Hi everyone! I’ve been on a semi-vacation for the past couple weeks so my regular blogging schedule has been a bit “off” but now I’m getting back on schedule, and thought I’d start off with a re-cap of my Mud Hero run from a week ago!
As you all know I live in rural Nova Scotia, so I generally live vicariously through all of my big city friends as they go off to do mud runs/obstacle courses, colour runs, etc. so when I found out Mud Hero was coming I was super excited and quickly recruited a bunch of people to go with me.
One thing I really liked about the Mud Hero website was that the focus was on fun, instead of hard core obstacles. There is no way I’ll ever participate in a Tough Mudder race, ice baths, and shocking really are not high on my list of to-do’s. Ropes, wading through mud, and climbing over things – that is more my speed!
None the less, come the Friday night before I think we were all wondering what we’d (I’d) gotten us into. The race took place at Ski Martock, so we knew there would be a ski hill involved, we knew at least part of it would be in the woods (which was one of my biggest fears. I’m scared to death of ticks!), and we had an idea of what most of the obstacles would be. I wasn’t worried about my ability to complete the obstacles, I was worried about my ability to complete them without killing myself (remember, I’m a walking disaster).
Unlike the previous weekend when I ran a 10K in a monsoon, It was super hot (with a heat advisory) for Mud Hero. I’m glad the weather was the way it was (wet for the 10K, hot for the Mud Hero), I wouldn’t have wanted it the other way around, but I gotta say it was HOT. At some point over the weekend the humidex was 45 C, I’m not sure what it was while we were on the course, but it felt like about 65C 😉
pre-race, you could say the calm before the storm because we never saw this area empty again
Anyway, I had chosen the 10am wave because I wanted to go through the course before it got too “used” and muddy, and before the mid-day sun hit us, and I’m glad I did. I don’t envy the people that did it Saturday afternoon at all, as hot as it was in the morning, it was certainly hotter that afternoon.
In pure Suzi form I spent a good few days worrying about what I was going to wear. I wanted to wear a pair of compression socks since I knew I could run in those with wet feet without worrying about blisters, and for their added tick protection 😉 and decided to go with my NAYAD shorts since they would be quick drying and an old Nike Pro shirt I found in my car truck in the “emergency fitness wardrobe” bag. It too would be quick drying and I wanted a t-shirt to protect my shoulders from the sun (there’s a lot to worry about when you’re as pale as I am, lol). As for my sneakers, I knew I’d wear my old Nike running shoes.
Another worry of mine was losing my sneaker in a mud pit so you can see how crazy tightly I tied them!
I’m really happy with the outfit I chose, I didn’t have to spend any time adjusting my shirt or shorts, they stayed in place and didn’t ever feel heavy. If mud hero comes back next year I will probably wear the exact same outfit (shoes included – I took a garden hose to those babies and I think they look cleaner now than before the run!). I can’t say enough good things about my NAYAD shorts. For realz.
Back to the race. There were 16 obstacles over 6km of terrain (you can check out the map here, but the obstacles aren’t in the correct order, and I’m still not sure what the mystery obstacle was.).
Obviously I didn’t take my phone or the camera on course with me, but thanks to Arlene and Nora who took photos of us as we went around, I do have some action shots 😉 these are out of order, but they’ll give you an idea of some of the things we did.
I’m in there somewhere, we had to crawl in the mud under a cargo net, and then up through a tunnel. I did not like that tunnel. I tried to crawl through/up it but you really needed to slither on your belly. I nearly slipped back down into the mud but grabbed the edge of the tunnel with my finger tips and somehow shimmed my way up.
It was after this that we had to climb the frigging ski hill. That hill went on and on forever. Cripes. That’s all I have to say about that. Here I am getting ready to go down a water slide after making it back down the hill
Nothing better than a water slide that launches you into a mud pit.
Did I mention all the “mud: smelled like manure? Because it did. They claim it’s made with top soil, but top soil doesn’t smell like that. Keep your mouth closed and get through as quickly as possible.
Happy to be off that dang ski hill!
More mud
And one of the obsacles I was most worried about, simply because I was sure I’d slip on a car hood and injure myself. I was quite happy when neither occurred!
I’m not in this picture but this was our rope climb. I loved that obstacle. I was up and over that baby in a flash!
We are almost done! Just one more hill to go (thankfully this was a cinch compared to the ski hill. Yes, I mentioned it again. That thing was a beast!)
I look like I’m moving much faster than I actually was 😉
Just a trip down a bouncy slide and another trip through a mud pit and I was done! (I’m not in the below pic, but Lisa is 😀 )
I sent this picture to J once I was done
His reply? “You’re a mess.”
Indeed I was. But I was in good company!
The whole muddy crew
Would I do it again? Absolutely. It was way too hot to run much of it, so it would be nice to do it again on a slightly cooler day to see how quickly I really could do it, but I’m pretty happy with my time (it was like 1:22:58 or something). It was really fun!
If Mud Hero (or another muddy course!) comes near you, you should check it out! If they come back next summer I’ll definitely be doing it again!
Kim says
I’ve never done a mud run but you actually made it look pretty fun!!
Suzi says
They are fun! YOu should totally check one out if they have them in your area!