Summer Muddin' 5K is the 3rd race in a 4 race series that I'm running this year. This was my favorite race of the 3 so far - mainly because it was nice and HOT outside. The race in March was cold and rainy, the race in May was warm at first but freezing after we got soaked, but this weekend was STEAMY hot and the water only helped with cooling us off when needed. I'm one of those crazies that prefers running in the super summer temperatures. They've tweaked the course here and there, but for the most part, I've got the hang of it now. I was still pretty nervous the morning of the race because somehow (and I'm not sure how) I had convinced several coworkers and family members to sign up for this race as well. A handful of them had either run a mud run before or at least a road race - but a large percentage of them had not run a race at all. I was so nervous about everyone having a good time! At the start line, there ended up being about 15 of us total, all at different levels of fitness. The last 2 races in this series I've run with two of my girlfriends - both of whom were also there on Saturday. It worked out perfectly because each fitness level had 3-5 people each, so no one really ran alone that didn't want to, and we ended up finishing in 4-5 different groups. My cousin Sarah ran with me and she and I ended up running the entire thing together, which was a lot of fun. I hadn't previously run that entire race, so it was fun to really get after it a little bit...push the limits.
There weren't many changes from the May course - there was one large mound of dirt to crawl AND an extra mud pit, which was new - but other than that, obstacles were the same. I would like to point out the picture of me climbing the big wall. It's hard to get up that thing, so some of us girls use the side braces to get up and over. This also illustrates the funniest part of mud runs, which is that you usually end up with a stranger's hand on your butt at some point during the race. I managed to do the traverse again, which was awesome - and Sarah and Kelly both did it for their first time! I still get freaked out at the warped wall, but I'm bound and determined to figure that thing out in October. There's a much larger version at the Savage Race in November, so I need to get it together and conquer that obstacle. The slip and slides were super fun, as usual, and it was awesome to go flying into the water with my cousin. The mud pits were tough - the heat did make it hard to keep the ground soft, so I have a lot of scrapes and bruises on my shins - nothing new for me.
So then, since everything was going SO well, I decided to make a silly decision and hurt myself. They have an obstacle where there are logs in a brace that you are supposed to climb over (there are 3 in a row). There are 2 options: one log is about neck height for me and the other is about waist height. So you have a choice...your own choice to make. I normally go for the waist high one - it's easy to swing a leg over and hop to the other side. My cousin was with me (she's a few inches taller than me) and she says, "I'm going to try the high one!" Well, if you know me, you know that I couldn't let her try the high one without giving it a go myself. So I put my hands on it and it's obvious that I won't be able to push myself up without a little run and jump action. So I take a few steps back, run at it, put my hands on it and jump. I don't make it over enough to stay on the log - but since it's super slick and wet, I slide all the way backwards (4 feet?) and hit the ground (HARD) flat on my back. It knocked the wind out of me and hurt like hell. I got up pretty quickly and stepped off the course for just a few seconds. My poor cousin - I give her mad props, she was so worried and she didn't laugh even once - and I know that it was at least a LITTLE funny to see. I got up, got moving and we finished the race, but I knew that this one was going to really hurt. We were the second group of people to finish, so we were hanging out watching for the rest of our people. As we stood there, I could feel the muscles in my neck and upper back starting to lock up, it was pretty painful. The first call I made when I got in the car was my chiropractor/friend to get some early treatment ideas. He gave me some tips and I was able to get in to see him today. Basic diagnosis - a little bit of whiplash - from basically clotheslining myself on a big log. Nice. The appointment today helped and now I'm taped up. It's not HALF as bad as I was expecting for 2 days later. I'm hoping it will just be a couple of days before it's feeling more normal. Unfortunately this means I have to go easy this week, which sucks, since I was getting all geeked up about my Summer/Fall training schedule. *sigh* Let this be a lession about showing off...it never ends well.
Matt, Brandon, Brittney, Deanna, Trish and I
Me, Aunt Libby (she turns 50 tomorrow!), Stevie, Uncle Steve, Sarah
Lisa, Kerstin, Me, Nana and Lauren
Up and Over!
You always meet nice people at mud runs!
