Flirt with Dirt 10 K

Running.....


Finished!


The Flirt with Dirt in 2007 was my second 5K race ever. It was so fun I wanted to run it again this year and chose to do the 10K. There was another big difference this year as the trails had been rained on for several days in a row compared to dry trails last year. This year I also brought along Mel who was waiting to cheer me on to a dramatic finish! She also took all the pics for me. The 5 K runners went first and Mel and I saw them finish coated in mud. I knew from the maps that our courses started out on the same trails but that the 10K traveled through even more of the woods. I could only imagine we (the 10K runners) were in for at least as much mud. Now I am no sissy and was not worried about getting my shoes dirty...bring on the mud. But it turned out to be even worse or better (depending on your perspective) than I imagined. The mud was SO thick and gooey that if you stepped in it you would slip and slide all over and if you stepped deep enough you'd sink in. Add to that the logs over the path that literally had to be hurdled....most were small that you could jump lightly over but there were some that were really big! Then there were wooden bridges that were so coated in mud (from the feet of faster runners!) by the time I reached them they were quite slick. One runner went down in the mud right in front of me. Another time I almost fell too but managed to avoid being coated from head to foot and kept right on running. The hills too were quite brutal and many were coated in this slick mud that made it near impossible to actually RUN up them verses climb precariously. In spite of all of this I made it and did it in a really good time. I also had a blast! I chose not to use my ipod and listen to my running tunes because for the half marathon in the fall ipods are not allowed and I figured I needed to practice running without it. It was fun to listen and join in (sometimes) to the conversations of all the other runners. There were 400 in the 10K and a huge crowd for the 5K. In the end I was tired and my legs had a thick coating of mud on the back but I had FUN!!! Join me next year...may it be even muddier!!