Princess 1/2 Marathon Race Re-Cap….finally!

It has been a long time coming on this race recap! I just simply haven't had the time!! My life has been pretty crazy, traveling all over for work, and blogging has had to take a back seat.

It was over a month ago now that I was in the midst of running the Glass Slipper Challenge, and the 5k which has been affectionately called "Dopey Lite" and having a blast with my BRFF Meg!!


After finishing the 5k and the 10k, it was now time for the main event: the 1/2 marathon!!


Yet another early wake-up call, this one wasn't as bad, I think I got used to it. If that is possible. I quickly got dressed -- Anna from Frozen, and made my way to the busses.

POP Century and RunDisney really had their stuff together as far as the transportation to the races were concerned, we didn't have to wait even a minute and we were on our way.

After a few pictures, Anne and I made our way to the Race Retreat tent to eat some breakfast and check our bags. We had packed all of our California medals, since we would be receiving our Coast-to-Coast medal and wanted some pictures of all the BLING!!

Inside the tent I helped myself to a bagel, peanut butter, a banana and some coffee. Anne and I sat quietly for about 30 minutes, just taking it all in. It was bittersweet. This was our last RunDisney race (or so we thought!!), and while I was excited to get running, I was also trying to savor every minute of the ride that brought my sister and I closer together.

Too soon it was time to head to the corrals. Having run the race before, I knew what to expect. It is a long, crowded walk. Anne couldn't believe how far we had to walk, I thought it seemed shorter than the past time, maybe because I knew it would be long!

Anne and I wished each other luck as we separated at corral F (Anne was in D), and then I was alone in a crowd. It was right then that my corral panic set in, and the idea of waiting really scared me. I was tired, I was sore, I was hot……it was really, really, really humid and I was already sweating!! Yuck!

During my panic, in which I tried multiple times to talk myself both out of and into running this race, was when the Princess issues started. Princess 1/2 Marathon is well known for having some drama, and some drama queens, and corral F was brimming with them. I was standing near the front of the corral, and was just about knocked over by a whole group of women who were dressed as Snow White (yes, they all were!). They literally pushed me to the side, and I tripped on a woman who was sitting on the ground. I was beyond annoyed.

It only got worse with these ladies. They were completely annoying. One woman -- who was wearing her hair down-- spent about 15 minutes scrunching her hair and making duck faces in her cell phone. It was so humid, and she was wearing full on make-up, and worrying about her hair?!?

Anyway, I tried to ignore the craziness around me, and just focus on staying calm. It worked for awhile. Not soon enough, corral F was sent off with fireworks and I got away from the Snow Whites!

From the very minute I started running, I knew I would struggle with the humidity. It was at 99%!! Something this northern girl just cannot handle.

My initial race plan was to have fun, stop at all the characters and enjoy the race. At mile 1, I completely changed my plan, I would just run, and try to finish. I would only stop at photos that I really needed, and that had short lines.

At mile 2 I was soaking, I could wring my shirt out, and my braids were heavy with sweat (note to self: never run with braids). I was running, but I was miserable!!

I think it was around mile 3, that I met up with irundisney's Jindy!! I was struggling, and stuck with her for a couple of miles. It felt really good to talk and have someone to run with. It took my mind off of the humidity, for awhile. Jindy was running intervals, something I have very little experience with, so it was hard for me, but I enjoyed the company so much, I stuck it out.

In the Magic Kingdom, Jindy planned on using the restroom, and we parted ways.

I always have fun running through the Magic Kingdom and this particular run was no different! I actually got to RUN through the castle! It was great!!

The time spent inside of the Magic Kingdom is just too short in my opinion, and much before I would have liked, we were running out of the park!

It was around this time that I met up with a #Runnerslove friend Caroline!!! It was so much fun to chat with her for awhile!! We took a few pictures together, and then she took off to claim her PR!! Woo!!

At around mile 10, I completely fell apart! The entire race, I had been taking 2 waters at each water stop: one to drink and one to pour over myself. The humidity was insane, and I was really struggling. While the water I poured on myself helped for about a minute, it left me soaking wet and miserable!

