I am the Warrior

A good week. Last Thursday I biked 50 miles round trip, for fun, to a friend's house.

On Saturday, after seven months of intense triathlon training, I let my warrior braids down and tried something new: Warrior Dash. The Warrior Dash reps call it "the craziest frickin day of your life." I just call it fun; one of the most fun things I've ever done!

With my Batman shirt on, Dr. Seuss-inspired striped tights, and war paint, I was ready for battle. 500 warriors gathered at the starting line in preparation for our 9:30 AM battle to the finish. Eye of the Tiger playing, emcee counting down and twin towers of flames shoot in the air as the start whistle blows and we're off; racing through a campsite and into an open field, where the first of many obstacles await.

I crawled through tunnels, climbed over walls and scaled cargo nets, plunged into chest-high water and over rolling logs; slogged up slippery slopes and raced down technical descents. With the finish line in sight, I army-crawled through mud and leaped over fire. It was pure joy and completely primal.

The rest of the day was spent listening to great bands and drinking bad beer. Such a departure from the rest of my race schedule, and such a relief.

The remainder of the week I've been taking it easy, with a 4.5 mile run on Tuesday and yoga on Wednesday. The Baltimore Half Marathon is in two days, but chances are I will have to bail around mile six; it's just not worth a re-injuring my feet!