2012 Warrior Dash Illinois--Channahon, IL

The photos will tell the story the best so there are a bunch.

Tracy and I had this crazy idea that doing a Muddy obstacle race would be fun! It was FUN! It was a total BLAST!!!   If you like to play in the mud even a little bit and you like the challenge of doing a HARD race, then I totally recommend this.  It's about a 5K distance.  We picked Saturday, June 16th to complete our Warrior Dash.  We both brought waterproof cameras so we could get a piece of all the action. I thought the day was just amazing and I was glad we did it. Here are some helpful hints that you should follow if you are planning on doing one of these races:
Wear compression shorts or bike shorts or something that hold your loose thigh skin in. Can be under the costume, but trust me, I wish I had worn these.
If you have bad knees or super sensitive knees then wear knee pads.
Wear gloves if you don't have rough warrior hands and don't want scratches or cuts.
If you don't want bruises, scrapes, cuts, or scratches of any kind, then skip the obstacles.
If you don't like to play in the mud then you should stay home.

We were almost to the farm where the Warrior Dash began and
saw a couple police officers getting ready to cover a stop sign
with a plastic bag.  I thought it was funny that one policeman
had a warrior helmet on.  This is one example of how the entire
town gets into this race.

Many signs leading to the race, you will
NOT get lost getting there.

The start line.  Every few minutes fire came out of the sign.

Obstacle#1--The Trenches.  You crawl under boards on dirt
and rocks.  This is where gloves and knee pads would have
been real nice.

Obstacle #2--Mortimer's Crossing.  You balance your way
across the wobbly rope.  This one was a little scary for me.

Obstacle #3  Verticle Limit.  You scale to the summit on a
rock climbing type wall, then slide down a pole on the
other side.  Now I must have missed this part in my reading
of the obstacles because I'm not a far of heights.  Sliding down
the pole was hard for me.  I could reach the pole as you will see
in the next picture, but couldn't quite get the rest of my
body to it.  I finally jumped, but I swear my thigh skin was
still at the top of the pole when I was at the bottom.

Back side of obstacle #3.  Scariest part
of race for me.  I actually screamed on
the way down.

Obstacle #4 called Storming Normandy.  You had to
military crawl under barbed wire.

Obstacle #5  Vicious Valleys.  I didn't
like this one.  I felt it was hard on the feet
and body to get through it.  

Obstacle #6  Petrifying Plunge.  You had to
slide down a long muddy slide to a mud pit.
You would get stuck at the bottom in the mud
for a second and then you could climb out.
A volunteer helped pull me out of this pit.

Tracy and I after obstacle #6.  If you are
not muddy by this point then you skipped
the obstacles.

Obstacle #7  Road Rage.  You stampede your way through
rusted wreckage and tires.  Here is Tracy posing.

Me totally posing.  By the way, the cars are a little slick because a lot of
wet bodies have gone over them.  Be careful on this one.

Obstacle #8  Hard Rain.  You climb up this
with lots of water coming down at you.
I found this one a bit tricky, but refreshing.

Obstacle #9  Great Warrior Wall.  If you
aren't a climber, then I suggest practicing
pushups for upper body strength.

Obstacle #10  Chaotic Crossover.  Basically you climb over
a cargo net and try not to fall through.  I was very slow on this
and was being passed by Wave #3 at this point.  

Obstacle #11  Giant Cliff hanger.  This wasn't that hard for me,
however I heard that later in the day when this was super muddy
that it is almost impossible to climb, so gloves here would
be very helpful.

Obstacle #12  Cargo Climb.  You have to climb to the top of this.
then do climb down.  It may look easy, but it's not.  By this
point I was wishing I had gloves. Lots of ropes and climbing.

The is actually obstacle #14.  I missed the fire jumping.  I tried to
hold back and have Tracy get a picture of me fire jumping, but
because of the danger of it, there was a Warrior Dash worker that
told us to move along and not stop.  Dang I really wanted a picture
of me jumping over fire.  Next time.  So anyway, this is the last obstacle
and you have to go under the barbed wire to get to the finish line.  You
are extremely muddy by the point.

Me stopping to pose.  I had mud in my hand and decided to
smear it on my face.  Gross.  But seriously by this point
you have mud in several places you didn't think the mud
could get to, so you might as well have it on your face.  I
actually look super mildly muddy compared to some we saw
later on.

Tracy and I taking our traditional "Picture of ourselves" while
still in the mud pit.

Getting hosed off after.  Very cold by the way.

Tracy and I with our Warrior Dash finishing medals.  Well deserved.

A silly guy in a Flash costume posing
for me.

I actually spent the money and bought a giant turkey leg
to celebrate like a warrior.  The turkey was not the good by
the way and I wouldn't recommend it.  Just looked
good for a picture.

The crazy warrior was posing for me also.  He
was complete with fairy wings, speedo, stuffed bra
and a wig.  He was very hairy and muddy.

The shirt.

My bib number, medal and warrior helmet.

washing off in the shower at the hotel.  I actually showered
with my clothes on at first to get all the mud out of them.
The mud trial continued for what seemed like 10 minutes.
I had mud in many places I didn't think mud could get to.

Tracy was so smart because she is the one that recommended the early wave so we could go back to the hotel after the race and shower. What a great idea.