Warrior Dash 2011

Central Florida Warrior Dash (Lake Wales) - Jan. 29-30

Quote of the Race: "I'm never doing this again!" - Jenny after crossing the finish line covered head to toe in mud.

RACE STATS:
Location - Triple Canopy Ranch in Lake Wales, Florida. Also in 27 other locations in North America and Australia.
Cost - $40 pre-registration ($30 if you Google search "promo code for Warrior Dash" and find one that works like we did!) or $50-$60 day of race.
Year of Running - Unknown, but I've heard of it for at least a year or two.
Sponsor/Race Directors - Red Frog Events Production
Charity - Not sure. This venue is out to make a buck. That being said, they do collect your unwanted muddy shoes after the race to be donated to a charity or recycled. I think I also saw something about volunteers and fund raising on the website.
Number of Participants - 6,394 on Saturday. 5,159 on Sunday. Total - 11,553
Available Races - 3.02-mile mud-trail run with 11 obstacles (distance varies upon location).
Course Condition - Take a sandbox and fill it with mud and water. Pack your shoes full of mud and get them soaked to the point they weight three times as much as normal. Now run, crawl and jump your way through that box of mud with 600 friends and that's your course condition.
Pace Groups - N/A
Expo - N/A Packet pickup is day of race and they recommend being an hour early.

ORGANIZATION, SUPPORT & SPECTATORS:
Red Frog Productions definitely has their act together when it comes to moving as many participants as possible through this course while keeping the entertainment value at its max. It's the type of event you see, do the math in your head and say "damn I wish I was behind this money making machine!" By providing an awesome event venue mixed with alcohol and music and a moderately challenging race course to the average person they've created an excellent adventure for the weekend warrior-type. Packet pick up was easy and well organized. The only hiccup I observed was a seeming significant number of participants, including one in my group of nine, found incorrect information about themselves in their packets. My friend was placed in the wrong age division (younger) and told to go to a different tent to have it corrected. That tent happened to have the longest line anywhere (even longer than the beer tent!). We arrived 1 hour early as recommended, but didn't have time for that line so my friend ran the race in a younger age division.
The race is organized into waves starting every 30 minutes with about 600 runners each. There is adequate support with an aid station near the halfway point (mile 1.5) with water. Bananas and water are provided at the finish line.
Spectators have a blast at this race lining the course along the final two obstacles -- several rows of fire that participants jump over and a long trench of mud with real barbwire hanging only inches above the water forcing participants to practically swim through the mud. I did not investigate if spectators are allowed to venture out onto the course at any other points and I did not notice anyone along the course other than volunteers. Regardless, the party is near the finish line.
I found that the event website was very informative and that Red Frog Productions executed exactly what was described on the website.

ACCESSIBILITY:
The Central Florida event is located on a ranch near the city of Lake Wales. You definitely need a car to get here. It's about an hour south of Orlando (nearest International Airport) and was about a 2.5-hour drive from Daytona Beach, Florida. Parking was limited on the event grounds and cost $10 per car cash only, which was slightly steep and annoying. A $5 fee would have seemed more appropriate and less greedy by organizers. Upon reflection, this event is not very handicap friendly as well.

SWAG:
Warrior Dash gets kudos in this department. This race definitely takes the old "I'll do anything for a t-shirt" mentality to a new level by providing each participant with a "Warrior hat" that looks like a viking helmet with horns. They also give out cotton T-shirts. We found that the extra large t-shirts were better quality than all the smaller sizes. This is because they were a gray color while the others were plain white and probably more subject to shrinkage after washing. Other swag included bib numbers, timing chip and the normal various coupons and marketing material.

