Real warriors run barefoot

Every race I run after today is just going to be boring. The Warrior Dash was in Jackson: 3.4 miles of mud with 12 obstacles. I ran through tires, climbed across rope, swam through muck, scaled a wall, leaped over fire and loved every minute of it.

Prior to the race I saw runners duct-taping their shoes to their feet. With all that mud, it’d be pretty easy to lose one. In fact, as I crossed the finish line I heard several people say, “Hey, look at her. She must have lost her shoes.” Nope, never had them. Didn’t need them. But I felt sorry for those who did. I can only imagine how heavy your feet would feel slogging through the 3.4-mile terrain in soaking wet running shoes.

But while other runners were figuring out how to keep their shoes on their feet, I had my own problem: How in the heck was I going to attach my timing chip to my foot? I headed over to the first aid station where a nice volunteer cut off a length of gauze for me. I threaded it through my chip and tied it around my ankle. Perfect!

Thank you first aid lady for helping me get on my timing chip

None of the obstacles proved too challenging for my feet. In fact the most difficult part for me wasn’t even an obstacle at all. There was one stretch of compacted dirt with gravel. Ouch. It definitely slowed me down.

Like with any race, as soon as I saw the finish line, I started to sprint, except the last stretch was incredibly muddy and without sure footing, I slipped, fell, landed on my rear and bonked the back of my head. Ah, but it didn’t faze me. I stood up and started running toward the finish, slower and more carefully. And when I was done? Well, I just wanted to go back to the start and do it again. Instead I headed home and ran an additional four miles on boring old pavement.