Summery Mud Fun

Summer is definitely here. Temps have been in the 90's, which when you are indoors or at the beach soaking up rays, isn't so bad. When I want to run hills at 6:30/7:00 it really kinda sucks. I am good at hydrating. I coffee it up in the morning, water and juice during the day and maybe a Gatorade with the evening run.  But what really kills it is the darn humidity. I have to wear a visor with a built in sweat band to keep the stuff from running into my eyes. Yesterday it was a little cooler after our afternoon shower so I thought it would be good to get 4 miles in. Ha! I did my four miles but the humidity was so thick I might have not had anything to drink that day. And I was nervous about the heat for Run for the Dream in Williamsburg.

Run for the Dream was wonderful! I will definitely be running it next year. Up hill both ways and I still liked it. I just hope the guy with  the sign that read "this stranger is proud of you" will be there again. Support like that rocks!

This is where I should be running. Then I can just jump in when I am done.

 

With no more races until September I find I am antsy. I run in the evenings and do my best to make the schedule work so I can meet my running friends for a long run on the weekends. However, there is nothing like the excitement of a race and the feeling you have stepping up to the start line and the finish. To fill the gap I had signed up for a 5k mud run. This small balm on my running soul was the Great American Mud Run. This was MUCH better organized then the dirty girl and it was timed to give it that edge a race has. With all the rain we've had, it made for great mud. They had advertised jumping over fire at the end. How super hero! I was in. I met up with some running friends and we headed over early to make sure parking and sitting in traffic wouldn't be the focus of the day. We got in with no problem, got our numbers and of course, like at any good race, our beer cups. We didn't run until the 11:30 wave so to kill some time we listed to the awesome music and managed to insist on winning the neon group award. Yeah us!

 



Finally it was time to run and we were off. Through the bubbles and we hit our first obstacle. Barb wire splat. (I am sure they another name for it, but I like mine better.) Down in the mud we went. We went up and over ropes, swung through hoop rings, across ropes and final hit a wall. Straight up, just high enough that I couldn't jump and reach it. With a little help from my friends I made it over the slip slab of wood and dropped down on the other side only to see...yep, another one. The next one was too slip. Too many muddy hands had tried to grip it. I got my buddy over, but couldn't get up it myself so I went around. Not a complete failure, but definitely disappointing. However, that didn't stop us! Muddy ditches, a swim in the drink since I can't run on barrels, more barb wire splat and a HUGE slide at the end. I think it said it was 80 feet high and all you can do is laugh on the way down, its that much fun. The three of us crossed the finish line seconds apart.

Before.

After.

 

The line to the showers was long and our patience was not. Some one slipped by whispering about a pond so we calmly walked off like we had places to be and found the pond with a few other folks. A quick jump off the dock and a little scrubbing and we were much less muddy. Though I don't want to know what goes in that pond, I really don't. Some beer, food and more music to round of the day and we were done and quite pleased with ourselves. I was 550 out of a whole lot of people and I now know for sure...I have no upper body strength. Weights and push ups here I come. BUT I WILL beat my time next year. This was too much fun not to try.