The Dirty Dash came to Spokane on the 16th of June to bring a whole different kind of race. Only the second year in Spokane and the event was sold out! Luckily we had registered before that happened as we were to discover, this was an event we didn't want to miss. We'd signed up before even knowing anything about the race other than it being an opportunity to get dirty.
Before the race my team read up about the race on the "about" Dirty Dash section of the website, discovering a little about what to expect. News articles started appearing the closer we got to the race and I heard the race was inspired by the Camp Pendleton Mud Run in San Diego, CA. Being from San Diego, this probably had more sentimental value to me than my team, but provided an image of what to expect. I instantly thought about those commercials with soldiers crawling through the mud. so we signed up as team name: The Mud Suckers.
On the day of the race we were as giddy as a child going to Disneyland. The excitement only grew as we saw the smiling, muddy faces of those who had raced the hours before us. Approaching the first mud pit, I thought about the four and a half miles I'd heard the race was, and was hesitant to wade through. Entering the pit would mean carrying the extra weight of the mud around for that distance - a majority being in my shoes. But isn't that what we'd paid for? to roll around in the mud, like we used to as children, and to make fools of ourselves as we played like pigs? Yes.
So we approached the pit and I could sense my guy behind me. With playful wide-eyes and a huge smile, I could tell he was going to push me into the pit. So I slowed and moved behind and away from him but he followed my steps. In a futile attempt to push him in as well, I tried holding out my arm and grabbing him. We both stumbled in with the grace of a dead swan. Deciding to get him back by swatting mud at him, I opened up a mini-war and got a ball of mud thrown at me in return. We burst out of the mud pit and I chased him for a bit until we dried.
The fun was on! Laughing like teenagers in love we jogged on to the next batch of mud puddles. There were times when we ran into the same people, met new people, trudged along with a giant group of people - but we were all in it together. Wading through a watery mud hole, not knowing what to expect, was a rush. There was a group of girls in front of us and our adrenaline level rose as we'd watch a girl to the left suddenly fall, the group behind her would compensate by going right, then another would fall. The rest of the group spread out to try different routes and I did the same, analyzing if there would be a smoother route closer to shore, or closer to the river.
It was part of the excitement, not knowing if the next step would be three feet down further than the one just taken. The euphoric feeling spread over our bodies as we jogged onto the next obsticle. The weather was warm, a bit overcast, but perfect with occasional winds. The mud provided a cool protection against sunburn, but parts of me not covered are red, so sunscreen (reapplication even) might be necessary if you burn easy.
Water stations were positioned about every mile and medical was there to help anyone injured. In just the time I was there I'd heard of a few twisted ankles so who knows what else happened. Although some injuries are unavoidable, if you're careful, have good balance and know how to fall properly, the race is more fun than dangerous. This event brought the kid out in all of us. Climbing over obsticles with only a rope to pull yourself up, to rope walls, monkey bars, mud pits with tubes to climb over, under and through, using your imagination to play "soldier," find your inner child.
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