Man vs. Mud

Man vs. Mud was the name of the event. Sounded a little foreboding, as if the mud was gonna morph itself out of the soggy dirt and thrown you down. I would soon come to realize how true that was! It was also billed as a 5k, but other than the course distance, which was liberally spaced with obstacles or slides and mud, there was no real racing and not a lot of running. Just a whole lot of people having a whole lot of fun!

There’s nothing like playing in the mud to bring out the child that has been covered up with experiences and responsibility and work and so many other grown-up problems… The playfulness may be stifled at first, but after the first 150 foot long slip-n-slide, it’s clear that the child within is invited out to play! The slip-n-slide was the start line and really got things off to a fast start. Couldn’t help but laugh, bouncing down the hill uncontrollably! After collecting my senses at the end of the slide, Arilyn (the only adventurer I could talk into this goopy event) and I headed up the trail only to find ourselves in a 50 yard barrage of water cannons wielded by vicious spectators, most of them under the age of 12. Successfully navigating those enemy forces, we were feeling pretty clean until we came to the BOG…

Not sure how to describe this – It was a freshly dug 50 yard long pit, about 8 to 10 feet wide and filled with anywhere from 2 to 4 feet of water. You never knew where your next step would take you, or if your shoes would be sucked off by the deep mud at the bottom of the slippery and uneven pit. With no handholds to speak of, there was a lot of whoops and hollers and mud-slinging and laughing. At one point, I decided that swimming might be the best way to go. I dove forward and tried a little muck freestyle, then the slimy backstroke, and when it was clear I was still being passed, I started slinging mud to slow everyone else down. Now I didn’t start the mud-slinging, but I certainly didn’t do anything to slow it down either! Before getting out of the Mud Bog of Death of Death (legend has it that only about 2/3 of the sloggers made it out alive. It’s a legend I started but that certainly does not mean it’s not valid!), we were covered head to toe with mud from the bog as well as mud flying through the air. And that was just the FIRST mud obstacle!

We crawled, we swam, we laughed, we cried (Arilyn got a blister – I cried for her. She called me a baby)… One obstacle was about 50 feet of muddy water that was shallow for the first few feet, then dropped in surprise fashion to 3 or 4 feet deep! Halfway through, you crawled up to a shallow depth again but stepped gingerly because you didn’t know if there was another hole hidden under the murky water…  The best water slide was another 150-footer halfway through the course that ended in a mud pit. I hit the slide head first on my belly and splashed into the mud pit enough to roll a couple of times in the mud! This was livin’!!

After crossing a pond, there was a very slippery, boggy area to traverse. It was so slippery and uneven it was almost impossible to even walk on, so this was naturally where my partner decided to sneak attack and tried to throw me to the muddy floor. I put up a valiant battle but in the end decided to boost her ego by pretending to fall in an awkward fashion into the slimy mud. It’s just the kinda guy I am… It was fun to watch the group behind us battle it out in like manner for the king of the mud pit. My face was sore from laughing so much!

And just in case the slogging, crawling, sliding and falling hadn’t got you muddy enough, the finish was a 25 foot crawl through some of the most wonderful, sloppiest mud on God’s green earth! What fun to take some time and just revel in mud and let the inner child come out and play. It was an amazing event with a beautiful course and I definitely will be back next year. It would be a blast to get a group together to do this as a team. That is a blatant hint and invitation to anyone reading this! Let the mud fly!!