BMC Mud Challenge 5K

Saturday morning our family, minus Leah and Sam (they were spectators), participated in the BMC Mud Challenge 5K.  This was an adventure race!  Not your typical 5K race that's run on pavement, but an obstacle course!  We joined about 150 other runners for several minutes of fun......and mud!

 The local fire department was on hand to create a mud pit at the finish line.  We had to crawl underneath those flagged ropes--through the mud--to get to the finish line.  Of course, the more runners went through, the muddier it got.

 Before the race--nice and clean!

 Here is the mud pit--ready for the race.  By the time I crawled through, it was solid brown mud.  No green in sight!

The race course was completely on cross country trails.  Some of it was grass, and some of it was dirt, complete with roots and uneven terrain.  All along the course were obstacles.  I would estimate that there was an obstacle every quarter mile or so.  These obstacles included hay bales, truck tires, huge tractor tires, various sized gates, a rope web, and a huge beam--all to be jumped or climbed over.  Towards the end of the race there was a long pipe to crawl through, and it had dirt in the bottom.  And of course, the stretch before the finish line was the mud pit.

 Clay, moving along on the race course

 Some finishers, crawling to the finish line

 Here comes Jimmy!

 Julie, followed by Clay--Clay actually edged past Julie by the end of the mud pit to finish the race a second before her!

 Here is Olivia!  Go, Olivia, Go!

 And here I am!  I tried not to get too dirty!

 After the race, the fire department gave out showers!

 Julie, before her firetruck spraying.  She didn't get too dirty!

The BMC XC team having fun in the mud after the race!

Of course, I had a lot of laundry to do when we got home.  Five pairs of brown shoes, five sets of very muddy clothes, plus loads of camp laundry!  This race was the culminating event of the BMC Running Camp which Olivia, Julie, and Clay had attended.

Fun times!