For the second Saturday in a row I was up before the sun. Can you guess what I did?? I got D.I.R.T.Y. This is my 7th mud run in less than a year. I love these types of challenges and I've learned a few things along the way! Here are my tips in NO PARTICULAR ORDER!

 

1. Wear underwear or compression shorts under your running pants/shirts. I know a lot of runners don't like to wear underwear on race day, but trust me, wear them for a mud run. And while you're at it, wear granny panties. You don't want that nasty mud getting all up in your hoo-ha and you don't want your nice panties getting all up in a muddy bunch do ya?

2. Wear clothing that will NOT SOAK UP WATER! It will drag you down, make you heavy, sluggish, and if they get heavy enough guess what can happen? Yup, the weight of the mud can take them right off your body! Another good reason to wear granny panties.

3. Don't wear good shoes. I don't think I need to explain this one.

4. Bring plastic bags. I only need one 13 gallon size bag. And then I bring a few Publix grocery style plastic bags just in case. You'll want the bags to put all your post-race muddy clothing in. I do NOT rinse my clothing out at the race. I just peel it off and throw it in the bag, come home and wash it right away. I've never had an issue with mud stains.

5. Bring 2 towels, a washcloth, and a bar of soap. I set up one towel like a triathlon transition. I lay it out, put out my dry clean clothing, clean shoes, and then strip off my dirty clothing and in my sports bra and undies I wrap up in the other towel and head over to the hose station. And with my soap I am a very popular girl

6. Sometimes it's okay to sit back and observe how others tackle an obstacle before you just leap right in to it. I wish I had listened to this tip today. And I KNEW it, but I got caught up in the excitement of the event!

7. It's OKAY to go around an obstacle. While I'd prefer it if you pushed yourself out of your comfort zone, it's totally okay to NOT do an obstacle.  I've gone around 2 obstacles (1 in Warrior Dash and one in Mud Crusade) and I don't regret those decisions at all.

8. NOTHING NEW ON RACE DAY!! This includes COSTUMES!! Yes, costumes are fun and if you decide to wear one, you should "train" at least a small handful of times IN THE COSTUME!! Nothing worse than getting out on the course and realizing that your costume is not working for you.

9. There are a lot of mud/obstacle runs to choose from. Pick one that speaks to you. If you don't like zombies, then DON'T pick a zombie run. Don't want to be electrocuted? Then don't pick Tough Mudder. Want to run through a bubble tunnel and climb through "clean" mud? Then pick Pretty Muddy. Lots of choices. Make an educated decision. Ask questions, do research.

10. RELAX AND HAVE FUN!!

Saturday I did the Dirty Girl mud run. It's a women's only race, and it was a lot of fun. Our group, pre-race!

 Left to right: Genna, Mary, Meghann, Jackie, Caroline, Jessica, Me, Nicole, Denise, Margarita, and Raffi

It was a really great time except for the loads of horse and cow sh!t that were all over the course. Seriously ALL OVER THE COURSE. I couldn't relax and enjoy the run because I was so paranoid of stepping in sh!t, or of the people ahead of me stepping in it and then me climbing in the mud behind them, or putting my hands on places where their feet had been, etc. Super gross.

The obstacles were easy and not really challenging at all. Only one threw me for a loop and that was the cargo net. I had a total brain fart when it came to this obstacle and for the life of me I couldn't remember how I had done it at previous races, so rather than follow tip #6, I just went for it. BAD mistake. I decided to crawl across on my hands and knees and I ended up with bruises all down the front of shins. Ouch!!

We had two obstacles that we had to climb up in order to slide down. Climbing it was much harder than it looked, and I was so paranoid of putting my hands in cow sh!t from someone's shoe!

We had walls! Not very large, not very challenging. But fun!

This is the obstacle that grossed me out the most and that I got the muddiest doing! The cargo net belly crawl! I basically planked this obstacle, pulling myself through on my elbows. Thanks to Run DMT and Meals and Miles for these pics!

The dreaded cargo net!! That's me at the top of the pic climbing off!! And staring at you is Meghann from Meals and Miles.

And before I knew it, we were at the finish line!!

 

 

We took some time getting pictures taken, etc., and then I remembered that I wore a Polar HRM, so I glanced down to see my calorie burn! I was surprised to see that I had burned over 600 calories!

And then it was time to get clean and have our celebratory adult beverage!

 

 

The beer was Michelob Ultra! 2 weeks in a row of having my favorite beer at a post-race party!! SCORE!! Normally I don't get so lucky and have to suffer through a Budweiser, Coors Light, or Miller Lite!

