So I know this isn't much but it is my first finished race since a Duathlon I did in October of 2011. Finally feeling somewhat healthy, my wife and I decided we would find a fun race to do together. A local high school put on a 5k mud run that I find about a week before the event. We discussed it and I happened to have the day off from work, so we signed up.
Race day came and it was a pretty warm day for the middle of March. The SEC Tourny was going on and I had hoped to stay out late the night before after watching a UK victory, but that did not happen. I showed up wearing some longer running shorts, normal running shoes, and a t-shirt. There were some seriously dressed up guys that looked like they were there to dominate. Wearing some 5 finger shoes with their Mud specialty clothing, I felt that I might have some competition. Casey reminded me that this was for fun, but I knew deep down that I wasn't going to let anyone else win.
Luckily, I got put in the first wave and we started at 9 am. The gun went off and I took off just like any other race that I've competed in. About 100 meters into the race, I already had a significant lead. There was a hay bail to jump and then 75 meters straight uphill. Right at the top was the Mudpit that was advertised. The mud/water was about 2 ft. deep and about 15 - 20 yards long. I was first out of the pit and off running. Over the next 1/2 mile it was mostly running on grass with some hay bails to hurdle and some hurdles to go under. There was a sand crawling section straight into a slip and slide which was the best part. The rest of the 1.5 mile loop was more hay bails, crawling obstacles, and a large slip and slide right before the finish/start of second loop. I pushed as hard as I could just getting that competitive flow going that I used to love. The second loop was me against myself and I continued to push as that is what I have come to love. I did lap the guys who were dressed up like they raced mud races professionally so that gave me a little laugh. I didn't lap many people, but those 2 guys were about 50% of the lapped field.
I crossed the finish line about 4-5 minutes before the next competitor. I realized this was a small race, and mostly people just running for fun, but it was enough to remind me how much I love to run/race.
Casey was the first female across the finish line from wave 1 so it was a couple tag team for first place. Unfortunately, there was a timing issue with one of the other heats and 3 ladies all finished within 3 seconds of each other finished as the top 3 females. They either only ran 1 lap or their timing chips were off. Usually the winner of just about any race looks somewhat fit, and these ladies all looked like they were out for their Sunday morning 2 mile walk. Anyways, we had fun and made for a great start to a fun day as one of my groomsmen was visiting for the weekend.
More to come in 2013.
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