So, just how did I spend my first child-free day since January 11, 2005? Playing in the mud, of course!
More specifically, it was my second running of Warrior Dash: Think trail race meets obstacle course and you'll have a rough idea of what the event is like. Only this year, it wasn't like that at all. It was worse. Heavy rains Friday night turned the trails into death traps - well, not quite death traps but it did make for a pretty treacherous afternoon.
But, first things first. This year's event was held at Skirmish USA, which bills itself as 'the world's premier paintball facility'. I've never played paintball, but from my run around their facilities, I imagine it would be a pretty cool place to go if I did. And as with all their events, it's really a big party with a race thrown in for good measure... there are live bands playing all day, people decked out in some pretty crazy costumes (more on that in a bit), beer and turkey legs. Add in some good friends and it really can be the "craziest frickin' day of your life".
As you can see, we all started the day clean. And I think we stayed that way until the second or third obstacle of the afternoon... knee-deep mud.While some of the obstacles we encountered this year were things we came across last year, a number of them were not. Truth be told, the entire course felt like something of an obstacle this year. The ground was wet and muddy, there were rocks and tree limbs everywhere, and it was difficult at best to get good footing.
Among the new obstacles: teetering traverse, barricade breakdown, arachnophobia, Rio run, the great warrior wall and road rage.
The teetering traverse was a little nerve-wracking for me as the beams were fairly narrow and pretty high off the ground. The guy ahead of me made it to the first peak before deciding it wasn't for him and climbed down. I'm happy to say I toughed it out and made it across - even though I did turn around and back down each descent.
Barricade breakdown was a series of walls, maybe waist-high, to climb over followed by barbed wire to duck under. The challenge here was finding enough space that I didn't kick the person beside me as I threw my leg over the wall. I think there were five walls in total and I was getting tired by the end.
Arachnophobia was simply a series of tangled ropes to climb through while Rio run was a brief run through a stream. There's nothing too exciting about either of these obstacles.
The great warrior wall, on the other hand, was exciting and horrifying all at the same time. I'd guess the wall was 15 feet high. A rope with multiple knots (good for placing your hands) and small ledges along the wall (great places to put your feet as you climb) on one side, a series of slats - like a ladder - on the other. There were probably five or six ropes on the wall, meaning five or six people climbing the wall at a time. The climb up wasn't too bad, but I had a difficult time getting myself over the wall. For me, the challenge came in finding a place to hold on in order to throw my legs over to the down-side while the wall itself rocked with climbers. Add to that a friend (who did not climb the wall) pointing out to me that it's too far down to jump and my husband looking up at me thinking I might just fall off the wall, and the adrenaline level was UP. After what seemed like an eternity clinging to the top of the wall, I made it over and down without incident. Incident was coming later...
The last 'new' obstacle was road rage - a cluster of tires to run through and cars to climb over. Unfortunately, I didn't make it there before incident found me.
Just before we came out of the woods, I tripped over a pretty big log and slammed down on the ground, striking my left knee and elbow pretty good. A very nice warrior helped me up just as the guys in my party turned around to assist. I realized pretty quickly that it was more than just a little bump and I struggled to run from that point on. Luckily, we emerged from the woods not long after that, climbed through tunnels, over the cargo net, through the road rage, over the fire, through the mud, and then crossed the finish line.... where we all looked much different than we did at the start! The clean girl in this picture is my niece who ran an earlier heat than the rest of us and had more than enough time to visit the freezing water of the tanker trucks to clean off before we even arrived for our race. But I promise there was a time when she was just as dirty as the rest of us!
Afterward, we drank some beer. But it was cool and misty and we parted ways earlier than I expected with Rich and I heading off for a kid-free night at the Holiday Inn Express in Frackville.
While there's nothing too interesting about Frackville, Rich and I found a great restaurant for dinner: The Wooden Keg Tavern in St. Clair (just a few miles down the road). The Wooden Keg Tavern is in a historic 1860's building; it's claim to fame is that it was once a Molly Maguire hangout. Now if, like me, you don't really know what that means, read on:
Molly Maguires were mainly Irish-American miners in the anthracite coal fields of Pennsylvania who wanted to fight the poor conditions of the mines, the long hours they were expected to work and the low salaries that also led to a low standard of living for the workers and their families.
While some fought the battle for worker's rights in the legislature, the "Mollies" were rumored to use vandalism, robberies, threats, assaults and even actual killings in their fight. A strike in 1875 ultimately led to a series of trials over a two-year period; all told, 19 members of the Molly Maguires were hanged for their crimes.
Historian Harold Aurand called the validity of the trials into question, stating “The Molly Maguire investigation and trials were one of the most astounding surrenders of sovereignty in American History. A private corporation initiated the investigation through a private detective agency; a private police force arrested the alleged offenders; and coal company attorneys prosecuted them. The state provided only the courtroom and the hangman.”
In the basement of The Wooden Keg Tavern, there is a 'tunnel room' which gave the "Mollies" access in and out of the hotel for their secret meetings. All around the room, you'll find clips about the trials, details of the history of the group, and you can walk into the tunnel itself.
They had both typical tavern food as well as some more upscale menu items. We started with an order of onion rings and a crab dip with tortilla chips. Rich also ordered their wings while I had a bacon cheeseburger with homemade fries. Everything was fantastic and I would eat there again without hesitation.
As for the Warrior Dash, despite my Warrior Wounds from this year's event, I plan to do it again next year. My only advice if you are interested in joining us: Register early. If you can register by the first deadline, you'll save almost half over a last-minute entry (I speak from experience here as I've now done it both ways). Hope to see you on the battlefield in 2012!
As for all those anxieties in leaving the kids - well, you will just have to keep an eye out for my next post to see how that went.
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