Filthy Dirty...

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on? Just when you think I have fallen off the face of the planet, I re-appear like magic :) I have been riding bikes like crazy, mud running and generally juggling life as always! Lots of exciting things happening!

This past weekend I was fortunate enough to participate in the Dirty Girl Mud Run here in Atlanta. It was fortunate, not only because I got to run the race but also because I got to meet Kristin, Colleen and Alec live and in person! The Dirty Girl Mud Run is a obstacle filled 5k race for women only which should just scream "WEAR SOMETHING PINK AND SPARKLY" to most people. Having done a mud run in the past (in Georgia red clay which is not easy to wash out), clearly my main concern was wearing something I did not mind trashing. Wearing pink or a costume never entered my mind. DUH.

Colleen had the foresight to sign up for the very first wave and we all jumped on that bandwagon which turned out to be a brilliant idea. When I arrived at the venue, there was no problem parking and there was no line for packet pack up. (It was at this point that I realized I was waaaay underdressed for this occasion!). I was surrounded by all sorts of sparkly team costumes in various shades of pink. This was definitely an event that you want to attend with a large group of friends. Colleen and Kristin quickly found me and Alec. We killed some time at the start checking out the vendors because who doesn't need a new cowbell or sunglasses?

Before we knew it we were off! Before the race, there were discussions about how Kristin wanted to take it easy because she had a 70.3 the next weekend. We had a shoe malfunction in the group shortly after the start and found ourselves literally at the back of the pack. We thought it might be fun to hang back until we got to the first obstacle and there was a backlog of people trying to get over a pile of hay bales. At that point we decided it was time to sprint ahead and put some distance between us and the imaginary SAG wagon.

We went through a variety of obstacles from climbing under cargo nets stretched over mud (errr potting soil), fallopian/utopian tubes to crawl through, and climbing up and over a cargo net wall. we went through a matrix of ropes, a tire run and plenty of just plain running in between. Right at the end, there was a mud pit which we all lamely ran through. Later on we realized that you were supposed to sort of face plant in it and crawl through. Ooops. I guess we were too focused on getting our free beverages. Imagine our disappointment when we realized it was a can of Busch beer. Ha.

We passed on the beer and hosed off in the shower set up which was actually pretty nice. The previous mud run I did only offered a lake to wash off in and no changing area so this was a nice touch to be able to rinse off and change if needed for the ride home.

The only downside to the race was the lack of food or water/drinks (besides the beer...). The pre-race info mentioned bringing money for the post race food but there was none to be found. Not even a bottle of water. Well, I take that back, we did hear that there was a man selling chick-fil-a on the side but it seemed a little sketchy. We opted to head to midtown for food at Einstein's (not the bagel place) which turned out to be MUCH better. :)

All in all, I had a great time! I loved meeting Kristin, Colleen and Alec (who turned out to be a professional mud runner). The race itself is definitely a fun time out for all you dirty girls out there. The obstacles weren't terribly difficult and if you came across one that you just weren't feeling, it would have been easy to walk around it.  You do not need any special skills to participate - ANYONE really could do this race.

Thanks to FitFluential LLC who compensated me for this campaign. All thoughts and opinions are my own.