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 🙂

Hot Chocolate 5k-Seattle

5am came quite quickly this morning, but I headed out to meet my friend Elizabeth to carpool to the Hot Chocolate 5k. I’m glad that we carpooled, otherwise you might have seen me curled up under a park bench at the closest Starbucks 🙂

This was my first big race, and it was thrilling to be around all of the other participants. My goal for this race was to:

a) pace myself from the beginning
b) not die from bronchitis

On both counts, I succeeded! Tabbi and I were in the slowest corral, but we started off at a pretty reasonable pace, running the downhills and flat parts, but walking the uphills. Because MAN this course had some hills.

I wish I could have taken (or chosen to take) some pictures along the course, because Seattle was BEAUTIFUL today. Our run through Pike’s Market was the killer, and why we walked…because I hadn’t realized that the hill would be so brutal! Our goal was to run the first mile, run the flats/downhills, and RUN THROUGH THE BATTERY STREET TUNNEL!!! Oh, and to run across the finish line, but that’s kind of a duh…right?

It was so nice to have a running buddy to keep me company, and the lessons from the last 5k (like listening to talk radio rather than music), and my thought-process was much more clear and full of positive thoughts, rather than “I suck and should never have done this” thoughts like last time. I can see why people get hooked on these races!

My finishing time (according to my cell-phone) was 48 minutes, which wasn’t quite up to the 15 minute mile “requirement,” but overall I feel very proud of myself. And I enjoyed the dichotomy of the BIG race vs. the small, local race I did last time.

And, who doesn’t want to eat some chocolate at the finish line?!