Heather, Kathy, Suzie, 6 of Suzie's co workers, and myself made up a team that participated in the first Dirty Girl Mud Run, held here in Wisconsin and there was a lot of Mud, Sweat and Cheers (our team name). Also a lot of laughing! This mud run benefits go to Susan G. Komen for the cure, to end breast cancer. There were over 6,000 participants and along with spectators, the amount of people attending was unbelievable. The venue, Milford Gun Club near Johnson Creek, was a perfect location, lots of space, and after this race there is very little field clean up as most of the obstacles are part of nature.
Our group started at 12:30, part of a wave of about 150 (we were told, though it didn't look quite that big). A few raced out in front, and a few of us (Suzie, Eileen, Heather and myself), start out with a run, but it turned it into a slow jog through most of the race. We decide its about the fun, not about the race. We ran up a hill, and down, then within a 1/4 mile approached our first obstacle..the hay bales.
Over and onward...up and down mostly going over an uneven dirt path, along side a cornfield and Mile one was complete.
High knees through tires..more uneven dirt path, though we are now noticing the dirt is wetter. This is a result of the rain this morning and the earlier 17 waves of participants trudging over it.
Next is the lamest obstacle in my opinion, the hanging tires...push them aside as you run through, or to have more fun, push them back and hit the person behind you..in this case Suzie.
So far, we have only muddy feet, but that is about to change. We have to cross a river, but it is 4 feet down. We have to navigate down through mud, walk through the 1 ft deep water and come up the other side, through very black mud which proves to be a little challenging. I used the ropes lying on the hill to pull myself up. Heather throws a little mud around. I know my hands were caked in mud so I wipe them on Suzie and Heather's back, gotta leave a few hand prints.
More jogging, staying on the side of the path has a little less mud, of course Heather runs through the middle. There is a netting and its time to drop and crawl under it..I believe this is where Heather did her first tummy mud slide. Since its about 2 feet high, I can crawl through without putting my knees down but my hands get muddier.
After a short jog we see the tubes about 15 feet long..first ones we crawl through, run a bit and then another set of tubes (different sizes I picked the bigger ones, Heather the smaller one) I can walk through if I hunch over, Heather crawls through hers, Suzie crawls through the first one, bruises her knees, so hunches over on the second set.
More jogging and then we come to an area with a lot of spectators watching as we approach the Mud Pond,
no one is immediately in front of us, so Heather jumps in, thinking its shallow but surprise.... its not!! I would guess about 2 feet deep. I step in at the same time, and my second step finds the bottom, we are now all wet, continue our wade through the water and have to climb out, through the mud that now coats the exit.
Now we are going up a pretty steep hill, which can be tricky because, must I say it again..its a wet muddy path. At anytime one of us could wipe out, as Suzie continues to remind us. Of course what goes up, means also coming down, I see lots of sliding marks, but no one near us wipes out.
Up and down, that is the best way to describe this course, past the trap shooting stages, then through a slightly wooded area, the path is blocked with bail hays and further up the path another set of hays, Heather straddles it, which turns out to be a little to wide to do. My method, hop up backwards, turn and hop down. More running up hills, somewhere in all this mud running Eileen wipes out. Ta Daaa
The sun has been pounding on us all day, I don't feel any breeze but I do see the last few obstacles just ahead.
First the wall, I go over the slightly lower end, Heather over the highest. Actually this was not hard at all thanks to the 2x2 inch foot helpers.
We see the rest of our group going over, and realize we really were not that far behind them. Finally its our turn. the four of us go up together.
One more burst through the Mud Pool. Heather dives in.
Climb out, slippery slimey mud at our feet and Eileen does a mud slide.
We hold hands and run through the finish line. All this was accomplished in under an hour!
Then we get our complimentary vodka martini shot. Tasty, and from the Distrillery I blogged about earlier this year.
We greet our fantastic fans, Scott Z, Amy P, and Dan, who have watched us flop around in the mud. Overall, this was a blast. And thanks Heather for staying with our little group and not treating it like a race, but instead jogging and laughing along with us at this outlandish outdoor experience.
MUD SWEAT AND CHEERS TEAM PICTURE
Leah, Amy P and Judi, mark your calendars, next year you guys will have to be part of the fun!
**After the fact, no injuries to report, though Suzie does have some nice sun burn and bruised knees to prove she participated.
