Race
Official race photos are notoriously bad. Like really bad.
But the Rugged Maniac official race photos were not only rugged, they were awesome- so fun to go back and look at what all the other racers were doing and what the course looked like.
Here’s a few of the proofs from the photography company, AltaSky. {Who did a fantastic job- the pictures rock.}
Ready, set, mud!
It’s tire time.
Oh, just a little cargo net in the way…
The jumping may have been worse than the climbing.
Yes, that’s barbed wire.
Do you like my blonde highlights mud-lights?
After crawling hands & knees through the first barbed wire pit, apparently I decided to crouch my way through this one.
Balance beaming. {As you can tell, it wasn’t exactly a race.}
This guy was just freaking awesome rugged.
Water’s a little deep…
Do you see how high I’m looking up? Long climb up to the slide.
Almost mudslide time…
How you can you not love this picture?
Here goes nothing!
{No slide pictures of us. Boooo.}
Speaking of deep water…
The bottom of the mudslide was at least 4 or 5 feet deep…we watched people just disappear at the bottom before we slid down.
Yup, I’d say it was rugged alright.
Do you ever buy race photos? Even if they’re awful?
Race
A look at the Rugged Maniac mud run obstacle race in NC. Spoiler alert: I jumped over fire and survived.
When the forecast turns from 83 to 53 and the sunshine turns to dreary gray skies, suddenly jumping through mud puddles seems less appealing.
But still awesome.
Yesterday’s Rugged Maniac 5K was a race unlike any I’ve done before- and one I’d do again in a heartbeat.
More obstacle course than race, the 5K was ramped up a notch by swinging tires, fire pits, and mud slides.
Not to mention at least 4 inch deep mud- sticky, clay-like North Carolina mud.
The Rugged Maniac
The day didn’t start out completely fantastic when I made rookie mistake #1 by not re-checking the weather before getting dressed for the race. Oops. I figured it out when I got to the race site and there was a bit of a logistics nightmare. The off site parking lot was full and we got re-routed to another site, but no one told the bus driver. After waiting for 45 minutes for the 5 minute shuttle ride, I’d pretty much figured out it was cold. Really cold.
And I missed my start wave. As I walked up to registration to claim my race bib, I heard the next group of runners starting the course. Oops again.
Luckily, Anne and Tina missed their wave too.
{All mid & post race pictures courtesy of Tina, who’s both talented and brave enough to carry a camera mid-mud-run.}
Did I mention it was cold?
Note: Add “check weather report” to morning-of-race-duties.
Before long it was time for our wave to start.
4…3…2…1…GO!
If you like races where you bolt off the starting line, the Rugged Maniac is not for you. We were instantly greeted by thick, sticky mud that sucked at your shoes and nearly held you in place.
{This was after maybe 6 minutes of running?}
It wasn’t long before it was time to get dirty. The first obstacles? Crawling through a mudpit {that reeked of manure} under barbed wire. Yes, barbed wire.
The course Rugged Maniac course continued on for 3.1 miles of mud, curves, and trees. Oh, and some skinny drain pipes you had to crawl through; tall, wet, slippery wooden walls; and lots of truck tires.
Some cargo nets.
Up was easy…down was a little scary…
Then there were some walls to climb.
Hey that wall doesn’t look as big as it did online. I got this, no sweat.
Ok, that one’s big. Wanna give us a boost? {He gave us a boost and let us use his fists as a step. He also mentioned he wasn’t volunteering for this position next year. I wonder why? 
}
Teamwork!
There was a little bit of running too.
And your typical jumping-over-fire-pits. Oh, that wasn’t in your last 5K?
And then the grand finale, the giant water mud slide.
It looked pretty innocent until Anne and I watched Tina go down….and instantly submerge under muddy water.
Oh well, here goes nothing!
Followed by a little swim…
And a steep climb up a muddy slope to the finish.
We were a little wet after our mud bath…
And that was surprisingly the cleanest we were the whole race.
The race was followed up by some log rolling and alleged hammer tossing.
We missed our chance to log roll. 
Then it was time to clean up.
Change.
And refuel.
These pictures do nothing to imply how absolutely frigidly, freezing cold we were. Freeeeezing.
As for the knee, we’ll see. I’m cautiously whispering to the internet that it seems to feel ok right now. But I’m not making any grand statements until tomorrow…
The official Maniac pics are awesome, by the way.
All in all, I LOVED the Rugged Maniac. So when’s the next mud run? Sign me up!
Running, Training
Well, it’s D-day.
As in I’ll know if I’ll be able to do this upcoming triathlon or not.
If I can’t survive a 5K, I clearly can’t double that in a month. As much as I want to do the tri, I also want to keep my leg function. You know, working legs. Kind of a big deal.
Of course my knee has been killing me in mental anticipation…
But if I can do it….it’s ON.
So, here goes a race like no other. This week and last night’s rain have guaranteed the mud run will in fact be…muddy.
The electronic race packet amused me. Select phrases:
And pictures of course construction have been going up on their Facebook page….
And of course, my favorite line of the race packet email:
Should be an interesting day…
Time to go get muddy!!!
