Race Report: Mad Mud Run

I woke up the morning of the race feeling pretty crappy. I was officially ten days into a sinus, throat issue that leaves me with a hoarse voice and feeling about 75% as long as I am taking cold medicine. Even after the ritualistic snorts, hacks and gags and clearings I still felt like making it through the Mad Mud Run 4 mile race was going to be a greater effort than I wanted to deal with. But I went, because ya know what, we can’t always race or train in the world of unicorns and glitter. Often times you have to dig deeper than perfect world.

I will admit once the race was over I drove straight to the Minute Clinic next to my house and then waited 3x longer than it took to finish the race to see the doctor. After my co-pay, probing and questioning, I was told I probably had allergies and try over the counter Sudafed.

After all is run & wet

A face in the crowd. When I got to the race, I kept looking for a familiar face but none were to be seen. As this is mostly a team event, there were lots of people in happy little gaggles able to dissipate their nerves among their friends. When the time came for my heat,  the solo’s, not many males or females were lined up, comparative to teams, which meant that these people were here to get it on.  I was hoping for mud early and often, as I train with heavy muddy shoes on purpose. I know when thick mud is stuck to your shoes and socks, it’s much harder physically to hold a normal pace if you haven’t trained for it and that starts to affect you mentally. Alas not to be, not much mud in the Mad Mud Run.

It always feels good to pass a CrossFitter. These people are pretty cocky before endurance and obstacle races but when it comes down to the running of the clock, they gasp and flop around like fish out of water between ¾ -1 mile into the lightening pace they set for the group off the line. Totally gassed and wondering why all the double under jump roping they did over the last month wasn’t enough to handle a 7 minute mile pace in dirt and sand for 4 miles.   It wasn't even the end of the first mile about 20 people dropped suddenly from the pack like planes shot out of the sky, nose diving into the scrub to cough, dry heave and put hands to their hips.

Training and genetics, the age old story. I never stopped running as fast as I could, mouth breathing all the way with my nose congested, but I won’t pretend that I kept my sight on the front pack for longer than about half way. There were some genuinely fast guys in the front, yes a few wearing CrossFit shirts (they are not all slow, ya know).  The trail was some desert hard pack but mostly very soft dirt and sand which put desert runners on an equal footing. I may train for trails but I don’t have the natural fast running pace some people are born with and those guys at the front were easily running low 6 minute pace.  So my goal was to just not let anyone that looked within about 5 years of my age passing me and try to take down a couple of guys along the way.

 

Obstacles are an equalizer. I was able to see each obstacle about 50 yards before I reached it and got to see the three guys in front of me tackle them. This is where I was really happy about the training I have been doing because at every obstacle I easily gained ground on the competition. On climbing walls it would take guys 8-10 seconds with lots of wasted foot and hand placements, I would vault them in 2-3 seconds. One man in front of me was half way through the low crawl obstacles when I entered and I passed him and completed it before he got back up. But he was just a bit faster than me and would catch up between obstacles staying 20 yards ahead until the next challenge.

Overall the obstacles were good, not as many as I would have liked but this was designed as a fun team building event with friends. The final obstacle and only mud bath on the course in front of the finish line. And I made sure to give it my all to show the crowd, along with some competitors waiting for their wave to start, a good high speed base stealing slide into the goop.  After finishing, I overheard a mother telling her son that he was about the 20^th person to finish. I came in right behind him. So I think I made the top 25-30 overall for solos. The results will get posted later with the photos.  Based on my watch I ran 3.89 miles in 30 minutes or a roughly 7:40 pace through a lot of sand and dirt and of course overcoming several obstacles including the long mud pit along the way. I don’t think anyone in front of me was in my age or older.

Any chance to get muddy and push the pace on a run is a plus in my book, sinus issue notwithstanding.

It's not enough to exist. I am going to live.