The Dirty Dash 2012

I previously mentioned my obsession with obstacle racing which is what led me to sign up for The Dirty Dash in Utah this fall. It's another one of these "non-competitive races." I'm ultimately trying to qualify for the World's Toughest Mudder and this was a good practice race leading up to the Tough Mudder. None of the obstacles were particularly challenging, but man it was cold. I ran in the 8am heat and it was about 50 degrees. That's not bad running weather, but when you're jumping into snow runoff water every five minutes or so, it makes the running a lot more challenging. Obstacles included jumping over walls, hay bales, creeks, pipes, etc, as well as mud pits, wading through the marshes down by Deer Creek Reservoir, climbing rope nets, going across monkey bars, and an enormous slip n slide. The monkey bars were not possible. I'd be surprised if anyone made it across. Volunteers were spraying them with a hose making it impossible to hang on. Other than that, the hardest part was the cold. It was like trying to run after taking an ice bath. Your legs simply didn't want to work. 

Freezing to death before the race.

 Over under mud pit.

Slip n slide. 

 Coming through the finish line with style.

Justin and me after the race.

Even though this race was non-competitive, I ran all out. You could either run the full 10k course or take a shortcut to the finish after 5k. In the beginning of the race, there were quite a few people close behind me, but after the 5k turnoff, I looked back and there was no one even close. I guess all the people running at my pace only ran the 5k. I finished the 10k course in 52 minutes, nine minutes before the next finisher which was a little embarrassing, but what was I supposed to do? Not run my fastest? These races should really have an individual competitive heat. If the first heat of the day were competitive, it wouldn't affect any of the later runners who aren't going for time and it would attract more runners. Overall The Dirty Dash was a blast and I'd recommend it to anyone.