Except for the animal sh!t, this was a great race!! You could hear music throughout the entire course which was a HUGE plus, the lines at the obstacles were minimal, and we just had a great time!! Our start time was supposed to be 8am, but we didn't actually start until closer to 8:15am, and we warmed up to a Zumba routine which was fun and got everyone in the mood to have a good time!  I like the early start times because then you don't have a line at the shower

It was a great day and I can't wait to do another mud run with my buddies from the Tampa Bay Bloggers!!

Special thanks to Raffi Darrow from Running Betty for being our official course photographer (Dirty Girl allowed her on the course without having to participate) and to Caroline Calcote for sharing her pictures And a very special thanks to Bondi Band for donating our Dirty Blogger athletic headband. I had never heard of Bondi Band before this and let me tell you, these headbands were AWESOME!! They're made from a wicking fabric and were very lightweight, kept the sweat (and mud) out of my eyes, and in the early AM hours when I was cold, I was able to pull it down over my ears! Loved it!! Check them out!

 

Have you ever done a mud run?? Which one? Any additional tips to share??

Yes, I did it again. It was a super fun day. Lots of girls having fun, laughing, cheering each other on, helping each other out (and over) and I would do it again in a heartbeat. The day began bright and early! Denise from RunDMT and I were scheduled to run in the first wave of the day...8am! And they wanted us there at least an hour early! Brrrr....it was really cold out in Dade City at 7am! We checked in and soon we were ready to go!  Denise is a runner; a marathon runner, so I told her right off the bat to not wait for me, and I'd catch up with her at the finish line. Mile 1 took us though a super-fun bubble tunnel, followed by an icy cold shin deep water pit. And then the running started. Lots of running. It seemed to take forever until I came to the next obstacle. But it was worth the wait and the running. It was the first mud pit! In I went, and out I went. Covered in mud from the waist down. But the top part of me was still clean so I took this opportunity to take some of the mud and wipe it on my face. Remember the lady from the commercial who made the Rice Krispy treats and to make it look like she worked so hard in the kitchen she wiped flour on her face? Ya, that was me. Except it was with mud. And then the running started again. Up ahead I saw the first hydration station and a sign that said "wood you?" I remembered this obstacle from the sneak peek. You had to take a 2X4, pick it up and carry it (running or walking, I ran) around a loop-de-loop. I noticed off in the distance a giant inflatable slide, so this made me run with the wood even faster. I remembered how fun the slide was at the Mud Crusade and I wanted that experience again! I climbed to the top of the slide, positioned myself just perfectly, gave myself a little push and down I went, about 10 feet and then I just stopped There wasn't enough water on the slide. I made myself sort of bounce down the slide and into the next mud pit. I climbed through, emerged and I was still clean from the waist up. Now I was on a mission to get REALLY DIRTY!! Next up was a set of muddy tunnels. These were big enough that I could have walked through them on my knees, but no way! I went down on my belly, rolled around a little bit, and climbed out PRETTY MUDDY!! Now I was dirty! YES!!  I was also on to Mile 2!! Mile 2 brought some walls, some up and downs, a fun beach ball pit, and a hydration station!  I rounded the corner and I heard the announcement that the first woman had crossed the finish line! I realized that I wasn't too far behind so I tried to pick up my pace a little bit and before I knew it, I was coming up on Mile 3 and the FINISH line!! (this was taken in the morning pre-race) As I approached the final obstacle the crowd went wild and started screaming YOU CAN DO IT, and then I heard Denise yelling "GO Jenny" so go I did!! I climbed in that mud pit used my elbows to pull myself through the obstacle and climbed out PRETTY MUDDY!! Having done a few of these mud runs, I can tell you first hand that Pretty Muddy is certainly different from the others I have done. First, they actually had a shower area that worked and worked WELL!! AND this is a big one....they had CHANGING AREAS!! Having a private area to change was so nice. But what was really the best was that there was NO WAITING AT THE OBSTACLES!! They limit each start time to 100 participants and stagger in 15 minute increments, so we were really spread out. Most of the time I was by myself or with one or two other woman. It was really nice. But what was really nice was THE MUD. it was clean mud if you know what I mean. No sticks, stones, etc., like the mud in my other runs. This mud was S.M.O.O.T.H. And running through the quiet back country of the Little Everglades Ranch was very peaceful. We cleaned up, walked back to my truck and dropped off our stuff and then went back to the party! I haven't had a beer at 10am since college!! And I was surprised how good it was! Pretty Muddy was a well-organized, super fun event and I can't wait to do it again next year.  Image below custom made by Haley.