Warriors...come out and playyyyyyyyyy...

Last Saturday I did something non-derby related with a bunch of derby girls. We ran the Warrior Dash, which is a stupidly-fun 3.08 mile obstacle course involving going over hay bales, old cars, tunnels, cargo nets, crawling over logs, jumping over fire, and slogging through a mud pit.

Here we are at the start line:














Real athletes would've prepared for the races they run in. Not this girl. I didn't do anything...anything to prepare for this, even though I went to the website and got a semi-gander at the course. Because of all the cross-training and skating I do, I thought I had it in the bag, to be honest. Did I? Well...for the most part. Except for one thing.

Running.

Now, I jog a couple times a week, sometimes through my neighborhood and sometimes at the beach. But it ain't the same as running marathon-style. When I jog, it's at a slow pace and I alternate between walking and jogging often. That ain't the same as running almost a mile non-stop in the middle of a sunny, windy day in the dirt.

Oh, and my knee was bugging me. Confession time: Despite doing Tarametrics, I've been having knee issues for the past month. Some days it's not noticeable, other days I'm limping like an old lady. Because the Warrior Dash didn't have any place to sit down other than in the dirt, I ended up standing around like a moron for over two hours, and so I was limping even before the race.

Dumb!

In the end me and fellow Doll V. Lee came in around #8 and 9 out of our Derby Dolls group...it took us about 40 minutes to complete the course. Not too shabby, but I intend to improve for next year. For the record, it took me 36 minutes, 55 seconds to run the course. I came in #44 out of 265 in my age bracket.

Things I learned:

• Get an early start time.

• Bring my own chair to lounge in to save the knee.

• Actually train by running for reals.

• Come up with a fun costume idea that doesn't involve capes.

Here's a shot of me and V. Lee running in the distance, taken by Gori Spelling, Laguna Beyatch and Raven Seaward, who were right behind us:















Right after the race(I hope to post the muddy aftermath pix soon)we hopped in the car(after I washed off in Lake Elsinore...yick!)and drove to Valencia to a party. There's nothing like showing up to someone's nice house dressed in a semi-muddy shirt, wearing a Warrior Dash medal, stinking like a lake, and babbling almost incoherently about how much fun it is to crawl through rank, smelly mud. It's a good thing my friends are apparently a very tolerant bunch!