Warrior Dash- Running for St. Jude's

This weekend good friend Marcy, her brother and Uncle and I all headed on a road trip to Gilboa, NY out near Albany, to participate in the Warrior Dash race/fun run (https://www.warriordash.com/).  I had to be up bright and early as it was a 4 hour drive.  We got to our destination in the middle of no where (well there was a farm).  The event was a bit disorganized but we eventually picked up our race packets, checked our bags and headed to the start line.  For the next 40 minutes we were Warriors! The race was about a 5k with 11 obstacles throughout it and one really long "steepish" 3/4 of a mile hill. And of course there was mud! A lot of it!  I kicked butt on the obstacles though there was a couple of wall ones that were difficult if you were short and on your own.  I lost my friend and her family within the first mile so ran most of it on my own.  The worst part was some of the mud pits and pools as I had images of catching some disease (thanks Libby!).

Carrying on the theme of disorganized, there was a long wait for the showers if you could call a water tank truck with water from a pond that shot water out of the back at the speed of a fireman hose a shower. Of course it aligned directly at my face (not fun).  Needless to say I was still pretty covered in mud after that "shower".  This was also the first mud run where they had no changing tents or privacy spaces to change.  Apparently you had to be a St. Jude's Warrior in order to be a VIP and receive real showers, a private changing area and free food. Let's just say the changing clothes part was interesting and leave it at that.

We all hung out for a bit, checked out the rest of the freebies and food and then got back in the car for another 4 hour ride home.  It was a long day but fun. Thanks Marcy for being a trooper and driving!

**Next run will be the Rochester City Marathon Relay. Stephanie, Amanda and Marcy- here SMAC comes! Watch out Rochester!

Mess A Dress Race

This past Saturday was the Mess A Dress 5 miler trail race that I've been talking about since January.  This race was to benefit Center for Youth Services and was put together by Trail Runners of Rochester and Fashion Week of Rochester.  I chose the Molly Ringwald, pretty in pink dress to wear which was donated by intern.  I modified it and on the day of the race had some technical problems with it.  The straps I sewed on would not stay up so I ended up cutting them off and going strapless. This turned out not to be a problem during the race.

This is the description of the race that I sent to family and friends:

 It was a brutal messy run. 90% of running was through mud up to my calves, 5% steep steep hills that were of course slippery and muddy, and 5% running through mud/water pits and rivers up to my knees/thighs. I fell flat in a pool of mud at about 4.5 miles. That is why you magically don't see my gloves on the pictures near the end of the trail. Yes, I littered during a "green" run- i'm a horrible person, but there was no way I was carrying the wet gloves as my legs could barely carry me at that point. 

I was wiped out by the time I hit mile 2. That's what I get for listening to AC/DC at the start. Would have come in 5th female overall if I had noticed a girl coming right up at the finish line, but I had my music to loud and was trying to make it up the practically vertical finish line hill. Lost  by 1 sec.!!!! That hurt. Still made the top performer list though.  

I always feel like vomiting after a run but this time I actually did. Totally gross and unpleasant!!! 

Lessons learned- trail runs are harder than road runs but wayyyy harder when they are all mud. And don't EVER where a tight dress with wire ribbing/boning- very hard to run and breath at the same time in it. And it would have been more fun if my friends had actually run in it with me. I would have actually been racing, just having fun with them, but they all bailed! Yes, you know who you are!

The highlight was that I met this celebrity from Real World MTV. He was from back in the day (so I had actually seen that season) but was recently on the Challenge ones and will be on the next one. He's hot for 40. (he's the guy posing with the balloons) I had my picture taken with him.  The one pic is of me in the background with the 12 y/o boy in front who kicked my butt. In my defense he was taller than me!

So, are you ready to do a trail mud run?!!

The end. A river to go through and then a steep hill.

The beginning. I'm somewhere in there.

Me trying to stay warm and putting my game face on. Not!

Group photo at the beginning.

I'm so over the race at this point but attempted a smile.

The lead Trail Runner guy, the Real World guy, and the head of Center for Youth Services.

Me in the background with the 12 y/o boy in front who kicked my butt. In my defense he was taller than me!

My name is listed on the right side under top female performers.

Boy was he tall. Oh and he heard me mention to someone that he has big feet. That was embarrassing.

I need your HELP! Which dress should I mess?

Okay below are pics of the two dresses I have to choose from. Both will have to be altered to fit me and make it so I can run in them. I'll be doing the altering so it will be a frankenstein experience for sure.  I'm looking for input on which dress I should use. Please comment with you choice and stay tuned for the winner.  At the moment I'm going for the pink (though straps will have to be added).