Warrior Dash 2014

Another Warrior Dash weekend in Barrie, Ontario has come and gone. It is always a weekend filled with much mirth, hanging out with both old and new friends, and, of course, somewhere in there, some running, too.

Pierre adding dye to Chad's beard

Is it too late to be reading the instructions WHILE dye is being added to my hair?

As always, Pierre and I spent part of the day hanging around the beer gardens enjoying the many free beer tags that were given to us. (One of the benefits of wearing a warrior costume is that people who aren't using their beer ticket give them to you - not that we needed any free beer - the giant "Beeramid" we had created above the fireplace in the condo was doing okay all on its own)

Pierre, Chad, Tricia and me prior to the race

Pierre, Trish and I after the race (Chad must have been at the beer tent already)

As had become tradition, we shaved our heads after the race. We tried dying our hair blond the night before, but starting with black hair (okay, mostly black with a little bit of grey), the hair only lightened a bit. So we then dyed half of our heads black (but it ended up turning a strange blue hue -- hmm, maybe the combination of two different hair dyes in a short time period combined with the chlorine from the swimming pools had something to do with it.

Pointing out each other's beer bellies

Menacing warriors are here to drink all your beer!

One of the funniest moments from the weekend was while walking around the beer gardens and posing for pictures with so many different people. It's fun to ham for the camera; people are always in such a happy and playful mood when you're in a costume. And we had three different people we posed with let us know that we simply HAD to pose with them because they have a picture with us from every year of the Dash.

Pierre and I hanging out with some pals from The Basement Fitness in Sudbury

The post-dash buzz cut is complete - now we're Breaking Marking Bad!

As always, the whole weekend was a really fun time. Somewhere in there we managed to make new friends, annoy old friends, bump into old high school pals, get lots of swimming in with the kids and help the kids discover the joys of fishing, paddle boats and catching frogs from a pond.

Good times.

Previous Warrior Dash Summaries:  2013, 2012, 2011 (This one I actually talk more about the run itself and less about the beer and hanging out in the beer tent)

Barnaby Warrior

One of the photos I forgot to post in my Warrior Dash Barrie 2013 summary post from a few days ago was a picture I took of my skeleton Barnaby in my Warrior Dash t-shirt from last year.

It would have been hilarious to run with Barnaby or just have him posed on one of the obstacles in shirt, running shorts and shoes, as if he were a runner that couldn't make it over one of them - you know, as if he'd been at for THAT long . . .

In any case, here he is, ready for battle, but ensuring he is resting before the race . . .

Get Your Warrior On! (Warrior Dash Barrie 2013)

I ran the Warrior Dash in Barrie at Horseshoe Resort for the third year in a row.

Pierre and I in costume for 2013 Warrior Dash - photo from Barrie Examiner

And for the third year in a row I wore my "Conan the Barbarian" costume that my aunt made for me when I was 14.

My Conan costume - from my early teens (when I was a lot more skinny)

Yes, I know, it doesn't fit as nicely as it used to when I first wore it to the Halloween dance at Levack District High School

No, not even as nicely as it fit when I was in University

Halloween - at one of Pat & Mike's infamous parties in my university days

But it has been the tradition for three years now, that this is the costume I wear for the Warrior Dash.

2012 Warrior Dash - Me, Pierre, Tricia and Chad

For the first year, Pierre, Chad and I ran the race.  Last year, Chad's wife Tricia joined us.  And this year, Chad finally broke down and wore a costume. In previous years, he wore a shirt that read: "I don't do costumes!" -- but, a man of extremes, he went from wearing no costume to wearing a . . . wait for it . . . Borat bathing suit . . .

There are some things that just can't be unseen.

Me, Pierre and Chorat....for some reason, Tricia is nowhere to be seen

Chad, Pierre and I, post-race muddy

Needless to say, Chad's costume was the "talk of Warrior town" that morning.

Also needless to say, Tricia refused to run with us and ran on ahead, keeping a safe 1 KM or more in front of us lest people see us together.

Also needless to say, shortly after the race, Chad changed back into his civies.  But the damage had been done, the eyewash needed to be handed out along with the free beer that came with the tracking chits.

Fun costumes = lots of extra beer from fellow Warriors

Speaking of tracking chits, Pierre and I scored quite a few extra free beers from folks who were driving and couldn't use theirs.  No harm done there. None of us were driving, because we stay both Friday and Saturday at the resort and enjoy it as party of a mini family vacation.  Horseshoe resort has some amazing activities for the kids, and they always enjoy the zip line, the rock wall climbing, the maze, the trampolines and the Aqua Ogo balls (giant hamster balls filled with water that you climb into before it is pushed down a hill)

Alexander coming in on the zip line

Zander on the climbing wall

Cuddling with my better half in the big red muskoka chair

Horsing around with the kids (Alexander, Gavin and Oliver) in the pool on Friday night

This year, thanks to advice from my pal Sean, we booked a couple of the condo suites and had tons of space, a full kitchen, fridge, dishwasher, washing machine and dryer and two bedrooms.  (Not that the male warriors got all that much sleep -- we made friends with some cool runners from Sudbury and hung out with them both nights)

I have to say that the race this year was even more challenging, more fun that last year. They continue to improve the obstacles each year. I hurt my knees and elbows falling down the back side of some of the obstacles.  I even rolled through the mud, across the gravel and right off the trail into the woods on one of the obstacles that I fell down.

