DIVA Half Marathon

My third half marathon this year was at the DIVAS half marathon series in wine country, VA. I ran it with my good friend Holly. Tabitha and Patti were there too, but because of injuries they had to walk it.

 

 

Holly's friend Kari was also there. She wanted to run it on her own so she didn't stay with us at the beginning, but in the end we caught her and she finished with us.

This race was literally one big mess. We left super early to get there and I'm glad we did. We sat in some traffic trying to get parked, but from what I heard it was nothing compared to those arriving later. The race was delayed over an hour because of all the traffic problems they were having; by the time we started my stomach was rumbling. It made for a long race. They didn't give an accurate portrayal of the course either because it was not flat, but extremely hilly. I believe they said an elevation gain of around 200, but from everything I read it was closer to 700. The majority of the course was on gravel and we really just weren't prepared for the hills and gravel. Holly's goal was to finish in under 3 hours and we did amazingly well - even with all the roadblocks - we finished in 2:39!!
Here we are finishing! They gave us the feather boa's and tiara's about half a mile from the finish...

 

All done!!

 

 

 

 

Even with all the craziness it was so good to be able to run Holly's first half marathon with her! It was a great day with running friends.

Warrior Dash

Tabitha, Patti, and I drove to the Poconos to compete in the Warrior Dash this year. We were originally going to do the MD location, but with Tabitha just having a baby, Patti's injuries, and my daughter's dance recital all occurring at that time we switched to the PA location. I'm really glad we did! Parking was super easy and the course itself was excellent! My only complaint was the water feature - a very wobbly, make-shift platform with one too many people on it.
Getting ready to start!

We went with matching costumes. I only wish we would've gotten a shot of our socks - they were super cool!!!

The course itself literally circled the race track. We ran on a dirt road and every now and then you'd come across an obstacle. The very first one had the longest wait for any of them (besides the awful water feature); we crawled under barb wire and there was no way around it which made for long lines.

 There were a ton of cargo net type obstacles...

 This one is from the water feature. You climbed up onto a small platform then climbed down the other side. While climbing down you were hit with water (almost like little water guns every where shooting at you), then you climbed into a pool of sorts that you waded through - it was all very strange.

 Another cargo net type thing was a long tunnel - you just crawled through it...sort of...

 

Here is another one of the mud obstacles. This one was fun, you climbed up and slid down into pits of water. It was challenging and my favorite obstacle of the day...

 

This was a lovely little marsh we got to stomp through. It was shortly after this obstacle that there was a bear spotted. They had security running around trying to contain it. We didn't see it, but we didn't stick around long either!

 

Walking the planks...

Climbing, climbing, climbing...

 

 

 

 

One of the last things you do at the Warrior Dash is leap over fire...

then "swim" through the mud pit.

 

 

 

 

All done!!

 

We had a lot of fun, but I'm glad these mud runs are over! I don't think I'll be signing up for anymore of them unless my husband wants to do one. They are not my favorite race, but they are certainly fun when done with the right people!!

Dirty Girl Mud Run

On August 10th (9am wave) I ran the Dirty Girl Mud run with my good friends Tabitha and Patti (and her daughter Steph). It was a fun race. Obstacles were fun and the people were fun. I'm glad our wave was early - we had no issues getting through check-in (we did notice a nice long line to check-in while we were waiting to start).
Waiting for the start.

 

Obstacles or bouncy houses?!?

A little mud...

 

 

climbing cargo nets

This was such a laid back race (no timing chips). Everyone was standing around taking pictures before/after obstacles and a good many were walking. After one of the mud obstacles:

A little stream we had to cross. This wasn't one of the obstacles just mother nature's idea of fun.

Getting tangled up...

messy cameras!

Climbing over walls

The Dirty Girl mud run was a lot of fun and I would highly recommend this race for any beginner to running and obstacle races. Super fun and most of the obstacles were easy - they left you feeling awesome without being over taxing. Great race!!