POST RACE AWARDS & FOOD:
Now that everyone is covered in mud at the finish line it is time to party! Every finisher gets a medal (of average quality) and the opportunity to take a mass shower. I found that Muddy Buddy (a Competitor event similar to Warrior Dash) has them beat hands down in the washing off department. Warrior Dash was nothing more than a large waterfall that participants walked through like a car wash and tried to rub off the mud. Muddy Buddy provides designer shampoo and conditioner at the washing stations. Later we learned there were showers on the ranch located near the camping section, but this seemed to be a secret at the finish line. The best part of the post race party was the beer. All participants (ages 21-and-up) get one free beer. It was Budweiser or Bud Light. Not my favorite, but I guess fitting for a mud event. It still tasted good given the situation. As for food, we brought our own preferred food in coolers in our vehicles. From what I observed they were selling large turkey legs designed to really make you look like a warrior if eating off the bone while wearing the viking helmet although probably not the diet of choice for most athletes.


MY RACE STORY:
This was my race. Those are the words Jenny said to me as we discussed strategy in the race corral a few minutes before starting. I had talked her into this and recruited friends to run with us and she was letting me know that I should run it anyway I like. Yup, this is not her cup of tea. Eleven obstacles in only 3-miles means not much time to set a pace and cruise. Instead there will be interruptions to the pace every few hundred yards. To some that could mean more opportunity for injuries. For me, it's just plain old boyish excitement. Almost like free running or psychotic Fartlet workouts.
The start horn sounded and instead of fireworks, huge blasts of fire irrupted from the start line. As we shuffled near the start line (in true misfit fashion our entire party of 9 was at the back of the 600-person wave) three of us started the weaving and zigzagging required to pass slower runners and increase our pace. Each time we passed people we'd hear them laughing at our outfits. It was action and reaction! About a half mile into the race the first obstacle came into sight. It was a long mud pit nothing more than a jeep trail full of water. Thinking back at my southern redneck roots I automatically knew it would be deepest in the tire ruts. Sure enough, the runner in front of me falls head first into the water after stepping in the spot that the right tire would hit on a 4x4. I immediately stepped to the right and ran the edge of the water and this allowed me to pass about 20 runners. I went with this strategy for the rest of the race. Simply watch the runners in front of you approaching the obstacle and formulate a plan of attack before reaching it based on the line they take and what happens to them. After racing Muddy Buddy I knew from experience I didn't want to be held up by people in front of me rather than the obstacle itself.
After the first mile it was less crowded and I was alone with the rest of our group somewhere behind me. The obstacles start blurring together. My shoes are super heavy from being soaked and undoubtedly full of sand and mud. For only being a few minutes into a short distance race I'm feeling surprisingly winded. It's gotta be the obstacles I tell myself. They're not hard obstacles, but it's definitely different than running a race at one pace the entire time.
Of all the obstacles the funniest one occurred around the halfway point. It was an incline plank that required balance to run up to a 6-foot high wall with a rope net connecting it to another wall 20-feet or so away. Beyond the second wall was another horizontal rope net leading to a final wall with another plank sloping back down to the ground. I watched the runners in front of me. They went right so I decided to go left. As I reached the first rope net instinct told me to jump into it with my body remaining horizontal and roll across rather than trying to step on the rope and climb across. This was absolutely brilliant as I passed the two runners on the right side of the obstacle in the first rope net. When I reached the second wall I flung my body over it without regard and began rolling across it again. Now for the unexpected. . .
When I reached the bottom of the second rope net I collided with a soft mass at the deepest point. I soon realized it was a body. I was immediately confused. There had been no one ahead of me on the left side of the obstacle as I approached it seconds ago. I was sure I picked a clear line to attack. Then I realized it was a woman. It was a large (obese) woman and she was laying there as if stuck. She wasn't even trying to move! She had made this obstacle into her own personal hammock! She must have been from the wave that started before our wave.
"Oh.... I'm so sorry! I didn't see you here," I said as I was practically laying on top of her. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah," she quietly said.
Not knowing what the hell to do I decided it best to keep moving in the fastest way possible, which of course, was to keep on rolling. I rolled right across her apologizing the entire way and worked my way over the last wall and down the plank. At the base was another large woman yelling some kind of ill-received encouragement to her friend to keep moving. I ran as fast as I could to get away from that obstacle.
By the end of the race I was fairly winded. This surprised me. The obstacles take a little more out of you than you'd expect.
Jenny finished just behind me and as I went up to give her a hug you looked at me, mud dripping down all over her face, and said "I'm never doing this again, " in a disgusted tone.
It was priceless.
We all had a beer and laughed about it later. Warrior Dash is a fun event not to be taken too seriously. It's set up in a way that just about anyone can do it so it's great for groups of friends both large and small.
And by the way... I almost forgot to mention the Hooters outfits. One of my friends worked at Hooters many years ago during college (she now has an engineering degree and thinks teaching calculus if fun) and she was nice enough to allow most of our party (those willing) to wear a bunch of her old outfits. This put us into almost celebrity status amongst the crowd. I literally lost count of how many people asked to have their pictures taken with us.

