We ran the Badass Dash in Kitchener this past weekend and it kicked my ass.
7km. 40 Obstacles.
I am covered in bruises, but I loved it and would gladly do it again every weekend.
You arrive to the ski hill with all the other runners, everyone is costumed and ready to go. The energy is infectious. Everyone there is an athlete. Everyone there is a team.
We registered and received our arm sleeves/sock thingy, which was the first oddity.
Then we were corralled to the starting line, literally a coral for cattle. The music was loud and everyone around us was having the same conversation... the 40 degree heat, the excitement to get moving, the massive hill to climb. Which isn't even an exaggeration...
Obstacle #1 - The ski hill. Run up the ski hill, full of naivety I said 'My first goal is to run the entire way up!' Which didn't seem ambitious until half way when my legs quit and I debating crawling.
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| I did not crawl. I walked. Slowly. |
Also, it should be noted that we climbed that hill 4 more times, probably more, but that was as many as I counted. Also, we climbed the hill to immediately climb down the hill.
We had to do a round of 15 push-ups and then we headed back down the hill, around the half way down point there were tubes to crawl through, not the claustrophobia tunnels (they come later), but squishie dog tubes.
Note: There were not as many inflatables as promised -- more on that to follow.
The obstacles we're perfectly based every couple of hundred meters, which meant very little running. There were chin-ups, I did burpees, there were wall climbs, I did burpees. That seemed to be the favorite punishment for the inability to complete an obstacle.
We climbed a cargo net.
Ran across water (mostly successfully)
Monkey bars, chin ups, Potato sac races, hurdles, walk climbs, beam walks, human car wash, rock climbing, spider webs, tire carries, burpees, sand bag slug, wicked walls, pole climbs, over-unders and the Australian back crawl.
I survived, the last hill climb was questionable and the after math felt like death (full blown panic attack over lunch as I quietly filled up on ice cold water and french fries), but I did it. I can walk away knowing I am Badass!
Thank you to Vanessa and Kim for dragging me along for the ride.
#Badassforlife
