Who: Northwest CT YMCA
What: The 2nd Annual WYLD Y Mud Run
When: June 29th 2013
Where: John A. Minetto State Park, Torrington, CT
Why: Because it's my local Y, because this time I got my friends to run with me, and because it is all kinds of fun.
This is my first repeat event since starting this blog and it is not even a swim. But I did it and I'm gonna write about it.
So first I can tell they learned a few things from last year:
More obstacles, more water stations, more staff and volunteers on the course, and more porta-potties.
The waves were organized to get faster runners out in the first wave. The obstacles that really back people up were later in the course. And the start had a nice longish stretch of trail running which served to spread people out.
I learned a few things from last year too:
Sprint the start so you don't get jammed up at the first obstacle.
Get a running start for anything you have to jump.
Just swim the water hazards. (after all rick does swim)
Showing posts with label mud run. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mud run. Show all posts
Monday, July 1, 2013
Thursday, July 12, 2012
blow-by-blow part 3
After the tires I jogged up the hill near the starting line. Past the tent where they were blasting some pump-up music, I ran through the spay from the fire hose. I came to a bridge over the river. The course took me down the bank and under the bridge. There was another bottleneck here as a row of people carefully picked their way through the river and out the other side. As I was waiting a couple of people came up behind me and hopped in the water. Rather than carefully stepping along the uneven bottom they just swam it.
Damn it! Why didn't I think of that myself?
So I followed them across and passed a few people on that obstacle. I jogged around another pond and came to the obstacle called bucketville. This just meant getting a five-gallon bucket at least half full of water and carrying in a big loop. You were allowed to go two people to a bucket but of course I was out there on my own and not part of a team. So the bucket went up on a shoulder and around I went. I wanted to be able to run, but didn't want to splash out all the water. At the end of the loop the water went back into the pond and we had to cross.
The crossing was maybe 40 feet and I don't think the water got more than 4 feet deep. But I learned something on the last river crossing. I flopped forward and swam right across, zipping right past the folks who were carefully picking their way over the uneven bottom.
On the way to the next obstacle I thought that they seemed more spread out than they had in the beginning. When I got to the next one I found and interesting change of pace. There were multiple jenga games set up on a round table in the path with instructions to remove 3 pieces. This was a bit annoying because all the easy pieces were gone and there were piles and piles of loose pieces on the table. The only reasonable thing would be to make an entirely new stack and then pull three pieces. Anyway I figure if I'm already off and running before the stack falls over then, who cares?
I ran off to the next obstacle: tunnels. The tunnels are maybe two feet in diameter 12 feet long. Too narrow to crawl through I had to slide on by belly. The inside was so slick that on the first tunnel I slid nearly all the way through with just one push. I got a little over enthusiastic on the second one and I bumped my hip on the top of the tunnel. Ouch. But the tunnels were fun.
The next obstacle was possibly the most dangerous. It was basically a slip n' slde on the side of a hill. We had to run, or actually walk, with a funny knee bent gait up the slip and slide. It was around here that I realized I actually managed to pass a few people from two or three waves ahead of me. Once again we looped around toward where the race had started. I ran through the spraying fire hose again and I came to the plunge pool.
This was an aboveground pool maybe three and a half feet deep with what looked like a badminton net stretched across. The idea is you duck under the net and get completely sumberged before climbing out the other side. I should mention the name of this obstacle is "cold splash" As I approached I found two women gingerly climbing into the pool and eyeing the net warily. Well I thought that was ridiculous. This was not exactly the first time I was getting wet this morning. I yelled a warning as I ran up and vaulted right into the pool. I popped up on the other side of the net and climbed out. It turned out the water wasn't all that cold. Maybe it had been sitting in the sun too long. Back down the hill with the finish in sight, I passed a few more people even though the path was a little too narrow. The last obstacle was a maze made my string through ankle deep water in the original pond. There was another bit of a bottleneck here as everyone worked their way through. But, since there were people at all points along the path there was no real possibility of taking a wrong turn and having to double back. After that it was just an uphill run to the finish line.
That was my first ever mud run. I had such a good time I will have to do some more.
Damn it! Why didn't I think of that myself?
So I followed them across and passed a few people on that obstacle. I jogged around another pond and came to the obstacle called bucketville. This just meant getting a five-gallon bucket at least half full of water and carrying in a big loop. You were allowed to go two people to a bucket but of course I was out there on my own and not part of a team. So the bucket went up on a shoulder and around I went. I wanted to be able to run, but didn't want to splash out all the water. At the end of the loop the water went back into the pond and we had to cross.
The crossing was maybe 40 feet and I don't think the water got more than 4 feet deep. But I learned something on the last river crossing. I flopped forward and swam right across, zipping right past the folks who were carefully picking their way over the uneven bottom.
