WARRIOR DASH!!!

Many of you who know me, know that I love (a) to dress up, (b) to run and (c) a good party. So, when you put it all together, there was no way I was missing out on Warrior Dash-- a barbarian-themed run up and down Copper Mountain filled with obstacles (such as a mud pit, rope climb, etc) and followed by a rocking after party. This race was meant to just have fun and release energy. And it was. And we did.

Earlier in the year, we recruited some friends to "dash" with us. We had a really fun bunch of peeps that were set to make a day out of it-- costumes and all. So this week, Cassidy, Lee-Anne and I had got together and made warrioress costumes. It is amazing what you can do with things in your basement: old bike tubes, spray paint, a glue gun, random pieces of fabric, etc. Don't believe me?

Made from gold-spray painted bike tubes.

A painted piece of styrofoam stapled to bike tubes. Skull hot glued to the front.

To properly hydrate ourselves for the event, we made sure we had a fully stocked cooler and started drinking early. Yum. Ironically, the G2 isn't what we drinking before the event.

Not pictured, pitcher of Ross' margaritas. Double yum.

Happy as can be, we made our way onto the bus and into the town center.

Dude in yellow=the first of many, many random friends we made throughout the day!

We got to the town center and warriors from earlier waves were already washing off in the pond. The town was filled with energy and happy warriors and warrior-to-be's.

We checked in, got our stuff and got ready. We were very excited about being there, the atmosphere was great and we chatted it up with about everyone we saw.

More new friends-- I can't wait to get all muddy!

Ready to Dash!

Starting line!

The gun went off and there was some fire spewing out of the entry gates. We started running, then had to crawl over some abandoned cars (obstacle #1), then a little further it was climbing up a hill and a wall, then climbing over hay bales. What fun warrior dashing is.

Then it was time to conquer the hill. Lots of running up, up, up. It is here where we kind of divided into two groups: Mary, Cindy, Ross and me and then Lee-Anne, Ray, Andrea and Ryan. The crowd kinda slowed and we had plenty of time to make even more friends.

Avatars Running!

Ross' new BFF, Tanner. He was awesome.

Picture of us at the top-- party already going on below.

Then, it was a quick jaunt DOWN the mountain. FUN! At the bottom, there was a water station and more fun obstacles to conquer.

Here is what I had been looking forward to all day-- MUD PIT! I let Ross, Cindy and Mary go ahead so I could snap a picture. Then a volunteer took my camera for me (bless her) and I dove into the mud pit. Cheers EVERYWHERE!!! This crowd liked a good belly flop. I had some time to make up if I was going to tackle Ross before he got out of the pit. I got up right behind him and tugged on his leg, trying to take him down. No luck. But some mud-flinging did take place and we ended up as dirty as could be.

The mud pit after pict.

It was at this point I decided to thank EVERY volunteer on the course with a proper mud-filled hug. I earned it, they loved it, we were all happy!

More running, then more obstacles-- crawling through tunnels (the one time in life being short was actually to my advantage!), some jumping over walls (height NOT to my advantage), rope climbing, walking over planks, and then a stream crossing. Ahhh!!! rinsing off a bit. Not too much, though. Actually, no matter how much washing I was doing, the mud was going to be there. Seriously.

Then it was downhill till the end. We got there, well almost there, and Mary had stopped to get rocks out of her shoe. So Ross, Cindy and I went back to find her. They (Ross, Cindy and Mary) then turned around to finish it and I told them I was gonna run back up to find Lee-Anne, Ray, Andrea and Ryan.

So I ran and I ran and I ran... the opposite direction. Through the obstacles backwards (gotta get my money's worth, right?). And just about EVERYONE yelled at me that I was going the wrong way, to which I answered, "A warrior leaves no one behind!" (GI Jane was on TNT earlier this week). Till I found my friends-- muddy and jumping over walls.

A re-uniting picture!

We re-grouped and I convinced them, too, to hug every volunteer, to which they did. Man, did they love us on the course!

Close-up of us all lovin' on Ralph, who happened to be my personal favorite volunteer. Notice the mud on his shirt-- that was from me earlier.

Since I had washed my camera in the stream, I could get some more picts.

Muddy cargo net climbing

I think this picture is priceless.

From there, it was over a few more obstacles, across the planks, over the stream, down the hill (deja vu).

Then, the final obstacle-- FIRE JUMPING! Now, I thought, whatev... TILL I SAW IT! These flames were high! It was kinda (read:really) scary. I was glad my buzz had tamed itself a little bit or I could've been in some real trouble. I went ahead so I could get the official "fire-jumping" pictures.

Andrea jumping the fire!

THE FINAL AFTER PICT! ROAR!

Now it was time to kick back, relax and enjoy the party-- Warrior Style!

Sharing a turkey leg. Yum.

Chillaxin' with our loin cloth covered friends.

Tin Man rocks our free world.

Can't forget my favorite warrior.

WHAT A FUN DAY-- Thanks to our whole warrior crew and everyone we met in between! ...I can't believe I have NO pictures of Marvin-- next time, dude.