Mud Run 2008

THE CAMP PENDLETON MUD RUN ROCKS!

I am doing this race every year to come. I highly, highly encourage anyone who loves running & getting dirty in the process to participate in the future. You won't regret it.

This weekend was fantastical. I took a half day off work on Friday so we could drive down to San Diego early, and got to B's friends house in Temecula with plenty of time to chill with some Coronitas, home-made Sangria, chill with new puppies and dogs, and grab some Mexican food + margaritas. Slept in the next day and went to breakfast in Old Town Temecula, which is a really cute little area to visit. When we returned to the house, we settled in on the couch chatting, watching tv, and reading and barely made it off our asses to Carlsbad where the Mud Dogs were carbo-loading.

When we got to the Inns of America in Carlsbad, my one contact from the Mud Dogs (Kelli) hadn't yet made it, so we were introduced to the rest of the crew - which are awesome! We hung outside by the pool, ate pasta and bread, drank some beers, and got to bonding. The Mud Dogs bunch is seriously a great group of people.

Woke at 5:45 to leave the house by 6:30 and got to Camp Pendleton by 7:30. The run started out with an intense blast of ice cold water from a fire hose, and then we were off running around 2 miles steadily uphill. I was thankful for the many water stations they provided as I found myself extremely thirsty most of the run. (I was also thankful for the weather, that normally is up there in the 90s/100s, and was only in the 80s/90s). After the steady uphill and a few small mud puddles and streams, we approached a mud pit with a wall in the the center to climb over. Also had to go thru a mini tire course. THEN was the toughest part of the race for me - the RIVER CROSSING. This thing is intense: about 100-200 meters long, at one point the water was up to my neck. I tried to run, but it was too slick, and I tried to swim, but my shoes were too heavy. I ended up side stroking and totally exhausting myself by the end of the thing (as I had to watch a few people pass by me by pulling themselves along via a rope - cheaters!)... The next obstacles were so much fun: more mud pits and walls, a tunnel to crawl through, a vertical hill with streaming water to scale up, and finally a mud pit to dive in and crawl through near the finish. I finished my race in 58 minutes and managed to place 3rd in my age group, and was within the first top ten women to finish. I'm telling you - this was SERIOUS amounts of fun.

I might be converting to adventure racing...Muddy Buddy 2008 here I come!