I was just completely done with this race by this point, so I stopped for a few pics, and started texting Meg. She is always so encouraging, and pretty much told me to "suck it up and run"!! I needed a that, and kept plugging along.

It really took me all I had to power up the highway on-ramps, and finish the last 3 miles! My Marathonphoto pictures show all the pain I was in!! Seriously, the humidity killed me!!!

At mile 12, I knewI was close, and caught a small second wind, enough to get me to the finish line!!!

I had already received pictures from my sister, as she had finished, and the thought of claiming 3 medals was also a BIG motivator for me.

As I crossed the finish line, I cried, tears streaked down my cheeks, and for a moment, I broke into a complete sob. I had finished, not that I thought I wouldn't, nor was I even close to being swept, but I finished!! What I had started over a year before was now complete. I had done it! I was so proud!

Walking through the finisher's chute, I was bombarded with water, Powerade, a cool towel (THE BEST!) and a mesh backpack to stick it all in.

I was shaking so hard I couldn't get my water open, luckily a volunteer saw my struggles and helped! I wanted to hug her!!! I was pretty emotional!

After what seemed like a LONG walk, I finally got my medal! The tears and sobbing started again when I received my coast-to-coast medal for completing both the Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon in Disneyland and the PHM, and then to top it all off the Glass Slipper Challenge medal was placed around my neck. I just couldn't keep it together!! I was so proud of myself, and so emotional about the entire journey and how much I had gained through it.

I made my way quickly into the Race Retreat tent, and got some hot food! It tasted so good!! My cousins and Anne were waiting there for me. Anne presented me with a beautiful necklace and my cousins had bought us Mickey roses!!  It was a great celebration!!

Almost instantly my suffering on the course was forgotten, and I was sad that it was all over. Anne and I took a few picture with all of our RunDisney medals, and then we made our way to the bus line.

OMG!!! It was a disaster!! I think we waited in line to get on the bus for over an hour. It was truly awful!

The rest of the afternoon was pretty nondescript. We had early dinner reservations at the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review, and I was so excited to eat!! The show was so much fun, and the food was delicious!!

Afterwards, my cousins went to Downtown Disney and Anne and I went to the Magic Kingdom to take a few more medal pics with the castle!

We had an amazing time, and hardly felt tired from our day! We pretty much walked onto all of the rides, saw the fireworks (FINALLY!!) and the castle show. I broke down again and cried during the castle show, it was amazing to watch, but what was even more amazing is that I was there with Anne, and we were glowing in our accomplishment.

This entire race weekend was special, from meeting Meg, to the 3 races, to the coast-to-coast medal, it was magical. I cannot express the love I felt.

What is more important to me than any medal, or any finish line is the friendship and closeness I have build with Anne through this process. It warms my heart.

I cannot wait for our next Disney Adventure!! :)

2014 Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Re-Cap

 I cannot believe how long it has taken me to get this post up!! I guess, writing my re-cap was just really hard because I just don't want to admit that Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Weekend is over! I loved it that much!!

This was the race that started it all for my sister. If you remember back to April of last year, my sister had never run a race, and she was very "anti-race". I begged her to travel with me to Disneyland to run the Tinkerbell 1/2, and she flat out refused! She wanted nothing to do with racing. So, I devised a plan in which she wouldn't be "racing" at all, but helping me pace myself, and she would run with me. She went for it and we got signed up.

Of course, she needed to actually run a race in order to have a time to submit to RunDisney for corral placement, so her very first 10k was in August. It was at this race that she got CRAZY about racing (and very competitive!!).

Fast forward to January 19, 2014 --

We had just finished running the Neverland 5k and the Tinkerbell 10k the two days before this race, and now we were up at 3am again, to run the Tinkerbell 1/2 marathon!! Only 13.1 more miles stood between me and the amazing Tinkerbell medal!! I was so excited for this race, as it was going to be my first 1/2 marathon that I actually had someone to run with!!! I was very excited!

