Top 10 Mud Run Tips

We accomplished a very fun day doing the Dirty Girl Mud Run and all the training we did came in very handy.  Not all mud runs are created equal and this one was by far the easiest, however, there were some things that either did help out a lot or would have been a great idea... 

1. Consider wearing leggings or knee pads under the leggings to protect your legs/knees when crawling through obstacles.  Some of the crawling was just mushy mud, but some was definitely coated in gravel.

2. Unless you want to be dripping mud down your clothing, even after you rinse off, do not dunk you head if at all possible.

3. Do not bring bottled water with you to save time at the rinse station.  We never used it and carried around 3 gallons in my gym bag all day for nothing. 

4.  Wear clothes you do not care about and can ditch right after or be ready to spend some time hand scrubbing with a terrific stain remover:
       1/2 blue original dawn dish detergent (I don't usually use many things with man made chemicals, but this one works!) mixed with 1/2 hydrogen peroxide. Most people clean their 'mud duds' right when they get home, but we were visiting relatives out of town for another 2 days and didn't want to clog up their machine.  So, they sat in a humid car in a musty garbage bag until we got home.  I hosed everything off as well as I could, and this took considerable time.  Then I soaked them in a tub for 1 day in water, another day in water and some stain remover solution, then went at it scrubbing on the third day.  They are not new looking, but presentable considering what happened to them!

5. Use shoes you can donate at the end of the race for the same reason and check off a good deed.

6. At the rinse station, strip off to your underwear (its all girls at this one) and bring a bar of soap.  You'll have to be quick to ward off the evil eyes as its meant to be a quick rinse, but the soap will shave quite a few minutes off your rinse.

7. Bring someone along to take pictures and video of the race... you'll preserve some great moments!

8. On that note... Smile, jump, wave, be silly and strike a pose at every obstacle... there appeared to be hidden professional photographers or cameras set up at each one.  Really wished we had hammed it up a tad more now:) Be sure to wipe off your runner tag each time you get muddy; its the only way they can tag you later and you can find your pictures!

9. Tie your shoes on snugly, as you WILL lose them on the first deep pit if you don't!

10. Tie something wacky on your bag like you would do for luggage at an airport.  It makes finding your black duffle bag MUCH faster amidst everyone else's black duffle bags!

Bonus... if they give you a promo tshirt (and especially if it's white.. put it into a plastic bag and leave it till you get home.  DO NOT wear it thinking you are clean after the rinse station.  You are NOT! lol!)

Mud run training

For my first mud run, I'm doing the 'wimpy' one with the inflatables, among other things as opposed to fire pits and barbed wire (not off the table for next year, though!)  Because I' ve never been able to run across the street, never mind in a race...it was a lofty goal, but I wanted to celebrate my twins 16th and my fitness comeback with something that we could do together and have fun doing it.  Sis and I started at the gym nearly daily since late March doing the elliptical and treadmill, working up our pace and endurance. We tried to attend a bootcamp class twice a week,but it didn't always work with our schedule, so the last few weeks we added regular abs and arms. I lost gym time for the 3 weeks leading up to the race due to work, so I added trail running (with walking when I couldnt run anymore). This added experience with terrain, weather, and humidity.  I was shocked to find a new love in trail running;  it's not hard on the knees and it's so much more enjoyable than the road or staring at a treadmill...30 min literally disappears! Today it was pouring, but we're doing a mud run no matter the weather, so we went anyway. 
Positives:

• Running in the rain gives you more mileage on much less effort. 
• Kids get downright giddy getting soaked to the bone and sloshing through mud and deep puddles with permission. 
• Shower is optional after.
• My $2 clip on camera case that I use as a wallet and phone holder actually was waterproof in the end.
• There are no bugs when it rains.

Negatives:

• If you trail run without bug spray when it's not raining, you cannot stop, ever.
• If you don't want your car soaked for a couple days, plan ahead and bring towels.
• If you don't want to be blind most of the time,wear a baseball hat or swim goggles.
• Flash flooding on trails makes navigating roots, rocks, and sticks impossible, as well as running.
• Feminine protection of any external kind gets waterlogged, grows to 5X it's original size, and feels like a diaper.

Lessons learned. Now that I'm  dry, I'm going to add a tip from another runner, situps and pushups, 3 sets each to failure. With a few days left, I'm giving it all she' got, Captain! What do you do to train for an event?

Skunks

What we thought was an abandoned baby skunk living under our shed turned into at least 6 baby skunks who really liked our yard.  I love animals and don't really mind the nocturnal kind that keep to themselves, but I love my kids more and the many friends that gather at my house.  Since these guys were quite comfortable stumbling around during the day, testing their natural abilities, we had to evict them.  It was the kinder choice since the nuisance guy would not only charge us $50 each, he would have to euthanize them  because no relocation area was available.   Needless to say, I got digging around the internet.  Thankfully, the first and least invasive appears to have worked...playing loud music in the shed 24/7.  However, your visitors may not be so accommodating, so you may want to trap and relocate, put mothballs in the area, or soak rags in ammonia around the den area, place motion sensor flood lights near the den, place flour at the mouth of the den and when the tracks show they've left for the night, block up holes with stone or buried chicken wire because they will dig. Last option is to humanely shoot them if local laws and your conscience allows. If you use mothballs or ammonia, do not let children or pets near the area!