The Dirty Dash

A few months ago my friend Amy told me about this sweet race called The Dirty Dash. Basically, it's a muddy obstacle course spread out over 10 kilometers. It sounded awesome, so I committed to doing it. Amy was really helpful and gave me a training program to follow since I was starting from zero. Unfortunately, soon after that, I came down with a horrible case of bronchitis. All training plans were put on hold until I felt well enough to run. The problem was, it took about 6 or 7 weeks until I felt like I was back to normal. By that time, it was really too late to train for a 10K. I decided I would do it anyway, but I knew it was going to be ugly. The only thing I had going for me was that I had been playing soccer once or twice a week. Definitely not enough, but at least it was something.

The neat thing about this race is that you run in teams of 5. Our team consisted of Hilary, my friend Candice and some of her friends, and me. They encourage you to dress up in costumes for this race, so we went for an 80's theme. Hilary's costume was definitely my favorite. She had a sweet Blondie T-shirt, polka-dot leggings, and some awesome socks. And let's not forget the side ponytail. I went for the clashing pink and red color scheme.


This map is deceiving because it makes you think that only the first part is uphill. Liars! It felt like at least 3/4 of it was uphill. Lots and lots of switchbacks. I was just glad I wasn't the only one who was out of shape in our group, because there were times I was really glad that other people were walking, so I could slow down too :) I guess they wanted everyone to start the race out muddy because the first thing we had to do was run up a big, muddy hill. They had a huge sprinkler spraying all the runners at the same time. Mud was flying everywhere, including right into my face. It was fine with me until the race was over and I washed my face off only to realize I was sunburned... except for where the mud was splattered. Note to self: remember sunscreen next time so you don't look like a fool.

After running uphill for what seemed like years, we came to some large hay bales. The point was to climb over them and continue down the trail. Climbing took too much effort, so I decided to just jump over them. According to my group, my jumping skills are amazing. I think I acquired them from the one time I did hurtles in 5th grade.

After showing everyone what hay bale jumping was all about, we came to some crazy mud pits. And some crazy people (particularly one crazy guy) in these mud pits. There were also walls that we had to climb over while in the pits. It was pretty hard to do since the mud was so sticky, and it would suck your feet down any time you stopped moving. Some people crawled under the walls. That was fun to watch because they came out looking like swamp monsters :)


Farther down the trail we had to struggle through a very soggy (and large) marsh. If I could only describe the smell of it in one word, it would be death. It was awful, and there were flies everywhere. It took awhile to get through the mud, and then afterwords, our shoes weighed about ten pounds a piece.

Finally, towards the end we got to go down a huge slip-and-slide. That part was sooooo much fun. I felt like a kid again. Before we reached the end, we had to wade through one more mud pit. This one was about waist deep, and many people just went all the way under. I didn't want mud coming out of my ears and nose for the next week, so I decided to pass on that method.

Even though this race sounds like torture, it was actually so much fun. I will definitely do it again if I get the chance. I'll just train for it more next time so my hips aren't on fire halfway through :)