Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain…DESTROYED!

This past Saturday, a team of my clients and Chris went to the Colorado Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain and killed it! I run an Obstacle Course Race Training Group and these girls were prepared for the worst! After the race, they admitted that our training sessions were harder than the actual race, which is good! You always want to over-prepare than under-prepare. Beyond physical effort, it was a lot of fun, especially in a 5-person group.

Before the race

Our heat wasn’t until 4:30pm (it was the only time left to sign up for!), which was a bummer, but we were excited anyhow. We all piled in one of the girl’s van and went on our way from Boulder to Copper Mountain. It didn’t take long, maybe 1.5 hours tops–I didn’t really notice as I was enjoying company and conversation. We stopped at Big Daddy Bagels on the way for some carb-loading and traveled through the mountains. When we got there, the partying was already full-blown as many heats had already gone by. Us girls were all dressed as Wonder Woman and Chris, of course, wore only a batman mask and tutu. That’s it! He by far got the most attention and had plenty of photo ops. It was great. He totally played it up during the race as well, throwing me on his back and doing some squats for the crowd.

Chris & I

Crazy busy

Beautiful views!

AWESOME Batman-in-a-tutu human flag

After changing, wandering around, dancing with the huge crowd, and taking lots of fan pictures, we were ready to go. Sick of waiting! Even though our heat wasn’t until 4:30, I believe we started somewhere around 3:55, closer to 4. All we had to do was jump into the starting line with all others and go! The start is a little slow because everyone is rushing out, but we got to a point for a steady pace. After all, we weren’t being competitive–we did this to have fun! And we certainly did. We all did fairly well with the running, but 3 out of the 5 of us were recovering from colds so we all had a little congestion. But that didn’t stop us!

Musclesss

The obstacles were easier than compared to the one Chris and I did a few years back in Windham, New York. But it was still a lot of fun. We killed the tires and the crawling (the girls are used to that), and the mud pit was great. They threw the mud pit at us a lot earlier than expected so that we were heavy with mud for the rest of the weight, adding at least 5 pounds to each of us. We went through different obstacles, some involved ropes, others tunnels, and barbed wire. Probably the most dangerous ones were when we had to climb up to the top of this wooden-planked type structure and then walk/slide down it. One of them went up about 15-20 feet, and it was the most dangerous because we and the structure were both very muddy and wet, making it easy for someone to slip off. However, none of us sustained any injuries!

“After” pic of Batman & Wonder Woman

We made it!!

Close-up

The showers…they were actually WARM!

Tutu death pile

Everyone there was very supportive and it was an all-around good time. I’m very proud of the ladies for kicking butt all the way through and Chris for actually making it the whole way with his tutu (after it gained ten pounds of mud). It was a great experience with great people and we’re sure to do it again. Afterwards, a few of us enjoyed Beaujo’s (a gourmet pizza joint that’s also in Boulder), where we were too exhausted to really talk until we got some food in us. Catch us next month at the Devil Dash in Lyons, Colorado! Enter in an adventure race to stay hungry and fit!

Beaujo’s pizza as per Chris’ instagram

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Jun232013

Warrior Dash 2013: Costume Ideas

Obstacle races have become tremendously popular in the United States over the course of the past four years. I remember in 2009 when I participated in the first round of Warrior Dashes, before the Tough Mudder and Spartan Races were available. It was a blast and ever since then I have competed in other similar events, including the Men’s Health Urbanathlon. Obviously, these three major organizations are not the only ones running these races but they have become behemoths in the industry.

Tough Mudder supposedly made $70 million last year. I’m sure that figure will only grow as more races become available in the United States and internationally. These races were influenced by earlier European challenges and have now grown to become unique in their own right. The Warrior Dash is probably the most fun. I’ve never competed in one, I’ve just done it with friends to have fun. The Tough Mudder is the cash cow, essentially a longer Warrior Dash. (The founder stole ideas from other people, but this is a well known fact.) The Spartan Races are the most challenging and offer everything from sprints to a death race that you need to qualify for by doing ridiculous things (Sprint, Spartan, Beast, Death Race) such as winning a Spartan Beast or being ex-special forces.

To get back to the point, Fit has signed us up for the Colorado Warrior Dash at Copper Mountain on August 17th. I usually register early and do the first heat of the day, but even doing early registration only the last heat was available. The bottom line is that we need to figure out a fun pair of costumes to put together for the race. I’ve raced as Aladdin, we’ve raced in Fit’s high school track uniforms, but we want something amazing. It can be heavy, it can be light, it can be serious or it can be silly. It doesn’t matter to us. I’m not worried about the race itself. For anyone that is scared to participate in a Warrior Dash, it’s not much more than a 5k. The winners are always the strongest runners. The 140 pound men that are light on their feet. I’ve always gotten through the obstacles faster than anyone but I’m just not interested in the running part. So please don’t be afraid. If you can do a few assisted pullups, some pushups, and hold a steady pace on a 5k you can finish with flying colors. So don’t be scared and feel free to join us for the last heat of the race. If you show up and want to race with Hungry & Fit, we will make sure you finish, even if I carry you over the wall of flames.

Us in 2011

So please, fill out the comment section below with some fun suggestions of what Hungry and Fit should dress up as for this Warrior Dash. No ideas are bad ideas and being creative is all a part of staying hungry and fit!

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May082013

Running with Thunder

First of all, that sounds like an awesome Native American name. Second of all, let me start off with saying that, I am not a runner. I am not good at running, but I am learning to be better. Most people think, since I’m a personal trainer, that I am good at and/or enjoy every form of exercise. Wrong. But right now, we are gearing up to do an obstacle race (i.e. Warrior Dash) training class so I need to get my endurance up. Okay, back to why I’m writing this.

I’ve been running two miles lately, never going past it. I’ve been able to manage it semi-alright lately. And I’ve been trying to do it at a park, McIntosh Park, close to work. With the mindset of doing another 2 miles yesterday, with the possibility of going a little further, the clouds rolled in. I didn’t really think it was going to rain, but as I hit the pavement/trail, drops began to fall. Thunderheads were in the distance and, soon enough, they began rumbling. Rain starting falling heavier and lightning flashed–actually saw the bolts!

McIntosh Lake

By the two mile run, I still had enough energy. I had my headphones in, but no music playing (didn’t feel like holding them) so I could hear the rain and thunder. Somehow, I think it energized me because I was enjoying it. Though my feet were getting tired, I plugged on. I was slightly wary of getting struck by lightning during the no-trees part, but I figured that would make a good story, too.

I ended up running the full trail–3.6 miles! I was absolutely shocked and extremely proud of myself for going the whole way without stopping–at a decent pace too! Took me 32 minutes for the thing. After an experience like that, I can appreciate running more, and if you’re looking for a gift for a runner in your life, look no further than That Sweet Gift!