This weekend I participated in the first Dirty Girl Mud Run in Atlanta! The weather was perfect. Here are my most and least favorite parts of the race:
The Best parts:
1. Watching teams encourage each other. I saw one woman stuck at the top of the “get a grip” station. Her team cheered for her to keep going and climb down. That was inspiring. They waited on her at the bottom and cheered until she climbed down.
2. Get as muddy as you want to: As you can see from my race photos, I did NOT get very muddy at all. I’m glad that the challenges allowed us the option to get as muddy as we wanted to or not. All of the “dirty” photos that you see from the race are from people who head dived into the mud or jumped in. I did not! The mud didn’t wash out of my shirt though. But that’s okay.
3. Race parking: Race parking was plentiful and free
4. The “Rinse off”: the rinse off area was for women only and it was great to rinse the mud off and cheer on the racers who were just passing by.
5. Shoe donation: I like that they let you throw shoes into a pile for donation. I took my muddy shoes home though.
6. Team outfits: I thought that the matching outfits were fun and some of them were incredibly creative.
7. The fun names of each mud station: I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw “Utopian Tubes”. The names were fun and female friendly. Including PMS (Pretty Muddy Stuff)
8. The music: The music at the start and finish line was great. It kept me motivated. I enjoyed hearing it on the course too.
The Worst Parts:
– Volunteers: I think next year they could use a few more volunteers. The check in line was long and I heard the wait for bag check was over an hour. I also wanted more signs around the front entry. Getting volunteers is hard though I’m sure.
– Announcements: I couldn’t hear the announcements over the music and excitement. Thankfully, I didn’t get hurt and neither did anyone else around me 🙂
-The backup: One station had lines so long I ended up running around it after waiting. No one could figure out how to get through it and the line was pretty backed up. I was sad about skipping skip it. 🙁
– Nose bleeds and headaches: No fault to the run, but I got a little sick after finishing. I had a nosebleed and then the rest of the day I had a terrible headache. I blame allergies. I was better the next morning!
Overall, I’d do the mud run again. Next year I will have to get a group together and make some cool festive outfits. This year I just wore a men’s white shirt. Not that cool, but it was very comfy. I finished in 32 minutes! I was excited 🙂 Would you ever do a mud run/obstacle course? Here are some action and before and after shots:
Me pre race
Running through the last station: PMS (Pretty Muddy Stuff)
Crossing the finish line!
Me post run!
Huge thanks to the Fitfluential team! I won my entry ticket from them via Twitter.
