Mud Run Results

Saturday I ran (and slipped and slid and walked) the mud run that I ran last year.

Last year I barely got dirty at all, but that was definitely not the case this year.

We had a decent snowstorm that left good-sized drifts that started melting towards the end of the week, aided by a downpour that came on Friday. Needless to say, the course was a muddy, sloppy mess. But isn't that why we run mud runs: to get muddy? The weather was warmer this year than last, which made the freezing runoff a little easier to handle. The almost-knee-high water in the drainage tunnel under the highway halfway through the race was pretty cold, but washed some of the mud off.

I talked my friend C into doing it with me, and it made a huge difference to do it with a friend. We helped each other over the obstacles and tried to keep each other from slipping and sliding too much. I still slipped and fell in a creek and a giant puddle, so I got soaked to my waist, but it would have been a lot worse without her help.

It was also nice to have the psychological help of running with someone. Physically this was one of the hardest races I've done in quite awhile. I think it was a combination of factors: I wasn't as recovered from my cold as I thought I was (my lungs and throat were very unhappy during and after the race); I think I'm still not getting enough carbs, so my energy levels are lower than I'd like; and two weeks off from running combined with being sick and not enough carbs left me with legs that felt like lead on a course full of rolling hills.

Despite all that, we had fun and C said she'd be willing to do it again next year.

As you can see from my race times below, I was a lot slower this year than last. Part of that is because it wasn't safe to run the whole thing so we walked a good portion, but there were still parts I could have run if I'd just had the energy to do so.

2014:  1:49:55 at a 24:26/mile pace  = 4.5 miles
2013:  1:12:34 at a 18:09/mile pace  = 4 miles

Not sure about that extra half mile this year, but the timing and pace info comes from the official race results. I think the course did change a little from last year, but who knows? It just adds to the challenge!

Before the race:

all nice and clean, wearing our clearance Valentine's Day knee highs from Target

After the race:

definitely not nice and clean anymore

Have you run/walked/slipped/slid through a mud run?