On the way to the next obstacle I thought that they seemed more spread out than they had in the beginning. When I got to the next one I found and interesting change of pace. There were multiple jenga games set up on a round table in the path with instructions to remove 3 pieces. This was a bit annoying because all the easy pieces were gone and there were piles and piles of loose pieces on the table. The only reasonable thing would be to make an entirely new stack and then pull three pieces. Anyway I figure if I'm already off and running before the stack falls over then, who cares?
I ran off to the next obstacle: tunnels. The tunnels are maybe two feet in diameter 12 feet long. Too narrow to crawl through I had to slide on by belly. The inside was so slick that on the first tunnel I slid nearly all the way through with just one push. I got a little over enthusiastic on the second one and I bumped my hip on the top of the tunnel. Ouch. But the tunnels were fun.
The next obstacle was possibly the most dangerous. It was basically a slip n' slde on the side of a hill. We had to run, or actually walk, with a funny knee bent gait up the slip and slide. It was around here that I realized I actually managed to pass a few people from two or three waves ahead of me. Once again we looped around toward where the race had started. I ran through the spraying fire hose again and I came to the plunge pool.
This was an aboveground pool maybe three and a half feet deep with what looked like a badminton net stretched across. The idea is you duck under the net and get completely sumberged before climbing out the other side. I should mention the name of this obstacle is "cold splash" As I approached I found two women gingerly climbing into the pool and eyeing the net warily. Well I thought that was ridiculous. This was not exactly the first time I was getting wet this morning. I yelled a warning as I ran up and vaulted right into the pool. I popped up on the other side of the net and climbed out. It turned out the water wasn't all that cold. Maybe it had been sitting in the sun too long. Back down the hill with the finish in sight, I passed a few more people even though the path was a little too narrow. The last obstacle was a maze made my string through ankle deep water in the original pond. There was another bit of a bottleneck here as everyone worked their way through. But, since there were people at all points along the path there was no real possibility of taking a wrong turn and having to double back. After that it was just an uphill run to the finish line.
That was my first ever mud run. I had such a good time I will have to do some more.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
blow-by-blow part 2
I took of on the next section. We crossed a bridge and started up a hill. Quite a few people chose to walk so I passed a few people on the way up. Around the top of the hill there was a sign giving us three numbers to remember. Then there was a sharp turn and the next obstacle: the web. Rope tied between the trees at different heights and angles. Step over duck under and squeeze through. I passed another person here. After the web the course went off-trail and down hill. This may have been my favorite part of the whole race. I had lost sight of anyone in front of me so I just took off running through the woods. I felt like a little kid, leaping over logs and having a grand old time. I caught up with a few more people at the mud crawl.
I didn't actually have to crawl, I got elbows to knees and managed to walk right under the tarp. The mud continued for a little further. I passed a few more people here, as the mud sucked at their shoes. Then I got to the river crossing, which was a pretty serious bottleneck. Climb down wade across and climb out. But there was only room for one person at a time to climb out. Everyone was polite and more or less left the river in the same order we came in. Then we got back on the trail and passed that water station again.
Still a little thirsty I grabbed another warm cup of water and went on my way. The next obstacle was just switchbacks. The course zigged and zagged. Run about 50 feet, turn around run 50 feet back, repeat. This was maybe the easiest obstacle, but I should be polite because I very nearly bit it on the slippery grass. I passed a few more people who were wisely walking this obstacle. As soon as we got out of the switchbacks we came to the tires. The tires were all two rows deep. The first row was one high and the second row was either two or three tires high. That meant I didn't need a lot of fancy footwork. I stepped in the first tire and leapt over the second row. By this time the had nearly looped back around to the start.
THE THRILLING CONCLUSION
I didn't actually have to crawl, I got elbows to knees and managed to walk right under the tarp. The mud continued for a little further. I passed a few more people here, as the mud sucked at their shoes. Then I got to the river crossing, which was a pretty serious bottleneck. Climb down wade across and climb out. But there was only room for one person at a time to climb out. Everyone was polite and more or less left the river in the same order we came in. Then we got back on the trail and passed that water station again.
Still a little thirsty I grabbed another warm cup of water and went on my way. The next obstacle was just switchbacks. The course zigged and zagged. Run about 50 feet, turn around run 50 feet back, repeat. This was maybe the easiest obstacle, but I should be polite because I very nearly bit it on the slippery grass. I passed a few more people who were wisely walking this obstacle. As soon as we got out of the switchbacks we came to the tires. The tires were all two rows deep. The first row was one high and the second row was either two or three tires high. That meant I didn't need a lot of fancy footwork. I stepped in the first tire and leapt over the second row. By this time the had nearly looped back around to the start.
