mud blast

Today team #YOLOLOL went to run Mud Blast, a mud run along the San Jaoquin river. For me it was the end of a crazy semi-vacation. I call it a semi-vacation because real vacations should be kind of relaxing. This vacation has been pretty exhausting, though still really fun. I wasn’t even sure if I would make it to the run– Jamie and I had finished hiking down from Mount Whitney after 10:30pm, and it was almost a six hour drive from Mount Whitney to the Modesto area where the Mud Blast event was being held.

I had driven through most of the night, stopping for an hour to sleep in Yosemite, before driving down highway 120 out of Yosemite. Highway 120 coming out of Yosemite is probably my favorite stretch of road in California– it’s crazy curvy and steep, which is why I figured it would be a good idea to nap before driving out of Yosemite.

Jamie slept pretty much the entire way, except she woke up about every hour to ask how I was doing, before quickly dozing off back to sleep. What really helped me make it through the drive was the audiobook that she had borrowed– a Stephen King novel called “Cell.” It was just getting to the good part as I was getting tired, so the suspense kept me awake. Well actually, maybe it was the suspense combined with the four frappuccinos and one McDonald’s iced tea.

So anyways, we made it to the campsite at Caswell State park where the rest of the #YOLOLOLers were staying. We arrived at around 6am, not enough time to rest before the run, but I was too wired from the caffeine to really sleep anyways.

Team #YOLOLOL before getting down and dirty. (I made the uber-noob mistake of forgetting to set the ISO on my camera before handing my camera over for this picture. I forgot that I was taking night photos before this, so this was shot at ISO3200 in full sun– that’s why the picture looks weird.)

Gid and me were the first two to cross the finish line. I look pretty exhausted, which I guess is warranted. The caffeine and adrenaline were beginning to wear off by now.

I got my camera and took pictures of the rest of the team crossing the finish line. Here they are in chronological order.

Dan looks extremely happy to cross the finish line.

Brenda and Deborah look very happy to cross the finish line.

Jason looks moderately happy to cross the finish line.

Jack looks kind of happy to cross the finish line.

It was everyone’s first mud run, but I think we did pretty well. If you read this blog with any regularity, you know that I hate running. But this was actually not bad. I actually really enjoyed it. Surprisingly I was able to run (ok maybe more like jog or waddle) the whole thing. I think this format works well for me, because I can catch my breath and use different muscles at each of the obstacles, which makes it easy for me to run all the stretches between obstacles.

So anyways, I had a blast at mud blast. I would do another mud run again in a heartbeat. I think I’ll probably do a few more before attempting to do the tough mudder next year.

Things I’m thankful for:

• suspenseful audiobooks
• muddy buddies
• relaxing in a campsite after a crazy week