Our Warrior Dash gang!

My official stats (Sunday results only):
307th out of 5,159 finishers
37th in my age division (30-34) out of 518 (top 7%)
Chip Time: 28:17
Average pace: 8:45
Central Florida Warrior Dash TallGuySurfing grade = B+

Getting Dirty with some help from my Friends!

Oh Muddy Buddy, how I love thee!

On Saturday six friends converged upon Disney's Wide World of Sports for the Orlando venue of Muddy Buddy, a 6 to 7 mile two-person team race featuring running, mountain biking, obstacle courses and a super dirty mud pit. I'm happy to report that Teams Rockstar (Jenny and myself), Hot Wheels (Justin and Tracy) and Rift Raft (Erin and Joey) were well prepared with matching outfits, decorated bikes and even a last minute underpants stunt!

Let me first say that the way Muddy Buddy works, if you haven't heard, is simple. Each team is composed of a bicyclist and a runner that follow the same course and start at about the same time. There are five transition areas with different obstacles (wall climb, cargo net climb/slide, balance beam, net crawl and mud pit). Runner and biker switch at these transition areas. Generally, the bicyclist arrives first and leaves the bike for the runner who then passes the teammate before arriving at the next transition area. Hopefully, both runner and biker arrive at the end at the same time where they must crawl/swim/fight through a mud pit together before crossing the finish line with their "Muddy Buddy."

Age divisions are in combined ages. Our group of three co-ed teams had three age divisions covered. There are about 2,000 teams in the race (4,000 participants). Yup, it's a pretty big deal.

Rockstar, Hot Wheels and Rift Raft met the night before the race in Orlando. Rockstars and Hot Wheels booked a race sponsor (Disney) resort hotel (All-Star Sports Resort) for it's convenience (proximity to race site) and price (discounted to $88 per night after taxes), but in true Disney fashion quickly found out that Disney once again gets a capital FAIL in accommodating runners (no-late check out and providing coffee/breakfast starting at 6 a.m. when race participants must be at the race by 5:45 a.m.).

Dinner the night before was a blast. After a few "adult beverages" we found ourselves in one of the hundreds of cheesy tourist trap stores around the resort area of Orlando. These stores generally sell nothing but junk at inflated prices. Someone (they shall remain anonymous) decided it would be a great idea to purchase and wear novelty "BVD" whitey tighty underpants on the outside of our running outfits for the race. Hilarity ensued.

Hey, super heroes wear underpants on the outside of their tights.... right?

And we are nothing short of super heroes!


Yup, that's right.... those novelty underpants all have one thing in common: FARTING!


Jenny and I decorated our whip.... or ahhh... bike. As you can see we convinced the tourist trap store owners that we needed a "Sale" balloon for the race. The idea here was to be able to find our bike in the transition areas without wasting much time.

Here you can see Team Rockstar completely geared up before the race!