Anne and I got ready in record time, and made our way to bag check, and on to corral B. Anne had a time good enough to be in corral A, and while I knew it was killing her to fall back and be in B with me, I was overjoyed to be able to run with someone!!

As we waited in the corral to start, I was amazed with how "fresh" my legs felt!! I wasn't tired, or sore!! This was going to be another GREAT race!!

We were right at the front of corral B and it didn't take long for us to be called to the starting line. After the count down we started running!! I know I had tears in my eyes, I was just so excited to have another chance to run in the beautiful weather (55 degrees!!) and through the parks again!

For the first mile, we ran on some roads outside of Disneyland, these included a few small "hills", but I really don't remember too much of this part of the race, it was dark, and I was just trying to settle into a pace that would be happy for both Anne and I. Anne was struggling with her (bought the night before!) RunDisney tutu, and ended up taking it off and throwing it to a very excited spectator! She is not a costume girl!

About 1.5 miles later we entered Disney's California Adventures! Here we stopped for our first character stop, and I noticed that Linzie from @SeeSharpRun was right in front of us!! I took a quick pic with him! The first character line was short, and didn't take us very long to get through. We then devised a plan that Anne would run up to the character line and wait, I would run and catch up to her. This worked for much of our time in the Parks!

This is probably the reason I loved the Tinkerbell races, you actually run through the parks for an extended amount of time! We ran in the parks for just over 4 miles!! It was so much fun!!

Anne and I stopped for just about every photo op during these 4 miles, and it was funny to watch the time on our Garmins tick by! We actually "ran" mile 3 in 25 minutes!! hahaha! I think seeing this time really got to Anne, it got into her brain and she just panicked!

After meeting Cinderella, Rapunzel and Finn Ryder, Anne took off, saying she would wait at the next stop. When I got to the next character, she was nowhere to be found, so I ran to the next character, and again, there was no Anne. I knew, I knew she had left and I wouldn't catch up to her again, so I settled in to run my own race.

For about 2 miles, I was mad, I was really mad. Usually when I run mad, I run fast, but this time I was trying to choke back tears, I had really wanted to cross the finish line with my sister.

As I made my way down the streets of Anaheim, I got over it and just enjoyed the rising sun, and the views!











Some people complain about running on the streets of Anaheim, that it "isn't' Disney", which is true, unlike races at Walt Disney World, which are run all on Disney property, Disneyland is small, and the city of Anaheim hugs Disney on all sides. Disney cannot have their characters outside of their property, so after mile 5.5 there are no more character stops. I didn't know how I would feel about that, but I was shocked by how the city supported this race!! It was really awesome!! There were very few spots without spectators, and there were multiple places set up handing out food -- I ate the best orange slice I think I have ever had, I even thought about turning around to get another one!!

I had a really great time running this part of the race, I didn't worry about character stops messing with my time, and I was just able to run! It felt really good!

I was able to admire the costumes that everyone was wearing, and chat with a few other runners. At around mile 10 I caught up to a woman who was wearing one of those skirts that belly dancers wear, the ones that make noise, you know those? Well, it annoyed me so badly!! I couldn't focus on anything else but the noise her skirt was making, I actually thought about hitting her!! That's when I knew that I had to get this race over with!

At mile 12 we were back on Disney property, backstage of DCA, and the bottom of my right foot started throbbing. I didn't know what to do, it hurt so bad!! I have never had this type of pain before, and it was bad!! It hurt really bad when I ran, and not as much when I walked, so I walked a while. I didn't want to have to walk across the finish line, but I was in so much pain!!! I just wanted to take my shoe off!

I started chatting with a girl who was also walking, she gave me some encouragement, and at about mile 12.5 I high-fived her, and started running towards the finish line.

The crowd was amazing, and it helped me not focus on my foot!! I sprinted through the finish line, as tears streaked across my face! I think I was crying because I was sad that the weekend was over, that this race that I had planned for so long to run, was over, but I was so proud of myself for finishing!

I seriously skipped over to get my medal!! It is BEAUTIFUL!!! I love this medal!!

