A Muddy Glimpse Into Human Nature

I am a big fan of people gathering in large crowds to do something fitness-oriented.  I don’t care if it’s a fun-run, a 5K, a marathon, a triathlon, whatever - I am always charged by the energy that people bring to the event.  

That's Brian in the red shirt!

The Warrior Dash (hopefully you’ve seen the photos) included people who had obviously trained hard, with muscles bulging when they walked, while they sported their crazy viking costume or something of the like.  There were also those that looked like this was the first time they’d gotten off the couch all summer, and they were just out to have a good time and get to the beer tent afterward!

It was only possible for spectators to see the last three obstacles, the final of which was the barbed-wire lined mudpit.  Like I said, it was the last obstacle; most people were dog-tired once they got there.  I stood and cheered everyone on, as if I knew them, and it was interesting to me to watch HOW each person approached the pit.  

I saw the following entrance styles into the mudpit, and in my head came up with the following categories of “warrior” (or otherwise):

1. The Unprepared “Worrier”: Exhaustedly walks/jogs up to the pit and appears to be caught by surprise that crawling through a mudpit was part of the race...and a look of dread runs across their face.
2.   The Real Life “Warrior”: Intense, serious, buff, out-to-win, ex-military, crawler-through-mud extraordinaire...oblivious to anything except the finish line in front of them.
3. The Friendship Warrior: Runs up to the pit, smiling with their friends, cheering each other on and laughing hysterically with their friends while trudging through the mud...taking it in stride when their shoes get stuck in the mud, grabbing it and continuing to crawl barefoot, not worrying about how slow they are. (This is the category Brian falls into...)
4. The Class Clown Warrior: Runs and jumps into the pit as if it were a swimming pool, and then proceeds to roll around and “backstroke” through the mud, smiling the whole time, oblivious to anything except entertaining the crowd, completely covering themselves in mud, head to toe.  Obviously unconcerned with time.

I was thoroughly entertained and felt like I got a good glimpse into people’s personalities by watching how they approached the mudpit.  What kind of mudpit-crawler do you think you would be?  Come on out to Oregon next year and we can find out together!  (Brian and are signing up again soon!)