This was SO MUCH FUN. I'd managed to convince my brother to do this with me back in the spring. I promised we'd do it at his pace, unless he was faster than I was, in which case, I'd trip him.

Seeded ourselves at the back and started off down a gravel path. We were probably running a sub 11 pace. That lasted about 6 minutes and then there was a bit of a traffic jam, as we'd hit the first of the challenges on this course. We readily admitted breaks were nice. :) Things thinned out and we were running along a creek bed and under a tunnel. Wheeee, splash!

Then we came out of the tunnel and saw what was next - the Roanoke River. Had to go upstream about 1/4 of a mile! We got about chest deep at one point. This was where it was good to have a partner to run with, so you could hang on to each other, as there were real slippery rocks on the bottom. Looked over and saw a family - Dad had one of his daughters on his back, and then the rest of them were in a chain behind him, hanging on to each others shirts. My brother looked at me and said, "I am not carrying you!" Have to say, I was glad I'd finished off my last swim workout with a couple laps of water walking in the pool - didn't realize how much it would come in handy!

The water was fairly cold, but we got used to it pretty quickly - at one point I did tell my brother as it kept getting deeper, "Well, you weren't planning on having children anytime soon anyway."

Out of the water and then a short run to the first "mud pit
- this one was more of a water filled trench than anything, but it was fun to get through it. Gotta love Virginia Red Clay and how amazingly slippery it is when there is water involved. At one point the guy behind me lost his footing and was having a devil of a time getting back up, so I turned around and got my feet well planted and pulled him up. (Impressed myself on that one, cause he was easily 2x my weight.) My brother said he watched it and was waiting to grab me by the back of my pants if I looked like I was going to take a header into the water trying to help. :)

Some more running, and the next challenge. My brother had looked at the course map and pointed out that there was a mountain in the middle of the course. My response had been, "Nah, there wouldn't be an actual mountain, they probably build a hill in the park or something like that." He was right. Next stop was straight up the side of the mountain in the park... Trail that was wide enough for about 2 people. We pretty much walked this stretch, cause it was incredibly steep - I was really glad to have the experience from the trail run I did last April to know how to not wipe out!

I spent a lot of time on that trail promising my brother very good birthday and Christmas presents, and swearing I would NEVER ask him to run a course I hadn't run first ever again.

Finally to the top and blissful FLAT LAND and a water station! Then down the other side of the mountain (all grass this time) - much more fun - just go barrelling down as fast as you can.

Some more running & walking, and two more creek crossings - those felt SO good. Nothing like splashing through some cold water when you're running.

Finally, the finale - the mud pits. This was not a hole filled with water. This was thick slime - I think spas make you pay a lot of money to jump in something like this. This wasn't a "wade through" pit - gotta get down and go under the flags to the finish.

So, off we go. There was NO solid bottom to this - every time you tried to put your hand or foot down, it would just sink - too much weight on too small a surface. So I ended up sort of rolling over on one side, pulling with my forearm and propelling with a nice scissor kick. (Basically the good ol' OWS sidestroke!) There were easily 20 Marines on either side of the pits, cheering folks on, watching for folks getting stuck, and telling everyone "Go ON! Put your head in the mud!" I laughed a LOT at that - I can barely put my head underwater in a clear lake, mud ain't happening.

My brother was ahead of me, got through the last set of flags and I was about 5 feet behind, and he's standing there going, "I'm not crossing without you!" Well, HE dunked half his head in the mud, and this was the first I'd seen of that and I couldn't help but bust out laughing, which slowed me down a little more. Finally got under the last flags and we went over the finish together.

Nothing! This really isn't something you can "race", it's just "go have fun and get dirty"

Hit the showers.


This is a TOTALLY fun race.