I'm not very athletic. I played softball for a few seasons, but my idea of exercise is bicep curls with my beer mug. When I wrote about Warrior Dash last year, I was jealous that I'd never have the strength and endurance (or even the courage) to compete. Then I joined Deadly Rival Roller Derby. The twice-a-week practices and six bouts I played had me feeling like I could do anything. 

When "the world's largest running series" came around again and a group of derby girls began registering for the race, I knew it was time to challenge myself. So over a dozen girls (and a few significant others) carpooled to Lake Wales in Central Florida for a wild warrior weekend.

The length of the "battlefield" is 3.02 miles and when we reached the one mile marker, I was discouraged it wasn't the halfway point. One thing that made this course so ridiculous was that if you weren't running through mud, you were running through sand. The race was three days ago and my calves are still killing me.

12 obstacles were set up along the route, but one literally took my breath away. Large plastic containers were tied together like a platform, floating in the middle of a pond. We had to swim to the platform, climb on top using ropes, walk across with extreme balance, and then swim to the other side. It doesn't sound too difficult but the pond felt like it was filled with ice cubes. It was so freezing I could hardly breathe. Yet, we all survived.

We barreled over barricades, stampeded through scrap yards, and traversed over tightropes. We began hearing music and cheering so we knew we were close to the finish. The last two obstacles were Muddy Mayhem and Warrior Roast. First we crawled beneath barbed wire up to our chins in orange vomit colored mud, then we leaped across rows of flaming coals. The crowd of spectators was going crazy as we crossed the finish line.

The rest of the weekend included a chicken parmesan and spaghetti feast, cotton candy vodka shots, golf cart rides, hula hooping, line dancing at the saloon after getting rowdy at the rodeo, and lots and lots of beer. We didn't finish first in the race but we didn't finish last either. We learned a lot about each other and formed closer bonds than we had before.

I'll wear my Warrior Dash t-shirt and fuzzy warrior helmet proudly to work this Casual Friday while I look forward to next year.