We Won! Mud Hog Race 2009

I have been looking forward to the Mud Hog Race since Justin and I signed up in early May. I’ve never done any sort of race that incorporated mountain biking or obstacles before, but I talked about it so much that I got three friends from work to sign up for it too.

Saturday, Justin and Christina crashed at our house. That evening Justin and I went off for a 10 mile Long Slow Distance (LSD) run and we talked about the race and about the strategy. You see, we both made the mistake of looking at last year’s results and both of us had the same thought. “If we do this right, we could do well and at least podium in our age group,” we thought.  Still, last year only had 53 teams and this year there were 112 teams, so there would be a lot more competition.

Between the two of us, Justin is the stronger runner, so we agreed that Justin would start as the runner and I would start as the biker.  That way Justin would have 3 miles of running and 2 on the bike, while I would have 2 miles of running and 3 on the bike. It would also mean that by the time I started my first run portion, my heart rate would be up and I would be warmed up somewhat.

The morning of the race we got an early start and I told April in the car that I was nervous. I felt like I was going to throw up. I rarely get nervous before races anymore, but I was really nervous about this race. I think I was nervous for 2 reasons. First, since I knew we had a chance to do well, I added that much more pressure on myself. Second, and probably mostly, I was nervous because I didn’t want to let Justin down. Ya see, the rules for the Mud Hog state that both team members have to cross the finish line together. So the team is only as fast as the slowest member. I had no illusions; I knew that was me. I wanted to do well for Justin.

Skip ahead - race time. The race was staged in 3 waves. Justin and I were in the first wave, but so were 39 other teams. I knew I needed to get out quickly or risk being swallowed on the narrow trails by all the other mountain bikes. When the siren sounded, I sprinted out and quickly moved into third place. Around the 1/2 mile mark I dropped back to 5th, but by the time we made it to the first obstacle I was up in second place. For the first obstacle we had to crab walk about 20 feet over logs. I set out on the run and found that it was mostly uphill (thank you hill training). By the 1 1/2 mile mark I moved up into first, but I was still waiting to see who the first cyclist was. Yay Justin! I was so happy when I saw that he was first, because that meant we would keep the lead. I shocked myself for the run portion and ran my first mile in just over 6 minutes.

The second obstacle wasn’t really much of an obstacle, it was just a balance beam. With that done I moved on to the 3rd mile and my second bike leg. This leg was a loop and really had some technical trails with roots, rocks, steep hills, and deep mud. I thought about my friends’ team Sisters Sludge and thought that they were going to kill me for getting them into this. But eventually I got through it and shouted to Justin as I passed him that we were in the lead. The third obstacle was the foot speed test - high stepping through the tires.

The fourth leg was my second run portion. Justin and I met up with each other at the top of a steep down hill. His zoomed down on the bike and I just opened my stride and let gravity take over. We were both hollering and laughing and I felt like a total kid again, running just for the shear enjoyment of it. I did this mile in 6 something too.

The last obstacle was a heaven send, you had to run and jump belly first on the slip and slide. The cold water felt great.  I jumped back on the bike and met up with Justin somewhere around the middle of the last mile.  This was where I saw that he was running neck and neck with another runner. Where the hell did he come from?! It didn’t matter though. I had been checking over my shoulder for a while and I knew the next biker was way behind me. I got to the end of the trail portion first and waited for Justin who wasn’t far behind. The other team’s runner got there too, but from this point on, teams had to move together, so he was stuck waiting for his teammate.

This is where we almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. We were pointed up a path and we were running towards the mud pit, when we heard a bullhorn squawk “YOU”RE RUNNING THE WRONG WAY!!!! GO BACK!!!!” I uttered a not so nice word and we doubled back to a missed turn. Anyway, we got to the pit, belly crawled through and celebrated our winning time of 33:08. We set a new course record!! We averaged a 6:18 pace, but when you factor in the obstacles and the mud pit, we were running probably somewhere in the high fives.  Justin was one speedy partner.

We hung out at the pit and some woman from a local newspaper took our names and times. We watched the other competitors come through the mud and waited for our friends. First came the Happy Heveys - Jillian and her mother-in-law, Deb (We ran the Fourth of July 5K with them this year too), and then my girls Val and Kathy (AKA - Sisters Sludge) came in too. I was so happy to see their bright smiling faces. I so wanted them to have a good time.

After the race we jumped in the pond and washed off the mud and changed into some comfortable and dry clothes. We grabbed our free beers, free food, and after we collected our trophies, we all tail gated together. We ended up meeting some more friends of friends (Brad and Ben and Melissa) - What great people! Melissa was going to be Mary’s partner, but she injured her ankle and the team was forced to sit out. Ironically enough, Melissa gave their bibs away to the female team that went on to win the female division. Brad and Ben did very well too. They came in second in their age group and third overall.

Anyway, enjoy the photos. You can view them in full screen and as a slideshow if you want (see buttons on bottom right corner)

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