Ugly Mudder - Race Report (Read 533 times)

Yesterday was the 2007 Ugly Mudder. Seven and ¼-ish miles over the steepest, ugliest trails in Reading. That’s how the race always comes. This year, three inches of ice were added to it for good measure. In my head, I always picture these races to be smaller than they are. This time around, I figured a lot of people wouldn’t come because of the impending snow. I think I was wrong, though final figures aren’t in yet….there was a crazy mob of people there. They call this one of the largest trail runs east of the Mississippi and it probably had 700 or so, total. Literally, the entire course was on either hard crusty snow, except the parts that were on hard crusty rocks and a few very short parts over roads. Mud would’ve been welcome, actually. I think I lined up in about the right place… knew the course wouldn’t be ideal for passing. I’d say throughout the entire race I probably didn’t move up or down more than twenty paces. I did a great job moving up miles two to five, but think I probably gave up some of that in the final two miles. The worst part was in the third mile, which had a very long downhill – over three inches of packed ice. I did most of this on my butt. Turns out polypro tights make a decent sled if you don’t mind looking like a jackass. Actually, if you stayed on your feet, you ended up falling, so the jackass thing was pretty much a guarantee. Going into it, I knew that the course record was seven minutes per mile; that’s how hard this thing is, so I had no time expectations… I mean, if you know a course is already a couple minutes slower than a road course and you add three inches of ice to it, how do you set a goal? Other than not hurting yourself, of course. I wore my road shoes, thinking that this would be last race in them since they’re old and the “mud” would finish them off. This would’ve been a good idea, if not for the fact that old road shoes have very little traction, particularly on downhill ice. I wiped out twice. I define “wiping out” as when un-intended body parts smacked ice or rocks and people shouted, “Are you ok?” There were other numerous near-misses when people said things like, “Careful! Watch it” or “Whoa, that was close!” I also commentated others’ falls and near misses, too. I picked up people. I was picked up. Much of the course was crawling over fallen trees or rocks. I saw the coolest parts of the hills (mountains?) around Reading and many large animal tracks. Afterwards, I got a great pancake and egg breakfast and yummy goodies and a very cool shirt that would frighten small children. In the end, I came in 180th out of somewhere between 700 and 900 people at a pace of 10:58/mile for a course with about 1200 feet of climbing (and unclimbing) on three inches of ice. Hoping for top ½ in my age group. I’m sore today and have no idea if the soreness is from falling or running.

Did you do the Chilly Cheeks in JAN, too?

Nah, the kids had swim meets most every weekend in January... Now, their season's over so Daddy gets to play a little.

That sounds awesome. BTW, I live in Reading...Mass.

The worst part was in the third mile, which had a very long downhill – over three inches of packed ice. I did most of this on my butt. Turns out polypro tights make a decent sled if you don’t mind looking like a jackass. Actually, if you stayed on your feet, you ended up falling, so the jackass thing was pretty much a guarantee.

This made me truly LOL! Next year look into those new snow/ice trail shoes that New Balance just came out with. They have small, removeable metal spikes and outsole that is designed for traction in snow. I'm planning to grab a pair next Fall. Running on ice scares me and we've had a lot this year. I can't even imagine running on icy, steep trails--especially at race pace. You rock! k

Thanks to all for the comments... I definitely wished I had better shoes for the elements but I don't have enough trails close enough to wear I run to justify buying them... though some runners had those Yaxtracks things and they seemed to help, too. They just posted results and I came in 55th out of 132 for my age group (180 out of 630 overall).... so I was pretty pleased with that... Curiously, though the pack was about four minutes slower than last year, the winner was less than a minute from the course record... I find that unbelievable!