I met up with Anne at the same place we met the day before, and at first I got a little angry with her, but I didn't want to ruin the moment. Her excuse was that she "lost me" but I know she needed to run her own race, and just took off. I'm still sad we didn't get to share the finish together, but I understand.

With that said, she only finished 8 minutes before me…..so……

Oh well. I'm over it!

We collected our checked bag, in which we had put our other medals from the weekend, and we got a few pictures taken with all of our medals on!

My sister also had a special surprise for the at the end of the race. All week she had told me that she had something and that it would probably make me cry. She was right! She gave me a vintage (1950's) Tinkerbell charm that she had put on a Alex and Ani bracelet. The charm was very much like the one my mom got as a child in Disneyland. It melted my heart, and if I had had the energy to, I would have bawled. I held it together though. This bracelet means the world to me, for so many reasons!!

Even with all the post-race excitement, I couldn't forget about my foot, it was still throbbing in my shoe, so we made our way back to the hotel, had some breakfast, showered and got ready for our last day in the parks! Once I released my foot from my shoe, it was better…..thank goodness!!

We spent the rest of the day at both Disneyland and DCA, it was super crowded, and we actually had 2 rides shut down just before we got on them (after waiting over an hour in line!!).

It definitely wasn't our favorite day in the parks, but we made the best of it!!

My final thought about Disneyland's Tinkerbell 1/2 Marathon Weekend are simple, it was a magical experience! And even though I have only run 2 RunDisney races (PHM and Tink), I am declaring Tinkerbell as the winner (although I am going to let PHM weekend impress me if it would like to!).

Tinkerbell is great because:

1.  time spent in the parks during the run (the 5k is completely in the parks - start and finish!)
2. getting to the corrals is much easier than at WDW, less walking
3. it is a smaller race, not so crazy
4. the weather!! No HUMIDITY!!
5. smaller parks mean less time spent on your feet in between races!
6. everything is much closer: expo, hotels, parks, etc.
7. the great people of Anaheim who come out to cheer on and support the runners
8. the medals!! They are HUGE!! and BEAUTIFUL
9. California!! I love California!!

I seriously have to run this race weekend again! I know many people had issues with parts of this race weekend, I did not experience any of these issues, and I overall had an amazing time that I will never forget!! It was amazing to travel with my sister, and experience Disneyland for the first time with her. I am so glad she decided to run this race "with" me!! I hope we can do it again in the future!!

Now, it is time to focus on Princess 1/2 Marathon weekend, and earning my coast-to-coast medal!!

Women Rock 10k Race Recap

The past couple of weeks have gotten away from me! With school starting this week, and teacher workshop last week, I have felt very out of touch with my social media friends, and with my training!!

Summer came to Minnesota a little late! Last week we suffered with temps in the upper 90's and humidity levels in the upper 70's! It was brutal, and what made it even harder to bear, was the start of teacher workshop week, which meant I would be working at a school building that had no air conditioning! It was my own personal hell!! I was so exhausted from fighting the heat, that I did not run even once!!



Not running was really strange, after coming off of a 30 mile week, just the week before! As much as I wanted to get out there and actually run, the heat and the humidity was just too much for me! I wasn't worried too much because on Saturday I ran the Team Ortho Women Rock 10k, and I was okay with doing some tapering, but the heat scared me, and I could not drink enough water to keep hydrated!

I ended the week feeling really nervous about the race, it was going to be hot and humid, and I was beyond sick of the heat!!

I didn't have to work on Friday, and so Ryan and I took the day to head up to Minneapolis to do some shopping, and go to packet pick up!

The venue where packet pick up was held, was not air conditioned and it was terrible!! I was dripping with sweat from the minute I stepped inside the expo! Yuck!

We quickly picked up my packet, and took a spin around the expo. I probably would have stayed longer, had it not been so hot, but I just couldn't take it, and we left after picking up my bib, timing chip and post-party wristband, without buying anything. :(

We spent the rest of the afternoon just cruising around MSP, and ended with a simple dinner at Outback Steakhouse (not my choice).

