On Sunday, May 22, I joined my friends for a road trip to Mechanicsville, MD to go play in the mud!

I’ve never been one to like getting dirty, but when they suggested signing up for the Warrior Dash months ago, I just had to be a part of it. Hello, fuzzy warrior helmets to all racers? Oh yeah.

I wasn’t so sure how all the obstacles were going to go, and wasn’t at all prepared for running in the mud … but I’m happy to report all went well and I loved every muddy minute!

We lined up in the corral before our 1pm start and waited for the countdown. When they hit zero and started shooting fire in the air, we were on our way into the woods!

It was dry for a bit and a little dusty, but the mud wasn’t far away. I giggled when a girl shouted “Ew, it’s muddy!” near the start. I don’t think that was even an intentional puddle! I wonder how she made out …

It wasn’t long before we were struggling to keep our shoes on in thick mud that one racer likened to cake batter. Only I had to comment that it wasn’t nearly as delicious. (In fact, the mud was rather stinky.)

Through the mud, and then through a nearly-dry stream bed (there was shallow water flowing — it actually felt great!), we wound our way through the woods until we hit our first obstacle — bungee cords above and below that we had to climb through. The runners were so packed together that it felt like a teambuilding exercise. We had to help each other out. It was easier being short since I barely had to worry about the bands, but an unfortunate guy next to me accidentally took a band to the head!

I managed to stay upright as we ran through sloppy trails, except for a little slip where I needed to put my hand down to catch myself. And touch the mud — ick! But only moments later we were crawling on our hands and knees through the blackout tent.  It was constructed so you had to crawl or else you’d hit the beams (there were lights so you could see enough), though I found I could move quicker if I crouched and kept my knees off the ground!

There were also a series of barricades we had to hoist ourselves over. They were over waist height (for me!) so it took a bit of effort, and there were mud puddles to land in. Some with deeper holes. Everyone warned the people behind them about the deeper spots so I tried to land on on the shallow side for one of them. Only that plan failed. My right foot found the deep spot, and my left knee and leg hit the ground of the shallow side. It stung for a minute, and at one point I could see I was bleeding, but it fortunately was just a few minor scrapes.

Out of the woods, we had to climb over a cargo net. There was a bit of a holdup here. While it wasn’t that high, you could tell people were just freezing up and having a hard time getting over the top. Yes, it was a tiny bit scary but I had no trouble with it when I finally got my turn!

Then we had some mediocre obstacles — climbing hay bales, running through tires (though I walked, as I was sure my mud-caked body would be more likely to fall!), and a “cliff” to climb that included a rope to help us up … though it was just a wood ramp that barely needed rope assistance.

Running through the field of swinging tires was a little weird, but OK. We had some steep dirt (not mud, thankfully!) hills to run up (part of the race course was on a motocross track), where I did more walking.  And at the top there was a water slide!

There was another holdup here, as the race staff made us all stop and wait while they fixed the tarp. After a short delay, I headed down the hill. Really fast! There was a large rut on the ride side that I slid into. I tried to stay seated but fell to my back, where I managed to chafe four spots along my spine. Ouch!

Some more hills, and then we had to jump over a few rows of fire. They were pretty low to the ground, so not too scary! And then the final obstacle — the mud pit! You couldn’t get out of this one clean as they had barbed wire across the top. We had to get on our hands and knees again! Though I found it was quicker to just pull myself through the water with my elbows.

Out of the mud, and the finish line was right there. Woo-hoo!

I saw my friend with his camera and made sure I finished strong!

That was so much fun. And actually, a bit easier than I expected.

But I’ll definitely do that again!