I Am a Warrior!

At the beginning of May, I started on a program to change my state of health. I was in terrible shape, weighing in at nearly 320 pounds. I was plagued with back trouble, arthritis in my knees and ligament and joint trouble in my right ankle. I got little exercise and couldn’t run 100 yards if my life depended on it. I was pretty sure I would be an invalid or possibly dead in 10 years. And I was sick of feeling this way. There were no magic cures and any change was going to have to come through my own determination and work.

I restricted my daily caloric intake and started exercising. I started with Zumba (yes, Zumba) and after a few weeks started adding in running. In a short time, I was able to run a mile or more uninterupted. So when, at the end of May, I heard about something called the Warrior Dash, it got my attention. The Warrior Dash is a 5K race with a twist, it includes crazy obstacles.

I don’t particularly enjoy running. I know some people do. I do enjoy the feeling I get after I run, but running itself is still not what I’d term fun or enjoyable. The only part of a 5K that sounded interesting to me was to answer the question of if I could actually complete one. And the question just wasn’t that pressing for me. Warrior Dash, though, was somthing different. This race includes wall climbing, running over junk cars, cargo net scaling, crawling through a mud pit and even jumping over fire. This was nuts enough that I just had to try it.

Today, I completed my first 5K… Warrior Dash Tennessee. I didn’t run the whole thing. In fact, I probably didn’t run more than a half mile of it. I realized after the first ostacle that I wasn’t going to make it if I didn’t watch my energy burn and keep my pace slower. The obstacles were really taxing for someone like me. So I walked most of it, but it was a brisk walk that wasn’t too much slower than most of the runners. I finished in 1:04:06, about 15 minutes slower than the average time. Not too bad for a first outing, especially from a guy who was probably 15 years older and 75+ pounds heavier than the average runner. I was especially pleased that I tackled every obstacle. I saw quite a few people who didn’t/couldn’t handle some of them. Some of the “wall” obstacles, where we had to scale a wall in some form or another, were particularly hard for a number of competitors. I pretty much took them all without pausing or slowing much.

Overall, I was incredibly pleased with my performance. I set out with a goal of just finishing and not being last. I blew that goal out of the water. I am a warrior.