It was an early morning wake-up call that had us spend the night at our favorite MSP hotel: the Westin. My sister, who was running her very first race, picked us up before 6am, and we were off to St. Paul for the race!

Parking was a breeze, thanks to our early departure, and we arrived at the racer's village about an hour before gun time.

That was good, because it was CROWDED!!! And we had to figure out how to get Ryan his spectator pass for the post-race party. My sister had purchased it online, with her registration, and had not received the pass when she picked up her packet. We talked to about 5 volunteers, and walked back and forth between different areas of the racer's village before getting a 1/2 assed answer: Pick it up when you enter the party.

I have run a lot of Team Ortho Races, and this was by far the least organized race! It felt to me, like they needed a couple of more hours to get things set up before the runners arrived. Nothing seemed to be ready! When we got to the start line, they were still building the finish line, there was no music or announcer (which they usually have at Team Ortho Races!). It was really weird.

My sister and I jumped into the 9 minute/mile corral and waited for the start. It was a sea of pinks and purples! Women of all shapes and sizes were getting ready to run, what was going to be a very sweaty race! The humidity was already in the 70's and the temp was climbing ... it was only 7am!!

About 3 minutes before the start of the race, the announcer arrived (he was sick?!), and we were all told to move toward the starting line. Anne and I ended up about 10 people from the actual starting line! Closest to the front I have ever been! Most of the women had lined up in the 12-15 minute mile pacing areas, so we were out front!

The gun went off and so did my sister!! She looked back at me and yelled, "Have a great race!!" and she was off!! Um.....?!?!

The first mile proved that this was going to be a hilly race!! We headed uphill pretty much for the entire first mile!! At about .75 miles, my stomach acted up!! Grrr! Luckily there were some potties at mile 1 and I made a pitstop (10 minutes!?!?!). I had been suffering from stomach issues all week, all of those terrible stomach problems that I suffered from two years ago had come back, full force!! Still this week, I am suffering, and barely eating, because I cant keep anything down. So, I knew it may happen during the race, I was just really hoping it wouldn't!! At very least, it was a fresh potty and I was the first person to use it!!

So, there went 10 minutes of my race --- no PR for me!!

Mile 2 was again hills, up and down and up again!! I was getting frustrated, because, I knew I would have to see these hills again after the turn around!!

Close to mile 3, I saw Anne on the other side of the road, she had made it to the turn around and was headed back! My side of the road was climbing another grueling hill (seriously!!! It was a long one!!), and my sister went CRAZY!!!! She started shouting at me, "Make that hill your bitch!! You got this!! Kill that hill!!" People around me were laughing, and looking around at who she was shouting at..... I just put my head down and kept going!!

The heat was really getting to me, I was upset about my stomach and the loss of 10 minutes, I needed water, and was hoping that at the turn around there would be a water stop. No luck!! (I need to think about carrying my own water!).

It wasn't until mile 4 that I got some water, and some power-ade (something I NEVER drink because it makes my stomach crawl!!), and finally felt like I could finish the race.

The hills hit again, and mile 5 was a crazy uphill climb!! I was fading fast! It was so freaking hot and humid!!

I took a few walk breaks, calmed myself down, and reminded myself that I had run way further than this just a week before and it was great! At this point the 5k course joined the 10k course and it got crowded! Something that it really had not been since the start of the race! This was actually the first (BIG) race that everyone was very considerate on the course and walkers actually stayed to the right!! It was very pleasant!!

I powered to the end, where Ryan and my sister were waiting for me. My sister thought I was injured, because of the pained look on my face! Luckily for me she did not take a picture!! They both were covered in sweat and ready to move from the finish line!

I was so happy to be done! I wasn't however happy with my time : 1 hour 19 minutes!!! Not terrible considering how hot it was, how many hills there were and how sick I felt, but I would have been much happier with 1 hour 9 minutes.....or less?!?

My sister actually finished in 1 hour 6 minutes. So, had it not been for the potty stop, I could have been close to her!!

