Mud, Mud and More Mud...

Event 15 in the 50@50 Project brought us to Albany, OR for Run Wild Adventures' Dirty Dozen 5k.  These are the same folks who put on the Buck Mountain 6.5 Trail Run that I greatly enjoyed.  I am happy to say that they again put on a great event for us!  This was the first time they'd done this particular event, so when this sucker goes global or turns into a reality show, we can say we were there for the inaugural running.

Knowing this event was going to be another mudfest, I hadn't bothered cleaning up my trail shoes from the Dirty Du last week.  I just sorta knocked the big chunks off and emptied the dirt ('dried mud') from the insides so they'd be ready to roll.  My assumption was correct - this course was a fun mess.  The drive down to Albany took a little over an hour.  The sun played peekaboo all the way down, so we had no idea what the weather would be like for the run.  Once again, Run Wild did a great job with signage and got us straight to the parking lot.  We did the usual walkabout and picked up our bib numbers and goody bag.

The race was being held at the Albany Motorsports Park, which was a pretty cool way to do this type of event.  Because the track winds around, in and out on itself, you could see almost the whole thing from the stands.  For spectators and participants alike, it was fun to be able to look around and see people at all stages of the race.  They of course had flooded parts of it to make it extra slimy muddy.  We could see mud bogs scattered all over as well as most of the obstacles.  Tire crawls, big tubes on angles for climbing up, cargo nets, 4' chain link fencing, wood walls about 10-12' high to climb over, monkey bars - and of course plenty of mud.

We were fortunate to be in Wave 1 (of 3) - I say 'fortunate' because the conditions only get worse when more people trample through them ahead of you.  They used the drop down barricade that is used for motocross racing to start us.  The gate was raised, they counted down, then dropped the gate and we were off!  I don't remember all the twists and turns.  Suffice it to say that the course almost immediately took us through ankle deep, wet sloggy mud.  A great start to the event!  We approached the first obstacle, which was cargo netting strung horizontally about 2-3 feet off the ground, so we had to bear crawl on hands and feet (or knees) to get under that.  Wrist deep and ankle deep in mud from the get-go = fun, fun ,fun!

The route wound through the woods that bordered the motocross track, and it too was appropriately flooded and muddy.  Somewhere in this stretch, Camera Crew and I got 'bit' by blackberry bushes or some other sort of thorny vine.  When we emerged, we both had cuts, scrapes and blood from this.  Not to worry - the multiple mud pond crossings rinsed the blood off!  And somewhere on the stretch Camera Crew slapped me in the chest with her muddy hands, leaving 'turkey prints' on my chest.  I got even, though, leaving a nice one on her arse.

Once we were back out on the motocross course, the route was up and down hills, the ones built in for jumping the motorbikes.  There were various obstacles strewn about.  We approached the monkey bars - this one had an option of skipping the bar crossing and wading across in the mud.  We chose this one - with my bum shoulders, it would have been tough to make it across and Camera Crew knew she would end up kerplunking into the pond anyway!  We crawled up a cargo net onto a platform, then jumped off into a pile of sand, this mixing well with the mud.  There was a cargo container which we were to climb up and over using one of two options.  There was a slightly angled climbing wall with a rope; and a multi-level platform to climb up on, this being the easier method.  So, yeah, we did the latter.  Plus, there was a line at the climbing wall so we would have had to wait for our turn.

Let's see... we climbed through a set of big tractor tires.  This stunt I found to be especially draining - not sure why.  Maybe it was because I felt like a barely fit through, so the heavy breathing was really just a prolonged sigh of relief, perhaps?  Yeah, let's go with that.  We approached a big water tank that was laying horizontal.  We were apparently supposed to make a run at this and jump up onto it to scramble over.  It was partially buried but still came up to my chest.  I sized it up and then took a little help from the volunteer working this obstacle when she squatted down to offer me her knee to use as a step.  Meh, I'm not proud and I didn't want to insult her by not accepting her offer, right?  Right.

After sliding off the far side, I turned to see Camera Crew standing about 20 feet from the cylinder, staring it down.  She started running at it, got up to it and jumped.  "Ooooooof!" as she hit it broadside with her full torso!  She slid down to the ground then took the volunteers offer, as well.  I was very proud of her for making such a valiant effort.  It wasn't until later that I told her the look on her face when she smacked into the side of the tank was priceless!  I'm smart that way. 

We zigged and zagged along the motocross course, up and down hills, up an embankment that is normally not an actual path and then came to the 45 degree angle tubes, which we had to enter and then climb up.  These were about 4' in diameter and probably 25' long.  it was a little slippery inside with caked-on mud from racers that had preceded us, but we got up and out pretty quickly.  Then we approached the chain link fences.  At about 4' high, I could actually swing my leg over, keeping contact with my other foot until I got my balance.  Then I shifted my weight and slid (somewhat) gracefully to the other side.  There were four of these to climb over.  Camera Crew paused at the first one to figure out her strategy, then decided to do what I was doing.  Except she's shorter so when she threw her leg over, she had to hop up and slap her leg on the top bar.  It worked for her but after four of these... let's just say it was no surprise that a huge bright purple bruise appeared on her thigh not long after the race.  Yikes!

After the chain link fences, there were four walls built of 2"x12", ladder-like and about 10'-12' tall.  We climbed up and over those, scrambled over some various hay bale barricades and hit the finish line!

Crazy fun!  Big smiles!  Tired and elated at the same time!  We grabbed a beer and some food, and hung out enjoying the sun, which had made its debut during the race.  Once again, excellent brews from Seven Brides Brewing from Silverton.  I had a pilsner and CC had an IPA  www.sevenbridesbrewing.com  Haven't been to their brewery yet but looking at the website, the food looks great!

We 'showered' in the makeshift outdoor rinsing station they had set up for runners.  Once we were cleaned up (sort of) we went the car to get out of the muddy-a** shoes and changed clothes.  Once again we took advantage of our travels to find a new breakfast joint.  The Original Breakfast in Albany is quite the place.  It's right off I-5 and looks like it may have been a Shari's or Denny's or something like that, based on the shape of the building.  I found this link to their website but had trouble getting it to open - try it yourself, if you're so inclined.  www.theoriginalbreakfastalbany.com  And if you Google them, you can find a link to a four minute commercial that played on the Food Network.  Food was excellent!   Bex! had the peanut butter-stuffed French toast and I had a carnitas and chili verde omelette that included home fries with gravy.  Most excellent!!

Camera Crew dozed a little on the drive home.  We spent most of the afternoon relaxing because this was another double header weekend.  The Earth Day 5 Mile run was Sunday.  

Who wants to sleep in on weekends anyway??