oh we definitely got Pretty Muddy! //

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It seemed like ages ago that I signed up to be part of the Pretty Muddy Ohio blogger team. But time ended up flying and before I knew it, race day was upon us!

I had planned to be flying solo this weekend — Ari & Chad were going to stay home together; but he ended up being on call for work and if he had gotten called out (which it turns out he did late, late, late Friday evening) he wouldn’t have had anyone to hang back with Babycakes. So Ari came with Mama to Saturdays event!

Our running team consisted of me, my mom, my sister — Shauna, and my friend from my college days — Julie! I haven’t seen Julie in FIVE YEARS! She & I worked together when I lived in Syracuse back from 2005-2007. She moved to Ohio a couple of years ago, and it was fantastic to see her and meet her adorable family.

Thank goodness we were accompanied by my soon-to-be BIL, so he could hang back with Ari and spectate the event.

We arrived at Mad River Mountain Ski Resort around 8:30 am. It. was. COLD out! Considering earlier in the week we were reaching the 90s, waking up to 45 degrees was a bit of a shock to the system. But we managed. And we dressed accordingly.

I was super nervous about how cold we were going to be once we got covered in mud; but I quickly forgot about that once I saw the horrendous looking ski slopes we would be running straight up! Ha!

In all seriousness, knowing that this was a “fun run” I wasn’t down to break a leg. Which was entirely possible given the crazy rocks and holes that we had to navigate through between the obstacles. And those obstacles?? They were ROUGH! Like, crawling-on-my-knees through the mud? That tore UP my legs. Bruises, scrapes, cuts… Oy! And.the. CLIMBING. All the climbing!

I ended up walking a lot of it. Not because I can’t run a 5k; but because it was flat out too dangerous to run. You couldn’t see what you were about to step on; you couldn’t see that you were about to break your ankle by twisting it in a giant hole; and you couldn’t see that the water & mud was about to send you falling down the mountain unless you tread lightly.

That being said, we survived. And it didn’t take us nearly as long as I anticipated it taking us. Like 45 minutes, tops.

And we warmed up in the sun. Which was nice.

Overall? It was fun. But it was rough. And I might have picked a better location. I understand the need for some hills, logistically speaking; but the terrain was way too rough. Especially for a run aimed at people who aren’t seasoned trail runners.

Today I’m really really sore. And I didn’t even over-exert myself. But my body aches from nearly spraining my ankle every few feet. And my knees are not thanking me for the strain I’ve put on them.

It was fun, but needless to say, I’ll be waiting a while before my next obstacle run.