Second 2016 Challenge: World Famous Mud Run, Camp Pendleton 10K
Now this was a 50/50; not prepared as the first challenge but not as bad as I anticipated. It was definitely a 100% FUN! About a year ago I did the Rock’n’Roll Mud Run and let’s just say I was not prepared and it didn’t help I ran with my boot camp trainers who were fast. At least this time I was more ready since I trained for the half marathon the month before.
Two weeks prior the event after running 12 miles, I started having arch pain on my left foot andI had to skip both my weekday runs and gym for a week. My foot did improved but it left me only one week to break into my new mud run shoes. Not the brightest idea because it was uncomfortable and I needed more time to get used to it even though I wore it in both gym and practice runs. If anything, I could feel my arch pain kicking in slightly so I had to extremely take it easy. Finally the day before I installed support gel to try it in the gym. However I ended up missing boot camp thanks to heavy traffic. Yep, in short I had 3 days breaking in my new shoes (didn’t wore it on Monday for the double session).
The night before I did my knee exercises/stretches and wasn’t able to sleep much after worrying about my arch pain. I woke up around 4:30AM and made sure I had everything ready. Just as I was watching the video on how to support my arch with KT Tape, my sister texted me saying she was on her way. I ended up rushing the tape on my feet while the ones on my knee were fine. It wouldn’t surprise me if I run into some issues. My sister and her boyfriend arrived just as I finished putting on the tapes. A sleepy Hiroshi wished me luck and assured me I will be fine as I rushed out the door. One thing I did forget was to put on eyebrows… Ah well.
Both Pauline and her boyfriend are clearly not the morning type; they were not as goofy as they usually are. We headed off to Bagel Shack and ordered our breakfast to go so we can avoid traffic. As usual I got a weird one thanks to my indecisiveness: blueberry bagel with cream cheese but changed it to avocado with feta cheese and some other weird stuff on blueberry bagel. It wasn’t nasty, just on the heavy side.
Food before the run
There was some slight traffic on the way however not as bad as the morning before when I was heading to the gym. We took the side streets to skip the traffic, which saved us a lot of time and by 8AM we were at Camp Pendleton. It was cold and cloudy outside so we brought our sweaters with us to keep warm. I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to stay cold so I won’t get too toasty when I run or wish for a warmer weather so I won’t get cold in the mud. Pauline said it will get warmer so I assumed it will later on. This was perhaps one of the biggest racing event I’ve been to: 20-30 minutes to get to the parking from the gate and another 20 minutes from parking lot to the starting line with the shuttle bus. At least there was no charge for parking and everything was organized.
After we got through registration in a breeze and beat the crowd, we walked around the Filthy Fun Fest where all the goody tents were located. Nothing much caught my interest except for the margarita booth. Oh and I also kept an eye out for my boot camp friends as well. There was plenty of time to spare before our wave run so we just hung out at the grass area.
Just Chillin
Within minutes, the first runners just crossed the finish line and were the first to take the showers. Seriously it reminded me of a car wash.
VIP Showers for First Runners
The weather was starting to clear up around 9AM so I walked around for a bit to look for my friends and took some pictures of the tanks to distract myself from the heat. There were sure plenty of excited female runners who were taking pictures with the marines.
Guy stretching on the right made this photo epic >XD
Giggly Girls and Marines
Gotta have one too, hee, hee
Later on I got tired and went back to my sister and her boyfriend at the Filthy Fan Fest. I found my friends shortly in a big group and got my boot camp team shirt from one of the members. We were all scattered all over the place so we didn't get a full group picture.
So fresh and so clean, clean!
I returned to my sister and her boyfriend to drop off my other shirt and lost sight of my friends. I found them again right after they finished taking their group pictures. Ah well. My sister took individual pictures of me and her boyfriend while we were still clean before heading to the starting line.
Before the Fun
At the starting line I introduced my sister’s boyfriend to my friends as we did our stretches. I was starting to get really nervous knowing this was a longer mud run despite how my friends said the obstacles were much easier. I also wondered how we’re going to run as a group and I know we all won’t be crossing the finish line together. Then I also have my sister’s boyfriend as a running buddy who likes to work out. It was his first mud run so he was very excited about this.
