Achievement Unlocked: Warrior Dash

While not nearly as challenging as Tough Mudder, Warrior Dash was a lot more fun in many ways, not the least because of the 40+ degree difference!

At just over 5k—my official time and pace: 42:43.30; 11:33/M; #894 overall for men, equaled 3.75 miles—the course was closer to what I imagine a good trail run is like, with a lot of hills, mud and water, and a bunch of moderately challenging obstacles peppered throughout.

None of the obstacles matched Tough Mudder’s worst, and unlike April, I did them all this time, including a water crossing that required a little bit of swimming, staying close to the rope that marked the boundary. At the end, I felt good and could have probably run the course again. As it is, I want to do it again and push to beat my time right from the start, because I think I could easily shave 5 minutes off, and possibly close to 10 if I can start at the front of the pack and avoid the initial bottlenecks that slow the pace to a crawl.

I’m planning to do Tough Mudder again in October, but after that, I’m thinking I’ll settle into a mix of one TM/year, with a couple of Warrior Dash-style short runs, and a few 5k and 10k road and/or regular trail runs.

I’ve also been tempted to work towards doing a half-marathon, aka a Pikermi, because how is 13.1 miles half of anything?

Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.