THE THRILLING CONCLUSION
Monday, July 2, 2012
blow-by-blow
Since my number was 362 I started in the 4th wave. The starting line was on the main road in the park. At the buzzer I took off at a jog with the rest of the group. After just a few hundred yards we turned off to the right to follow a trail uphill. This was the first bit of congestion. The trail narrowed down to single file and there was no more room to pass. So pretty soon we were heading back down hill at a brisk walking pace. Then we came to the first real obstacle: The swamp. This was knee to waist deep water. The water was all stirred up with mud so you couldn't see your feet. There were there were rocks and downed trees to step over and the bottom was muddy and uneven. We had to step carefully. A few people bit it and got a face full of muddy water. We went single file through this bit. I couldn't have gone much faster if I had wanted to.
I climbed out of the swamp and jogged off to find the next obstacle. They called them "molehills" mounds of dirt, or maybe small hills six to eight feet high. You had to run, climb, or scramble up one side and then back down the other. I found if I got a running start I could pop right up to the top without having to scramble with my hands. Then I would pause at the top to make sure I had a clear path before running down and using the flat ground to get my pace back under control. There were about 5 of these molehills. The last one was actually an asphalt cliff about three feet high. The ground was level on the other side so it was leap up and keep running.
The course continued relatively straight before curving around through some knee deep water on the shore of a pond. I passed a few people on the straight stretch and a few more running through the water. As long as the water didn't go past my knees I could actually do a high stepping sort of run while most everyone else was walking. The course continued around the pond and then to the docks.
It was way too far to jump from dock to dock. So it was hop up on the dock, jump into the water hop up onto the next dock. The water turn out to be about chest high. After the docks I got back on shore and ran for the walls.
While I was watching the first wave I could see that the walls were a real problem for some people so it could be a bad bottleneck. I hit the first wall right behind some guys who were sailing right along. Another dude got there about a half-second after me and we went over no problem. He was still about a half-second behind me when I got down from the third and last wall. The course continued past the walls for a little while before turning right at the water station. I grabbed a cup from one of the volunteers and downed it. It was warm.
PART TWO
PART TWO
Saturday, June 30, 2012
My first mud run
We started in waves based on bib number. This was to minimize bottlenecks on the course. Given that there were more than 450 participants on a course no more than 5k long this was essential. Of course there was no way they could eliminate bottlenecks completely on this course. All this means is that the first people out on the first wave had a chance to move through the course considerably faster. But so what? Under no circumstances would I be in danger of winning the the race.
They counted twenty obstacles, including some wall climbs, tires, water, and some fantastic mud. It also included running up a hill and along a trail. So maybe it should only be counted as 18.
I opted to do the run in my five fingers shoes, rather than my normal running shoes. This was absolutely the right choice for me. I was able to zip through the thickest mud without losing my shoes, do my climbs and scrambles more easily, and swim through several of the water obstacles almost without noticing I was wearing shoes. I only saw one other person who made the same call on shoes and they definitely got a lot of comments.
I'm not really sure about the etiquette on mud run obstacles. I tried to avoid cutting ahead of people it seemed mostly rude, sometimes dangerous and occasionally impossible. I felt much better jogging past people between the obstacles; there were a lot of folks who mostly walked.
I finished the thing with relative ease and had, I will claim, as much fun as anyone on the course. I think I should do another one of these things.
They counted twenty obstacles, including some wall climbs, tires, water, and some fantastic mud. It also included running up a hill and along a trail. So maybe it should only be counted as 18.
I opted to do the run in my five fingers shoes, rather than my normal running shoes. This was absolutely the right choice for me. I was able to zip through the thickest mud without losing my shoes, do my climbs and scrambles more easily, and swim through several of the water obstacles almost without noticing I was wearing shoes. I only saw one other person who made the same call on shoes and they definitely got a lot of comments.
I'm not really sure about the etiquette on mud run obstacles. I tried to avoid cutting ahead of people it seemed mostly rude, sometimes dangerous and occasionally impossible. I felt much better jogging past people between the obstacles; there were a lot of folks who mostly walked.
I finished the thing with relative ease and had, I will claim, as much fun as anyone on the course. I think I should do another one of these things.
WYLD!
So here is an event that is a real change of pace for me.
Who: Northwest CT YMCA
What: The 2012 Wyld Mud Run
When: June 30th 2012
Where: John A. Minetto State Park
Why: A fun change of Pace
This was my first ever Mud Run and the first time the local Y organized a mud run Overall I thought it was pretty great.
Who: Northwest CT YMCA
What: The 2012 Wyld Mud Run
When: June 30th 2012
Where: John A. Minetto State Park
Why: A fun change of Pace
This was my first ever Mud Run and the first time the local Y organized a mud run Overall I thought it was pretty great.
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