Dirty Girl Mud Run

Our teammates from left to right: Cami Hewett, Lynette Bulseco, Shauna Clayton, me, Julie Garret, Krystle Butler, Tiffany Theobald, Kendra Nelson and Amber Cowley.

A bunch of gals from church and I have been getting interested in unusual group races, i.e. the Color Run, the Firefly Run, and as pictured, Mud Runs.  The course was a regular 5k, but with 10 obstacles thrown in ranging from easy to fairly challenging (i.e. climbing walls, rope climbs, mud pits, hurdles, spider webs, etc).

Being a complete novice to mud runs of any sort, I admit that I might have been a bit idealistic going into it.  I was sure that jumping into and running around in the mud would be akin to jumping into a huge bowl of chocolate pudding.  What I didn't take into account were the BILLIONS of tiny, gritty bits that chafe your arms and legs while you're running.  Also, the mud doesn't taste as good when it gets in your mouth.

 But other than that, it was pure and absolute fun.  The girls I went with were fantastic.  I haven't felt that pumped up and generally young in years.  (And I will admit that when you're actually in the vat of mud, you do want to swim around and squish your fingers in it for a bit.)

Here we are all fresh and clean before the race started.  Our shirts said "Buns on the Run" in the front (our team name) and the back read "Does this mud make my butt look fast?"

What? you're wondering, "Is she wearing her underwear on the outside of her pants?"  Oh, yes.  Yes I am.

See? (What can I say, it was Amber's idea and I succumb easily to temptation.  Plus, I was luckily wearing pink that day.  Plus, I'm wasn't the only one with creative costuming that day).

Here we are waiting for our 9:45am wave to begin.  They were pumping us up with loud music and general trash talking.  I got so worked up in the holding pen---I couldn't stop jumping and dancing.

Here we are after crawling through the mud a few times.

Notice anything unsettling here?  I would definitely suggest that if you ever do a mud run and for some reason decide to wear your underwear on the outside of your pants, don't.  They were sagging by the end of the race.  In fact, if I had to do it again, I would have worn MUCH tighter clothing.  The mud drags every part of your clothing down.  I had to keep hitching my pants (and my drawers) up every five seconds.  I look like a drunk girl at a party who has no idea she's losing her underwear (which come to think of it, I didn't.).

We finished strong in the last leg of the race (right before the final mud pit).  I'll admit there may or may not have been a few attempts at throwing other team members facedown into the mud at that time).

Afterwards, we felt sassy...

We felt silly...

And we felt pretty strong.

Getting cleaned up and in the car afterwards was a bit of a harrowing experience (complete with makeshift showers with water jugs using towels for privacy).  But all in all, it was a pretty great experience.  It was too much money, but then again---sometimes I guess a little youth and joy and craziness is worth a few extra bucks.  I probably need to remember that more often.