Epic Mud Pics

Finally, got some good race shots posted. So fun!

The Mud Mash 10k

For those of you who do not remember the circumstances surrounding my last 10k, you may want to catch up on your history here.  If you don’t want to read that saga, you should at least know that the last time I ran a 10k, I didn’t even finish.  Yeah…

That little fact, however, wasn’t about to stop me from attempting a new and exciting challenge, the San Luis Obispo Mud Mash that took place on Halloween morning.  Eric caught a last minute cold from his lab mates and was unable to participate, but the mighty legend Bruno and my office side-kick Matthew made the trip.  Quite honestly, I had no clue what I was getting into. 

I had seen the course map and read the descriptions of the obstacles, but the reality was something entirely different.  The loop was 3 miles long, so 5k runners only had to do it once, but 10k runners had to complete it twice.  (I hope the real pictures get loaded soon, but in the meantime here are some weird stills from my video camera, thanks to Danielle for her efforts in capturing the day.)

Despite the fact that costumes were highly encouraged, we didn’t want anything to be unnecessarily cumbersome.  The morning weather was lovely, an almost perfect fall day complete with shining sun and a cool breeze.

The Water Walk

Not even a quarter mile from the start line, we veered from the perfectly pleasant paved bath directly into Laguna Lake.  This, my friends, was not puddle jumping.  No, no.  This was a waist deep wade through lake water.  If there had been any sort of lingering hope in anyone’s mind that they may be able to walk away from this race with minimum wetness, those hopes were dashed immediately here.  Slogging through the chilly water, many were likely already wondering what they were getting themselves into.

The Rope Crawl

Once you get through the waist deep wade, runners were directed under a bridge to another section of lake that was laced with ropes to help pull yourself across.  I made the decision to go for it, and used only my arms for this section.  The strategy paid off, despite the fact that I was now head to toe soaked.  I flew past a couple of the guys who were trying to trudge it ahead of me.

We excited the muddy bank for a brief, squishy trail bit, until we hit…

The Swamp Stomp

Back into the water we went, but this section was much more bog-like.  I leapt in to avoid the hazardous looking slope down, but soon regretted the decision as I felt my shoes sink into the ooey-gooey muck at the bottom.  I quickly chose to simply swim, freestyle at first then breaststroke later, simultaneously hoping to kick out some of the pebbles that had found their way into my shoes.

Exiting that bank brought us into a small forest of tall reeds.  Taller than me, that is, and very dense; a narrow path had been tromped out for us to make our way throught.

At long last, we reached open field.  It felt good to actually be able to just run for a bit, thought my shoes were making that horrible “squish squish” noise and weight about 10lbs each.

Low Wall (about 6 ft.)

Our next obstacle was a fence that was easy enough to hope over.  The volunteers on this course were incredibly cheerful and encouraging, and I tried to thank them between gasps for their support.

Over Unders

These were literally spike pits, which were supposed to make it very obvious which parts were for over and which parts were for under.  (“Avoid death at all costs, please!”)  Some of the under bits were really low, and the volunteers got super excited when folks would do a “full body roll” for them through the mud at the bottom.  I complied happily enough.

Apparently these were more of a challenge for the men than the ladies, since straddling a small pole poses a unique threat to their anatomy.

Cargo Net

Keep in mind that by the time we reached the Cargo Net, we had probably barely gone more than a mile.  This part proved a unique challenge to some, but I have always had a talent for cargo nets (which I attribute to many years of training at the pirate playground at Sea World).  This net went up a good 12 feet into the air, and some folks had mild panic attacks at the top.  I more or less recklessly tumbled down the back side and moved on.

High Wall

This, sadly, was the one obstacle that defeated me.  It was a 12 foot wall which you were supposed to use a rope to climb up and over, but the rope had no knots and was wet from previous slimy racers who had used it.  I gave it a good attempt, but slid half way down and gave my hands a wee bit of a rope burn.  I got scared that I was potentially going to fall and hurt my back or my leg, so I decided to go around the obstacle.

