Warrior Dash III

Or as I like to call it, the Final Chapter.

Ran another Warrior Dash today (and by ran, I mean walked) in Bastrop.  Don't get me wrong, it was a blast!  Great team of fellow pilgrims, a turkey and an Indian (Happy Thanksgiving).  We definitely had the best costumes at least until the World of WWF showed up.  (Thank you Lu and Kim for coming up with them and Brad for being willing to wear the Turkey costume) 

This way, by far, the hardest course I've done.  It was hillier and included a HUGE (20+ foot) wall that one was expected to pull oneself up with the assistance of a rope and some questionably spaced 2x4s.  Walked around it.  I did actually try, but that bit of fun was towards the very end and I was tired.  It just didn't seem worth the effort and/or the possibility of injury.  (My spirit of competitiveness ends completely when faced with the possibility of injury.  Probably why I never did that well at team sports.)

I started things off with a bang by falling down in the quicksand mud pit.  Then I got stuck. Seriously, good and thoroughly stuck. Unless I was willing to give up my shoes, I could not move.  Fortunately, a good Samaritan came along and dug under my feet to break the vacuum and I was off and "running" again.

I had a lot of fun, despite carrying an extra 50 lbs of mud around, a tough course and the blowing dirt thanks to the combination of wind and the effects of the drought.  But, along the course, I found myself wanting to skip about half of the obstacles.  Ultimately, I skipped two, the aforementioned wall and the horizontal rope web.  (Thank you Kim, for suggesting we skip that one.) It's hard to navigate and our unconventional rolling across approach wasn't going to work bogged down by all that mud. 

Who knows, maybe I'll change my mind, but I think my time with Warrior Dash has come to an end.  

Warrior Dash!!

We did it!!!

Before - that's me on the right in the Warrior hat.



And after.... that mud pit was something else.

With an amazing time of one hour and 49 seconds, I crossed the finish line carrying at least an extra ten pounds of mud.

It was a blast and not nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be, except maybe for the fire. We had so much fun, we all signed up for another one in March. Next time, everyone's in tutus. Kudos to Christine and Amanda for their handmade tutus and Carlos for our team flag.

Big thanks to Lu for the awesome pictures.

Countdown to Warrior Dash - 2 Days

Well, it's almost time. I can't believe I've gotten myself into this. I'm not sure which I'm more worried about, injuring myself or making a fool of myself. Hopefully, somehow, I'll manage to do neither.

I was going to pull a costume together, but that never happened. I did pick up some running pants and real socks to protect me from the mud. I've also done a little bit of training in the way of actual running. I have a sneaking suspicion that's not going to help.

Fortunately, I'm going with a fun bunch of warrior. I'm sure this is going to be a lot of fun.

Wackiness At The Gym

When I walked into the locker room one day last week there was a woman on her cellphone at the makeup mirror. I didn't really think anything of it at the time, but she was still on the phone after my workout AND shower. (I'm a little jealous of her phone's battery life.)

The marathon nature of the call isn't the issue. The real fun was watching her make eyes at herself in the make up mirror the whole time. It was hilarious. In the midst of a busy locker room with women coming and going and two of us putting on make up right next to her, she continued to make eyes at herself in the mirror, striking poses like she was a part of a high-fashion photo shoot, all the while keeping up a steady stream of conversation. It was quite impressive.

I'm really sorry I have no idea what was being said, but I didn't understand a word. (If I had to guess I'd say Tagalog, but I couldn't swear to it.)

Countdown to Warrior Dash - 33 Days

HOLY CRAP!

They've changed venues on me.

Before it was piles of hay, now it's a huge stack of giant hay bales and they added things like climbing over junked cars and running through a "stream".

What the heck have I gotten myself into???

To find out - check this out - Warrior Dash Central Texas and be very, very afraid (for me).

Countdown to Warrior Dash - 46 Days

They're so pretty!!

I finally did it. I bought my very first pair of real running shoes. I've bought fairly decent cross trainers and one good pair of walking shoes before, but no actual "running" shoes. I went down to Luke's Locker, waited my turn and ran up and down their track (feeling like an idiot) and bought my fancy new shoes. (It turns out, despite all the pages I've ripped out of magazines, running shoes are a lot less expensive than I thought they were.- A very good thing. )

I'm not making any promises, but I'm going to at least make an attempt at running. The short term goal is to be able to run enough to be able to run with Petey. If this goes well, maybe....and I'm making no promises here...a sprint triathalon.

September with SELF - Update

And the end...sort of.

While I'm not -8lbs (more like +3 ARG!) this will be the last September with SELF weekly update. Partly because it's about not to be September anymore and partly because this is a tiny bit embarrassing. Apparently, not embarrassing me enough to get me to the gym every day or keep me out of the Haagen Daz, but still...

While the results were not what I was hoping for, they are what I earned. On the upside, though, I think I'm on the cusp of my morning visits to the gym becoming a habit again (I made it this morning and I felt like crap - thanks a lot ragweed!) and I'm handling the work outs (when I make them) better.

So, I'm going to keep up with the workout program and attempt to reacquaint myself with healthier eating. Hopefully, October with SELF's September program will be more effective. I'll check back in at the end of the month.

SELF in September - Update

Not really rockin' the program.

Only managed 3 of the 5 Cardio workouts and 0 of the (2) strength workouts.

And while I did sort of okay at the very beginning of week three, the weekend was full of pie, pizza, french fries and bacon. 'Nuff said.

Oh - end results +1 lb.

On the (slight) upside, I am handling the cardio workouts a little bit better than I did in the beginning.

I will rock the last week!

September With SELF

Well, one week in and I’m still standing, mostly. After commiserating with a woman at the makeup mirror at the gym who also just started the program, I do feel better about my struggle to keep up with the workouts. I am not alone!

Here’s the basic rundown:

Program: 5 Cardio Workouts

Actual Cardio Workouts – 3

Program: 2 Strength Training Sessions

Actual Strength Training Sessions – 1 (well, most of one)

Meal Plan – Unless I’ve overlooked the hot dogs and Haagen-Dazs portion of the meal plan, I pretty much whiffed that part of the program. Although, I did pretty well yesterday.

Results – Could barely move for two days after one (incomplete) strength training session and I gained ½ a pound.

Soldiering on….

Can't Move....

I guess you really never know how out of shape you are until after you start working out again.

After about six months of slipshod gym attendance, I finally turned in one week of solid workouts. Not terribly ambitious workouts, not super hardcore workouts, just your (or my) basic, solid workout. And now, I can barely move. I am so sore. I am more sore than when I first moved into this little house and was moving boxes and furniture constantly. I am more sore than when I made my first (and only-so far) attempt to mow the backyard. It's quite pathetic, actually. What is more scary is that I signed up for a Warrior Dash coming up in November. (I have no idea what I was thinking with that one and I have no one to blame but myself, because I was the instigator.) Well, let the training begin....