The Ugly Mudder was held in Reading, PA for the 8th year last Sunday. It's a 7.2 Mile Trail Race run in rugged hills and woods and has enough mud to earn it's name.
I ran it, sharing a beautiful morning's sunshine and breezy 28F with 882 cherful runners. The atmosphere was informal, with the start being announced and many people not even knowing which way the course ran until the heard started moving. The course narrowed to a single track after a couple hundred yards and the steep Walk-Up hills started pretty soon thereafter. I was happy in my VFF Bikilas, though several people told me the course was too technical for them. Lots of rocks. The muddy part came mostly in the second half as the trail wound through a few relatively flat terraces which were interspersed with abrupt level changes reminiscent of carnival slides with more rocks. Fancy footwork was required along with close attention.
My favourite comment came when a guy passed me after following through some particularly narrow, muddy, twisty, rocky stretches for maybe 3/4 of a mile. As he scooted by he said "thanks for the lesson in good form running!" I chose to think he wasn't taking the piss out of me, because, by God, I'd been stepping as fast and smart as I had in me there.
I finished in 1:20 for 210th place, which pleased me quite a bit. The winners did it in just over an hour.
I ran it, sharing a beautiful morning's sunshine and breezy 28F with 882 cherful runners. The atmosphere was informal, with the start being announced and many people not even knowing which way the course ran until the heard started moving. The course narrowed to a single track after a couple hundred yards and the steep Walk-Up hills started pretty soon thereafter. I was happy in my VFF Bikilas, though several people told me the course was too technical for them. Lots of rocks. The muddy part came mostly in the second half as the trail wound through a few relatively flat terraces which were interspersed with abrupt level changes reminiscent of carnival slides with more rocks. Fancy footwork was required along with close attention.
My favourite comment came when a guy passed me after following through some particularly narrow, muddy, twisty, rocky stretches for maybe 3/4 of a mile. As he scooted by he said "thanks for the lesson in good form running!" I chose to think he wasn't taking the piss out of me, because, by God, I'd been stepping as fast and smart as I had in me there.
I finished in 1:20 for 210th place, which pleased me quite a bit. The winners did it in just over an hour.
