This past weekend I participated in the Warrior Dash (WD) Washington event held up in Bonney Lake, WA and qualified for the WD World Championships. Warrior Dash is hosting the Obstacle Course Race World Championships in October and is offering up $100,000 to the Top 3 Elite men and women. That's pretty motivating to train hard and do what I love to do, compete.
In order to be able to compete in the World Championships, you must qualify at one of their events and finish in the top 25. Since there are only two Warrior Dash events in the Northwest (Bonney Lake, WA and North Plains, OR)) I decided to head to Washington and try to qualify.
Another motivating factor to compete in Worlds is that Anytime Fitness is one of the Official Sponsors of the Warrior Dash events. Anytime Fitness has so generously supported my efforts to compete in the World Championships this year. It will be such as huge honor to represent Anytime Fitness at the World Championships by promoting a healthy lifestyle through overcoming obstacles...literally. Oh, and it would also be sweet to take home the top prize of $30,000.
The WD race this weekend in Bonney Lake was not too difficult compared to others I have participated in. Covering a 5k course and including only 12 obstacles I figured to take about 22-25 minutes. The course was located at the Kelly Farms and the terrain was mostly on rough grass and wooded/rooty mud.
A light drizzle and cloudy skies kept the temperatures in the high 60's at the start but it quickly warmed up throughout the race. The first mile was all running, on grass, sand, gravel and mud. After a couple obstacles to break up the rhythm, we had another long section of running. I mistakenly made a wrong turn after the 3rd obstacle allowing 4 racers to get ahead of me. I was able to pass one of them but couldn't quite catch the other 3. Dumb mistake that hopefully won't happen at Worlds.
We then ran through a singletrack section in the woods that consisted of lots of roots (I even got stung by a bee) and then more wet grass before reaching the meat of the obstacles. There were about 6 obstacles in the final 1/2 mile. Neither of them was too difficult except the cargo-net tunnel obstacle was a bit tricky.
I'm not sure of my official finishing time; they don't do timing but instead just place the top 25 finishers in order. I finished 8th overall and I believe in a time of around 24:30. If I hadn't made the wrong turn I probably would have finished 5th overall and right around 24 minutes.
I collected my medal and accomplished the goal of qualifying for Worlds. Now it's time to focus on hill running for the next 2 months. I believe the course for Worlds will be quite challenging on very hilly terrain down in Esparto, CA.
proud sponsor of Warrior Dash events
In order to be able to compete in the World Championships, you must qualify at one of their events and finish in the top 25. Since there are only two Warrior Dash events in the Northwest (Bonney Lake, WA and North Plains, OR)) I decided to head to Washington and try to qualify.
flexing muscle with the Anytime Fitness "Running Man" - I swear my arms are bigger
Another motivating factor to compete in Worlds is that Anytime Fitness is one of the Official Sponsors of the Warrior Dash events. Anytime Fitness has so generously supported my efforts to compete in the World Championships this year. It will be such as huge honor to represent Anytime Fitness at the World Championships by promoting a healthy lifestyle through overcoming obstacles...literally. Oh, and it would also be sweet to take home the top prize of $30,000.
The WD race this weekend in Bonney Lake was not too difficult compared to others I have participated in. Covering a 5k course and including only 12 obstacles I figured to take about 22-25 minutes. The course was located at the Kelly Farms and the terrain was mostly on rough grass and wooded/rooty mud.
the barbed wire pit
A light drizzle and cloudy skies kept the temperatures in the high 60's at the start but it quickly warmed up throughout the race. The first mile was all running, on grass, sand, gravel and mud. After a couple obstacles to break up the rhythm, we had another long section of running. I mistakenly made a wrong turn after the 3rd obstacle allowing 4 racers to get ahead of me. I was able to pass one of them but couldn't quite catch the other 3. Dumb mistake that hopefully won't happen at Worlds.
We then ran through a singletrack section in the woods that consisted of lots of roots (I even got stung by a bee) and then more wet grass before reaching the meat of the obstacles. There were about 6 obstacles in the final 1/2 mile. Neither of them was too difficult except the cargo-net tunnel obstacle was a bit tricky.
cargo net climb (not the tunnel) - 2nd to last obstacle
I'm not sure of my official finishing time; they don't do timing but instead just place the top 25 finishers in order. I finished 8th overall and I believe in a time of around 24:30. If I hadn't made the wrong turn I probably would have finished 5th overall and right around 24 minutes.
I collected my medal and accomplished the goal of qualifying for Worlds. Now it's time to focus on hill running for the next 2 months. I believe the course for Worlds will be quite challenging on very hilly terrain down in Esparto, CA.
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