Getting Down and Dirty

I had the most fun I've had in a long while. I participated in the Irvine Lake Mud Run this Saturday. It's a 5K run with several obstacles, most of them involving mud. I found out about this charity event about 2-3 months ago and a bunch of my friends were signing up, so I decided that I would too. And up to about a week ago, I was pretty excited about it. Then as it came closer and closer, I started to think, "Why they heck did I sign up for this?" I don't particularly like running... I hadn't really run in a LONG time.. not even on a treadmill. I don't like getting dirty, and a mud run is the epitome of dirty. And I hadn't heard about details for the event at all. Our team captain was very unorganized and basically should NEVER be in charge of anything ever in his life. Good kid, but very irresponsible. So the combination of these things kinda turned me off to it all.

But I stuck to it and and decided to do it. After all, I already paid for it. I wasn't going to just waste my money. So on Saturday, I got there at 8am, ready to do some running. Being around the 4000+ runners got me in the spirit. So they counted us down and we started the race. Ran at a good pace... and then we got to the first mud pit. I took my first step, thinking that maybe if I tread lightly, I won't get too much mud on me. WRONG. I stepped and the mud pit was deeper and softer than I thought it would be! My leg went right into the pit. Second step was the same thing. I ran out of the pit, dodging all my friends who were playing around in the mud, getting each other dirty. I made it through the first pit with only my legs covered in mud. My white t-shirt was still pretty white. WHEW! But, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

Second mud pit was bigger. Again, deep and dirty. Tried to get away unscathed... but no luck this time. My friends saw that my shirt was still white and attacked me. I got tackled into the mud. BAM, my whole body was covered with mud. HAHA. And to my surprise, I actually enjoyed my time in it. The rest of the way, I ran with super muddy shoes and heavy, muddy clothes. I actually made it through the 5K without dying. No training! I was pretty surprised at how easy it was for me. We did play around in the mud obstacles, but the rest of the way, we kept a pretty good pace.

The last obstacle was a GIANT mud pit where we had to crawl in the mud. Of course, we took this opportunity to get as dirty as possible. Basically SWAM in the mud. And after crossing the finish line, there was a mud pit play area, where we proceeded to do some more mud playing.

All in all, it was an AMAZING experience. I ended up being very happy for doing it. I am way proud of myself for completing a 5K. Maybe with a little bit of training, I could even do a half-marathon! We'll see... hehe. :) Enjoy the pic!