Badass Dash

So, a week and a day ago today, I participated in a obstacle filled run called the Badass Dash. For those of you not aware of what this is, below is a brief description copy and pasted directly from their website.

BADASS Dash™

is one of the world’s leading producers of Obstacle Course Challenges & Adventure Races and whose events benefit Autism Speaks, an organization dedicated to funding global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and cure for autism; to raising public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society; and to bringing hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder.

It is the belief of both BADASS Dash™ and Autism Speaks that by working together, we will find the missing pieces of the puzzle. BADASS Dash™ is committed to raising the funds necessary to support these goals as the cause is bigger than the obstacles.

This was the first time doing anything to this extreme in terms of obstacles. I've done a small local run in the past, but it wasn't nearly as big or as challenging. The dash included 40 obstacles and 7 kms of area that you had to conquer. 

I've always wanted to try an obstacle run of this nature in the past. Tough Mudder was another one that I was ask to do but never had the push to do it. Don't know if it's the extreme toughness of obstacles, the length (roughly double of the Dash), or just the travel to get to the event and taking that amount of time away from the family. Not to sure. The Dash was a short 1/2 hr drive, and I originally thought it'll be maybe an 1 1/2 run, therefore it shouldn't be longer then a few hours I'd be gone. For the record, after the wait to sign in for some of my team mates, and lines to start the race and do the obstacles, it took us nearly 5 hours in total at the site. 

When I found out about the Badass Dash, I knew that I would do it this year, whether it was by myself or with other people. Either way I was doing it. I saw this as a way to challenge myself to do things I've never done, give me an extra motivation to exercise, and really, I just saw it as fun. It reminded me of the days when I was a kid. When you were a kid facing any sort of an obstacle run, the first thing you thought about wasn't whether or not you were in shape, you thought about "how fast I could do it?", "can I beat the person next to me," and "this is going to be fun."

After asking a few people and getting shot down on the idea, I started to get frustrated with the comments and reasons for not doing it by some of the people. I can't force anyone to do it, I understand that, just say you don't want to do it or you can't because you physically can't do it because of an injury. That's fine. But what frustrated me was when people would say "I'm out of shape" or "I don't want to go with you because you workout." For one, what type of shape do you think you need to be in? Professional athlete shape? A marathon runner shape? And secondly, you don't want to go with me because... I workout? What does that mean? You don't know what my workout consist of, weights, cardio, HIIT, or all of the above. Or how long my workouts are, which some are only about 15 mins. To all the people who always talk about wanting to be in shape, wouldn't you see this as an opportunity or motivation to start exercising? The way I looked at it was, there are going to be all sorts of people at the Dash. Everyone from young to old, male and female, active and not active, muscular and non-muscular, skinny to obese, etc,. It wasn't going to matter. 

Not everyone reacted that way. I'm glad I wasn't able to find teammates to that were up for the challenge regardless of the shape they were in. It was refreshing to hear people say "Ya, I'll do it" or "I'm in" without any coaxing needed. I'm not pointing any fingers but I know a couple of them probably haven't done anything in relation to exercise all summer... :) 

I was able to recruit four other co-workers/friends. Together we formed Nerd Squad.

Left to right: Serena, Me, Jennifer (Jenni), Chelsey (Bean), Alex (A Rod)

Pre-Badass: 

I have been going to the gym pretty regularly, anywhere from 3-5 times a week. From the time I signed up to the actual day, which was just under a month, I made sure I went 5 days a week and added cardio to my daily routine. I didn't train for a marathon or anything, just added the anywhere from 5 to 15 mins of cardio a day. 

Day of:

Even with the cold and wet weather, and nearly 2 hour wait to sign in, our overall excitement was at a high. We didn't know exactly what we were getting ourselves into but we were anxious to find out. When the countdown began, 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... it was game on.

I found that the obstacles were not too challenging. Each either tested our balance (balance beam), speed and agility (feared float), strength (rope wall, monkey bars) or a combination of the above (Australian back crawl, little ladder wall). The water obstacles weren't overly hard, just made you wet. And on that day, it wasn't near refreshing as it should have been. By far the funnest one was the slip and slide that ended with us sliding through about 30 ft of mud afterwards. It also gave some of us a wedgie, haha. Most of the Dash was constant running, up and down hills and through a series of trails. I think that what killed most of the competitors. For the most part we all stuck together, during the long runs we would split apart but wait at each obstacle for everyone to arrive.

Things I didn't really like about the race were: 

1) the waits at each obstacles. some were quick but others you had to wait a long time where you would reach the group ahead of you or the group behind would reach you. Each wave was roughly 20 mins apart... 

2) the water stations were all out. 2 of the 3 stations didn't have water and the attendants there didn't even know if they were getting any. When we did get water, it was only about 4 oz. With the amount of running we did, there had to be more water.

3) attendant/volunteers were either not present (even when they were present) or not encouraging. Would have been nice to hear a "good job" or "keep going" through out the race by someone other than your teammates. Especially the ones that ran alone. 

After it was all said and done, it felt good to finally cross the finish line. You were greeted with Badass Dash medals that were placed around your neck and post-run refreshment (water, bananas, oranges, crackers) to help fuel your body. I was awesome, except of the fact it was pissing rain. haha.

Here are a few pics from the day.

Post- Badass:

While talking to my family, friends, and co-workers about the experience, I heard people say things like, "It sounds like it was fun", "I want to try it next year" or my favourite, "I wished I signed up with you guys." I guess I am the same way with things I have never tried before. There's always that fear of going to a new place, trying a new experience, and not wanting to look silly. I just let them know how I felt about the Dash, that is wasn't as challenging as I thought, you don't need to be in the greatest shape to do it, and it was fun. In no way am I trying to inspire people to do it, that's not my intention, it was more to say, they should at least try it because I know they'd have fun.  Hopefully, next year we have more recruits to the Nerd Squad.

I am glad that I got to do it and happy that I had others to share the experience with. As I get older, I would like to think that I am able to do what the younger version of me used to. Badass Dash seemed to make me feel young again, something everyone needs once and a while. Until next year...