What a fun race this is! It's my 4th year running it and I always love to get down and dirty in the mud pit at the end. I will be honest though, I'm not much of a trail runner. I'm always afraid of twisting my ankle and undoing the surgery I had done 14 years ago. I am such a klutz that walking can sometimes be considered a full contact sport. Throw in tree roots and low hanging branches and I could be looking at an all expense paid trip to the hospital. But for this race, I'll suck it up and pick my way through the brush.
James has never been able to run it this race and has been begging to for years. It always fell on a weekend that he was at his mother's house. This was his year though. It was his time to shine according to him. He knows those trails because he has done Adventure Running at that park. He had a goal of getting covered head to toe in mud. He had his friend Jackie running with him. All bets were off. It was James vs. the mud in an epic battle.
We started off at a nice pace. He knew a few people running because of Adventure Running. Jackie was a trooper after having such a horrible first race experience a few weeks ago. We pointed out how this race is marshalled and there are signs to show you where to turn and where to go. The two of them chatted and got into the race more and more as we moved along.
At the 2k mark we entered the woods. This was when the excitement really started to build. This meant we were halfway done and that much closer to all the mud. We got to the first river crossing and they were in heaven. It was like watching to Labrador Retrievers jump in the water. They were making sure they stayed in the deep part of the water. James was up to thighs and Jackie was right behind him. I was trying to herd them out of the water and back onto the trail. As we were getting out of the water, James "fell" in the mud. I He claims it was an accident. I may buy that the first fall was an accident, but the 2nd and 3rd ones I don't think were accidental.
Now he was muddy and much happier. He takes off and is running ahead of us. I'm hanging back with Jackie to make sure she's okay and not worried about getting lost. As we are running, I'm teaching them what to do when they need to walk, trail etiquette, and the importance of running in a straight line as a opposed to running like a drunken sailor. James likes to spend time in Jamesland and forgets that there is world outside of that magical place. He has to be reminded from time to time.
We hit the next river crossing and they were splashing and having a good time. I got the question I had been waiting for, "Where is all the mud?" Then we came to the hill that was all mud. James fell down on his hands and knees and crawled/rolled/commando crawled up the hill so he could get muddy before the mud pit. Jackie walked up it laughing and having a good time with James. I, on the other hand, very slowly used trees and grass to help me up It was super slippery and I didn't want to take out the people behind me by doing my best imitation of a bowling ball. Besides, it would have been hard to pick up the split. We got to the top and it was another 2 minute run until the mud pit.
Once we hit the mud pit all bets were off. James dove in head first trying to get the award for the muddiest person. He rolled and crawled throwing mud at me the whole time. Jackie stayed upright trying to pick her way through while keeping her shoes on her feet. I, being the seasoned veteran, began crawling. But I made the fatal mistake of stopping and got stuck. It took me about 5 minutes to get through the pit and I was weighted down by all the mud that was caked on.
I crossed the finish line and looked back to see where James was. He was lying in the middle of the mud pit like a slug. He was stuck. He got halfway through and got sucked in. He was trying to get out, but the mud pit wasn't letting him. So I put on my super hero cape, summoned by super strength and jumped back in to save him. Let me tell you, it was like the blind leading the blind. I got stuck again and almost lost both of my shoes. I managed to get to him and we started pushing and pulling our way to the side where the mud wasn't knee deep. We got to the side, he got in his feet and managed to make it out and across the finish line.
Covered in mud from head to toe, Mike brought us our towels and change of clothes and we all trudged off the the river for a bath. I think they liked that just as much as the mud pit. We got rinsed off in the nice cold stream and headed back for a meal of hamburgers, hot dogs, fruit, and stale bagels.
We had great time at this race and James and Jackie are already planning their method of attack for next year. I'm glad James got to finally run it and Jackie got to see that running races can be fun.
This morning my run was stormed out. I will run in rain, but not in thunder and lightening. I'm hoping tomorrow will be a better morning for running or I will just hit the gym. James has track and field camp this week so he will be running and jumping some more. He was super excited for this camp and I'm so glad that he enjoys it. It will be a busy week for us, but it will be a great start to our summer of fun!
