In order to appreciate what you’re about to see, you should know a few things about me.
I am not a fan of heights. Or water. And I hate getting my clothes wet – it feels almost claustrophobic to me.
This weekend, I stepped jumped out of my comfort zone more than I ever have.
I ran a 5k, which isn’t too exciting. I’ve run many 5ks.
This 5k, however, included an obstacle course with quite a few mud pits.
Kiss Me Dirty is a female-only obstacle course and mud run where the participants are encouraged to wear costumes, ball gowns, and even wedding dresses.
My friend Breanne and I decided that we would be the Hustlin’ Honey B’s :)
I learned quite a few things while running the Kiss Me Dirty…
{sticking a collage here instead of at the end of my list because I know you all will scroll down to see photos before you read my list…}
1. It’s a little difficult to run it tutus. They creep in between your legs, which pulls the front of them down. Breanne and I had to stay on top of that, because who wants to trip over a fallen down tutu? My dear friend Colleen made our tutus, by the way!
2. Mud is heavy. Trying to run with mud caked onto your feet and legs is kind of like running in ankle weights that you can’t take off.
3. Mud run courses and nice running trails usually aren’t one in the same. Something’s got to give, and this weekend it was the nice running course. We dodged cacti (yes, the plural of cactus), small boulders, and many little ditches along our 5k route.
4. Don’t wear loose cotton capri pants during a mud run. Did you see our pants in that first picture? The mud weighed them down (Breanne’s got the worst of it) and they were thisclose to being full length pants. Thankfully, Breanne tied her pants a little tighter up top and was able to keep from mooning anyone (it was close, though…). My suggestion is to wear capris or shorts in tight legging material.
5. From Michael: Going to see someone run in the mud is a lot of work. The course is really big, so you have to run everywhere with all the runners if you want to see anything. But watching your Mom run around like an animal rolling in the mud is fun. What? Animal? What the heck?
6. To run a 5k with an obstacle course, train for a 10k. I ran 5k a few days before the mud run without incident, but within a few minutes of beginning the obstacles, it was really difficult for me to run. Breanne and I ended up walking about half of the course, even though we were both ready to run the entire 5k. Maybe it was the stop and go of the course? The obstacles? The extra energy we used pulling our legs out of the mud pits? I don’t know, but I definitely didn’t anticipate it impacting my running the way it did.
7. Wear knee socks, longer (tight fitting – see #4) pants, or some other kind of leg protection. The mud pits were full of big rocks, and I have gashes to prove it. I’m glad I had socks and pants on to soften the blows a little, and I hate to think of what my legs would look like had I had worn shorts.
8. Bring lots of towels and garbage bags for the ride home. We put our wings, tutus, socks, and shoes in garbage bags and covered the seats of my car with towels for the ride home. We only had to drive about 15 minutes, but when you’re covered with mud, that’s a long time!
9. After the race is finished, there is a divide between people who ran and those who didn’t. Apparently, the people who didn’t run don’t like being hugged, touched, or chased by those who ran the race. This observation is clearly evidenced by the picture I took of Michael when he wasn’t talking to me:
heehee :)
10. Do not attempt to wash your muddy clothes without first taking them outside and hosing them off. I almost did, and after seeing the dirt that came out of my dryer (after we hosed the clothes off), I am so glad I didn’t skip that vital step. Steve says it was just a coincidence that my washing machine broke on the same day as the mud run.
And just for Grandma Teetsie fun, a few more pictures:
I’m not quite sure what we’re laughing at here, but Breanne is fist pumping, so it’s a good sign.
Helping each other through the mud – I don’t suggest doing a mud run alone!
This would be where I fell. The first time.
And this is where Breanne fell. The only time.
Crossing the {bubble} finish line! I need to work on my runner stance, it seems… Breanne looks so graceful!
Finished! I can honestly say that I have never been so dirty!
So, tell me… have you ever participated in one of these crazy races? If yes, what did you learn? If no… would you?
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Linking up with Kristi, Amanda, Julie, Lolli, and Dagmar for Wordful/Wordless Wednesday, and Julie for What I Learned This Week. You should go say hi!
