Mud Dollop Wallop

I really didn't even want to run this race. I was asked and I didn't want to let anyone down. I said yes knowing I would be running through mud and water. If you know me, you know I hate running with wet shoes and socks. It is just a nasty feeling.

Before the race started, I knew I would be running through water. I just didn't know how many times. I was talking to the race director and he said that for one of the water crossings it was best to use the rope. I wondered why. I thought the water that we had to run through only come up to mid-calf level. He told me that the water came up to waist level or higher. I asked him if he was serious. And he was. The though of running through water that high really didn't make my day.

I ran the first leg of the relay. All legs had to run about 4 miles. When the race started, we had to negotiate around some tractor tires. Most of the people were going through them, I ran around the side with a couple of other runners. Yes, I'm a cheater. The first part of the run was really nice. Just trails and open fields. I caught and passed a couple of runners. The path then lead us from a nice open field into some swampy areas of the trails. It was there we had to run through our first puddle. As soon as I ran through it, the muddy water filled up in my ankle braces. That feeling was really gross. I had wet shoes, socks and ankle braces. I kept going and eventually the water seeped out of my shoes and ankle braces.

The trees and foliage pretty much blocked everything in sight. When I heard people yelling, I knew that the first water crossing was around the bend. I run up to it and see black, muddy water. Everyone crossing was caked with black mud. I jumped into the pit near the rope. It was so gross. The muddy water was thick and it smelled. I was using the rope to wade across and the mud on the bottom almost ripped off one of my shoes. I was so glad it didn't come off. Climbing out of the pit, mud went flying every where. Our next immediate challenge was to climb up a steep hill. My shoes were covered in mud and I couldn't get any traction. I decided to crawl up the hill. It worked and helped me get up the hill faster.

I caught three to four people ahead of me. They were exhausted by the hill and were walking. During the course, we had plenty of tree trunks, and branches to climb over, jump over or crawl under. I just kept looking at the trail about 10 feet in front of me to make sure I didn't trip. We had a couple of more hills, that I crawled up those too.

Nearing the end of the course, I thought we were all done with water crossings. I was wrong. I said to myself, "Is this necessary?" We had to jump down into a stream. The water came up to mid-calf. It was so slippery. There were six of us together and we all walked the long stream. A couple of times, I slipped. I tried to catch myself on the high banks of the stream. It worked. I was grabbing for anything and grabbed a thorny branch, twice. Ouch. I got a sliver in my figure. I belief it is still embedded in my finger. Neat. After the stream, two girls passed me. I was trying my hardest to catch them. I was so close.

I made it out of the trail in one piece. I was muddy, soaking wet and almost near the relay exchange. The course had one more giant hill to climb. I crawled up the hill again, ran through a mud pit and slapped hands with my team's next runner. I finished the trail run in 40:13. That is pretty good for running through mud, climbing huge hills and walking through streams and mud pits. My team finished 18th overall in 1:50:14. There were 41 teams that participated.

This race was OK. I definitely wasn't a fan of the water and mud. I like to run races where I don't get dirty. I have only one more race this year where I will get soaked and dirty and that is Dances with Dirt 50K. After DWD, I don't think I will be running anymore of these races. I will gladly volunteer next year at the Mud Dollop Wallop, but mud and water during a race isn't for me.