Mud-tastic

Warning to my fan base of one: this post has tons of pictures. It has to in order to capture the true essence of the event.

What event you ask? The USMC Mudrun. One of the most popular mudruns in the southeast. I've done this race twice before on their old course but never done the new one (well new for me, it's been at this site for a few years but I was rather occupied having babies during that time). So a few weekends ago I took on the challenge.

I apparently had a moment of insanity back in the spring and asked if anyone wanted to join me (you have to have a team of 4). We signed up...we paid...I was locked in.

The race is 6 miles with 40+ obstacles. I was locked in and panicked.

Why the panic? Well we happened to be going through a renovation, have two toddlers, work full-time, have what seemed like a 1,000 cold viruses hit our house (I was on a Z-pack just 1 week prior to the race) and life was just plain busy. I was convinced I couldn't do the race but am too competitive to back out.

We did have one original team member have to back out due to an injury so I begged asked Lisa to join us (she trains with Daniel and I knew would be the anchor to our team). Thanks, Lisa, for caving saying yes!

Before we proceed to the main event, I must call out Missey. In fact all of us called her out on race morning. Of all the people to have a little make-up on before the race, you'd think it'd be me. Nope. It was Missey.

We might have teased her for a few minutes.

And as you go along viewing these pictures, please note Dana. She will ALWAYS have this cute little smile on her face. Never left. Me? Not so much.

So let's get started, shall we? Here we are happy at the venue, nice and clean.

Perhaps even feeling a little spunky. Go team "14 kids and counting" AKA #662

 

I distinctly remember at the start line shaking. Perhaps some would call it a tremble. Asking myself "why did I sign up for this!?" If you're asking for words of encouragement at the beginning of a race, don't ask me to be on your team. The six mile distance was what was intimidating me. I had been so busy it was all I could do to make it to the gym 2-3x per week much less fit in any runs. 

 

Off the races we go, ladies and gentleman. Well we weren't really racing, we signed up for the "just want to finish" category, but you know what I mean.  

My sweet husband volunteered to come take pictures. He worked his way back to the middle of the course and literally ran beside us the rest of the way (sans muddy obstacles). Husband of the day week. He caught up with us just after we had come from a thick, muddy obstacle where you climbed under logs in a pit. (Thanks, Lisa, for suggesting the side that was the thickest, nastiest pit) Can't even tell I have a pink shirt on can you? Yep. We were covered. So much so that we all felt we had at least 10 extra lbs on us.

Thankfully several obstacles later we came to a more watery obstacle to rinse off.

Lisa was our pacer. Can you tell?

There were plenty of difficult obstacles and some fun ones. It took lots of team work the entire time, especially for a team of all girls who don't have the upper body strength to pull ourselves over most of the obstacles. And teams helped teams as well. At one point I was on my hands and knees helping a team of guys over a wall (I was their step ladder)  #GIJane.

The inverted wall:

More tall walls (as in really tall):

 

 

The rope ladder:

Over/Under Logs:

A disgusting black tar mud pit. Pretty sure it had more than just mud in it:

 The tires:

 

There was a long (and I mean long) creek we had to walk through with tons of logs, stumps, etc. to trip over. Just ask Lisa. Her face says it all. 

 

 

We did have fun, despite what my face may say in this picture...

And a few hiccups along the way. The tall sets of logs were troublesome until we figured out the best team approach. At first it went like this...

 

"Just step on my leg and hop over."

"Wait I can't get all the way over! It's slippery. Can I get a hand!?"

(screaming) "I'm stuck!"

Splat.

She wasn't the only one to have a spill...

 

 

But way to get back on that horse, Missey!

 



In the end we figured out a system and were able to fly over the rest. Figuratively. Not literally. We're not that good people.

At each obstacle there were Marines who monitored. If you didn't complete the obstacle you could take a time penalty or their penalty. There was one obstacle we didn't even try, the Tarzan Swing. So instead we had to do all sorts of fun things (squats, burpies, push-ups, etc.) until they said otherwise.

At one point I'm thinking "like, can we be done?!"

And Dana's still smiling...or perhaps laughing at me. I'm not sure which.

Perhaps one of the tougher obstacles was the rope over the water. You had to climb on and cross the huge pit of water just on a small, wet, muddy rope. Here's me thinking "Now how in the heck am I going to do this?"

I did manage to get myself up on the ropes and go a short distance (that's me on the second rope and Lisa is closest to you). But then I fell because my ankle was stuck and it happened to be on my bad knee. Wasn't worth the injury so I dropped to the pit.

This picture gives you better perspective (this is Dana in the pic).

 

Towards the end the obstacles are created just to torture you. One in particular only I seemed to hate, were the hills. You had to run up, run down, run up, run down. The following pictures say it all. Words are not necessary.

 

Dana

Lisa

 

Missey



Me

Proof positive that pictures speak a thousand words.

The last obstacle was the fireman's carry. Essentially two team members had to carry the other two team members. Because you know, carrying your own body weight wasn't enough.



I have never been so excited to see a finish line! I was so tired I could barely even smile.

We were battered and bruised but in the end we were proud of our accomplishment. And a few of us might have been shaking from exhaustion.

 



I swore on the course I wasn't doing it again, but I've already been trying to persuade my friend, Jaime, and her sister, Mandy, to come down and do it with me. Come on girls!