Gettin' Dirty...Down and Dirty Mud Run 4/17/11

I still can't believe I did it. I am not a girly girl by any means, but mud? I mean, I don't even like to get my hands dirty.
Nature and I are not on the best terms. I love running outside, but on pavement and paseos. I mean, I went on a hike a couple of weeks ago and got poison oak...seriously!
So, when I decided to do a mud run, I was kind of surprised at myself. But, as my friend April says, "The Heather of 5 years ago is like 'WTF?' "

So I signed up, so did about 10 of my friends. We read all the information, got t-shirts made and did it. A 3.15 mile run with 10 obstacles, hills that made me feel like I was defying gravity they were soooo steep and mud. And when I say mud, I mean, I was cleaning mud out of EVERYWHERE!

BEFORE:



And we were off.....
It was hard. I mean I knew it would be hard, but seriously. I've been having issues getting my breathing at a good even pace at the beginning of a run, so I started off slow...and wanting to walk. I pushed myself....until we hit the hills.

I'm no dummy, I walked the hills. This made the obstacles better. I just kept thinking, "What goes up, must go down" I knew I'd be able to run the downhills. When some of my friends yelled, "STEW!!!" from high above, I was excited, then angry....that DAMN HILL!

Speaking of dams, we went all the way from the lower part of Castaic through the hills to the UPPER lake. Gorgeous view!

The first time mud gets in your shoes, it feels fun! Then it gets heavy. The first obstacle you do feels fun. You joke and take your time, then it gets more serious!

At the tale end of the race you do 3 things that are the roughest part of the race. First, you wade in the lake. The lake is COLD. Like "I can't feel my legs anymore" cold. Then you go to a wall with a rope and they make you only use your upper body as they're pouring slippery shampoo down it.
Lastly, after you've already finished a 5K, you have to belly crawl under a cargo net through mud. My arms and shoulders still hurt!

But you know what? It was soooo much fun and I'd totally do it again!

The Heather of 5 years ago is still shaking her head, but you know what, I've left her in the dust.....or maybe I left her in the mud.

XOXO
AFTER: