Well, I am excited to say I completed the MUD HERO 6 km Run at Ski Martock last weekend! Back in May I talked about pushing my limits and I sure did that this past weekend; maybe a little too much!

I was keeping an eye on MUD HERO’s Facebook page for a few weeks now, scoping out what it might look like but really… really, I was freaking out inside! I was scared shit less. I would think “What am I getting myself into”, “Why did you sign up for this again?”.

Saturday July 6th came and I was up at 5 AM …no not to head to the run (mine group started at 1 PM). I was up with Hilary! Then I couldn’t get back to sleep and spent the morning between getting ready/feeding the girls/nap for H/and running to the bathroom multiple times.

I.WAS.NERVOUS!

I got the girls ready for the day, nursed Hilary one last time and handed them off to my Mom as I went out the door. (My husband was away). I met my friend to carpool to the hill and we got there just in time – we were one of the last 20 cars of runners to be allowed in; the rest had to park and take a shuttle in! Lucky us!

It was a group of 10 women and we were schedule to start at 1 PM on the hottest day of the summer. It was 34 C but felt like 40. Enough said there.

My team was made up of a group of Mom’s who (mostly) have young children with the oldest being 4 and youngest being 7 months old (Hilary and another baby), plus one Mom has children their twenties. They all rocked it!

My experience:

I started the race with three other runners; they are fast and I am not. I lost them before the first kilometer marker but could see them ahead of me for a while. So, I ran the entire race by myself….which was fine….I got to reflect and not hold anyone back. The other group of women were behind me but never I didn’t manage to catch up to them until they finished.

There were 17 obstacles, just to name a few:

• Wall Climbing
• Light at the Tunnel’s End (hated this one)
• Net Crossing
• Log Under (in muddy water)
• Slide into water
• Mud pits (water/mud/rocks/tree stumps – ouch!)
• Car Park (walking on top of cars)
• Over/Under
• Firewall Slide/Pole
• Not to mention the 6 km over Ski Martock’s cross-country trails and their mountain to run walk up and down!

I took my time, ran in the shade and always downhill and walked a lot. It was beyond hot and I wasn’t feeling awesome but I pushed through it. I was really close to finishing and I heard three of my team mates cheering me on. I have to admit that was awesome and it pushed me a little more to run down a steep hill and up another towards the finish line. There was a bouncy castle slide to climb up and slide down and then the LAST log under/muddy water crawl before the finish line!

I did it!

Afterwards I had to sit down as the rest of our team came in and started to feel terrible. I could barely stand and often had to sit just to feel better. Lucky for me I had an awesome team that kept an eye out for me; got me some Gatorade and sugar candies from the aid station – I guess my sugars were a little low. I’m not diabetic but this race took a toll on my body. After 30 minutes of sitting I started to feel better and could talk in sentences and carry a conversation! Yeah, I was THAT bad!

The drove back with my friend and the AC in her car made me feel almost 100% better. I got home and showered all the mud off me I could and nursed Hilary right away. Both girls did awesome with my Mom and the only tears they had was when Hilary realized I was home!

I used the rest of the night (and Sunday) to get my body back to feeling better. Water, food and rest in between nursing Hilary.

Where did I go wrong?

• First by not eating a very good breakfast OR lunch that morning. I was more focused on my girls and making sure Hilary nursed well before I left her for 5 hours.
• Lack of sleep the night before: I was up multiple times with Hilary AND Lilly – so I was my normal exhausted self.
• I under estimated the amount of energy it takes your body to be a breastfeeding mama plus run in such a hot and challenge event.
• 1 PM start time – it worked for everyone in the group but who knew it would be THE hottest day of the summer yet.

Any injuries:

• Well, the fact that I almost passed out/puked was up there.
• I tweaked my left ankle jumping off the car at the end.
• Did something to my left hamstring climbing over one of the obstacles, and
• Got a major blister on my left ankle

It was all minor stuff (minus the almost passing out) and I’m feeling like myself again after a few day’s rest.

Will I do it again?

I’ve struggled over the last few days with how I finished – feeling terrible and that I could have passed out after the race. I’ve never felt that way after a race not even my 1/2 Marathon. It was almost as if I wasn’t proud of myself – weird eh! I think I’m getting over that feeling now that I’ve had a chance to write this post and see what I accomplished.

I’m 7 months postpartum, worked my ass off over the last 8-10 weeks to lose some weight, get fit and managed to take care of both of my girls multiple days in a row with my husband away. I should pat myself on the back and hold my head up for completing the race and not feel shameful for how I felt after the race.

“Would you do it again? I was asked this by a friend this morning and I thought my response would be “no” or “maybe” but in fact I think I would do it again. However, if you asked me after the event I would have said 100% no.

I couldn’t have done this without my Mom’s help with the girls and my husband’s encouragement – so Thank you both for supporting me.

And a big Thank you to the organizers of Mud Hero and Ski Martock – what an awesome event! Congrats to you all.

Would I recommend it? Completely.

Have you ever done a Mud Hero (similar) event ?

What was your experience?

What would you do differently?

My next race: Run or Dye in September at Ski Martock again!