Not that I don't want to pat myself on the back for getting 4th overall but....the crowd was definetley slower for this Ocober's MudRun. Out of the gate I was 2nd for the first couple of miles which never happens.

Quote of the day: 
"I would have caught you if it wasn't for all of the obstacles."
5th overall finisher to me as we were leaving the finish chute.

Anyway it was a nice way to end my 40-44 age group. I did miss having our huge contingent of mudrunners there but hopefully it will motivate everyone to sign up super early next time around. I will send out email reminders to everyone when we get close to the registration date.

See the photos.

Well now it is on to the 45-49 year old age group for me.

As I sit here wrtiting this post with scraped up knees , sore quads and aching calf muscles I am already thinking about next June's Mud Runs.

Will I sign up for 3 days again despite how beat up I feel ?
You bet !

Will I try to talk my family and friends into doing all 3 days with me ?
Definitely !!!

Every day of the Mud Run was a blast, and even though it is getting a bit more serious with the various track/cross-country types and fitness clubs showing up it still has that underlying theme of fun. What other 10K do you know of has people showing up dressed in business suits, hula skirts (on guys), speedoes and other riduculous costumes?
Not many, and if they do they still don't have the 5 foot walls, 200 yard river swim and a nasty mud pit to contend with.

Mud Run Start Day 2	Mud Run Final Day

Between our group we walked away with 7 medals over the three days which is amazing considering there are 3000 open participants in the race.

Seems Maddie recently set the bar high when she ran her track invitational up in Downey, CA . Maddie held first place for a good part of the 400' and was inched out of first place in the last couple seconds of the race. She placed a very respectable 2nd place in her eilte division.

Great job Maddie !!

The June Mud Run is about a month away so hopefully your training has been going well.

Last year Tom Rowe graciously agreed to wear my Garmin GPS watch during the race to map the course. What we discovered is that the Camp Pendleton Mud Run is actually 6.7 miles and not 6.2 miles. 
Wow an extra 1/2 mile of fun!  

This will be my 21st Mud Run and as you other veterans know the key to this race is to do well on the hills.  "Suicide Hill" is close to 2 miles of climbing so you need to be able to keep up your pace on this section.  Another crucial component of this grueling race is whether or not there will be a river swim. Personally I look at the swim as a place to recharge your legs for the final 2 mile push. You can also gain some distance on the runners in front of you who may not be strong swimmers.  

After the swim you have some of the harder obstacles in front of you but your done with 3/4 of the race. This is where your training pays off and the stronger runners will be able to fly through the tunnels and scale slippery hill much faster than the undertrained competitors.

See you in the Mud......

Let's all give a quick shout-out to Maddie who came in second in her track meet up in Laguna Hills last weekend. 

Apparently Maddie was going up against some "very tall girls" according to Grandma Lynn.  If you notice from the picture on the right Maddie is wearing her special pink track shoes that are obviously working. 

We will all be watching her very close as she has proven she has what it takes.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better ,rumour has it she will be running in the Big Sur Half-Marathon at the end of the summer. I am guessing she will be the youngest runner there and will surprise many of the older competitors.

Stay tuned .....

More Pictures Here.

Welcome to the new San Diego racers Website. This site was in desperate need of an update to make it more manageable. I am running it off my same server using BlogEngine.NET. Hopefully now I will be able to update it on a more timely basis.

Bob