ASYMCA Mud Run - Run

Strong run. I pushed my way up to the front of the start line and within 50m I was in the lead. By 200m I settled down a little and slowed my pace a bit. I figured I'd just run fast enough to stay in front so I adjusted my pace to hold the lead but nothing faster...it felt slow to me but I wasn't going to waste energy that early in the race so I just coasted. Most of the footsteps behind me faded away...maybe 3-4 people still hanging on. About 1 mile in a young kid zipped past me and I got on his heels. He was pushing the pace a little and it felt like we were right about where I thought I could maintain for the rest of the race. From this point out he opened up maybe 25m on me every mile. I talked myself into letting him go. I knew I was running the right pace...anything faster and I probably would have faded at the end. I figured, either he's going to hard and I'll get him down the stretch or he's just a faster runner and he's gonna win...I just had to run my own race. Every once in a while we'd turn a corner and I could see the closest guy behind me about 75m back...he didn't seem to be closing. 2 miles in is where you hit "Suicide Hill". It's a 1.5 mile continuous climb up a ridge. My strategy here was to keep the foot speed up and take small steps. Trying to power up this monster would have just burned my quads out. I just kept thinking about how I ride up steep hills keeping the cadence up and just spinning. Seemed like forever but eventually I made it to the top which meant it was time to go back down. Long steep downhills are tough on the legs and feet. I opened up my stride and tried to just let my legs spin free. I was on the edge of loosing control for a good 3-4min but I knew that everytime my foot hit the ground I was resisting gravity, slowing myself down, and stressing my muscles so I just let it fly. Once I made it down I had a chance to relax a little and cruise on some flat ground (aside from the mud pits and climbing wall). The kid in front was still in sight but had a good 100m on me and seemed to be just as strong as me at the end. When I hit the final super steep 100m hill I knew I was almost home. Just as I crested the hill I saw the water truck coming around the corner. Seems I beat them to the spot...they were about to open up the fire hoses on that dirt hill and make the climb miserable for the other 3498 people behind me. One last steep downhill and I turned the corner for the finish line. There was a big mud pit maybe 50m long and they had a set of bleachers set up on the side. I wish I could have enjoyed it more because there were a few hundred people yelling and cheering me on. i didn't know how close the guy behind me was so I just focused 100% on getting under the ropes strung about 2ft over the mud, over the dirt pile and pouring all I had left into that final 150m run down the grass to the finish line. I got a peek over my shoulder with 50m to go and realized that there wasn't anyone close so I shut it down and coasted to the finish...that's probably the only thing that kept me from puking at the end.

Nothing. Considering that I didn't train specifically for this race I did the best I could.

The usual...concentrate on NOT passing out as I SLOWLY make my way down the finish chute. Also try not to be an A-hole to the volunteers who are trying to get me walking and out of the way for the runners coming behind me. Trust me, I move as fast as I can but that doesn't amount to much when I've just given everything I have down the last 400m. Once I got my senses back I spent some time walking and stretching.


Hill and speed training. I'm peaking for a marathon so I haven't been training to the 10k distance. Also, we have no hills here in SE VA so any climbing at all is tough.


This was a free trip/race. We have a similar Mud Run in August here at NAB Little Creek and the grand prize is a free trip out to Camp Pendleton for their race in October. I was 4th overall at the Little Creek race but the first three guys must not have been able to make the tip for whatever reason so I got to go. It was a quick 36 hour round trip to the west coast and back. I caught a 6am flight out of Norfolk on Friday and was back on a plane heading for home by 10pm Saturday night.

The race was a blast...so happy I took advantage of the opportunity even if it was a fairly exhausting coulple days. There were about 3500 people running (lots of teams) so this is a relatively big production. They had lots of space for everyone and the organization was very good. My only complaint is that the beer wasn't free. Our version of the Mud Run has free beer and pizza for everyone after the race. Aside from water, gator, bananas, and oranges, you had to pay for the food and beer.