The finish line was a complete mess!! It was over crowded! First they had runners pick up their necklaces from the shirtless firemen, then get some water. It took me about 8 minutes to get to the water! I thought I was going to die!! Then they had food bags, and Kind Bars, and the lines were awful!!

I finally made it to a clearing and got out of the finish corral, I was dripping wet, and overheated!

We made our way to the after party, to drink some bubbly, and pick up my series medal. It was total madness!! No one had any idea what was going on, where we were supposed to enter, or where to pick up Ryan's spectator pass. After standing in a couple more lines (which are not fun after a run!!), we got in, picked up my medal, got our champagne flutes of ginger ale (the line for champagne was too long!!) we turned around and left!!

On our way out, we noticed that they were selling medals to the non-series finishers, and my sister, who is anti-medal ("I don't need a medal to know I finished!!") went crazy!! She needed a medal!!!! I just laughed and we stood in yet another line to get her medal!

She was so proud!! :)

I think I have created a monster!! -- she wants to run ALL the races now!!!

Overall this was my least favorite Team Ortho Race, as it just seemed unorganized from beginning to start. The heat, humidity and hills did not help me to enjoy this race.

Team Ortho said this race would have cheer squads, fun signage, and music on the course, none of this did I see. It was a disappointment. Not that I need these things for a race, but when promised, why not deliver?!?

I did, as always, love the women only race format, I think it is so great to have a course w/o men, it completely changes the feel of the race!

Next up for me, the Twin K 13k sponsored by Lululemon!!


What is your next race??

Welcome to Team #runDisney Blog Hop, where we have the grand opportunity to meet and connect with new bloggers, such as myself! This is a great opportunity to meet some new friends and share our training journeys before running our RunDisney races!

 Enjoy!

Rules (Not really rules but a guide):

1. Please Follow your host's blog 

I am your host,  Kristy @ KristyRunsKato and I am the first linky. 

Please leave a comment and introduce yourself!

2. Link it!

Link up your blog . Share your race recaps, your RunDisney plans, or anything that you love this week. Please, please, please, share the love and include a link back to this blog hop.

3. Spread it!

This is a blog hop after all, so hop around! Visit other blogs and say Hi!

4. Tweet it!

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Please help me to promote this blog hop by sharing it to others. 

So tweet it to show everyone where you link up on Thursdays!

6. The most important rule of them all, HAVE FUN BLOG HOPPING!

NOW IT IS YOUR TURN! ENTER YOUR BLOG HERE! LET'S START THE FUN!

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Go Commando! My First Mud Run!

Today was my very first mud/obstacle run experience. I ran the Team Ortho Go Commando 5k in Minneapolis.

To say I was a little nervous about this run, would be a huge understatement! I was more nervous about this race than I have been about any other race I have run. I guess the reason being, is in a traditional road race, you know what you are getting into, but a mud run has a bunch of surprises waiting around each corner! And, anyone who knows me, knows that getting dirty and muddy is not really my thing! 

We had a huge storm last night, and this morning when I woke up it was still pouring, which made me even more nervous-- more mud!! By the time we made it to the parking area, the rain had stopped, and it was quite chilly. 

On the bus. Very unsure!

My boyfriend and my sister both accompanied me to this race, and I was really excited to have the support! They both took the pictures you are seeing here, and did a great job cheering me on and making me smile!

Once we parked, we got on a school bus and were bussed to the race area. The bus ride seemed to take forever, and it was making me even more nervous. Once we finally arrived, we got a good view of the course and I was about ready to turn around and just head home. It was pretty intimidating!

When trying to decide to what I should wear to this race, I decided to just go with what I am comfortable with, and I rocked my favorite Team Sparkle skirt and Blood, Sweat and Sparkle tank. I was unsure of what type of shoes to wear, and ended up going with my Five Fingers, which I was really happy with during the entire race! I was feeling pretty badass about my outfit, and it gave me some courage to get in the start corral! 

The beginning of the race was pretty easy, just nice rolling hills, until I hit the first obstacle. This was by far the scariest of them all! It was an up-and-over cargo net. The whole thing was pretty shaky and the hight of it was pretty scary too. It took me longer to get across this obstacle than I thought, and then I was off running to a very similar obstacle. sans cargo net. This one was much easier and I was able to climb over it pretty quickly!