The actual race was insane and so much fun! I will definitely be doing this race again in the future. Jenny and I started in Wave 8 (since it's trails they stagger the starts to avoid crowding) with me on the mountain bike and her running. Our strategy was to start the stronger biker and runner with that event because whatever you start on you do one more time than the other. I started behind several hundred bicyclist. Later I'd learn that Jenny started almost with her foot on the start line of runners (yup, that's my girlfriend!). If I could do it again I would have fault my way to the start line of bicycles. The first 5-minutes was nuts. It seemed everyone in front of me was slower or just out for a lazy weekend bike ride. The trail was not wide and features few places to pass, but I found and used them all. By the time I made it to the first transition I looked around and could see very few blue wrist bands (each wave was assigned different color wrist bands) and it was apparent most of Wave 8 was behind me. Kickass!

The run was a bit difficult to begin as my legs felt super heavy. I'm not a triathlete and definitely NOT used to brick workouts, but after a few minutes I got up to speed and again found myself passing a lot of runners. I am NOT used to passing people in races and began to feel guilty each time. The running surface was mostly grass and sand through fields and pine forests. This happens to be my favorite running surface. Screw asphalt!

At the second transition area I arrived running before seeing Jenny pass me on the bike. I started to worry that she might have had a problem with the bike. A list of possible problems ran through my head. Could she not find the bike? Did the seat not adjust? Did she throw a chain? As I waited in line for the obstacle, a 20' tall cargo net climb to an inflatable slide, I see her fly by on the bike. "Rockstar!" I yell at her. We are on course and doing well!

For the next few transitions everything is perfect. We flip flop during the run/bike right on pace. after each of my runs I start slowly on the bike to catch my breath and then get on it toward the end passing more and more people and seeing fewer and fewer blue wrist bands. At several points (small muddy creek crossings, sandy hills, or steep grades) I jump off the bike, throw it on my shoulder and run with it. This allows me to go so much faster than those trying to ride through it and proves to be a great strategy, although both balloons burst or break. At one point while I'm running a guy dressed as Fred Flintstone passes me. I notice he has a blue wrist band.

"Oh hell no," I say to myself and I lay chase.

Old Fred sets the pace and while he remains ahead of me I stay with him for the remainder of the race both running and biking. Before I know it we're on the last leg. I'm on the bike and I can see Jenny running 100 feet ahead. I pass a volunteer that yells out "only 1/2 mile to go," and I slow up behind Jenny. My thinking is I don't want to rush her and we have to finish together so why pass her yet? I follow slowly for about a quarter mile and lose sight of Fred Flintstone. Then I ride up and yell "Hey Rockstar, we're doing great!" She smiles and says a few words, but I can tell she doesn't want to chat at such a fast pace. I hang out for a few hundred feet and then decide to ride ahead in case there's any delay in ditching the bike before the mud pit. It turns out that the volunteer telling us 1/2 mile to go was smoking crack and it was really about a full mile. I ditch the bike and run over to the meet up area only to find Fred Flintstone also waiting for his partner. Only a few seconds later I see Jenny barreling down the course to us!

She arrives and we leave Fred there waiting for his partner and charge the mud pit. This part is a blur to me and I can't wait to see the official pictures (I just might buy one). We crawl through the mud and it really isn't that bad. There are rope lines to crawl under. I hold each line up for Jenny as we make our way to the end. We cross the finish line together covered in mud holding hands and smiling!

Immediately after finishing we were a little confused about where our friends were so we decided to rinse off. The showing area consists of probably a hundred hoses and people everywhere stripping down to underwear. It was a strange site. We wash our hair and try to get most of the mud off. Jenny donates her Brooks to charity and we work our way back to the vehicles in the parking lot and find team Hot Wheels and Rift Raft. We all have celebratory beers and spend a few hours watching other teams finish and hanging out.

The mud pit before the race. It smelled like cow manure.

The Mud Pit during the race...

Teams Rockstar, Hot Wheels and Rift Raft after the race with celebratory beers!

Unofficial Team Rockstar Results (Muddy Buddy hasn't posted the official results yet)

Time: 49:40
Place in 66-75 Age Division: 10th
Overall Place out of 2,000 Teams: 141st

Not bad considering we agreed before the race to "try" and run at only tempo pace since we have a scheduled 16-miler training run the next day!

