Mud and Muck Run 5K

When: August 28, 2010
Time: 9:00 a.m.
Temp: 75F
Finish: 25:xx

This is my second time running this race. I planned on taking it easy since I have another 5K tomorrow morning. I still managed to finish a little faster than last year even though it seems like they lengthened and added more hills to the course.

Morning Routine:
Everything was going good this morning. I woke up to my alarm, showered to wake up, and drank my coffee. Then I went to make my pre-race bowl of cereal for breakfast, but come to find out I forgot to pick-up milk yesterday as I had planned. Oh well, honey nut cheerios taste good without milk. I had plenty of time to relax before having to leave for a race so I decided to watch the movie 13 Ghosts. Not necessarily race inspiring, but a decent movie nonetheless.

Before the Race:
I arrive at the race location with plenty of time to walk around and stretch before the race started. I snapped a few pics of the crowd and start/finish areas.


People starting to arrive


Fire tucks arrived to let the kids have a tour of them


Starting line


Finish Line

Then it was time to go and line up. There were quite a few people in costumes so I tried to get pics of some of them.







There were a lot of people in colorful outfits like the gal in this picture.

The RD said a few words then started the count down and we were off! The race starts with a short paved section and then starts down a dirt/gravel road for the rest of the race. The next pics will give you a general idea of what the majority of the course looked like.


Shortly after the start


First gravel section. A gradual incline that's not too evident in this picture.


At the top of a hill. Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of the hill.


One of several tree-lined areas.

The course also had a couple of obstacles other than the mud pit. My pictures of the obstacles didn't turn out very well, but here they are.


You can't really tell, but the gravel mound on the upper left side of the picture was one of a series of three gravel piles that were dubbed the "rolling hills" of the course. Yes, I ran up and down all three so I guess I got in my hill sprints during the race.


The orange barrier fence up ahead was the first of a series of three in the "low-crawl" part of the course.

Overall it was a very fun course, but there was one hill that had a lot of people walking. Everyone that I passed on that hill stayed behind me the rest of the race! The next couple of pics show the hill after I had already ran down/up it.


The aid station was at the bottom of the hill.


After the hill we run an out and back along a levee. This pic was during the "back" section.


The lake on the other side of the levee.

After that hill was a nice flat section, then we ran up another incline and finally made it to the mud pit. They mentioned there being a mudslide, well it was a mud mound in front of the pit with no real "slide" to be seen. A little bit of a disappointment.

The mud pit was actually deep, thick, shoe-sucking mud this time. I debated taping my shoes to my feet, but since it was just muddy water last year I decided against it. My first step I start to pull my right foot up and the shoe starts slipping off my foot. I plunge my hand down in the deep mud and pull my shoe out of the mud. I continue walking and it was tough going. I decided to fall into the mud and crawl on top of it while carrying my shoe in one hand and my camera in the other. I'm sure they will have pics so I'll post them when they become available.

I finally make it out of the mud pit and continue on my way running/trudging along covered in mud, my right shoe in my hand, my sock almost coming off. I must have looked strange, but I couldn't put my shoe back on since it was filled with mud. Even running with 1 shoe, I still managed to pass people and not get passed. I crossed the finish line in 25:xx and received a coffee mug for being one of the first 300 finishers.

I made my way over to the clean-up area and someone was nice enough to snap a picture of me before I washed up.


As you can see, I had FUN!

The following pics are of the clean-up areas.





After getting cleaned up, I had some of the post race goodies. They had a decent little spread consisting of hotdogs, chips, chili, milk, water, and sodas.

All in all it was good fun and a good way to stretch out the legs before the 5K tomorrow.

I warned you it was going to be very long! Now go get yourself a beer for making it through it, you earned it.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the pics.

Eric