Race Report: Big Sur Mud Run

Last weekend, I participated in the Big Sur Mud Run. It was crazy, amazing, insane fun! I was lucky enough to run this as part of Team Dirty Divas (Maritza, Tara, Julianne, and Shelly). It was awesome to join these amazing gals but woah boy, did it kick my a**.

It's a five mile course with four mud pits. I knew about all this and I was pumped. What I failed to note is the terrain and the elevation of the course. Doh! It was mostly uphill climbs on both pavement and trails (parts of it on sand!). The last time I ran any kind of hills was at the Nike half in October. So yeah - that hurt.

I think the best way to describe this race is through pictures and video (!!!) and we've got tons of awesome ones! All pictures and videos are courtesy of Julianne and Shelly and their awesome cheerleader/photgrapher/videographer crew.

Here's us at the start - note how nice and clean we look... that won't last.


Check out the cute shirts that Shelly designed for us - thanks girl!


Waiting for our wave to start... we did some jumping jacks to get warmed up


So now we're off! As I mentioned in my previous post, my teammates are awesome runners and my race pace is their easy pace. Right out of the gate, I had to pretty much sprint to sort of keep up with them. Did I mention the first mile was mostly uphill, too?

Eventually we got to the first mud put which I think was at mile 1 (no mile markers on the course). We had to tackle three consecutive short walls. They were too high to jump over so I had to hoist myself up to sit on top and then swing my legs over. This worked fine for the first two but by the third one, I may have swung my legs too forcefully because I ended up sliding right off, landing myself in the mud pit. Oh well, I knew I was going to get muddy - might as well go for it. No pics - sorry!

Then it was off to run on the trails... I'll spare you the details but between the sand sinking you in and what seemed like never ending uphills, I was huffing and puffing like a chain smoker. The girls were so nice with waiting for me at each obstacle plus cheering each other on (usually with "Come on, b*tches!" - but in a very supportive, affectionate tone *hee, hee*).

Next mud pit had us climbing over a six foot wall - we couldn't do it ourselves so these nice guys helped hoist us over.

We got some cool pics of the third mud pit... first we had to cross a beam...


... then haul ourselves over another 6 foot wall (I was able to do this one by myself this time!)...


... run through a mud pit and then do ten push ups. (Girly ones for me)


Check out the video:


And here are some funny guys with their unique approach to it:


I should also mention that they had these drill sergeant types manning the course and some where hilarious! I saw two of them take down a participant when she was trying to get over a wall. One guy kicked and splashed mud all over us in one of the mud pits. Another guy barked at me for smiling. So funny!

Another fun thing about this race - beer stop! I was hot and dying at that point so beer tasted really good. There was also a water stop a little ahead but oops, I missed that.

OK, onto the last mud pit. I'll let the pics and video speak for themselves... but basically, this time we had to crawl through the mud pit.







Afterward, we then went on to run the final portion of the course around the track. As we approached the finish, we took what just might be my favorite race photo ever!


Crossing the finish line!


Our official finish time was 1:02:23 and we finished in 11th out of a total 33 teams in the all female division.

Here's us with our well-earned medals (I don't know why I'm flexing - I have invisible biceps)


Then it was off to the showers... a very surreal experience. I felt like I was in a Backstreet Boys video (quick - which one?)


Kind of clean...


Afterward we celebrated with lunch at Bubba Gump's in Monterey right on the water - it was a beautiful afternoon!

By the way, here's our race shirt and medal:


Close-up:


Cute back design as well... "I got down and dirty at the Mud Run"


I really enjoyed running with these girls and getting to hang out with them more. Go Dirty Divas! This race was such a fun experience (even if I felt like I was dying for most of it). It was a rare occasion when I actually enjoyed random men hollering, "There goes those dirty girls!" And who knew my first wet T-shirt appearance would occur well into my 30s?

I had so much fun that I am now planning to do the Muddy Buddy Ride & Run in June! I have the perfect shoes for it...