We are WARRIORS!

This Saturday Kate, Pete, our friend Brandon, and I ran the Warrior Dash. I'm not going to lie, I was NERVOUS! I hadn't been feeling well and since I had shin splints the week before, I hadn't run a 5K in over two weeks. I'd been running but not anything farther than 2 miles. I brought a friend, Nik, for encouragement and also because he's from New York and I wanted to show him how us Minnesotans roll... in the mud. He did a mediocre job of giving support, mostly because he was attempting to make me more nervous before the race. :-) But we do have him to thank for the photos.

I found out we were all going to run together, even the boys--which made me feel MUCH better. Those poor guys had to walk at times because their walking was about as fast as mine and Kate's run--seriously!? What IS IT with guys? I don't think Pete trained much before the race and Kate and I had to work for a few months to get to where we are. ANYWAY, it was really fun running as a team and seeing everyone go through obstacles.

I was really worried that I would be "the weakest link" so I pushed myself. I didn't want to disappoint Kate and slow everyone down, and you know what, it wasn't too bad! Sure, I was tired at the end but I felt such a huge surge of accomplishment. It was a very cool experience and I can't wait to do it again. We checked our scores and the course took me 41:35.

Before

After

 

Gosh, they're cute.

I had to protect Nik from the other Warriors.

Here's our rankings:
(Note: the boys ran with Kate and I so their scores are off)

Abbie
Age/Gender Group: 521/1276
Overall: 3529/7076

Kate

Age/Gender Group: 519/1276
Overall: 3520/7076

Pete
Age/Gender Group: 638/968
Overall: 3277/1276

Brandon
Age/Gender Group: 637/968
Overall: 3272/1276

After the race we went back to our vehicles and (after we finally found the car) we attempted to clean up. They had hosed us down with a large fire hose (holy freezing!) after the race but there's no fighting the mud. We enjoyed a beer and then went and got lunch. I showered and crashed. Best day ever.

On Sunday we met some old family friends for brunch. It was nice catching up with them but I was still SO exhausted from the dash.

Heather Hills Crew

They're REALLY good at technology! :-)

Sidebar: after just four days with a home base and three days with my eighth graders, look at how much Kleenex they've used! I hope this won't be a year filled with sickness.