Monday, November 7, 2011

A tale of three mud runs

 If your friends decided to do crazy obstacles, or run through a creek in November, or crawl through a three foot deep mud pit would you do it? Well, Josh and I would!

Our obstacle course fun started in July. We signed up to do the Warrior Dash with a group of friends. The Warrior Dash is a 5k run though rough terrain that is filled with ridiculous obstacles like cargo nets, mud pits, and giant walls. The day of the Dash was insanely hot and Josh and I didn't run until 2:30. Most of our friends ran earlier in the day. Josh and I made our way through many of the obstacles. There were high walls to jump over and wire to crawl under. Creeks to run through and then steep muddy banks to climb up. About half way through the dash I started feeling pretty bad. I kept getting dizzy and feeling like I was going to pass out. with about 1/4 mile to go, I had to stop. Fellow runners alerted the first aid tent and they sent a truck out to get me. I got to the first aid station and they gave me water to drink and took my vitals. My blood pressure was really low and so was my heart rate. After a few minutes I started feeling faint again and before I knew it, two guys threw me on a stretcher and hooked me up to a monitor, blood pressure cuff, oxygen, and gave me an IV in my muddy arm. I had heat exhaustion and I am so glad I stopped when I did. That day, two men died out at the Warrior Dash from heat stroke and another 14 had to be taken to the hospital. After my bag of IV fluids went in, one of the EMT's started asking me which hospital I wanted to be taken to. As much fun as an ambulance ride sounded, I refused. Then two guys argued over it for awhile, but I told them I was a nurse and promised to go to the ER if I started to feel worse. I was allowed to leave with Josh (who had to finish the race and then come find me) but I was given strict instructions to stay indoors and take it easy for the next 48 hours.
muddy Josh after the race

So that wasn't the most fun. All my friends finished and I felt bad that I did not. I quickly signed us up for the next Warrior Dash that was close to us! So in October, Josh and I headed out to St. Louis. This run was less challenging in terms of the terrain, but had much harder obstacles. Josh and I were in good spirits as we ran, climbed, and jumped. This time I made it to the end and was rewarded with having to jump over fire and then crawl through a three foot deep mud pit. The mud was sooooo cold. As we were there by ourselves, we didn't have anyone to take muddy pictures :( This run was a lot of fun and I didn't almost die so we are calling this one a win!
Made it across the fire filled, muddy finish line where my free beer was waiting!

Our last run was over the weekend. This one was the Run Ruckus. This was a true mud run. Josh and I went with our friend Kat and Josh's brother Nick. We went in costume as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Everyone loved our costumes and cheered us on! At the start of the race, I was a little disappointed by the look of the course. It looked like it wouldn't be challenging at all. Boy was I wrong. I should have noticed that the people running were all muddy....not like the warrior dash where people just got muddy at the end....soon I figured out why. The very first obstacle was a series of walls that you had to climb over like the warrior dash. Unlike the dash, the ground was very squishy mud. I nearly lost a shoe trying to walk through it and then I got my leg stuck and couldn't move!!!  Then they had crazy ropes over water that you had  shimmy across. Then giant "mud mountains and valleys". They were giant mud hills that you had to climb up and then down into a pit of water....repeat about 6 times. There was no avoiding mud!!! We ran through creeks and climbed up ropes, and crawled though drains and under nets....it was so much fun.


We went as the Ninja Turtles! Everyone loved our costumes!


Running hard!!! Already covered in mud!


Giant cargo nets that you had to roll across


weeeeeeeeeee!
trying to make our way across by putting our feet into nooses.
Turtle Power