trail is about 4-5 miles with an ROTC obstacle course set up at the half way point…perfect for this particular training.

The group of us leaves the trail head and run along the LaNanna Creek on a drizzly 44 degree morning. We splash through puddles, slog through mud, cross the creek on a large pipe, scramble up the muddy bank and arrive at the obstacle course. The majority of us did not know what we were in for by taking on these obstacles but we anticipated fun not torture! The first obstacle was very simple, traverse a series of balance beams, no problem, bring on the next challenge. This consisted of cross beams mounted about chest height (4’ off the ground) that we had to scale. For the men 5’ 10” and taller this task was no problem, those of us who are vertically challenged had to work a little harder but we all managed to complete it without incident. The third obstacle was slightly more challenging but still achievable. We had to make our way across a bed of graduated height pegs without touching the ground. The pegs ranged from 6 inches high to two feet high and were placed approximately three feet apart, just wider than a normal step length for the women of our group who are 5’3” and smaller. Again those with longer legs had an easier time with this challenge, however, all eventually completed this task and we moved on to the first wall. This wall is about six feet tall and four inches wide at the top. This was definitely going to be a challenge, especially for me (5’3” tall and 130lbs.). Once again the taller men had no problem with this obstacle. The shorter men were more challenged but still managed to scale the wall without help. We women however were allowed to be boosted by the guys which was definitely needed since when I tried to do it by myself (because I have a perpetual three year old inside of me saying I can do it by myself!) I could reach the top of the wall but couldn’t grip it because it was too wide and slick from the drizzle. So Ronnie gave me a boost and I managed to get over it without incident, as did the other women. We then ran the tires ala football practice and moved on to wall #2.
Wall #2 is where I met my match but didn’t know it. You see I was feeling pretty good, I had mastered all but the first wall with no help and minimal difficulty and even the wall was doable with a small boost. Wall #2 was shorter and had a foothold in the middle of it so I figured…no problem. The first guy scaled it then I stepped up and took my turn…no back of the line for this lady! I jump and grab the top of the wall, wiggle my way up enough to get my left knee in the foothold and used those strong legs to hoist myself up, then it was just a matter of getting my legs up and over the top of the wall then I could hang off the other side and drop to the ground, task accomplished! Right…not! I made it to the top of the wall then on my way down I landed on my weak knee and it buckled and hyper extended and down I went. You see this is the knee I injured skiing about five years ago, then re-injured playing soccer the next summer and injured again last summer jumping at boot camp exercise class. So now I am out of commission for at least at week.

...the big bad wall...

Do you know how hard it is to be sidelined by an injury rather than laziness? Well I do and it is no fun. So friends and family alike are making sure I am a good girl and stay off this knee so it can heal. I am trying to be a “good girl” and follow orders because I don’t want to miss the upcoming events I have planned which include two half marathons and the Warrior Dash! The most important being Warrior Dash…where else can I get a Warrior Hat (horns and all) just for running and playing in the mud! So for now I will ride my bike and work on upper body and core strength while my knee heals. Until then…I’ll see you on the run.