Here's the washing machine with our Warrior costumes in it. Yikes!

They reversed the course from the previous two years, beginning the race with a climb right up a long slope to the top of the hill -- talk about exhausting the runners right away -- but it served a nice purpose, quickly thinning out the pack that used to bunch up the minute we hit the woods in the previous years.  So it kept things flowing nicely.  Going up and down the side of the ski hill continues to be the biggest challenge of the race -- I mean, who cares about the bared wire (which did slice open my back quite nicely at one spot), and leaping over fire or scaling ten foot walls when you have to go back up that damn ski hill?  At least there was a lot of shade on this year's trail.

After the race, Pierre and I shaved our heads (Chad was already shaved and again, Tricia stayed far away)  We had an audience for this and were laughing about Drunk Barber....

Drunk Barber - free haircuts, if you can handle the fact it's "one cut for all heads"

One of the most hilarious pictures is when I had just jumped off the cargo net and was doing my Warrior Yell for Francine, when Chad ran in front of me. Cheeky bugger!

My Warrior Yell pose "white washed" by Chad's cheeky photo bomb

Kudos to the folks at Horseshoe Resort and Warrior Dash for upping their game yet again.

It was a fun novelty race (we don't race competitively, but rather stick together as a team and run together, enjoying the fun of going through the obstacles, laughing at each other and having some fun) and a weekend that I look forward to every year.  We mixed our time between hanging out with our families, meeting new friends and, given that Pierre and I stayed in our costumes for quite a while on Saturday, posing for dozens of pictures.

I can't wait until next year. In fact, I have already registered for July 19, 2014.

Warrior Dash Barrie 2012

I completed my second Warrior Dash. This one took place in Barrie, Ontario at the Horseshoe Valley Resort on both the Saturday and Sunday.

My buddies Chad and Pierre, who ran with me last year, joined me again.  All three of us brought the families, and the weekend up at the resort makes for some fun family times, with the kids enjoying the pool and the Adventure Playland at the resort.  This year, Chad's wife Tricia joined us, bringing our team up to four members.

Pierre and I, of course, wore the same costumes as the year before.  I dressed up as a barbarian (my old Conan costume) and Pierre dressed as a Spartan. After all, we don't take the race seriously (ie, looking to beat last year's time), but rather to enjoy the novelty run, the obstacles and the horsing around.

We ran in the 9 AM heat, which was the first one on Saturday July 21, 2012.

I didn't dive head-first into the mud this year, nor did I crawl on hands and knees through the mud (which is what had really messed up my knees last time -- last time there was gravel under the mud that chewed up my knees.  The barbed wire was real this year, so that was impressive (and motivating).

The race is over (just before 10 AM) - let the goofing around begin!

The course was slightly different than last year. The hills (ie, racing up and down the side of a ski-hill), was the worst obstacle, making running the whole time virtually impossible for us amateurs.  There didn't seem to be as many difficult long hills - it seems the big hill in the middle was broken down differently, making it easier than I remember it being last year.  And there were different fun obstacles this time around, which is always fun.

We enjoyed a turkey leg and beer (or two or three or four, ah you get the picture) after we had been washed down by the fire-hoses.

And I had ended up posing for a heck of a lot of pictures with people.  Would love to see some of them.  Below are a few shots taken of some of the other people in the race (though I didn't get a lot because, well, there wasn't a good place for me to store my camera with the costume I was wearing)

Alexander and I checking out the finish area before the race starts

Getting pumped up before the race starts

Us posing at the top of the cargo net obstacle

A close-up of the previous pose on top of the cargo net

A couple of friends we made (also from Hamilton) - a nice couple, wish I could remember their names

This gentleman was raising money for a cancer cure -  Check out: www.wayfarerquest.com

I loved this guy's Silver Surfer costume (which held up even after he got hosed off at the end)

The Warrior team the night before the race

Another pic taken before the race started

Fire jumping 101

  

Posing in the hallway before the race

 

Pierre nodded off while we were waiting in the restaurant for our take-out. We made sure nobody made fun of him.

We were able to wake Pierre up for this pic

One of the fun teams I posed with:  The Dirty Old Birds.

Since I know that I posed for a lot of pictures with many different people, I'd love to see those shots -- so if you posed with a half-naked barbarian on the Saturday and you have a pic, I'd love to see it.  Fire it over to mark (at) markleslie (dot) ca or leave a link to the picture(s) in the comments below.