Saturday, July 28, 2012

Warrior Dash - Seattle


 
Last weekend I ran the Warrior Dash in North Bend, WA. It was such a fun event, if you ever have a chance to run it I highly recommend it.

There were 12 obstacles, first one was the Barricade Breakdown, where we had hurdle over barricades and crawl under barbed wire, then we had the Rubber Ricochet, run thru a rubber jungle of hanging car tires, where if you didn't plan right, you could get hit hard.
Next was Teetering Traverse, this was pretty easy, just walk across some 2X4's nothing too crazy there.
Then there was the feared Deadmans Drop, this one was scary. First of all it was super high and the scary part is kind of hard to explain, but its a wooden structure, but when you get to the top it overhangs a bit, where I felt like a rock climber, because you had to reach over and pull yourself up and over the obstacle, crazy.
Crab Crawl was next, this was easy, just crawling under a net, I'm small enough where I could just do it on my hands and needs, some did have to do it army crawl style.
Then came the Great Warrior Wall, just a tall wooden wall with a rope that you had to climb up and over, it seemed bad at first, however there are ledges that you can put you feet on so you can then pull yourself up with the rope and climb down regularly on the other side.
Storming Normandy was next, this was crawling under barbed wire, also benefit if you are little so you don't have to do the army crawl.
Road Rage was fun, this we had to run thru car tires and climb across beat up cars, super fun. When do you ever get to run over cars?
Chaotic Crossover was easy, just crawling over a rope net, just don't use your knees, go over it with your hands and feet.
Cargo Climb was next, you could see the finish line from here, super high, but fun, just climbing over a rope net wall.
The Warrior Roast was awesome, they had two rows of blazing fires and we had to jump over those and then finally we were at the very last obstacle, which was a pool of mud and I mean thick, thick mud. The hardest part was that it was too slippery to walk thru and it was too deep to reach your hands to the bottom, so we had to swim thru it. The key to it was to keep your mouth closed :)

It was great finally to cross the finish line and get my awesome medal. Everybody was covered in mud head to toe, that was the best part of the race, watching everybody dripping in dirt.

Unlike the PVC pipe showers they had at the Survivor Mud run they had trucks with hoses on this one, so we literally had to be hosed down and it took much longer since there were so many people doing this race and only three people hosing down.

They had a band playing, good food and an awesome atmosphere. Must do race for sure.

Disney Princess Half Marathon Registered!!!


I finally registered for the Disney Princess Half Marathon so I can complete the Disney Coast to Coast Challenge. I'm so excited. In addition, I figured since we were going all the way to Disney World (its as far as you can get in the continental US for us from Seattle), I might as well sign up for as many events as I can.
So I'm also doing the Disney Royal Family 5K stroller division. I have a 4 year old son, and yes I know he is too old for a stroller, but its cheaper for us to do it this way and we both still get medals :) which he will be super excited about it. Then later that day he will be doing the Kids Races for another medal, he is going to have so much fun, I cannot wait to see everything thru his eyes. And then finally Sunday morning I will be running the Disney Princess Half Marathon!!!!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Disney Princess Half Marahon!!

Don't forget, the Disney Princess Half Marathon registration opens in one week, July 10!!!!

Make sure you register early, this is their 5 year anniversary and they sell out fast.

Seattle Rock'N'Roll Half Maraton 2012

 
So I finally did my first half marathon and finished with an awesome time, I think. Final chip time ended up being 2:12:34, so I was very proud that. My estimated finish time was 2:15, I was glad to have beaten that.
They did an amazing job putting together the whole event, I've never been to one before, but I really enjoyed it. I was by myself unfortunately, but I made the best of it and enjoyed it all.


I was originally put into corral 41, but when I went to the Fitness Expo I got myself moved up to corral 25. The race morning was cold and rainy, I was worried about parking Downtown since all the prepaid parking was sold out, so I left my house at 4:45 to make it there super early to get a parking spot, the race didn't start until 7:00AM and my corral didn't end up leaving until about a half an hour after the clock time. Didn't need to worry about parking, plenty of spots, so I took a stroll to the Space Needle (the starting line) and just walked around a bit. I didn't want to check my bag too early since it was a cold morning, great for running but when you are not running it was super cold.



They had some food and fruit and water, I really didn't want to drink anything because I did not want to worry about having to use the bathroom during the race. I just enjoyed myself and then checked my bag and made my way to my corral. Ton of photographers everywhere, taking pictures before during and after the race, I had a great time even though I was by myself.

The course itself, I was a bit disappointed about, it was supposed to be showing off Seattle's best sites, however pretty much the three quarters of the race was down Rainier Ave S, which is known to be the worst part of Seattle (bars on the windows, etc.). Only about a mile or so was on Lake Washington, we did get beautiful views of the Puget Sound almost all the way to the finish line, however it was all uphill and by that time I was getting super tired and trying to run uphill is not an easy task.

I made it though, very proud of myself and cannot wait until my next one on August 11 in Vancouver BC, the SeaWheeze Lululemon half marathon!!!!! Maybe I can make it in under 2 hours???? Probably not.


I also have the Warrior Dash coming up on July 22 and the Run for Your Lives run on August 4th. Lots to look forward to prior to the Disney runs.