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In 2011, one of the guys in the group found Warrior Dash and Ben decided to go with him to run it in Charlotte, NC. They had an awesome time despite running the race and driving all the way back to Nashville via Bristol, TN after the race and un-showered.
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| Ben with his free beer in Charlotte 2011 |
In 2012, after hearing about it for a year they convinced 3 more people to join so we had the first ever Party of the Southland Adventure Weekend that consisted of staying in a Murder Cabin, Warrior Dash, and White Water Rafting where we damn near capsized the boat on a class 2 rapid.
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| The 5 of us in Mountain City, GA in 2012 |
After another year went by we convinced 2 more to join us in 2013. We headed down to Douglasville, GA where they were holding Warrior Dash - roughly 3 miles, and Iron Warrior Dash - roughly 15 miles.
Two guys in the group - Ben included - decided to go balls to the walls and run the Iron Warrior Dash. The rest of us slept in, enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast and headed down later for the shorter race.
There were storms the week before the race so logistically this race was a nightmare. They had to change where you parked so you had to stand in like for roughly and hour to get to the race site from parking, then stand in a 2 hour line to get back after the race. Fortunately, like I've said before, my friends are awesome. Really awesome. Sure it was hot, and we were standing in line which no one likes to do, and we were tired - especially the 2 who had run 15 miles - but we could send people out on beer runs so we just stood there and enjoyed a nice Leiney's Summer Shandy and each other's company. If you haven't tried this Leinenkugal Summer Shandy you should. It's a FANTASTIC summer beer.
The race was awesome. I think as a whole our group enjoyed the previous location in Mountain City a little better, but this was still just as awesome as we have come to expect from Warrior Dash. The obstacles were tough, especially a roughly 20 foot wall you had to get over with a rope, and the mud. Usually the "mud" is just brown water. This was mud, thick mud. And it smelled like chili. I felt like I was crawling through cold chili. A lady in front of me just stopped moving. She said "I'm stuck I can't move anymore". I stood up, stuck my hands through the barbed wire, and helped lift this lady up to where she could get on her feet. It was amazing how much you sunk into this mud.
I highly HIGHLY recommend this race. They have one in Tennessee, 10 miles from where I live, but for some unknown reason they have it on a Saturday, in the fall. Don't they know Southerners have other things going on Saturdays in the fall?!?!
After the race we headed back to the hotel and cleaned up and headed out to Dave and Busters for some games and food. I had an alcoholic snow cone. I love snow cones. More that most adults, you add alcohol to it...sold.
A couple of the girls got a little too addicted to the Jurassic Park game. To the point we all left them there. They came in the hotel not too long after we got back and we were surprised to see them. They said "yeah, we beat the game" Ridiculous.
This has been my favorite race series we've done. I want to try Spartan again with better weather, but this one is awesome.
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| The now 7 of us in 2013 in Douglasville, GA |
The next day we headed to get some food at the Vortex. You've probably seen this if you watch the Food Network. It's famous for the burgers. It's a 21+ bar, that serves ridiculous burgers. Ben and I split the "Fat Elvis" which has peanut butter, bacon and fried bananas on it, and the "Double Coronary Bypass" which has 2 fried eggs, 6 slices of cheese, 8 slices of bacon, and instead of buns....two grilled cheeses. We also had someone get the Carnivorgasm which is a meat Heaven and a few other burgers that I can't remember through the haze of meat sweats.
After that we all headed our different directions - Knoxville and Nashville and called it a successful weekend.
