Seattle’s Dirty Girl Mud Run!

Team Mud Hens

I did it! Seattle’s Dirty Girl 5k Mud Run & Obstacle course! While it was called “Seattle’s” Dirty Girl Run, it was actually held in the city of Snohomish, about an hour outside of the city (and not even in the same county!). My friend, and our team captain, carpooled together since we live only a few minutes away from each other. It was nice to ride up together!

gearing up for the first obstacle!

 

I was on team Mud Hens with a friend and a bunch of her friends/co-workers. Our vibe was fun, chill and TOTALLY supportive, with all fitness levels represented! I loved that it was a female only event, and that it was un-timed. While some teams seemed, more…competitive…we were definitely all about having fun and completing the course as a team.

trail running

 

The course was divided into 11  obstacles over a 5k stretch on the Green Meadows Farm. I was nervous ahead of time, because I didn’t do any research on the obstacles, but I found that I was able to complete each of them!

on top of a muddy culvert

 

net crawl…no way to not get dirty!

 

Events included things like: slogging through mud pits, climbing up mud hills, crawling through troughs of water and mud, and climbing over walls. I knew I could do the fun mud pits, crawling through water troughs and sliding down the hilarious pink inflatable slide. What I didn’t think I could do so well were the walls and the climbing nets.

dancing across the finish line!

 

Probably the best part ever? Beer garden post-race, with 1 free beer for race participants! Woo! Now that’s a way to celebrate our accomplishment! While I only ran a few segments of the race, probably no more than 3/4 of a mile total, my body feels wrecked today. I think it was a combination of the rugged farm trails and all of the obstacles, utilizing muscles I haven’t used for awhile (like, since 3rd grade monkey bars! ha!).

Thinking about doing a mud run/obstacle course? Here are a few suggestions:

-find a fun team that will encourage you regardless of your fitness level!
-Costumes! Ours helped unify our team, though next year we’re talking about going even more ALL OUT! There were so many fun costumes there, including old prom dresses, one girl in a wedding dress, superheros, mardi gras masks, plenty of tutus and other hilarious nonsense.
– Do an early heat! Race started at 8, with waves every 15 minutes. We went at 9 and it was perfect. The course took longer than expected, and as we were finishing up, we could see the later heats really bottle-necked on certain events. Going early meant coming back early enough so we could take a sweet nap!
– Wear old rubber gloves! I loved this suggestion from fellow teammate, it really saved my hands during the rope challenges, and while they’re all squishy and icky feeling in the mud, it’s better than having no skin left on your hands 🙂
-Bring a garbage bag and extra change of clothes (plus towel AND underwear, cause that’ll be sloshy, too).
-Have fun! Because that’s what it’s all about 🙂

A New Level of Crazy…

It was freaking gorgeous in Seattle on Saturday. I’m talking almost barefoot weather, with sun shining and I think I saw a unicorn out for a stroll when I was walking with Boof. It was one of those days where I felt the itch to run, which is still surprising to me! I sacrificed alone time running for a family walk, which was healing on so many levels. Potamus enjoyed the first 2.25 miles of the walk and only got crabby the last half-lap home, which forced me to do funny tricks like running backward with Scrummy and making faces while Boof pushed the jogging stroller. I figured the good-times-running-feeling would last until Sunday morning, so I held off until the morning.

After laundry and putting Potamus down for a nap, I told Boof I’d take off on a run. Solo. Without Scrummy dragging me down. Excited about this desire, I set out…into the Seattle sunshine. Which, in case you don’t know, is…rain.

Yes.

The magical unicorn-sunshine of the day before had deteriorated to rain, but fortunately it was sprinkling. I decided to run at least a mile, which doesn’t take too long, but ended up actually running for 28 minutes. But this time I ran without a timer. I wasn’t looking at how long I had been gone for, I just put the podcast on and headed out, in the rain, to get a little exercise. I even ventured out of my normal route and tried something new, which felt exhilerating. And while I was tired, and dragging toward the end of the almost-2 miles, it felt nice to run just to run instead of running for training or running for time. I passed daffodils and crocuses and a new level of crazy in this whole running time of my life.

“The Tortoise & The Hare was WRONG!” or “Why I like exercising by myself.”

 

In December when I decided that year 30 meant doing some running, I signed up for a 5k in February. It’s a super local 5k benefiting a youth organization and the cost is only $25. I figured I would run it and see how I liked it before I branched out into more “races.” I joined the Couch-5k movement and started in on my path toward becoming a person who runs (which I like better than ‘runner’ because that seems so…set in stone…)

But then, a former (twice) colleague and friend Tabbi signed up for the delicious-sounding Hot Chocolate 5k in March and I figured what the heck, it’s only a few more weeks after my first 5k, I might as well do it. It’s a gigantic 5k, with 10,000 people, and the sign-up process was daunting…I had to pick a time group and the rules state that if you fall below that time then they shuttle you up to be with the rest of your group.

GULP.

So naturally I signed up for the absolute slowest I could go (15 minute miles) because I KNOW that that is do-able, even with some brisk walking. But my anxiety has kicked in and so of course I check out my good friend Tabbi’s facebook page and see that she ran a 5k in 42 minutes this week. GULP, since I signed up to run with her, I figured we should at least run together once to see how it worked out. I mean, worst case scenario is we high 5 at the finish line.

Boy am I glad that we did a practice run. The weather was AMAZING as we ran around Greenlake today. The sky was blue, the air was chilly but not cold, there was aproximately 7,549 dogs being walked by their owners, and it felt great to be outside, with a goal, and a friend to run together.

But, about 30 seconds into our run, I realized that Tabbi and I have very different styles of running. I am a run slowly for long-distances (at this point, my long-distances are like 10-15 minutes) and her style is run really fast for a minute and then walk….A LOT. I told her that I was cool with her running on ahead, and to not worry about me at all. And so that’s how we rolled. She ran ahead, I ran slowly and consistently and caught up to her when she was in her walking portion. I would then ease on past her and keep going and she would pass me when she was running again. We did this all around the lake, with only one stretch in there of us actually walking together.

I’m glad I gave her the go-ahead, because my biggest head-trip is holding people back on their workout. Which is why I would have so much anxiety in highschool when working out with people. I would push myself past my breaking limit in order to try and not hold them back, rather than listen to my own body. She busted out some Tupac as she ran, and I listened to my breath and thoughts and the pound of my foot on the gravel. I tried not to beat myself up when she got so far ahead that it looked like I’d never catch up.

And then, we got to the end.

She ran it in 38:30 and I ran it in 40.

On one hand it made me feel good that the 45 minute time limit wasn’t going to kill me in the actual race, but on the other hand I was annoyed. Her walking/running strategy was actually faster. Which, I think, flies in the face of that whole “slow and steady wins the race” moral of the Tortoise and the Hare. I mean, she probably ran 1 mile out of the 3, and I probably ran at least 2 or so, but at a much slower pace.

On the way back to the car she told me that she was happy because this was her 3rd run. I was like, “what? you haven’t been running?” And she replied that she signed up for the 5k and knew she had to run it in under 45 and so she ran and busted her ass, but felt sore the next day. And she was complaining about ankle and shin pain. I advised her in a limited way that she might want to train less vigorously, but we’ll see. I know, for me, the goal is to run the whole 5k, even if it’s slower than her, but I couldn’t help but feel like, as far as racing goes, her strategy was better. But probably for a longer period of time it’s not as sustainable?