I’m addicted! Absolutely addicted! This was my first ever 5k, my first ever mud run, and I’m ready to do it again! We already booked another run- the Terrain Run in June!
Here’s how it all started….
The gym I belong to [9Round Beaverton] had several members run in the “Muddy Valentine” race at Lee Farms last month….they loved it… posted lots of pictures….it looked like fun! They all signed up for the next run- the “Dirty Leprechaun” and I decided I wanted to join them!
Jim has been trying to talk me into doing one of these events for quite some time- so we both signed up…with less than 30 days ’til the event!
I didn’t do any training outside of my 3-4 day per week workouts at 9Round. Never once went out for a run. Jim, on the other hand, ran several times a week. He’s not a member at my gym, even though I’ve been bugging him to join for a while.
Back on track…
Race Day.
I was nervous. More nervous about the whole parking and shuttle situation, bag check- what do I do with my phone, how will I take pictures, will anyone steal our stuff, are we allowing enough time to get there and wait for the shuttle to check in, blah blah blah.
The thought of running and mud didn’t seem to really scare me.
I ate my usual breakfast of 2 eggs + 2 egg whites and coffee, downed some extra water. About 30 minutes before leaving (an hour before race time) Jim made us each a slice of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and a half banana… but I was so nervous I could only eat 3 bites. I ate my half banana, but that toast- no go.
We got there, took the shuttle to the race, got checked in (ID for the beer bracelet), stood around with my 9Round team shivering in the barn area trying to stay dry. And then it was time to shed our coats, check our bags, and line up for a pre-race group photo:
Our team ended up being 18 people- not all of them are pictured. Side note: I bought green socks for the “Leprechaun” name :)
We lined up at the start line….and did some jumping and moving around to try to warm up. It was cold, and raining. Ugh. I started to wonder what I had gotten myself into!
Want some inspiration?
Yes, the guy with no legs competed. Talk about not letting anything prevent you from doing what you really want!
Our 9Round owner is at the front of the line in the 9Round shirt. Another member is in the red shirt- these guys finished in 5th and 7th place overall. The first place finisher was the guy in the pink socks!
Anyway…..about the race. Here’s a map:
So the race starts as a run through farm property- gravel roads, mud roads, fields, grass, just all kinds of terrain. And then there are all the obstacles:
– wood A-frame walls that you need to run up and jump off
– fences to climb through
– walk across a giant pool of water about 2′ deep, covered in nets that are about 2′ above the surface
– hay bale mountains
– bridges of 2×4’s across irrigation canals
– tractor tires to crawl through
– mud pits and mud walls
– a giant steep muddy hill that you had to roll an exercise ball up to the top, then let it go to the unsuspecting people below- ha!
– mud pits. Lot’s of them. Some are above knee deep. I actually got stuck. “Post-holed” they call it. Jim had to pull me out because my leg was so suctioned stuck in the mud. That’s when someone told me to crawl on my hands and knees across the top- it worked! (I pictured myself looking something like this: )
Anyway- it was a lot of movement. And mud. It was tiring, but it wasn’t TOO tiring. It was FUN.
We ended up walking a lot due to the un-safe terrain- there were many areas that you just couldn’t run without landing on your butt. And there were some super steep hills that there’s no way I’d run up!
So that’s the nuts and bolts of the run…. and here’s some pics:
Ready, set, GO!
Our club owner, Jeff, had a goal to run the course as fast as possible so he could go back to the end of the course to snap some action photos- and these are the action photos we got:
And one of our teammates brought her spouse to snap some shots:
Which, by the way, was a tough obstacle!
See how muddy I am? Yuck!
So once again, here’s the before:
And here’s the team after:
I quickly realized I needed replenishing- my breakfast was more than burned off and I was needing food- bad. They were serving some sort of seed and nut butter on grain bread, bananas, water, beer…. I heard they had grilled cheese sandwiches, too, but we never found them.
Once finished- and rested some- we went back onto the course to cheer on the last of our group…. got to run through the finish line again- ha!
Here’s the video finish of our ACTUAL finish line crossing:
(If the link didn’t work, go to the video and fast foward in 22 minutes and 10 seconds to see us approach the finish line.)
And more pics….
This here is some seriously caked on mud!
And I desperately need a manicure to get all the grime out from under my nails:
We hopped the shuttle back to the car- we had brought a change of clothes with us to the race itself as they offered changing areas, but we didn’t see how our clean clothes were going to stay clean if the shuttle bus had other muddy riders on it. Turns out they restrict muddy people to the front rows and clean people get to sit in the back. So now we know.
It wasn’t bad though- at the car we peeled off our shoes and socks and put sheets down on the seats to protect them. Also put on dry clean jackets to protect the seatbelts:
So how tough was the workout? I wore my Fitbit and it came back with this:
Side note regarding wearing Fitbits for mudruns- take the fitbit itself (without straps) and wrap it in saran wrap and then put it in your sports bra! Voila!
I also wore the 9Round heart rate monitor and this is what it said:
And the best part of all? When I checked my results at the end of the day, I learned that I had finished 2nd for women in my age group! I also learned that I finished in the top 8% of women and the top 15% overall! Not bad!
We have another run in June- this time I’m going for a better pace!
Elisa's Ramblings 