the warrior dash

today i raced in the warrior dash, which is a thrilling 5 km race through mud pits, across rivers, over obstacles, etc, etc... the day started off looking rainy, but when we arrived to the location one hour north of sydney, the sun was out and the heat was blasting. we covered ourselves in sunscreen and headed to the registration tents.

by the time we sorted our numbers and headed for the starting line, clouds started covering the skies and rain teased ominously. we set off as the winds picked up and the sky darkened, but i didnt really notice as i had to watch the landing of each foot on the thick, deep muddy trails. we passed through gorgeous forests, but it was rare that i was able to admire them because i had to concentrate to balance the landing of each step!

i had so much fun. so. much. mud. all varieties of viscosity, and i could never tell the depth of a mud pit or where a hole might be lurking under the bog above. i fell. each time the mud dried on my skin and started flake, we would have to swim through a river or drop into a water/mud pit that allowed me to wash away some of the funk. some of the obstacles were quite challenging to pass, especially some of the tall wooden structures that were awkward to climb over with my relatively short legs and slick shoes.

but our group made it safely over the walls and the fire pits and under the barbed wire, to safely cross the finish line. aside from scratched up knees and impressive bruises that i'm still discovering, the race was a success.

we laughed at the muddy sight of each other and headed for the tents to collect our one free beer. just as i cracked open my australian brew, the clouds parted and huge raindrops started pouring! the rowdy crowd cheered and spread their arms up in the air. as the winds picked up, we began getting cold, and we decided to head for the car.

just as we made this decision, we noticed a few large hail chunks falling to the ground, and started to run to the nearest tent. we made it in fairly quickly and looked out to see people yelling at the pain of being hit by the large ice chunks! i cant believe our luck in finishing the race *just* in time! the hail fell for about 15 minutes, to a stunned audience of "warriors," and then stopped in a flash of thunder.

the ground was covered with chunky ice spheres, which melted to form very cold muddy puddles.

we quickly made our way to the car and breathed a sigh of relief not to find any hail-induced dents! we survived!

by the time we got back to sydney, the skies had cleared to a smooth, soothing blue, and the air was warm and dry.

what a fun and random day of events!