The Warrior Race

My Boyfriend, dad and myself had entered our first Warrior Race to see what all the hype was about, especially after we had already completed 2 Impi Challenges (we compete under the name ‘Pea Pods’ as my dad and I are like peas in a pod and we are the ‘founding members’). The warrior was half the distance but full of obstacles that provided non-stop action – The distance was not an issue as we are all regular runners, but it was the upper body strength that would really test us. 

My dad’s worst nightmare is muddy water, which we found ourselves in a lot, from crawling through small tunnels and under barbed wire to climbing up mud banks that send us sliding back into the water. For me it’s the heights that I dread, from the high climbing wall to the simple rope wall, either way if it’s a few feet off the ground I shake like a leaf in autumn (truthfully I stiffen up to the point that I actually knocked both my teammates to the ground when they tried to help me over the high wall). 

It’s not all bad, most of it is just a matter of teamwork and overcoming fears to realise a rush of adrenaline that keeps us going back for more. The highlight for me was on a mud wall we needed to climb with a rope. I went to the far right while my teammates went left. My first attempt saw me in the water with a cut on my knee after the knot in the rope I reached for wasn’t actually there. In my mind I pictured my teammates laughing at me at the top after this fail. I dug in deep and managed to climb up the second time, only to find my teammates were still struggling at the bottom in the water. It felt good to be able to help my teammates up, instead of them always helping me. 

My favourite thing about these events is that we get to learn about ourselves and our friends and family, the strengths and weaknesses, and we all have them, and when working in a team our strengths come out on different obstacles. For my boyfriend, he has the strength in his arms, which helped my dad and I up on a lot of the obstacles. For my dad in his determination to overcome some of the most difficult obstacles like the half pipe, which took about 3 or 4 attempts (after that a woman commented that he was putting people half his age to shame).

 I think everyone should try an obstacle race at least once, because afterwards there is a lot more sense of achievement than any gym session can bring.