Hay Bail Hurdles

Thus began the steady incline.  It began pleasant enough, following a narrow rocky trail towards the mountains, but said pleasant trail quickly turned steep and uncomfortable.  I sadly was unprepared for this portion, having done pretty much no hill training.  On the first very steep bit came a series of four large hay bales which runners had to climb over.

I admit, I walked quite a bit on this section.  It was a brisk, long stride dignified walk, but a walk all the same.  My breath was coming in short supply, and I had to place my hands on my hips for support.  I still managed to smile at the fact that there was candy all over the hay bales so runners could “trick or treat” as we went.  The bales themselves weren’t difficult, and actually something of a nice break to distract me from the cursed incline.

Next came the mountain trail, which was by far the most difficult.  It was not listed as an obstacle, but I was amazed at how much I struggled on the hike the top of the peak.  Yes, I think it qualifies to be called a peak.  Up, up, up it went, and once I thought I was at the top I realized there was yet another hill to mount.  The view was beautiful, and it was a good feeling to know you were coming to the end of the evil hill.

The trail down was incredibly treacherous, and though I tried to keep my pace up I was terrified at any moment I was going to do a full on face plant.  As I tried my fancy footwork among the boulders, you could hear the song of a bagpiper atop one of the nearby ridges.

This may seem incredibly nerdy, but I completely felt like William Wallace prancing down to my awaiting army of Scots.  The bagpipe song put a new spring in my step, and though my hips began to ache with the impact of my momentum, I was eager to be rid of that mountain.

Once I hit the bottom, it felt incredible to be on flat ground again.  My legs felt alive again to be doing the motion they had been trained for: flat road!

The Mud Pit

Just behind the starting line and in front of the announcers booth was the mighty mud pit.  It was probably about 20 feed wide and 30 feet long, and they had lines of flags across the surface which you had to go beneath, and you couldn’t touch them (or the announcer would mock you ceaselessly).  The point of course being that you had to basically dive face first into the mud pit in order to cross it.

Face first I went; with great enthusiasm.  (Yeah, that's me in the picture going under the last flag of the pit...)  I have to admit this part was incredibly fun, if nothing else because it was so ridiculous.  Rocks scraped my elbows and knees, I couldn’t see a dang thing, and I could feel a hunk of sludge take up residence in my sports bra.

Awesome.

But what was even better? The fact that I was now only done with my 1^st lap, and I now had to do it ALL OVER AGAIN.

The second lap actually went much smoother.  I relished the lake section in which I was able to wash off the majority of the mud, and I knew roughly where all the obstacles were up ahead.  I zipped through them all, ignoring my still very heavy shoes and nasty dripping hair. 

I also got a charge when one of the volunteers called out to me saying “You’re the 4^th place girl! Keep it up!”

A couple more ladies passed me when I got back to that crazy fraking hill, but at that point I didn’t care.  I was doing my best, and having a blast.  The overall challenge had been unexpected, and the joyful spirit of the event was contagious.

Blazer the Viking

As one final obstacle, after the runners went through our second splurge into the mud pit, we were faced with defeating two gladiator Vikings who stood between us and the finish line.  Armed with plushy maces, they took out knees, the gut checked stomachs, they pummeled and battered the run down, muddy runners as one last insult to injury.  (They were noticeably nicer to the lady runners, though that didn’t stop me from slinging as much mud as I could carry at them.)  I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but that's Bruno charging for the finish line past the helmed beast.

The results came in, and soon Bruno and I accepted our first place awards for our age divisions.  (Bruno was also the 4^th overall finisher, I ended up as the 6^th female finisher.) 

Of course, once it was all over I realized just how much fun it had been.  I would certainly do it again, and am excited that I have no officially finished a 10k race.  Next time I'll be sure to add some hill training into my regime, and never again will I take for granted dry, fluffy socks.