Up the this point I was still clean and dry! Just a few more feet and I was running through thigh-high water and mud!! It was actually more fun than I thought it was going to be, and after crossing the first water, I felt much more comfortable with the whole race. 

Log crossing! 

A few more hills, and I came to the 2nd water crossing, it was a long series of logs that runners were expected to run across. With my Five Fingers on, I felt really stable on the log, but there were a lot of people on the log and one woman started spinning the log (yup, it was like a fricking Lumberjack competition!), and everyone fell off (including me!) into the chest-high water!!! 

Just a short run and I came across another obstacle in which I had to shimmy across some skinny boards, it was pretty harmless and allowed me to get back to running pretty quickly! Then came another water crossing, where I pretty much had to just run through some ankle/shin high water. 

Next came a longer run, and another obstacle where runners had to jump over some large hurdles. Up another hill and I came to an obstacle called "Over & Under". This one was hard for me, as I had to climb a wall, and then go under a second wall, there were 3 sets of these, and I was very tired afterwards! 

We finally hit mile 1!! I think that was the longest mile I have ever run!! 

Back to more water crossing, running across hay bales and a very steep and muddy hill! By this point I was really getting into the whole idea of a mud run, and having fun with it. This is the point I also met a couple who run mud runs just about every weekend! I had a great time chatting with them as we climb some more hills. 

I don't really remember the order of the next few obstacles, but there was a series of pretty easy obstacles, and a snow machine spraying us with water. This part of the race went really fast, thanks to the people I met on the course!

We ran down a really large hill and were back to the start, only to run up the HUGE hill that I was eying when I arrived at the race. This hill was a killer!

I'm 1/2 way there!!

At the top of the hill we came across a dumpster full of foam rubber, which we had to dive into and cross. The foam was very dirty and it was the only obstacle that felt really gross! 

After climbing out of the dumpster, we ran pretty much through a corn field, it was super muddy and slippery. I took it very easy, not wanting to twist my ankle! Half way around the field was a traditional tire run, and then the dreaded monkey bars! I really sucked it up on the monkey bars, but was happy that the course volunteers make each runner try the obstacle! I got 1/2 way across the monkey bars before falling.

We were now at mile 2.5! We ran down another hill, went through sniper alley (where snipers spray you with red water out of water guns!), and then down the water slide!! The water slide was so much fun! It dropped you back to the starting area, and dumped you into a pit of cold and muddy water! 

Ouch!

Bottom of the water slide

After getting out of the water, I ran up a sand hill, did a tire toss (think crossfit), crawled under a bunch of wooden objects, jumped over fire and made one more water crossing before coming to the finish line and the mud pit. The mud pit was deep, and sticky. Runners were supposed to crawl through the mud to the finish line. I was a little hesitant, but dove in and crawled towards my finisher's medal. This was the most painful part of the race as the mud was mixed with gravel, and just tore up my knees!!

Out of the mud pit, I was awarded with my finisher's medal, and headed over to the fire hoses and bubble pit to clean off!

It was really hard to get all of the mud off, so I did my best and then changed into some clean, dry clothes! 

Overall, it was a really good experience, and I was surprised at how tough I actually was able to be! I did not hesitate getting muddy and dirty, and had a lot of fun! 

While this is not a type of race that I will do a lot of, I will probably do this same race next year. I think my boyfriend and sister want to run it too! 

I really enjoyed the set up of the race (Team Ortho races are so well done!), and the venue of the race was really nice! It was fun not to worry about my time, and to just have fun with the run! 

If you are in Minnesota, and want to try a mud run, I highly recommend this one to you! If you are thinking about trying a mud run and are nervous about it, my advice is to find a 5k, and just go for it!! 

Tomorrow I am running my 2nd race of the weekend: the Color Run! Re-Cap to come!! :)

Have you done a mud run before or do you want to do one? What did you think of it?