Tips for a Mud Run?

[tallsteve]

I'm doing my very first mud run on Saturday- the Dirty Dash at Soldier Hollow. Has anyone done one? If so, do you have any tips for surviving it?

[DiscGo]

3 Things:

1. This isn't a try out for the olympics, it is just an excuse to go play in the mud. Focus on having fun instead of trying to win.

2. Do not wear cotton.

3. Cut your toenails in advance.

[tallsteve]

Good advice, DiscGo! Yeah, I've heard about the cotton clothing thing. I'm going to wear as much white as I can find and old trail running shoes. I am the ONLY man on our team of six. Should be interesting...and fun!

[dgamble_23]

I did it last year and I would just advise that you wear shoes you don't care about and have a fun time. Other than that it is not a serious thing and most people I saw were taking it easy most of the time. Oh and they do have hot water showers you can either do the pressure wash or just a hose wash. The line for the pressure wash is normally extremely long. So just a heads up on what to expect.

[Nordschleife]

Just have fun

[tallsteve]

Oh, my only intention is to have fun! How could I not, teamed up with 5, fun loving, adventurous women! I'll post pics after the event!

[accadacca]

Looking forward to the pics!


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[DiscGo]

How did it go?

[tallsteve]

It was a ton of fun! They had 5k and 10k distances. We did the 10k. There was probably an obstacle about every 1/4 to 1/2 mile. Besides the mud pits (which there were plenty of) there were also wall and rope climbs and the giant slip 'n slide.
After googling mud run tips, I mostly took away clothing suggestions, which I followed. Here's my insights:

- Don't wear anything cotton! Cotton absorbs and holds in the water/mud. We had one gal on our team who wore nothing BUT cotton. Her above the knee length knickers were nearly as long as her ankles by the time we were done and her t-shirt was down around her knees. She felt water-logged! Wear tighter fitting polyester.

- Wear lycra leggings. I'm so, so glad I wore lycra leggings (with some poly running shorts over the top- for obvious reasons!). With obstacles to climb over, including straw bales, I needed the protection. Those who didn't wear leggings had pretty scratched up legs.

- Goggles and swim cap. I chose to wear swim goggles and swim cap after reading good and bad about both. Goggles because I can't see a thing without my contacts in and they enabled me to keep my eyes open through the water/mud obstacles. They would definitely get muddy but, there was enough clean water here and there to rinse them off. Swim cap because I wanted to keep the mud out of my ears.

- Have fun with your clothing. Because I chose to wear leggings and a swim cap, I decided to have fun with both. I ordered, from Amazon, a pair of bright yellow compression poly/lycra leggings and a blue spiderman swim cap. All my other clothing I wanted white color so the mud splatter stands out. I had a lot of comments from other runners about my swim cap.

- Lift with your toes, not your heels. We saw a lot of stuck and lost shoes on the course. If you feel yourself getting stuck, lift with your toes, not your heels, and you won't have a problem with losing your footwear.

I'm sure there's other things I'll think of. Anyway, our team had a blast and are already planning on doing the spring Dirty Dash next year!