(Source: Finn McCool.)

So, continuing my documented poor decision-making when it comes to running, last month (man, am I ever behind) I checked another box off my list of dumb things I’ve been wanting to do – I ran my first obstacle race.  Yeah!  And what would have been a fun, albeit slightly silly, escapade was probably downright stupid when you throw in the whole postpartum, exhausted, toddler sleep regression thing.  I was not exactly at my best when I walked up to the start line – night after night of four hours of sleep really takes it out of you.  Nugget had a particularly rough night the night before the race – I was up with him for hours, crashed with him on the couch around 3:00 a.m., and actually fell asleep nursing at 4:30 – yawwwwwwwwn.  But I had plans to meet up with friends at the start line (I’d only registered for the race after confirming that I could run with a group, because I knew I would need help with some of those obstacles) so off I went.  And I was excited – nervous, but excited.

(Source: Finn McCool.)

I met up with my group – two friends from (our dear departed) Stroller Strides, plus one husband.  (Having a guy in our group was key – he gave all three of us lots of boosts and help with the obstacles.  Thanks again, dude!)

We crowded into the starting corral and immediately decided to skip the first obstacle.  The map doesn’t show it, but there was some sort of bounce house rope climb thingy about fifteen feet after the start line – what?!  None of us felt like stopping and waiting in line four seconds after the start, so we ran around it and headed for the first obstacle of our course – a slip ‘n slide!  I was so excited about the (three!) slip ‘n slides on the course.  I haven’t done one of those since I was a kid.  I ran and bellyflopped and laughed my butt off.

We headed through a couple more obstacles and eventually skidded to a stop at the end of a long line of runners waiting for the “lily pad” creek-crossing obstacle.  The creek-crossing was, to describe it poorly, a line of foam mats floating on top of Cazenovia Creek.  We were expected to run across them and jump from mat to mat.  So not happening!  Every single runner was falling into the creek.  This got me excited, since it was hot and sunny and a swim sounded GOOD.  I made it over the first two mats before face-planting on the third, and falling off on my attempt to leap to the fourth.  I actually went over my head in the creek, which felt awesome.  What was not awesome was running on waterlogged shoes for the rest of the race, but that was inevitable.

From the creek-crossing we headed through a network of trails, stopping occasionally for obstacles like a cargo net, tires and more slip ‘n slides.  I skipped several obstacles – I gave most of them the old college try, but some were just not happening in my current postpartum weakling state.  (Next year I’ll do more strength training going into this event.)

Eventually our group split up.  Our married couple teammates headed on ahead, while the other mom and I ran together and talked.  It was good to have a friend on the course, pushing me to keep going.  My buddy is a smoking fast runner and she kept up a stream of motivation – I was so grateful to her.  Eventually, though, I told her to go on ahead.  The strain of running with waterlogged shoes and clothes was getting to be too much for me, and I hated the thought that I was holding her back.  I told her I’d see her at the finish, and off she went, while I dug deep and did my best to finish strong.

The final obstacle was a gigantic mud pit, over which ropes were strung to keep the runners on their bellies.  I plopped down on my hands and knees and squelched through the mud, ducking under the ropes.  Finally, after getting basically covered in mud, I popped up and squished the final few feet to the finish line.  I looked like I’d been bathing in mud, which I guess I kind of had?

Worst.  Spa.  Ever.

I headed to the “hose shower” – which was basically standing around in a bunch of mist and really didn’t get me very clean at all – then collected my super cool pint glass and my FINNisher’s medal and squished my way back to my car.

So, this race was a BLAST.  It was hard and it took me for-ev-er (don’t ask for my time, because I don’t know it! – definitely over an hour, though) but it was such a good time.  I drove home (listening to my favorite Another Mother Runner podcast, natch) with the biggest smile on my face, and told Steve that he has to do this event with me next year.  I mean, how many chances do you get, as an adult, to slide on your belly down a slip-n-slide, run over foam mats floating on a creek, scale a cargo net, and roll around in mud like a piglet?  It’s basically a must-do.  And yeah, it was outside my comfort zone (way outside) but I’m SO glad I did it!

Now to see if my running shoes are salvageable…

Have you ever run an obstacle race or mud run?  Did you manage to stay clean?  Ha!