DIRTY

 

I ran the FUNNEST race ever last weekend. The Dirty Dash. We loaded up the family and drove to Heber City Utah on Friday night, rising bright and early Saturday to head to Soldier Hollow, the site of the Dirty Dash.  I picked up my packet, pinned on my bib number and duct taped my shoes….to keep the rocks out of course. 

I unofficially named us TEAM DUCT TAPE.

Dave, Mark, Me, Shayna, BreAnne, Treg

The girls all ready to go with a little stretching.

The first part of the race was BRUTAL. This was an all out sprint, uphill, in the mud.  My lungs and legs were on FIRE when I reached the top of the hill. It took me the whole first mile just to catch my breath from that.  I’m used to sprinting at the END of the race and my lack of training regularly was apparent right off the bat.

I am the arrow on the far left.

I love Shayna’s face in this picture as she is being splattered with mud. She is number 649 in the middle.

After the uphill mud bath came hay bales.  They started off nice and easy and were soon taller than me.  After hauling myself over 4 or 5 of those and then jumping down I was thinking “I definitely did not train well enough for this race!”  Next came long  tubes we crawled through while they were hosing us down with fire hoses.  It was so much water I couldn’t see anything.  At the end of the tube was a huge mud pit that ended with an army wall…..I don’t know what else to call it.  Just a big old wall that you have to hoist yourself over.  I don’t have enough arm strength to pull myself up over that thing so I went feet first.  It was very graceful and athletic looking I’m sure. The mud puddle on the other side of the wall about claimed my shoe…luckily I had the duct tape.  That’s the only thing that kept my shoes on. There were two more walls after that and then a long stretch of just running.  Soon we came upon the tires.  It seems like it would be easy to just jump through the tires…you know, get into a groove.  In fact I ‘m pretty confident this is the case IF the tires are all the same size.  Ours were little, big, enormous and it was WAY harder than I thought it would be. I was laughing so hard I almost had an accident. We ran some more and then trudged through a swamp…literally. Next came an uphill run to reach the huge slip n slide.  The slide down was fun. And gritty. These next pictures show us coming down from the slide and into the final stretch.  The end of the race is the GIANT mud lake where all the spectators sit in the bleachers and watch.

That’s me on the left, number 650. Right about here I am thinking about how cold the mud is going to be.  And it was.

Another graceful and athletic moment as I plunge into the mud.  Awesome face.

At this point I am thinking there is mud in places that should never see mud.

WE FINISHED!!

We were not the only ones who got dirty.

The worst part of the whole race the the ice cold shower at the end.  It was so cold and no matter how long I stood under the water, mud just kept running out of my clothes. Next year I will remember to bring $3 for the HOT shower!

This race was probably one of the funnest things I have ever done.  I think the race would be fun for ANYONE, no matter what age or physical status.  I hope to recruit my whole family to run it next year.  It was the most organized race I have run in and the most laid back.  Here is the video they shot of the race.  All this footage was taken during our wave. Watch the video the first time for fun and then watch it again to check out all the obstacles….look how high those hay bales are!!

Dirty Dash SLC 2011

I think I may be addicted to obstacle course races.Look what I found- FOAM FEST. Coming to Idaho Falls Sept 2010.  Who’s with me? Check it out at http://battlefornobility.com/raceinfo.php.