You guys, this morning I got to do one of the most fun, exhausting, DIRTY things I have probably ever done.
As a part of my partnership with fitfluential I was given the opportunity to run the Dirty Dash in Colorado Springs. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Dirty Dash, here is a blurb from their website
Have you ever said to yourself, “Marathons are too easy, and Triathlons are for sissies?”
We haven’t either…those races are really hard. Think about it…the first person to run a marathon actually died. HE DIED!…and he probably didn’t even have fun along the way!
Well, welcome to a new kind of race: THE DIRTY DASH. This race that puts all other races to shame. The Dirty Dash is a mud run obstacle course where a military boot camp meets your inner five-year-old’s fantasy and subsequently converts boy to man and then man to swine.
You’ll need endurance to trudge up mountains of sludge, courage to overcome uncompromising obstacles, a complete lack of shame to wallow in pits of mud and a smile to show through at the end!
So let this mud run obstacle course become your new guilty pleasure. Go solo or with some of your dirtiest, filthiest, & uncouth friends. Either way, you’ll be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say, “I am a Dirty Dasher!”… and then proceed to clean yourself off.
Let’s just say I was a little more than psyched for this race. Over my years of running, I’ve read all about mud runs but never got to try one, until today!
This Morning
The race is a little beyond the city of Colorado Springs at Pike’s Peak International Speedway, about a 90 mile drive from where we’re at in Denver. After a long and active day yesterday, Zach and I went to bed early knowing we had a 6 AM wake up call.
Let’s just say getting out of bed wasn’t early, but it was totally worth it. The drive out to the speedway was easy and painless. Leaving at 630, we actually arrived around 745 {upps}. I guess we wanted to give me plenty of time for packet pick up? ha
Thankfully, packet pick up was a BREEZE and even though I had a 920 race start, I was able to actually jump into the 800 group without a problem. Hello AWESOME.
I saw a TON of piled up mud as we were driving up to our parking spot, so I knew this was going to be a good one.
Zach took a moment to snap a before shot, and right away I was on the course. And by right away I mean, within 10 feet I was jumping in a huge mud pit. Dive in head first I supposed.
The first jump in was a bit of a shock, but right away I was cracking up and knew I was going to have a blast.
While I haven’t run any other races to compare this one too, I would say the obstacles were well spaced apart and most of them focused on mud or water. There are a few exceptions, like wall climbs, rope climbs, log walks, barrel crawls, etc. I ran between all of the obstacles, but I would say that most of the participants were doing a mix of running and walking, and as I got further in more and more were just walking and chatting between obstacles. Having a BLAST.
A few shots from their website since I couldn’t carry a camera.
My favorite of the obstacles was definitely the rope climb . . . but they were all a blast.
Mile markers are clearly marked along the course and I was having such a blast, I was surprised at every single one. There was also two different water stops (one had root beer), so you didn’t need to carry anything which is always nice.
By the time I hit mile marker three and had to get through the final couple of obstacles, I was a muddy and giddy mess. Even though I woke up dead tired from yesterday’s hike, I forgot all about it the second I hit the course. I would HIGHLY recommend the Dirty Dash to anyone, of any level really. There were plenty of people who were out there just to have fun, and it didn’t bother anyone. There were runners and walkers at every pace, so you wouldn’t have a problem finding your own group.
One thing I did notice, which wasn’t a surprise, is that most people did the race in a group, which WHEN I do this again I will definitely do. People were having a BLAST body slamming each other into mud and just enjoying a morning stroll.
There are still multiple races offered this season, so you should definitely check one out if you get the opportunity. Check out their location still available
- August 23 – New Mexico
- September 6 – Missoula
- September 13 – Utah
- September 23 – Virginia Beach
And don’t forget you get 20% off when you use the MEDALS discount code!
So come on, what are you waiting for? GET DIRTY!
This post was sponsored by The Dirty Dash but all views and opinions are my own.
Chocolate Covered Race Medals 