The first obstacle was the water hose, which was very much called for on a toasty weather. Once we cooled off, we headed off to the trail. All I can say was I should’ve trained on running hills because there were plenty of them in this course. The first 3 miles obstacles were very easy; perhaps too easy and did not have a single drop of mud. We had to roll under a small tart, carry ammunition canisters and water barrels back and forth, dragged a heavy life-size dummy, climb on cargo nets (one of my favorites), do some pushups, etc. My only struggles were the hills as I’ve mentioned before.
Just keep climbing, just keep climbing…
Things got better after the first three miles. Aside from lesser hills, we finally reached mud. Even though it was mud, it was so nice to finally have cover on my burning shoulders. Walking through the first mud pit to get to the wall climb was fine until I got to the middle and felt a weird hairy texture brushing my legs. It really felt nasty and I could tell one of the marines set it up from the way he laughed his bum off of my reaction. The wall climbs were a lot higher than I expected, hence needing a boost from the marines on every single climb. Once at the top, I forgot it was going to be a long way down. Thankfully my shoes had proven themselves when I didn’t slip at all on my landings. Yep, they were perfect for mud. At some point both my sister’s boyfriend and I have suspected horse poop in the mud. He smelled it while I saw green patches on some areas. Plus I recall seeing marines riding on horses on the first wave in the videos… Other than running and crawling through the soiled mud, we also got a small bit in our mouth; when he slipped and when a few drops trickled in my mouth while I was panting. We were spitting like camels until we reached the water station where we cleaned up a bit.
Aside from horse poop, we ran into one disturbingly warm mud pit that instantly made me think of horse piss. Unfortunately there was no dry area to cut through and it took a while to get used to it. Afterwards we did the mud climb. It was fun challenge although my legs were dying more than halfway through. Good thing there was a marine water hosing down runners at the very top.
Halfway through the run I actually caught up with my trainers. I was so happy at how much I’ve improved until my left foot’s arch pain acted up within mile 4 or 5. I totally lost them when we were going downhill. On the contrary to my disappointment, knowing I’ve caught up with them and would’ve possibly even ran with them if I didn’t have any injury made my day. Ah well, at least sister’s boyfriend as a running buddy stuck by me and made sure I was fine.
The last obstacle was the best one and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. The mud was so high that instead of doing the army crawl, we were doggy paddling towards the finish line. I’m not a big swimmer especially when it comes to doggy paddle but this was through mud. Out of all the mud run obstacles in both Camp Pendleton and Gladiator, this was my favorite. The finish line wasn’t too far and we crossed it heavily covered in mud with a big Ooo Rah!
OO RAH!!!
We brought a fruit refreshments back for Pauline who I felt bad for being under the sun the entire time. She was a good sport about it and assured us she kept herself entertained with her reading. I owe her one.
Fun in the Mud!
For the first shower station, we had to take off our shoes and socks to get all the mud out. When I pulled off my left shoe, there was a sharp pain and tried not to limp as the line moved forward. The first shower station was just going through freezing water shower installments while marines hose us down. I took off my shirt so I can wash off as much mud as I can. My shoes were easily to clean thanks to the waterproof material. I definitely didn’t need to use a toothbrush to scrub the dirt off.
The second shower station was much better. We weren’t cold and exposed to the outside wind and both water and soap were warm. I was refreshed by the time we headed out. Not completely but much better than before. Funny thing was how we missed the changing tents and changed into our spare clothes the surfer way by using a giant towel. I met up with my friends again while Pauline and her boyfriend went off on their own. Because I had breakfast, I passed on lunch and went straight for the margaritas… Oh those really hit the spot that I didn’t even feel myself getting sunburned.
At the Filthy Fun Fest, I chatted with friends and had a pretty darn good time. We drank, sort of danced, and just had fun in the sun. The DJ sucked though thanks to his lack of songs transition. I mean who plays country then 80’s hip-hop, then disco, then Latin music, then alternative, and so forth. It was hard to sing and dance to but who cares when you’re in awesome company. Eventually one by one started leaving until we all finally left as a group. The traffic on the way back was apparently bad and thankfully I was knocked out and just woke up once it cleared up.
