So my friend Debbie asked me if I liked to run. I started laughing and said, "No, I don't like running, but I do it anyway." Then she asked me if I liked to get dirty. "Heck, yeah!" I said. Hence...the Mud Run. Our team name was the Balled and the Beautiful. 6 girls, 2 guys. Front row: Michel, Hunter, Stephanie, Pace, Chad. Back row: Brad, Debbie, Me. And we were there to get muddy.
The mud run is a 3.2 mile obstacle course put together by the Marine Reserves in Knoxville, TN. The run starts out up a small paved hill then turns onto a grassy field marked off into lanes. The obstacles seem innocent at first with a few log hurdles you have to climb over, a little more running, a dry sand pit you have to army crawl thro
ugh, more running, a slightly muddy zigzag, more running, thigh deep water you have to wade through (see left). But even at this point we were not that muddy. Then as soon as you left the water we were faced with an unbelievable incline probably only 50 feet long... but it was all mud. Not get your feet stuck mud, this was "lets make this a mudslide" mud. So this herd of 100 people or so are trying to get up this thing all at the same time. Some brave souls go at it at a run, smarter people walk and try to find safe footholds. I walked, yet my luck ran out. The girl in front of me landed on her knees and started sliding my way. I stopped her with my legs, but my legs didn't stay under me. So I was down...and kept sliding down. (First one of our group down, too.) The girl behind me wasn't nice and didn't try to help me up, so when she went to step over me, I tripped her (j/k she tripped over her own foot.) Finally, I was able to regain my footing thanks to a nice guy you lent me a hand. Not 2 seconds later, I was down again and sliding faster. Digging my toes in wasn't helping, so I dug my fingers in and I'm still looking for my right index finger's nail. (Kidding again) FINALLY, I got to the top with help from Brad, and the others were waiting on me with evil little grins. I think I made someone money, because I am sure they took bets on who was gonna fall first.
ugh, more running, a slightly muddy zigzag, more running, thigh deep water you have to wade through (see left). But even at this point we were not that muddy. Then as soon as you left the water we were faced with an unbelievable incline probably only 50 feet long... but it was all mud. Not get your feet stuck mud, this was "lets make this a mudslide" mud. So this herd of 100 people or so are trying to get up this thing all at the same time. Some brave souls go at it at a run, smarter people walk and try to find safe footholds. I walked, yet my luck ran out. The girl in front of me landed on her knees and started sliding my way. I stopped her with my legs, but my legs didn't stay under me. So I was down...and kept sliding down. (First one of our group down, too.) The girl behind me wasn't nice and didn't try to help me up, so when she went to step over me, I tripped her (j/k she tripped over her own foot.) Finally, I was able to regain my footing thanks to a nice guy you lent me a hand. Not 2 seconds later, I was down again and sliding faster. Digging my toes in wasn't helping, so I dug my fingers in and I'm still looking for my right index finger's nail. (Kidding again) FINALLY, I got to the top with help from Brad, and the others were waiting on me with evil little grins. I think I made someone money, because I am sure they took bets on who was gonna fall first. Well, the trail continued on a flatter note but was still slick after the rain the night before and the 300-400 pairs of feet that had trampled across it earlier. Then we came to Over Under. 6 telephone poles over a "Ima gonna steal yo' shoes" mud pit. First two you had to climb over. No biggie. (Though I do feel sorry for the girl who got a mud full of face/face full of mud when I kicked my leg over, but she shouldn't have been so close.) The last 4 poles were getting progressively closer to the mud, and you had to crawl under or the marines yelled at you.
By the time you got out of the mud pit, you had gained ten pounds on your feet, and you were still expected to run. So trot I did, for a little while. Then I walked, then jogged, then walked and complained, then jogged and walked. We came to the High Knees Tires, and surprisingly I didn't fall. Walked/Jogged some more, jogged up a hill to 3 giant PVC pipes with a thin layer of mud on the bottom to help slide through. Also, they had tiny jagged rocks that imbedded themselves in arms, palms, knees, or any other flesh they had the misfortune of meeting. I truly believe marines are sadists (though they didn't put those rocks in on purpose... I think). Another quick run downhill to another part of the lake we had to wade through, across a parking lot, into grass, to a shoulder high wall. I got over it first try. It wasn't pretty. It was spastic, but somehow I landed on my feet. More infernal running. Another mud pit to crawl through. Another big ass hill with less people on it (I didn't fall!). More walk/jogging. Army Crawl through mud with marines telling us to keep our butts down, and two girls (Me and Pace) telling them if they had butts, they would be having the same problem we were. A quick jog, under a one wire, to the last stretch. A quick wait for everyone to catch up so we could finish together. An older drill sargent yelling at us to "Pick it up! You had better not be slowing to crawl, there!" Me attempting to give said clean
drill sargent a hug (he was very agile and only got his hands dirty). Me sprinting to catch up with the group and us finishing at 59 minutes and 10 seconds on the clock which translates to 55 minutes and ?? seconds from our start time. Not too shabby! We had a blast, got some pictures (Left: Debbie, Me, Pace), then all jumped in the lake to clean off as best we could. I would love to do it again next year, and that is the plan if our clinicals are in the area. Hope you guys enjoyed the play by play and the pictures! Love, Em
The Balled & the Beautiful
drill sargent a hug (he was very agile and only got his hands dirty). Me sprinting to catch up with the group and us finishing at 59 minutes and 10 seconds on the clock which translates to 55 minutes and ?? seconds from our start time. Not too shabby! We had a blast, got some pictures (Left: Debbie, Me, Pace), then all jumped in the lake to clean off as best we could. I would love to do it again next year, and that is the plan if our clinicals are in the area. Hope you guys enjoyed the play by play and the pictures! Love, Em
The Balled & the Beautiful
1st row: Michel
2nd row: Chad, Hunter, Pace, Stephanie
3rd row: Brad, Debbie, Me
