Seabee Mud Run 2011

My favorite local race each is the Seabee Mud Run. When a group that normally uses heavy equipment to build bridges, roads and runways is tasked with building a 4 mile mud course, you get a really fun imaginative course. This year was no different.

First the down side. This race has grown so large and popular that they have instituted chip timing with a wave start. It was the first year with a wave start and they did not get off too smoothly. Also, they had a lot of different groups and divisions. So, the start was chaotic.

Anyway, once we got going, it was the same great event as always. At the start there is about 3/4 mile of road to try to spread the field before we get to the obstacles. 1st obstacle was pretty mild, just a serpentine mud trench. However, it lead to a house sized hill that had what looked like the entire field bunched on the upslope. I found a part of the crowd that was moving and got to the top. The downslope was covered with plastic and sprayed with water. Hop on and slide to the mud at the bottom. Out of the mud and a mile is gone. Off to the side is a gun crew with a .50 caliber machine gun, and they are cranking off blanks.

Down into some of the base drainage ditches that were blocked off and full of water. I step into a hidden "gopher hole" and bruise my shin. The good news is, I did not break my leg. That would have made finishing difficult. Out of the ditches and across a field for mile 2.

Onto a single track trail, and a bit of a tangle with some briars as I try to pass a slower group. Across a parking lot and mile 3.

Mile 4 was a blur, but I remember lots of mud with telephone poles across the trenches (had to go over or under), a culvert to crawl through, a patch of quicksand where I crawled out after I sank to my thigh, and a section where I had to low crawl/ranger crawl through the mud. At the low crawl there is another .50 caliber machine gun set up to add to the noise. Out to the street, through one more ditch and them to the finish.

4 miles of muddy fun in a bit over 50 minutes (I forgot to stop my watch)

I was able to find a short video clip. First hill, about 3/4 through, and the finish.... cut and past the link www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf3JVxD56VE