Overall it was a really fun experience despite my injured left foot. Would I do it again? Heck yeah! It was fun and I look forward to doing it again next year. This will more likely be my annual mud run. I’m determined to conquer those hills! Oo rah!
Pool on last Saturday, Mud on the Next
Two weeks prior the event after running 12 miles, I started having arch pain on my left foot andI had to skip both my weekday runs and gym for a week. My foot did improved but it left me only one week to break into my new mud run shoes. Not the brightest idea because it was uncomfortable and I needed more time to get used to it even though I wore it in both gym and practice runs. If anything, I could feel my arch pain kicking in slightly so I had to extremely take it easy. Finally the day before I installed support gel to try it in the gym. However I ended up missing boot camp thanks to heavy traffic. Yep, in short I had 3 days breaking in my new shoes (didn’t wore it on Monday for the double session).
The night before I did my knee exercises/stretches and wasn’t able to sleep much after worrying about my arch pain. I woke up around 4:30AM and made sure I had everything ready. Just as I was watching the video on how to support my arch with KT Tape, my sister texted me saying she was on her way. I ended up rushing the tape on my feet while the ones on my knee were fine. It wouldn’t surprise me if I run into some issues. My sister and her boyfriend arrived just as I finished putting on the tapes. A sleepy Hiroshi wished me luck and assured me I will be fine as I rushed out the door. One thing I did forget was to put on eyebrows… Ah well.
Both Pauline and her boyfriend are clearly not the morning type; they were not as goofy as they usually are. We headed off to Bagel Shack and ordered our breakfast to go so we can avoid traffic. As usual I got a weird one thanks to my indecisiveness: blueberry bagel with cream cheese but changed it to avocado with feta cheese and some other weird stuff on blueberry bagel. It wasn’t nasty, just on the heavy side.
Food before the run
There was some slight traffic on the way however not as bad as the morning before when I was heading to the gym. We took the side streets to skip the traffic, which saved us a lot of time and by 8AM we were at Camp Pendleton. It was cold and cloudy outside so we brought our sweaters with us to keep warm. I wasn’t sure if I wanted it to stay cold so I won’t get too toasty when I run or wish for a warmer weather so I won’t get cold in the mud. Pauline said it will get warmer so I assumed it will later on. This was perhaps one of the biggest racing event I’ve been to: 20-30 minutes to get to the parking from the gate and another 20 minutes from parking lot to the starting line with the shuttle bus. At least there was no charge for parking and everything was organized.
After we got through registration in a breeze and beat the crowd, we walked around the Filthy Fun Fest where all the goody tents were located. Nothing much caught my interest except for the margarita booth. Oh and I also kept an eye out for my boot camp friends as well. There was plenty of time to spare before our wave run so we just hung out at the grass area.
Just Chillin
Within minutes, the first runners just crossed the finish line and were the first to take the showers. Seriously it reminded me of a car wash.
VIP Showers for First Runners
The weather was starting to clear up around 9AM so I walked around for a bit to look for my friends and took some pictures of the tanks to distract myself from the heat. There were sure plenty of excited female runners who were taking pictures with the marines.
Guy stretching on the right made this photo epic >XD
Giggly Girls and Marines
Gotta have one too, hee, hee
Later on I got tired and went back to my sister and her boyfriend at the Filthy Fan Fest. I found my friends shortly in a big group and got my boot camp team shirt from one of the members. We were all scattered all over the place so we didn't get a full group picture.
So fresh and so clean, clean!
I returned to my sister and her boyfriend to drop off my other shirt and lost sight of my friends. I found them again right after they finished taking their group pictures. Ah well. My sister took individual pictures of me and her boyfriend while we were still clean before heading to the starting line.
Before the Fun
At the starting line I introduced my sister’s boyfriend to my friends as we did our stretches. I was starting to get really nervous knowing this was a longer mud run despite how my friends said the obstacles were much easier. I also wondered how we’re going to run as a group and I know we all won’t be crossing the finish line together. Then I also have my sister’s boyfriend as a running buddy who likes to work out. It was his first mud run so he was very excited about this.
