Warrior Dash

THANK YOU

Our good friend and Trxstle Ambassador, Janelle Johnson, took the opportunity to run the Warrior Dash last weekend with her Step Dad, Dave. Not only did she put our apparel to the test, she sent us this sweet write-up cataloging her experience. It’s a great story and we are stoked to be a small part of it. Thanks again for being so rad Janelle and sharing this moment with all of us. Cheers.

OUR WARRIOR DASH

-by Janelle Johnson

On Saturday, September 23rd I ran the Warrior Dash with my Step Dad, Dave. This experience was one of my favorites with him. Dave came into my life when I was a young gal, and our relationship has been nothing but awesome since. I’m pretty lucky to have such an awesome, up-for anything guy as my Step Dad. Dave is the type of guy where you present him or the family with an idea, and he’s always down for it.

Months ago I asked the family if they wanted to do the Warrior Dash as a family activity. My mom wasn’t into it and my brother couldn’t make it, but my Dad – he was all for it. I told him he would have to train. The Warrior Dash is a 5k with 12 obstacles. I had previously ran it last year in Oregon for a work team building event. It was a blast! Leading up to the event I had stayed very active in my workout routine as well as my normal summer hiking and “outdoorsing”. My Dad didn’t train as much as he should have so I was a bit nervous to see how he would do. I checked in on him periodically asking if he was ready. He would respond with, “I’m not as ready as I should be, but let’s do this!”

The morning of the event I made a healthy breakfast, we put on our matching Trxstle shirts (I had bought him one earlier in the month), stopped and got coffee at our local coffee stand and drove to the event. Pulling in to the parking lot even I got a bit nervous for myself. I was pumped though! I asked Dave how he was feeling, He said he still wasn’t sure what to expect but was excited. We checked in and about an hour later it was our race time. We lined up at the front and did our stretches. I high fived him and then we were off.

MILE 1

The first mile was just running. At mile one, we reached our first obstacle. This one was pretty easy as it was just a set of stairs with gaps we had to climb over. As we continued on, my dad grew a little tired and there were moments in this race where he walked and I jogged in place next to him. He would tell me to go on and I would respond, “Nope, we are in this together, I want to race with you. I want to be by your side.”Dave went back-and-forth between jogging and walking. I continued to be his cheerleader and tell him how proud I was of him. He was kicking ass for being 60 and not training at all.

All the obstacles were so much fun. They were anything from crawling through the mud in a trench, balancing on beams as you got sprayed with water, to gymnast style rings that you had to go across. The rings were my least favorite. They were wet and I was just short enough that I couldn’t swing across. I fell and my legs went straight through the net into the water. I was already soaked and muddy so the frustration wasn’t from the dirt as much as it was the fact that I fell.

MY CHEERLEADER

That’s when my Dad became MY cheerleader! I got up and kept going. This was one of the final obstacles. The next 3 were our last. We jumped through fire, climbed up a wall that led to a slide, landed in cold water and swam out, and then finally hit the thick mud pit with barbed wire above. My dad had to swim through it, but I was able to walk through and duck down under the barbed wire. We got out of there and crossed the finish line.

With huge smiles on our faces we high fived. I was pumped! He was pumped! We had done it! I couldn’t have been more proud of him and I know he was proud of himself. The prize at the end was a beer. We rinsed off with the hoses provided, changed our clothes and entered the beer garden to grab a much needed beer. The beer was only part of it – the best part was finishing this race with my Dad by my side.

I must admit, I am pretty lucky to have such an awesome Step Dad. I am extremely grateful that he is so easy going as well as adventurous. Cheers to all the Dads out there that stay cool and continue to try new things! Cheers to more adventures like this!

-Janelle