Warrior Dash – My Push Past the Ordinary

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This post was shared by Fit Marriage community member and Thrive90 Fitness graduate Eva Dujardin Dale. Enjoy it!

Eva jumping through fire!

This past June I ran the Warrior Dash in Logan, Ohio.  For those who have not heard of this, it is a 5K obstacle course race with plenty of mud.

I felt so happy to be there and was smiling the whole race.  It had been a very rough year and there could have been a number of life obstacles that kept me from being there.

I was standing at the starting line with my husband and two good friends from our neighborhood. The weather was nice and we were excited.

I was there to do something for myself.

I was there because I love doing silly, crazy things like running an obstacle course and getting muddy.

The start began and we were off. Up, up, up hills through the woods, down, down, down hills into muddy water and over obstacles.

When there are struggles, strangers help. When people around me need help, I am there for them.

We are all in this together. Navigate over high walls, crawl under barbed wire. Run for a bit, go over an obstacle, run again.

I just go.

It’s not about a fast time, it’s about just going.

A race with obstacles is such a metaphor for life. Look ahead, see an obstacle coming, wonder if you can face it. The obstacle is there. Time to get through this.

Something inside me would take over when presented with an obstacle. I would just put one leg in front of the other. And done. Move on to the next one.

There was one obstacle that I wasn’t sure if I had the strength or ability to get over. It was a high wall with a rope. For a moment, I wondered. Then I went up to it, grabbed the rope and was pulling myself up arm by arm. I felt my arms and legs working hard. But I was doing it. I was up and over before I knew it.

At some point in the race, my lungs hurt so I slowed down to a fast walk. I kept going. I was feeling my limits.

Finally, the last two obstacles were in front of me. Jump over fire, go through mud, cross the finish line.

After my race, I waited and watched for my husband to cross the line.

Then we found our friends. We were all happy and laughing and smiling, covered in mud.

Our friends loved it. They had never done this race and thought it was great fun.

I feel like the Warrior Dash is a perfect race. It is a 5K (3.1 miles). Not too long but still long enough to need to push through limits.

The obstacles break up the race and make it interesting. They are challenging but doable.

I like to sign up months ahead of the race. It motivates me to exercise and move my body in preparation for the race.

I like to include in my identity that ‘I am a Warrior’. I lift my head a bit higher, walk a bit stronger, feel good about myself.

I like that my husband and I do this together and share this in our identities. I like to show our children that mom and dad can be silly and have fun together.

For me, running the Warrior Dash is not about winning.

It is a place for me to keep the child in me alive and kicking. It clears out the work, work, work of life. It is a place to go run around, jump over stuff, slide in mud, and enjoy life.

There are a number of companies putting these types of races together. Warrior Dash, Spartan Race, Hell Run, Tough Mudder, etc. They all offer different distances and challenges.

See what you can find near to you. Find some friends to do it with you, or go yourself and make friends along the path.

Have fun!

Note from Dustin: I’m training to do my first Tough Mudder in October.  I can’t wait!