The first obstacle was the water hose, which was very much called for on a toasty weather. Once we cooled off, we headed off to the trail. All I can say was I should’ve trained on running hills because there were plenty of them in this course. The first 3 miles obstacles were very easy; perhaps too easy and did not have a single drop of mud. We had to roll under a small tart, carry ammunition canisters and water barrels back and forth, dragged a heavy life-size dummy, climb on cargo nets (one of my favorites), do some pushups, etc. My only struggles were the hills as I’ve mentioned before.
Just keep climbing, just keep climbing…
Things got better after the first three miles. Aside from lesser hills, we finally reached mud. Even though it was mud, it was so nice to finally have cover on my burning shoulders. Walking through the first mud pit to get to the wall climb was fine until I got to the middle and felt a weird hairy texture brushing my legs. It really felt nasty and I could tell one of the marines set it up from the way he laughed his bum off of my reaction. The wall climbs were a lot higher than I expected, hence needing a boost from the marines on every single climb. Once at the top, I forgot it was going to be a long way down. Thankfully my shoes had proven themselves when I didn’t slip at all on my landings. Yep, they were perfect for mud. At some point both my sister’s boyfriend and I have suspected horse poop in the mud. He smelled it while I saw green patches on some areas. Plus I recall seeing marines riding on horses on the first wave in the videos… Other than running and crawling through the soiled mud, we also got a small bit in our mouth; when he slipped and when a few drops trickled in my mouth while I was panting. We were spitting like camels until we reached the water station where we cleaned up a bit.
Aside from horse poop, we ran into one disturbingly warm mud pit that instantly made me think of horse piss. Unfortunately there was no dry area to cut through and it took a while to get used to it. Afterwards we did the mud climb. It was fun challenge although my legs were dying more than halfway through. Good thing there was a marine water hosing down runners at the very top.
Halfway through the run I actually caught up with my trainers. I was so happy at how much I’ve improved until my left foot’s arch pain acted up within mile 4 or 5. I totally lost them when we were going downhill. On the contrary to my disappointment, knowing I’ve caught up with them and would’ve possibly even ran with them if I didn’t have any injury made my day. Ah well, at least sister’s boyfriend as a running buddy stuck by me and made sure I was fine.
The last obstacle was the best one and I couldn’t have asked for a better one. The mud was so high that instead of doing the army crawl, we were doggy paddling towards the finish line. I’m not a big swimmer especially when it comes to doggy paddle but this was through mud. Out of all the mud run obstacles in both Camp Pendleton and Gladiator, this was my favorite. The finish line wasn’t too far and we crossed it heavily covered in mud with a big Ooo Rah!
OO RAH!!!
We brought a fruit refreshments back for Pauline who I felt bad for being under the sun the entire time. She was a good sport about it and assured us she kept herself entertained with her reading. I owe her one.
Fun in the Mud!
For the first shower station, we had to take off our shoes and socks to get all the mud out. When I pulled off my left shoe, there was a sharp pain and tried not to limp as the line moved forward. The first shower station was just going through freezing water shower installments while marines hose us down. I took off my shirt so I can wash off as much mud as I can. My shoes were easily to clean thanks to the waterproof material. I definitely didn’t need to use a toothbrush to scrub the dirt off.
The second shower station was much better. We weren’t cold and exposed to the outside wind and both water and soap were warm. I was refreshed by the time we headed out. Not completely but much better than before. Funny thing was how we missed the changing tents and changed into our spare clothes the surfer way by using a giant towel. I met up with my friends again while Pauline and her boyfriend went off on their own. Because I had breakfast, I passed on lunch and went straight for the margaritas… Oh those really hit the spot that I didn’t even feel myself getting sunburned.
At the Filthy Fun Fest, I chatted with friends and had a pretty darn good time. We drank, sort of danced, and just had fun in the sun. The DJ sucked though thanks to his lack of songs transition. I mean who plays country then 80’s hip-hop, then disco, then Latin music, then alternative, and so forth. It was hard to sing and dance to but who cares when you’re in awesome company. Eventually one by one started leaving until we all finally left as a group. The traffic on the way back was apparently bad and thankfully I was knocked out and just woke up once it cleared up.
Overall it was a really fun experience despite my injured left foot. Would I do it again? Heck yeah! It was fun and I look forward to doing it again next year. This will more likely be my annual mud run. I’m determined to conquer those hills! Oo rah!
Pool on last Saturday, Mud on the Next