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We signed up several months ago, my mom, sisters-in-law, my brother, and I, along with a couple of others we knew. It felt like something so far in the future that the day might never arrive.

But last Wednesday, it was (all of the sudden) very, very close. As in, three days away.

I panicked. I was FREAKING OUT. I had very little knowledge of what the Warrior Dash would actually be like, but I knew it was going to be tough, and there would be a lot of obstacles that I may or may not be able to complete, and I knew it was about to happen. SOON.

Friday was cold and gloomy all day long, but the forecast promised that Saturday would be 60 degrees and sunny. We were signed up for the 11:30 wave.

When we (my brother, my sister-in-law, my mom and I were the last ones standing, in our little group) got to the area, the parking police (official and unofficial) were grumpy and not helpful and I didn’t have a good feeling about the day. It was also still dark and cloudy, and not more than 47 degrees.

We found a parking spot and our way to the shuttle (school) buses that would take us to the site of the obstacle course. We joined the crowd, signed our waivers (against our better judgement, perhaps, we agreed to take all responsibility for a course which may include wild animals, junk cars, barbed wire, bodies of water, and many, many other potential safety hazards).

We got our bibs and checked our bags, then my mom and I separated from my brother and SIL for a last minute port-a-potty stop before making our way to the starting line…the only area NOT well marked. With only a few minutes to spare before our wave and no sign of the other half of our group, my mom and I found our way to the “corral.” It was time to go, and we had no choice but to leave without them, hoping they didn’t chicken out or get sick.

I was dressed in my drawstring sweats, a black t-shirt, and old sneakers. I wasn’t going for looks, but there were a lot of women there with a face full of makeup and cute workout clothes, and I wondered if they were there to impress somebody else. I just wanted to finish the damn thing, for myself.

The first mile was nothing by running, avoiding a lot of slippery mud, and craning our necks to see what kinds of obstacles were coming up first.

They weren’t kidding about the barbed wire, by the way. The very first obstacle was a row of trenches with strands of barbed wire strung across the top….the last strand being just before a steep, muddy incline out of the trench. That was my first whiff of “can I do this?” But I did, and I high-fived my mom, and we went on to the next challenge.

It was cold but only mildly uncomfortable for the first few stops, which included skinny ramps leading up to wooden balance beams over a few feet of water, with a wall to climb over before the next balance beam and ramp down, and tall wooden walls with thin footholds and streams of water coming down from above.

About the fourth obstacle was the only one that I didn’t do 100%. It was three large, slippery hills of mud, separated by water pits. My mom and I climbed the first hill, but went around the outside of the water. We climbed to the top of the middle hill, though, and slid right down into the frigid water. And at that moment, we were up to our shoulders in mud and no longer mildly uncomfortable…we were freezing cold. We climbed out and bypassed the last pit of mud, shivering and making our way forward. It was close to that point that my brother and his wife caught up to us, having had started at the next wave, 15 minutes after ours, thanks to confusion over how to get to the starting line.

The next eight or so obstacles were a mixture of crawling under barbed wire, climbing or jumping over wooden structures, grappling across walls of rope, and climbing swinging chain ladders. Oh, and there was fire to jump over, but we think that was mostly for looks….it wasn’t exactly scary to leap over the two flaming lines.

People were generous with their assistance along the course, and quick to joke with other warriors, even strangers. And as we climbed through the last stretch of mud, ducking under several more strands of barbed wire and clawing our way out to the finish line, we smiled from ear to ear.

I’m incredibly proud that we finished the course, with a sense of pride and accomplishment about something we honestly weren’t sure we could do. I learned that I’m stronger than I thought I was, and that freezing my butt off while doing crazy physical challenges can actually be a lot of fun.

Aren’t we tough?

Fierce as a baby panda.

We donated our shoes, in case you’re wondering.

My bib, covered in mud and with the rest.

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