Man vs Mud

Team Girly Whirlies was "da bomb" during Man vs Mud. Our first obstacle was a "red neck waterslide." This was actually right at the starting line. It consisted of an enormous tarp on a really steep and bumpy hill with someone squirting water down it. Well, off I went. I had ZERO control of where I was sliding! I was aimed right for the volunteer at the bottom of the hill. Luckily, I was able to stop about 1 foot before I took her down. One down, 26 to go. 2nd....we ran through these giant air bags, they looked like punching bags but about 7 feet long and filled with air. They were suspended on a PVC frame, and it was a blast punching and running through them. Our next stop was the first "mud" we encountered. It was a pit with a net above it. We were to army crawl through the mud of course.

The first major obstacle was the "ditch." This was anywhere from 1 foot to 4 feet deep. It was just that, a ditch....sticky muddy bottom, filled with water, that was so muddy that you could not see the bottom. My shoes kept making that slurpping sound like they were going to come off, as they would stick in the bottom of the ditch as I was walking through it. It got so deep at one place that Jacque went in up to her arm pits!! And cold, cold, cold water here!!! Wow, that was unexpected! Next time I will swim through it. Probably doggy paddle though, as I'm not sure I really want to put my face in THAT1



We had a few easy peasy things after that, just running through a grassy, wet trail, and tackling giant hay bales. There were more slides, I was amazed at how many slides they put in this course. My butt needed some extra padding on these, as they were really bumpy. At times I would get stuck going down.....we thought that maybe the tu-tu's were not allowing us to slide as well. I did go backwards on one of them, and went really fast.....blindly down the hill. There was a set of tires that we ran through too.



They had water/gatorade stations set up along the route. Another fun and unusual obstacle was this spider web thing. Bungee cords were randomly stretched around a frame and we made our way through. As we approached the "tunnels" (really big pipes that you ran through), there was this team of guys that were wearing suit jackets. As we went through the tunnels, they were traveling over them. They stopped, 2 of them laid down and "planked" as the other one blew his "trumpet" of victory. Pretty random and funny!


As we were getting closer to the finish, I could see that we were to cross the river. There was a set of air pillows that we had to use to cross. These "air pillows" were just that, a big pillow looking thing that had air in it. They were about 4x4 in size, and maybe 11 of them all tied together in a line from bank to bank. Jacque made it farther than me, but we both sucummed to the river! Mindy and Aubeny chose a different set to cross on, and they made it across.

Upon climbing out of the river we embarked on our next obstacle....mud, mud, and more mud. I think that they put some soap in this mud pit because it was so stinkin slippery!!! Just walking through it gave your inner thighs a workout, trying to keep your balance. And then the slosh pit took me down, along with my side-kick, Jacque.

Over the pipes and through the woods to the finish line we go. Right before the finish line we were greeted by one of the local fire departments and their mighty water hoses! To get to the finish line there was just one more killer slide from you know where. Only this time, at the end of the slide you fell into a mud/water pit, and had to climb out of it and army crawl to the end. Sliding down this slide I was laughing so hard, that as I fell into the pit.....smiling. Teeth are now muddy. Instinctively I grabbed my shirt to wipe off my teeth, only to realize that my shirt was just as bad! Ha Ha, whoever planned this last adventure was right on the money.

We had a team photo at the end, and then there was the final aid station, offering drinks, oranges, and bananas. What were they thinking here? How were we supposed to eat food with our hands filthier than whatever and our mouths and faces full of mud!? I chose just to take the gatorade and rinse, spit, and repeat.


Lessons learned:
1. Duct tape shoes to legs.
2. Swim through the ditches to keep shoes on feet, and not twist ankles.
3. Expect war wounds and bruises the next few days in odd places.
4. Do not take your car keys with you!!! DUH what was I thinking???
5. Tu-Tu's "were" a good idea at the time, but in the mud, they are NOT.
6. Perhaps wearing a big green garbage in the car for the ride home.
7. Expect the unexpected.
8. Have a BLAST!!

Would I do it again???? MMMMMM........... I'll let you know as soon as my butt bruises heal. But I think it is safe to say.....yes.