Mud Run!

May 26, 2012

Back at the end of May, Jeff agreed to sign up for a 5k Mud Run with a group of co-workers, but when his friend Ruben realized at the last minute that he wouldn't be able to make it, I got to take his place! A huge thank you to Ruben, because I had a FANTASTIC time!

Like I said, the race was a 5k and interspersed throughout it were about 20 obstacles. I wrote all of the obstacles down during the drive home after the race as Jeff and I tried to remember them all so we could count them. So, if you're interested, here's a run-down of the race...

 We started the race strong, gradually leaving all of Jeff's co-workers behind. It was my goal to at least beat them. I wasn't in the best of shape, so I knew we wouldn't place high overall, but I wanted to be first among the co-workers! Looking at some of the young couples joining us, it didn't seem like it would be an easy task, but Jeff and I are com-pe-ti-tive so we gave it our all (well I did; Jeff's "all" would have gotten him a faster time I'm sure, but he stuck with me and I don't think I slowed him down too much)!

Obstacles (in the order we conquered them):

• A deep pit of muddy water with a wall across the top of it, leaving about 4 inches between the bottom of the wall and the surface of the water. (They wasted no time getting us totally drenched and muddy!).
• Crawl under barbed wire.

Trying not to slip in the mud!

• Three chest deep mud puddles.
• Trudge through a muddy, water-filled trench single-file - the last several feet of the long trench was covered in a camouflage net that we had to try not to get tangled in. 

 I found this lovely photo online. It's a wonder Jeff and I didn't catch some kind of disease during this race!

• Go through a pipe on our bellies, into a muddy pool on the other side.

I beat Jeff out of the pipe, so of course, he had to race me out of the pool of mud!

• Climb up and slide down a 20 ft. tall slide into a 7 ft. deep pool of muddy water (we got stuck waiting in line to climb up for about 5 minutes).

• Swing on a rope across a muddy ditch (I made it across the ditch, but I slipped as soon as I hit the muddy ground on the other side).
• Lots of muddy ditches in a row to trudge through, while running through a forest portion of the course.
• Roll under a wall with no mud (but I fell right before I rolled anyway - one of the many ways I bruised/cut up my shins).
• Over, under, over, under logs in a muddy pool (We had no choice, but to go completely under the water this time).

 A picture I found online of a guy doing the under over, under over logs. This guy came prepared with goggles!

Super cute pictures of me recovering from being completely submerged in nasty muddy water and trying not to slip in the mud on the other side.

The only time Jeff or I ever took any walking steps was when it was extra muddy and slippery right after an obstacle. And even then it was only 2 or 3 steps before we were off running again. This was one of those times. It was exhausting not taking a single walking break, especially after the more strenuous obstacles, but since it was only a 5k, we decided from the beginning that we wouldn't allow ourselves to walk at all!

• Climb over a 25 ft. high cargo net, draped loosely over a bar at the top (Somehow I started climbing before Jeff, but I was less then halfway down the opposite side, when I notice Jeff already on the ground waiting for me. How on earth?! And I thought I was climbing fast!)

• Walk across a rope, while holding onto another rope above our heads (I got stretched out like gumby and practically had to walk on tip toes with a just a few feet left to go, when a big guy stepped onto the end of the rope I was walking on and pushed it waaaay down)

 Obviously this isn't us, but you can see what the rope obstacle looked like.

• Crawl under a net in sticky mud with the pillars holding up the net to crawl around.
• Climb a rope net to the top of a large container and jump off into 8 feet of water. 

 Jeff and I jumped together, but apparently this photographer thought Jeff was the prettier one and focused on him. I don't blame him. That is one studly man right there.

• Four log hurdles to jump.
• A wood plank balance beam (about 6 in. wide)
• Three more hurdles (taller ones!)
• A log balance beam (which had three bends in it, not a straight line).
• Swinging rope monkey bars (this was the one obstacle I didn't complete successfully - I grabbed the first loop of rope and almost immediately fell straight into the hay bales below).

 Yep, this is about how it went for me too.

• Scale an 8 ft. wall (lucky for me, there was a plank in the middle of the wall that was bowed out a little, so I could get my toes on it to help me over).
  
• One more big hurdle.
• One final crawl in sticky mud under a net just before we crossed the finish line!

We held hands across the finish line because we're adorable.

And guess what? We were first among Jeff's co-workers! Yes! Our time was 45:07, which wasn't bad considering we had to wait in line for a few obstacles, adding on about 10 minutes of waiting time overall. That put us at 118th of 1420 racers.

I really wanted a picture of Jeff and I all covered in mud. I had brought my camera, but there was one small problem - no memory card! We followed Jeff's boss, around for a few minutes, looking for his wife so she could take a picture for us, but no such luck. As we approached the fire hoses to get cleaned off, I was really sad to not have any pictures (I didn't know if any would be posted online of us running the course), so to Jeff's embarrassment, I stepped out of line to ask an older woman taking pictures of her teenage granddaughters if she wouldn't mind taking one picture of Jeff and I and emailing it to me. I'm crazy, I know. But the woman agreed and I called Jeff over.

After she took the picture, I realized I didn't have any way to give her my email address and she didn't have a pen or paper, but in another act of kindness, the woman standing behind us offered me a pen and the man who was with her dug out a piece of paper. My hands were still really muddy and I got mud on the woman's pen. I tried to wipe it off and apologized, handing it back to her, but she insisted I keep it. Ah kind strangers. I totally embarrassed myself, but it made my day that they were so nice to me. I love restore-my-faith-in-humanity moments!

The old woman even offered to stick around for a minute and take pictures of Jeff and I being hosed off by the firemen...

Here we are with a few of Jeff's coworkers at the end of the race (Jeff's Boss's wife showed up with the camera).

Walking to the parking lot, we were given free turkey sandwiches and coupons for free soup and cookies at Potbelly's. What a great day!

P.S. Luke stayed with Ben and Caitlin during the race, and naturally, Ben couldn't resist grabbing a picture of Luke in pink princess heels just for Jeff: