We had so much fun at the Warrior Dash Central Florida in both 2011 and 2012 that we decided to add the Warrior Dash North Florida to the mix. Red Frog Events added a North Florida race to their Warrior Dash lineup this year on March 31, 2012. The course was at Camp Weed in Live Oak, FL – over an hour north of Gainesville.
Prior blog posts:
Warrior Dash 2011 – Central Florida
Warrior Dash 2012 – Central Florida
The weather that morning was…well…stormy. The Warrior Dash is, after all, a mud run, so a torrential downpour shouldn’t have much of an affect on the course. The rain stopped long enough for us to park, walk to registration, get our race bibs, and check our gear. Then the heavens opened. The race wasn’t delayed for the thunder and lightning, so the first race wave set off as scheduled at 10:00am. We stood in the rain getting colder and colder. My body was so tense from shivering that, by the time we lined up at the start line, I could barely move. The rain stopped and I jumped around a bit to try to get warm again, but I didn’t have much success with that until we began the race at 11:30am.
The first portion of the race was through a wooded trail and, after living in Central Florida for a while, I have become unaccustomed to hills, so I didn’t appreciate the final steep incline of the trail section. Also, since we were wearing Vibram Sprints (perfect for mud races!), I couldn’t help but fear breaking my toe again on the trail portion of the race with the wet conditions and tree roots hiding behind leaves.
Overall, the course was great. Even with the rain, there was much less mud in this race, but we experienced five new obstacles (which were probably not new to the Warrior Dash series, but they were new to us). The running section through the pine trees made Eric reminisce about New Jersey. Despite the less muddy conditions, I think this was my favorite course thus far. I loved the obstacles, the terrain changes, and the start/finish setup.
We finished the race pleased with the course and pleased with our efforts at 35:28. Eric and I raced together and therefore finished together at 1175/4486 and 1177/4486, respectively – both in the top 26% of all race participants. I finished 248/2209 (top 11%) of all females and 68/613 (top 11%) of females in my age group. Eric finished 928/2277 (top 41%) of all males and 214/659 (top 32%) of males in his age group.
What was your favorite obstacle?
