A few months ago, my sister-in-law Courtney began casually bringing up
obstacle / mud runs. Initially, I was not interested at all,
especially in the mud runs. As lame as it sounds, I do not enjoy
getting dirty. I know, here is my man card. On top of that, I hate to
run. Then one day she told me about an obstacle course race that does
not involve mud. I checked out the website, and was immediately
interested. It looked like fun. You could race by yourself, or as part
of a four person team. We chose team and began looking for teammates.
However, a few weeks later, Courtney remembered that she was going to
be out of town for a convention the weekend of the race. Suck. I
rallied and found some teammates and we are looking forward to the
race. In the meantime, Courtney started hearing about all of these other
obstacle races, some in the mud and some in the sand. I decided to
bite the bullet, and we signed up for the Boondock Battle, a 5k mud
run with obstacles in Navasota. It was not my first choice, but I
figured that I can always rinse the mud off. This was going to be my
first mud run, and Courtney's second. She did the Warrior Dash a few
weeks ago and aside from 2 black toes, came out unscathed. Courtney thought that it would be fun to run in a costume. I agreed
after hearing her idea. She wanted us to look like escaping prisoners,
and I pictured O' Brother Where Art Thou in my mind. After quite a bit
of searching, she was able to find some striped prisoner garb at a
local costume shop. On the package, the costume said "one size fits
all". NO, it does not. The pants, lets just say would have been
obscene for me to wear. For my comfort and everyone else's eyes, we
decided to go with the shirts and caps only. Courtney then added
"Outlaw In-laws" to the costume with a black Sharpie. We told our families about the race, and most thought that we were
crazy. But, they were also interested in watching. So, on the morning
of the race, Jen, A1, A2, and myself caravanned with Courtney, Mike,
and S1 the 90 or so miles to Navasota. The last 40 or so miles were on
two lane country roads. About 30 miles from the race, we came over a
hill and ran into traffic. Traffic? In the middle of nowhere, what
could be causing traffic? How about six Model T era vehicles driving
25 to 30 MPH in a 65 MPH zone. I would think that when they noticed 20
vehicles backed up behind them, they might pull over to let people
pass, NOPE. It was like driving in a never ending school zone.
Painful. We finally arrived at the ranch where the race was held. We
had left in time to arrive an hour before our race time, but the Motel
T's ruined that for us. We ended up being a little late and our start
time was pushed back an hour. My parents decided to come watch us
race, but they were lucky enough to miss the Model Ts. After arriving, we got into our costumes. Then we all boarded a
trailer and sat on hay bales for the 2 mile trip to the start of the
race. Once there, we signed in, gave them a signed release of
liability waiver, and received our gear bag. There was a t-shirt,
bottle cap, and race bib in the bag. The bottle cap was good for a
free drink after the race. We took a few pre-race pictures and then it
was time to get ready to run. Our wave had 50-70 runners, and we all lined up at the starting line.
There were some other costumes in the group and one guy volunteered to
wear a helmut mounted camera for the race organizers. They said "Go"
and we were off towards the first obstacle. The crazy thing is, only
two short days later, I do not remember the first obstacle. I do
remember that we ran about .75 of a mile before reaching it. That was
the longest run without an obstacle. In all, there were about 20
obstacles. A few of them I will mention here. The mud pit. It was in the first half of the race. When you arrived,
you saw a pit of muddy water about 3 feet below ground level. The pit
was about 10 yards across. I jumped in, and the water was over my
head. So, I am swimming across. They had a rope in the water which was
tied off to a tree on the other side. You had to use the rope to climb
up and out of the pit. Of course, the bank was higher on this side. It
was a 12 foot climb up a muddy bank using the rope. Courtney was right
behind me and we were completely drenched and muddy, but we were
running again. A few obstacles later, was the creek bed. We ran about 150 yards along
a flowing and muddy creek. At the end, we found two ropes and a 15
foot climb up a muddy bank. Sand, Sand, and more Sand. Right after the creek, was the sand. The
sand obstacle was about 30 yards long, with small hills on each side
of a 20 foot dune. We were wet and winded before, after we were sandy
and our feet were 5 pounds heavier. We did not run quite as fast after
the sand. Near the end of the race, we found the General, a monster mud slide.
Using a large hill, an excavator, plastic sheeting, and water, they
created a gigantic slide that ended in a mud pit. Courtney and I went
down together. It was fast and fun. After some muddy over unders and
crawling through mud underneath chain link fencing, we found the
finish line. After crossing the line, they gave us a dog tag to
commemorate the occasion. A1 was at the finish line and wanted the dog
tag. He has been wearing it since the event. Courtney and I then walked over to the shower area. Using well water
and PVC pipe with holes, they had created four showers. The water was
extremely cold, but effective at removing most of the mud. We walked
back to our group and got onto the next trailer to ride back to our
vehicles. Overall, I had a great time. Thanks to everyone that came out to watch
and cheer us on. I can see quite a few of these types of races in my
future. Courtney keeps finding them and we keep signing up. I think we
are scheduled for three more, 2 beach and 1 mud, and are seriously
looking at a tough one in the Austin area in October. If this is my
mid-life crisis, I am not doing too bad.
obstacle / mud runs. Initially, I was not interested at all,
especially in the mud runs. As lame as it sounds, I do not enjoy
getting dirty. I know, here is my man card. On top of that, I hate to
run. Then one day she told me about an obstacle course race that does
not involve mud. I checked out the website, and was immediately
interested. It looked like fun. You could race by yourself, or as part
of a four person team. We chose team and began looking for teammates.
