Dirty Girl Mud Run - It's gonna be a thing that's happening to me.

Ooh, I'm overdue
Give me some room; I'm comin’ through.
Paid my dues, in the mood,
me and the girls gonna shake the room.
--Dirrty, Chritina Aguilera

So, it’s decided. In May of 2014, I will travel to Indiana and participate in the Dirty Girl Mud Run with my Spirit Sister and brain-sharer, B3.

Okay, so there will be a dearth of micro miniskirts and bikini tops in our particular situation and we won’t be throwin’ any elbows, but you should still ring the alarm ‘cause we WILL get a little unruly!

BUT…In her most recent blog post B3 expressed some nervousness at being able to complete the obstacles in the course.

Oh, yeah! Obstacles, there will be some! I knew they were part of the course, but I was hyper-focused on the “I get to get all muddy and run around with B3! Woot, fun!” It hadn’t occurred to me that I might want to train a bit more so I could complete the obstacles to my satisfaction.

Yeah, baby! Picture credit: DGMR Facebook page

 

So…how does one prepare for the Dirty Girl Mud Run? How difficult will it be? That is, of course, subjective. Depends on your level of fitness and experience. From the Dirty Girl Mud Run About Page:

Run, walk, climb, crawl—you will experience it all in this adventure race. With adventure obstacle course names like H2OMG and PMS (Pretty Muddy Stuff), you can expect to laugh until your cheeks hurt. But don't worry, if you get to an obstacle that's more than a challenge for you—hey, take one of the adventure races detours. Also expect safety throughout. Expect the fun obstacle course runs competition to go on rain or shine. Expect not to be timed on the adventure runs. Expect some crazy team uniforms. Expect to put your mud run training to the test. Expect to leave with an overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

Let’s start off with this in mind: The Dirty Girl Mud Run is designed for all ages and fitness levels. It’s supposed to get you out there to have fun, get dirty, and raise money for breast and ovarian cancer research. They want as many female persons attending as possible and for them to come back year after year. It's encouraging women to get and stay fit and bringing in those dollars to save the ta-tas and the ovaries. So I’m thinking the obstacles are designed to this purpose: Some challenge, but not completely intimidating, and a lot of fun.

I’m thinking, for B3 and me…it will be a challenge, but totally doable. It ain’t gonna be the Tough Mudder. No electric shocks.

How to train:

Interval training, strength training, and cardio all strongly suggested.

Best information I’ve found so far? You Asked: How Should I Train for a Mud Run? This also has links for the most popular mud runs.

Another good info page: Mud Run Tips

Tribesports has created a training program specifically for the Dirty Girl. That ‘M’ after the 20 on the sprint and the bear crawl means meters, not minutes. Thank the gods…twenty minutes of bear crawling...sheesh. Twenty meters is about 22 yards, though I have no way of measuring either of those.

Interesting training suggestion: Go to the park and play on the monkey bars – My Fitness Pal/Topic: Dirty Girl Mud Run.

Insanely, buoyantly, optimistic advice: Mud Run & Obstacle Course Racing FAQ

 

Knowing what we're up against! Lots of pictures of the obstacles: I’m officially a “Dirty Girl”.

More photos of obstacles. This lady was in the first wave, that’s why the obstacles look almost empty. Running Wilder: Dirty Girl Mud Run.

 What to wear:

--Anything you feel comfortable racing in [even if it’s a bikini or a costume] and a solid pair of running shoes.http://godirtygirl.com/about

 

Yo, true story. Picture from the Dirty Girl Mud Run Facebook page.

 

--“Wear lite clothing that fits to you. (I wore a large shirt and should have worn a smaller shirt because by the time it got wet and muddy it weighed 10 lbs.)”
A Simple Southern Life: How To prepare for Dirty Girl Mud Run

--Don’t bother with the duct tape for your shoes pre-race. Or the showers post race. Tip: Bring your own jugs of water to wash off with afterward.
The Runiverse – How to run a mud run: The beginner’s guide to getting muddy.
[The info on the DGMR page explains they have rinse stations, they are not actual showers.]

 

Having a loving husband to hold your purse while you get dirty is priceless.
Picture credit: DGMR Facebook page

 What to bring: 

--Cash. Don’t forget cash for libations and local fare, which will be available in (the) Expo Village.

--Change of clothes/towel

--Great attitude! This will be the most fun you have all year.
[I don’t know about THAT. I’m pretty damn fun all by myself.]

Expect the (possibly) unexpected:

Insane traffic around the event and mud in every orifice. No, like....INSANE traffic.

"I expected traffic going to the event but I wasn’t prepared for what we encountered. As we were pulling up to an intersection near the mud run a sheriff started turning everyone around and telling us we couldn’t turn down the main road any longer. When people asked him where we could park, his reply was, “I don’t know but you can’t turn here.” No one really knew what to do so people just started parking on the side of the road. We didn’t know it at the time but as we started walking we figured out that the actual event was 2.5 miles down the road!" --Mud Runner

So...there ya have it. Time to get down to it.