Saturday morning I got down and very dirty in Jersey with Mudderella.
I’ve always been curious about obstacle course/ mud races but too afraid to actually sign up. I’m not an outdoorsy person in the least, I can’t really swim and I’m certainly not tough enough to crawl under barbed wire or endure electrical shocks. I’m a wimp and totally okay with admitting it. For this very reason I was excited when Mudderella asked if I wanted to participate in their upcoming New Jersey race because I knew this would be my kind of mud run.
What is Mudderella?
Mudderella is a muddy, 5-7 mile obstacle course race designed by women for women. What makes them unique, in my option, is the focus on teamwork and as cheesy as it sounds “girl power”.
Their motto is “Own Your Strong” and all about empowering women to take pride in their strength. A message I can certainly get behind. If you’ve never done an obstacle course race before I can tell you from experience this is the perfect intro to obstacle course races– it’s about teamwork and crossing the finish line– not competition.
I had an amazing morning bonding with a crew of new friends from the blogging/ media community as we conquered this race together.
The Race
We finished the course in roughly 90 minutes– our particular event was around 6 miles and had 13 obstacles. As a group we decided to run from one obstacle to another. If running isn’t your thing you can absolutely walk in between and that’s what a lot of people were doing.
The obstacles were a perfect balance between challenging and doable. I especially loved/ hated the obstacle fittingly named “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” where we literally had to make it over mini mountains of mud
That face says it all…
In between the 7 different mini mountains you were wading in 3 feet of muddy water. What made this bad boy especially tricky was the fact that there was no traction while trying to scale the mini mountains– you had to rely on a boost from a nearby friend to get you over the hump. When I first jumped into the muddy water I seriously struggled to scale the first hump and basically told myself after getting over 2 of the 7 I would call it quits. After that first struggle, our group figured out a method to getting over each hump in one move which meant I had no excuse. Did I mention I was up to my waist in muddy water?
Not wimping out from this obstacle was probably my proudest moment of the race.
Everyone I met throughout the race was supportive and encouraging. I probably awkwardly groped more strangers than I care to admit while trying to help them during certain obstacles like the mountains or rope climb. Since the race wasn’t timed there was no sense of competition, instead everyone was helping everyone when they needed a little boost.
After the race we enjoyed some beer before heading back to New York feeling hella strong and accomplished 🙂 Well done, team.
Tips For Your First Obstacle Course Race:
Grab a group of friends. Trust me. I’m all for solo workouts and fending for yourself, but being surrounded by a group of supportive people made a huge difference and was super necessary during a few of the obstacles.
Wear shoes you don’t care about. I decided to ditch my shoes post-race because they were pretty beat up to begin with. Supposedly you can wash them in the washing machine… I decided to bid farewell to my sneaks because my building doesn’t need me ruining the washers with my muddy shoes.
I personal don’t recommend wearing shorts. There was a fair amount of crawling which might not feel great on your knees if you’re in shorts. Before the race I was chilly in my tank top and capris, during the race though I was happy with my outfit choice. Also, the mud came out of my crops completely, the shirt is about 85% clean…. but my undies weren’t as lucky. So there you have it, wear undies you don’t care about.
Pack a towel for afterwards. This race had a communal shower area where I rinsed off the layer of mud caked on my skin. The shower was only 2 minutes long but it felt awesome. Afterwards I was happy to have a towel though because it was cold and I wanted to change into dry/clean clothes.
Pack a change of clothes wisely. Definitely pack a change of clothes, however pack carefully. After running around in the mud and taking a quick rinse off shower, pulling up a pair of tight yoga pants felt like pulling up a wet bathing suit. So uncomfortable. One of the girls from the group was wearing a dress afterwards. I think she had the right idea. Also, I wish I was wearing flip-flops after the race instead of another pair of sneakers.
Sign up for a race appropriate for YOU and your fitness level. Obstacle course races come in all shapes and sizes. I think Mudderella is a great intro to obstacle course races since it’s not incredibly long, you can skip an obstacle if you want, and you’ll be surrounded by a group of supportive ladies there to have a good time. There’s also something to be said about not feeling completely beat up after the race– I only endured a few scrapes on my shin and my body was super sore Sunday but nothing too serious to worry about.
Question
Obstacle course people: What are your top tips for race day?
And which muddy race should I sign up for next 🙂
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