Mud Run Nashville May 2016 Review

(Me on the left)
1st place overall male. I finally made the podium

The Mud Run or The Original Mud Run, as billed on their website www.imudrun.com, is a race that truly deserves more attention. The Mud Run takes place in Franklin, TN; Dallas, Texas; and Houston, Texas during various times of the year. Designed for US Marine training, this course has been in existence since the 90's and is still going strong. See their website for more details.

The race has several heats beginning around 8:30 with 5k heats, then 5k heats with dogs, a 10k competitive heat for prizes and a 10k serious but fun heat. I participated in the competitive heat in May 2016. The competitive heat requires racers to wear military or cargo style pants and boots. At a minimum the boots must cover the ankles. Unlike other mud runs, the competitive heat is not conducted on pristine never used obstacles, but almost the last heat of the day; after the dogs. By this time the obstacles are well used.

Race in boots and army pants

 I picked up my race packet the night before and purchased my $10 parking pass. Saturday morning I arrived at 8:30 to warm up and stretch. Prior to that I ate oatmeal and a banana. Later, I added an apple and orange to keep fueled. 

On location a well-organized group guided my car to a spot and from the spot to the event area. The race takes place on a working horse farm, and it is well maintained. The course is marked with a red line the entire distance as well as signs pointing to 5k and 10k route options.

Monkey bars and balance beams

Our heat started once the course was clear of the earlier heats. The 10k route uses some of the 5k route, but not entirely. Unlike Battlefrog, the 10k includes a separate route and some 10k obstacles are not available to the 5k participants. '

'The route began with a slight incline that skirted the parking area and then took to open fields. The first obstacle came about a mile later with a steep heaping pile of mulch or saw dust; a mountain to climb. 

The dry weather permitted sound footing through pastureland and wooded trails. Other obstacles included walls of various heights, 15 foot ladders, water obstacles with barbed wire, monkey bars with swinging rope and chain hand holds, tunnels and more walls. 

The most challenging obstacle was a stone carry. Not to be confuse this with the Spartan Race Atlas Stones, these are not well cultivated smooth orbs. Rather literally, stones that we ripped out of the ground. Did I mention a working horse farm? I believe these stones were placed there by the farmer some time before to clear his field and weighed between 30 and 40 pounds depending on which one you choose.

Start of the heats

The last .25 mile of the race had a lot of obstacles. The toughest was the uphill wall climbs. These were a series of waist and chest tall elevated logs to climb over while climbing up hill.

I was psyched to have won the race as top male finisher. My training really paid off.

Nice medal made from farm tree.

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