However, a few weeks later, Courtney remembered that she was going to
be out of town for a convention the weekend of the race. Suck. I
rallied and found some teammates and we are looking forward to the
race. In the meantime, Courtney started hearing about all of these other
obstacle races, some in the mud and some in the sand. I decided to
bite the bullet, and we signed up for the Boondock Battle, a 5k mud
run with obstacles in Navasota. It was not my first choice, but I
figured that I can always rinse the mud off. This was going to be my
first mud run, and Courtney's second. She did the Warrior Dash a few
weeks ago and aside from 2 black toes, came out unscathed. Courtney thought that it would be fun to run in a costume. I agreed
after hearing her idea. She wanted us to look like escaping prisoners,
and I pictured O' Brother Where Art Thou in my mind. After quite a bit
of searching, she was able to find some striped prisoner garb at a
local costume shop. On the package, the costume said "one size fits
all". NO, it does not. The pants, lets just say would have been
obscene for me to wear. For my comfort and everyone else's eyes, we
decided to go with the shirts and caps only. Courtney then added
"Outlaw In-laws" to the costume with a black Sharpie. We told our families about the race, and most thought that we were
crazy. But, they were also interested in watching. So, on the morning
of the race, Jen, A1, A2, and myself caravanned with Courtney, Mike,
and S1 the 90 or so miles to Navasota. The last 40 or so miles were on
two lane country roads. About 30 miles from the race, we came over a
hill and ran into traffic. Traffic? In the middle of nowhere, what
could be causing traffic? How about six Model T era vehicles driving
25 to 30 MPH in a 65 MPH zone. I would think that when they noticed 20
vehicles backed up behind them, they might pull over to let people
pass, NOPE. It was like driving in a never ending school zone.
Painful. We finally arrived at the ranch where the race was held. We
had left in time to arrive an hour before our race time, but the Motel
T's ruined that for us. We ended up being a little late and our start
time was pushed back an hour. My parents decided to come watch us
race, but they were lucky enough to miss the Model Ts. After arriving, we got into our costumes. Then we all boarded a
trailer and sat on hay bales for the 2 mile trip to the start of the
race. Once there, we signed in, gave them a signed release of
liability waiver, and received our gear bag. There was a t-shirt,
bottle cap, and race bib in the bag. The bottle cap was good for a
free drink after the race. We took a few pre-race pictures and then it
was time to get ready to run. Our wave had 50-70 runners, and we all lined up at the starting line.
There were some other costumes in the group and one guy volunteered to
wear a helmut mounted camera for the race organizers. They said "Go"
and we were off towards the first obstacle. The crazy thing is, only
two short days later, I do not remember the first obstacle. I do
remember that we ran about .75 of a mile before reaching it. That was
the longest run without an obstacle. In all, there were about 20
obstacles. A few of them I will mention here. The mud pit. It was in the first half of the race. When you arrived,
you saw a pit of muddy water about 3 feet below ground level. The pit
was about 10 yards across. I jumped in, and the water was over my
head. So, I am swimming across. They had a rope in the water which was
tied off to a tree on the other side. You had to use the rope to climb
up and out of the pit. Of course, the bank was higher on this side. It
was a 12 foot climb up a muddy bank using the rope. Courtney was right
behind me and we were completely drenched and muddy, but we were
running again. A few obstacles later, was the creek bed. We ran about 150 yards along
a flowing and muddy creek. At the end, we found two ropes and a 15
foot climb up a muddy bank. Sand, Sand, and more Sand. Right after the creek, was the sand. The
sand obstacle was about 30 yards long, with small hills on each side
of a 20 foot dune. We were wet and winded before, after we were sandy
and our feet were 5 pounds heavier. We did not run quite as fast after
the sand. Near the end of the race, we found the General, a monster mud slide.
Using a large hill, an excavator, plastic sheeting, and water, they
created a gigantic slide that ended in a mud pit. Courtney and I went
down together. It was fast and fun. After some muddy over unders and
crawling through mud underneath chain link fencing, we found the
finish line. After crossing the line, they gave us a dog tag to
commemorate the occasion. A1 was at the finish line and wanted the dog
tag. He has been wearing it since the event. Courtney and I then walked over to the shower area. Using well water
and PVC pipe with holes, they had created four showers. The water was
extremely cold, but effective at removing most of the mud. We walked
back to our group and got onto the next trailer to ride back to our
vehicles. Overall, I had a great time. Thanks to everyone that came out to watch
and cheer us on. I can see quite a few of these types of races in my
future. Courtney keeps finding them and we keep signing up. I think we
are scheduled for three more, 2 beach and 1 mud, and are seriously
looking at a tough one in the Austin area in October. If this is my
mid-life crisis, I am not doing too bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment