First Mud Run

[Bodhiman]

At the request of Anacanapuna...

I ran my first "mud run" on Saturday.
A couple things to bear in mind; 1. This is Florida and most of Florida is or once was swamp. 2. There are a metric butt load of rednecks in Florida. 3. Florida rednecks like to get into supercharged, jacked up 4X4's and race each other in the swamps.

Now, having all this in mind, this mud race was held at a place called "Bithlo Motor Sports Complex". This "complex" consists of a dirt track for sprint cars and a couple hundred acres of swamp track where aforementioned rednecks race aforementioned 4X4's.

The mud run consisted of a couple hundred meter dirt/sand run to a swamp crossing and we spent the first 10 minutes of the race in waist deep swamp waters that twisted and turned. I felt like I was back in Panama hunting Noriega. Foliage prevented seeing around the next turn, so we stayed in the middle of the pack. I'd be talking to my boss as we went and one of us would just disappear in the murky water.

We got out of the water and were confronted by a 16' wooden wall. Some guy had cleared it and broken his ankle on the other side. They dragged him off into the woods and we continued on our way.

Then there was a 1/4 mile run in shin-deep mud to the first set of obstacles that included 6 to 10' mud berms, crawling through culverts and under barbed wire.

We then had a dirt run interspersed with waist deep mud (a couple girls got stuck), concrete traffic barriers, 5' hay bales (the round kind, laid flat) and a 30' pyramid made of the same sized hay bales. Then back to the swamp part, more water slogging and a final round of obstacles including another dirt run with a mountain made of tires, a 20' tall rope net climb, monkey bars x 2, both higher at the finish than the beginning and finished off with a 30' water slide and jumping 3 sets of fire barriers we had to jump.

It took me 63 minutes to complete the entire 3.8 mile course, well over my 44 minute goal.

Oh, and it was a complete BLAST! I'm entering another one as soon as I can afford it because I haven't had that much fun in decades!

The proceeds from the entry fees went to build a home for Jeremy Voels and his family. He was shot by a sniper in Afghanistan. The bullet shattered his L4 and the fragments damaged or destroyed most of his internals. Obviously,he's also paralyzed. So the money went to a good cause.

And that's what I did this weekend.

[Chacoguy]

Wait, you did this ON FOOT?

That's Crazy Talk.

[Anacanapuna]

Boys never grow up, they just grow older.

Good on ya! And we can't do enough for the men and women who've sacrificed themselves for us.

Hate the war, love the warriors.

[Chacoguy]

Originally Posted by Bodhiman

The proceeds from the entry fees went to build a home for Jeremy Voels and his family. He was shot by a sniper in Afghanistan. The bullet shattered his L4 and the fragments damaged or destroyed most of his internals. Obviously,he's also paralyzed. So the money went to a good cause.

LINK

[Bodhiman]

Well, I worked night security at a hospital for 8 long years and thought this type of thing was well past me, even as a trainerd. Yesterday I took a chance and found out I can still do it. Maybe not as fast as when I was in tactical ops, but my only real goal was finishing. And I did. I had a strained right bicep going into this, so completing the monkey bars was concerning me. But I got across both sets.
Need to work on my running, but everything else clicked. The obstacles are easy for me because I worked with them for so many years. There are techniques that most folks don't know. Next week I start teaching a class at the gym called MROCT or "Mud Race/Obstacle Course Training". Oughtta be fun!

[Chacoguy]

Good on ya, I've been feeling old from just tossing and rowing boats; Rock On with your bad self!

[Anacanapuna]

Originally Posted by Bodhiman

Next week I start teaching a class at the gym called MROCT or "Mud Race/Obstacle Course Training". Oughtta be fun!

Let me guess ... you're going to have a real mud pit and then you get to hose down your students afterward, right? You totally get to have all the fun!

[jali]

My daughter did a mud run for charity back in the spring. It was in Delaware so they had to create a course. I don't think hers was as tough as what you just described although she was exhausted after she was done. It took her team over an hour to complete.

[KidVermicious]

They just held a Tough Mudder out here, and I hear tell of another one in November the crazy bastards. Those look like a lot of fun, I wish I was in shape enough to compete.

You're a tough dude, Bodhi.

[Bodhiman]

Tough Mudder is a biotch. It's almost exclusively dominated by Crossfit folks which, even without the puking and rhabdomyolosis, is still the most dangerous fitness fad to hit the U.S., IMHO.
Spartan and Savage have different levels of races, neither of which I'll try this year.
As for being "in shape" enough to run them, don't worry. I saw some big ol' boo-hoggin bufferillas out there stretching the limits of both their spandex and my gag reflex. There's no room for pride when you're slogging through these courses. If you want to participate, nothing should stop you. Just go slower and go around the obstacle you can't complete. Nobody cares when it's over.

[Jeff]

Originally Posted by Bodhiman

Tough Mudder is a biotch. It's almost exclusively dominated by Crossfit folks which, even without the puking and rhabdomyolosis, is still the most dangerous fitness fad to hit the U.S., IMHO.

It certainly is one of the most obnoxious. But if it wasn't for crossfit none of us would know the awesomeness of kipping pullups. And achilles-rupturing deep box jumps.

[Colonel Plink]

You're a Freak, Bodhi.

Always have been.

And I can say that with absolute certainty.

[Bodhiman]

I'll post the three pictures I have in Photo Safari. They aren't real good shots, but most of the race was in the swamp where photogs weren't allowed.

[Anacanapuna]

Originally Posted by Bodhiman

I'll post the three pictures I have in Photo Safari. They aren't real good shots, but most of the race was in the swamp where photogs weren't allowed.

Waitafuckinminnit! Photographers weren't allowed to photograph a bunch of hooligans like youse plunging around in the mud? Whassatallabout, some kinda' Homeland Secu..... noooooo, I get it. Somebody was makin' tons of moolah snapping photos to sell to the contestants and their families, hmmm? That's it, it's all about the money. Oh, sure, freedom of the press is a great thing until there's a buck to be made, and then it's kick to media to the curb and rake in the dough! God forbid somebody takes an innocent photo and does the "entrepreneur" out of a few shekels!

You Republicans make me sick!

[Bodhiman]

Actually, the photos were free. I just didn't do anything worth photographing. And the families weren't allowed in the more dangerous areas. You know, "we know better than you what's good for you" mentality. You're familiar with that, right? Regulate everything we deem even slightly dangerous because you're too stupid to look out for yourself.
Funny how popular Darwinism is among Democrats and yet how far they go to prevent it.

[Anacanapuna]

Oh, shut the fuck up and post the pictures already! God, I am so proud to be related to you, in spite of your simplistic politics. Show the damn pictures!

[Taur]

Exhibits 'A' through 'F' evidencing your bro's badassness have been entered with the Clerk of the Court.

Congrats on finishing, Bodhi! (Dunno why they'd drag the guy away from the bottom of the wall. He'd make a softer landing pad.)

Also, I'm co-opting "bufferilla".