This was a great experience and I'd recommend Muddy Buddy with flying colors! It really is fun for every level runner/biker. People get dressed up all crazy and nobody takes it too seriously. It's a great vibe and complete blast! And.... AND you can drink beer at the finish!

The Thursday Stoke!

This Thursday I'm totally stoked about two things!

First off, upon my return from Puerto Rico, I checked my mail to find these two magazines waiting for me!Jenny got me the subscription for Christmas and they just are now arriving. Looks like I've got some reading to catch up on!

Secondly, how cool is this?


Yup, that's the official Muddy Buddy registration confirmation for Jenny and I for the Orlando race in May. Finally, I'm going to get to experience what so many of my friends have done and all had a blast doing; and best of all I get to do it with someone super special! We're registered as Team Rockstar so watch out! Who else is doing Muddy Buddy???

So What's Next???

Three weeks ago I ran the Disney Marathon (a.k.a. The Arctic Marathon). Since the race I've been running a few times a week, all short runs of 3-5 miles each, with no real plan other than just recovering and giving my Achilles tendon time to heal. I spent the last week in Puerto Rico surfing, snorkeling and running with Jenny and our friends John and Julie. This is also the reason I've been AWOL on the blogsphere and I'm honestly overwhelmed with how far behind I am on my Reader and my emails. (I promise I'll try to catch up and there will be a Puerto Rico recap soon!). However, getting back on subject; I've been asked many times in the past three weeks, "So what's next for you?"

To answer that question simply: ANOTHER MARATHON!

Yes, I know... I know... TallGuySurfing has said in the past that running a marathon was a one time thing to scratch off the bucket list and then I'd just do shorter distance runs for fun after the marathon. If you read my recaps here and here you might gather that I wasn't all that happy with how the training experience went nor the actual race and was just happy to finish without injury along side my friend Harrison. After many fun conversations with Jenny about it and also learning more and more about this "running" world I've decided I WANT that uninjured training experience and I WANT to see what I can accomplish in a serious marathon race situation.

So without further adieu here's the plan!

We'll call it the Road to Seattle! With the end result being June 26th, the date of the Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon. This is a race that Jenny really wants to do and we both love the idea of a vacation to the Pacific Northwest!

February
No races are planned. I've made a promise to myself to only run short distances to limit the abuse to my Achilles. I will use this time to cross train in an effort to strengthen my legs (squats.... lots of squats) and do physical therapy exercises to strengthen both my Achilles tendons. I'll probably also surf as much as possible and spectate a few races. Jenny is running the Donna Half on Feb. 21 along with some of her friends and I plan to be there to rock the cowbell and also cheer on the Redhead too!

March
Commence Seattle Training. The goal is to go lightly almost as I'm a novice to not injure myself. I'll be using one of Hal Higdon's plans. Yes, I bought his book, Marathon The Ultimate Training Guide, and this shall be my bible. March also has some other exciting adventures in the works including being a van driver for Team Hot Legs in the Sunset2Sunrise Relay, an open window for a quick "swell chasing" trip to Puerto Rico and most certainly a yet-to-be-named celebration for Jenny's Birthday!

April
Mileage will increase and this month will probably be key in determining if I can increase weekly mileage without re-aggravating the Achilles injury. There might also be a trip to North Carolina in the works with some possible "hills" to train for the next month's exciting activities!

May
Can you say Muddy Buddy?!?!? Jenny and I will rock the course in our first ever Muddy Buddy race in Orlando. Then on May 16th I'm off to California for the ING Bay to Breakers 12k. I've convinced my Cousin in Portland to take on a serious training plan and run that race with me as well as my good friend in Sacramento. It will be a great chance to see some friends and family and get a little crazy at the same time and conquer the giant hill of San Fransisco!

June
Well, June will be "go time" and hopefully another successful Marathon. I know some other bloggers are running Seattle as well and can't wait to follow along!

That's the plan so stay tuned for all the wacky stories that will surely follow in the wake of the swell!