The mud that I wouldn't mind crawling through...

My buddy Kristin and I did the Warrior Dash this past weekend.  Because when you think warriors, you know you think of these chicks... 

We apparently got photo-bombed by that shirtless dude.

...or at least you will from now on, suckas.

 Kris's hubby Dan drove us out to NJ and took all the pictures of us in the race and was an terrific  cheerleader, photographer, and guardian of stuff while we slogged through a 5k running trail and obstacle course during the hottest part of the day.  Here is a photo of Dan being awesome.

Though at one point he talked smack to Kristin because she wasn't running during the last leg of about 80 gajillion obstacles (did I mention the heat?) and she responded thusly.

I got your obstacle right here.

Before we actually got to the whole "Dash" part - which was largely a schlep because of the ankle-to-knee-deep mud covering most of the course - we had to wait on line for shuttle buses.  At this point, I revealed just how little I had read up on the course because I was like, "Well, at least there won't be barbed wire or flames."  And then Kris was like, um, there's going to be both barbed wire AND flames.  Oops.  She must have been thinking this:

My friends don't read the fine print, nyeh.

The ankle-to-knee-deep mud was really great because it was nice and cool and like sanctioned mud-puddle splashing.  Actually, we all kinda looked like Atreyu in the swamps of sadness, except nobody was sad about a horse dying.  We were all pretty happy, actually.

Looked?  Similar.  Felt?  Opposite.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go cry about the saddest scene in a movie ever.

I was actually glad I hadn't read up on the course beforehand (which you can see here) because I didn't get a chance to psyche myself out.  20 foot vertical wall with just a rope?  Sure I can do it (without falling and breaking my leg).  Barbed wire crawl?  No WAY I'm gonna scratch my eyeball and go blind.  Swim to the middle of the lake?  Not a problem (with waterlogged sneakers).  Fire-swamp flame spurt?  I didn't like my shins much ANYWAY.  It actually worked out for the best.  Because we totally did it. the muscles are paying for it today, but what the hell.

Here are some more pics Dan took.  Kris may look tiny, but she was twice the badass some bigger individuals were.

She kinda looks like a video game character in these.  Like she's about to stomp the sh*t outta those flames.

BAM.  Power up.

I can only assume she was thinking the same thing I was at this point:
where the hell are the showers?

Yay! 

Kris had a 3:00 start and I signed up late so I had a 3:30 start, so there was a similar lag between our finish times.

A departure from my standard raging case of bitch-face.

Kinda looks like I was revving up to smack someone in this shot.

 I still can't believe I didn't scrape my face on the barbed wire.

As exhausting as it was, it was a really great feeling to finish this.  And for some reason in the photo below, we look like robots unfamiliar with the concepts of hugs.

This was the most fun I've had in a really long time.  I felt exhausted and amazing and it reminded me that giving your body a good challenge can be really good for your head.  Thanks, Kris and Dan, for convincing me to do this, getting us all out there, and recording the moments.  Especially the one in the following pic, which clearly captures my best side.