The first Saturday in August I had the chance to run my first mud run, the Dirty Girl 5k. A friend had asked if I wanted to join her.  In the spirit of trying new things and taking advantages of opportunities, I of course said yes. We signed up for a later in the day wave since we were going to be out and about having fun the night before and up late in a city that was an hour and a half away from where the race was being held. The race was held in Blaine, MN just outside Minneapolis.

For race day we tried to match, but didn’t really plan ahead other than stopping at Target to see what we could find. I had read in previous mud run suggestions not to wear cotton, however I refused to ruin a moisture wicking shirt at a mud run. We instead opted for the clearance tanks at Target (this was the right choice as both of mine are ruined.) The shorts made it out ok since they were black.

We knew going into the mud run there might be some confusion and strange things as the event company that originally ran the Dirty Girl 5k is filing bankruptcy, and a new event company picked up the Minneapolis Dirty Girl 5k a couple of weeks before the event. We had already been told there would be no t-shirts. I was bummed, but was more in it for the experience. When we arrived to park they had directions handy, lots of signs and polite volunteers running the event.

We checked our gear and headed to our start corral. We had packed a clean shirt, a towel to sit on on the ride back to her house, a pair of shoes for after (actually I forgot mine-oops!) and our id and phones for safe keeping.  When our start began they read us the safety guidelines and we were off. The race is a 5k with obstacles throughout the course. The obstacles you would find at a Dirty Girl are explained and pictured on their website, but to save you the time I borrowed their photos (read: all obstacle photos are from the Dirty Girl website) and posted them below.

All of these obstacles were at our race.  There was also a super thick mud obstacle they gave us the option to run through it (the harder choice) or roll over it (that’s how thick the mud was.)  Of course we chose run through it.  After taking two steps our legs were stuck and we were in thick mud up to our hips.  This was the only scary/hard part of the race.  I could not get my one leg free.  My friend was stuck, too.  There was no way anyone ran through that.  The guy working the obstacle had to dig us out.  I started to get claustrophobic since I was stuck and may have begun to silently freak out.

Right away they get you all muddy at the first obstacle!

For anyone feeling nervous about doing an obstacle course this is a great introductory race (just roll through the thick mud obstacle.) This is not a Tough Mudder or Spartan race, and I don’t believe any additional or specific training needs to be done to complete this event if you are in shape to some extent. Some girls walked during the event and every obstacle gives you the option to go around the event if you want. Although, how can you say you completed the event if you did this? Just my opinion. 🙂

I mostly run with very little cross training and found the course to be easy. None of the events were too challenging or overwhelming at all. It actually confirmed that I want to do a Tough Mudder someday for more of a challenge. Based on my experience this would be a great obstacle course/5k to make your first.

Completing this race was a blast! I literally forgot I was running at times having a friend to run and talk with throughout the race. I didn’t look up any of the obstacles in advance so anticipating the next obstacle was fun and a great change-up to the pace. I think I laughed most the race. This is also how I go mud in my mouth, but this also seems inevitable as it is a MUD RUN. Simply put, this is super fun race and all about a good time rather than competitive/strict paces. They don’t even time the event.

After running the race we grabbed our gear which had security workers confirming you were who you said you were, visited a photo area for some post photos, and hit the shower off area. Here we donated our shoes to be cleaned up and past on to those in need and began the fun task of getting the mud out of and off of every part of your body. Seriously, EVERY PART of your body.

Finally we headed to pick up our free drink. This is where I was bummed as they said they were done giving out drinks. The race was still going on and our registration claimed we would get a shirt and a drink and we got neither. I’m willing to give this new event company the benefit of the doubt since they just picked up the race two weeks before it was held, but I was bummed. They did offer all participants a super cheap registration for next year as a consolation.

Bummed that we didn’t each get Razberita’s like we thought we would, we did the next best thing-went out for Mexican food and had a giant margarita…still muddy and in dirty bottoms (we changed our shirts.) So maybe that was better in the end.

If you get a chance to do a mud run your only answer will be yes. I know you’ll love it!

Dirty Girl 5k

No paces, places, age groups or times.  Just lots of mud, fun AND free race photos which were taken by Gameface Media!  There photos were amazing.  Thanks, Gameface Media!