where was the mud?

My nephew Kool-J always gets the short end of the auntie-time stick. His sister and I have a lot in common and she'll say yes to pretty much everything. Kool-J on the other hand likes super hereos, guns, cars, military, explosions, ... Nothing that his pacifist aunt likes. It's really hard to do things with him.

A couple weeks ago I saw an ad on FB for "My First Mud Run" at Lehigh,and thought he'd like it. His sister would hate it. No risk she'd ask to go along. He said yes. But at 12 he needed a parent or guardian to do it with him, so mom came too. I managed to get a groupon, so it was half the price.

Today was the big day. I've done the Dirty Girl and The Biggest Loser Outdoor Challenge (which teams up with Spartan Races). I have been up to my neck in mud and water. But not today.

After dropping sister at my house to mulch, we headed to Lehigh's athletic fields. The university had several athletic events going on and there was not a sign to our event anywhere. Very odd. Then out of the corner of my eye I spotted a tiny sign. I asked Eryn what it said. She had no idea. She left her glasses at home. Didn't want to break them.

Indeed it was a park here for the mud run sign. We were close to Stabler Arena. So where to go next. The bulk of the people were heading toward the football stadium. We followed. Found a sign about half way there. We went all around the stadium to the rear and kept going. We ended up in the little parking lot off Seidersville Rd.

We checked in an waited. We were the 11 am wave. We set off about 11:15. I told Eryn and Kool-J to wait for me at the end. They had no choice. I had the car keys. (snicker.)

Off everyone ran. Except me. I walked. Up the hill, thru the corn field, around the sculpture. By then others were walking. We reached the first obstacle—tires. Now at the other runs the tires would be sitting in mud, filled with mud. A slippery, slidey mess. Nope. Grass. Easy as pie.

The next was tubes. Not tubes sitting in mud and filling with water. Just tubes. And I fit. Followed by the walls. But there was grass on either side. No mud around them. And more importantly no mud on them.

Then the tire carry. The tires were small and without mud it was pretty easy. Followed by burpies and push ups on the grass. I skipped those. Let the 18-year-old volunteer yell at me.

Finally the heavy jump ropes. This is probably why my arms are still sore. Have you noticed that the only mud in this entire post is explaining that there wasn't any. We were 3/4 done and still no mud.

At the beginning they told us to follow the white lines. After the ropes the white line pretty much stopped.  I saw nobody in front of me, so I walked straight. Clearly it was not the right direction. the family behind me thought the same thing. The father says let's walk toward the music. So I did also.

Eryn and Kool-J were ahead of me. They kept walking and following the path and got way off course. Eryn said they probably walked an extra mile.

Finally we got to the last obstacle—the mud pit. Yes, the mud run finally had mud. You had to go thru on your belly. then run up the hill and come back. But no one told me to turn half way up so I went all the way to the top again.

I finished in about 1.25 hours. Eryn and Kool-Jay came in about 5 minutes later.

No mud. Few volunteers. Poorly marked. I was not happy. But the child was, and that's all that really matters.

The child would like to do more. In fact, he wants to train to do the Spartan race. I'd say go for it. He thinks his Dad might like to do one. That would be good. As a GI he's probably done quite a few of them.

Actually this race resembled what I thought the Biggest Loser race would be—obstacle with some mud.

Look how clean I am!