Pre-race shot. Look at that sky behind us! Photo property Tillery Training.
This past weekend, the hubs and a friend and I ran in the annual Dayton Muddler in Dayton, VA. This is a local race that is hosted by a small town in the Shenandoah Valley every year, and boasts a series of physical challenges, as well as being a Course With A Cause. Since I’m just shy of 6 months pregnant, I ran between the obstacles and was in charge of taking pictures of the hubs and friend completing the obstacles and being awesome in general! What follows is my professional review of this race.
A Course With A Cause
We could not have asked for better weather (though it definitely started getting hot); we had crisp blue skies, low humidity, and just the general positive ambiance that you get when hundreds of happy people get together to work on something amazing. Town officials, including the Mayor and Police Chief, were in attendance to kick off the start of this event.
The Dayton Muddler is a race where the proceeds go to Wounded Warrior Project in an effort to improve the lives of our veterans and soldiers who sacrifice so much for our freedom. Patriotism and a great deal of respect for the military were cornerstones of the race’s opening ceremony. The colors were presented, the national anthem was sung, the pledge of allegiance was said. All of these traditions encouraged race participants to remember why they were out running: to support WWP. We took a few minutes to salute local veterans who came out for the race, and even got a quick history lesson about the soldiers from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars who were buried in the cemetery we would pass along the course.
Balance beam. Photo property Tillery Training.
Many volunteers were stationed along the 3.2 mile course to encourage and direct runners. Every person we interacted with was positive and excited to be there! This helped to keep the energy fun and also made the course very easy to navigate.
Showing off some well-earned mud. Photo Property Tillery Training.
Even the locals got involved! Many households were diligently camped out in their front yards with garden hoses, cheerfully cooling off runners as they went by. The town also opened fire hydrants along the course, which all helped keep runners cool and made for fun sprinkler playtime!
Pipe crawl. Photo property Tillery Training.
Overall I would say the obstacles were definitely doable for most any level of athleticism. At stations like the sandbag carry and cement block carry, volunteers would help runners position their load most ergonomically and cheer everyone on. And if, for whatever reason, you couldn’t or didn’t want to do an obstacle, you could skip it for no penalty.
Some of the obstacles could have been improved on:
Pyramid wall-climb (2nd of the course). Photo property Tillery Training.
The first pyramid-frame wall climb was incredibly unstable/wobbly by the time we got to it (we were in the third heat). Though I’m confident that it stayed together, I’m also certain that it was unnecessarily dangerous to have an obstacle that wasn’t securely made on a course where hundreds of people were going to be climbing on it.
Cargo net wall climb. Photo property Tillery Training.
The cargo net wall climb was only large enough for two people to safely climb at a time, which led to some serious delays and backups on the course. Some runners chose to skip this obstacle instead of standing in line for minutes at a time. We stayed to complete the obstacle, which was fun and empowering for those who did it! However, there were no safety measures taken for the potential disaster of someone falling from the top of the wall. If one were to lose their grip at the top of the wall and go tumbling, it was a good 20 feet straight into hard dirt that would greet them. To improve safety, I’d recommend planting the cargo net wall over a mud pit.
Electric. Shock. Gauntlet. I’ve hated this style obstacle ever since it became popularized by the race group Tough Mudder. You CANNOT get better at getting electrocuted, it does nothing to show how physically fit you are, and it is incredibly dangerous no matter how low the voltage. I am extremely disappointed that this obstacle showed up in an otherwise well thought-out event. Even worse, the obstacle was stationed right as you climbed out of a river. One of our friends lost his shoes in a mud pit on the course. When it came to the electrified obstacle, he was very well grounded in the mud and, without knowing any better, ran through the obstacle (while soaking wet). The shock was enough to knock him to the ground and leave welts on his body. Not. Cool. **Apparently, the volunteers at this obstacle could have been instructed to turn off the power. However, this was not made clear to every runner, including our friend who got pounded by it. The people in our group just went around it.
Giant hay bale climb. Photo property Tillery Training.
Overall, this race was a very reasonable price, for an excellent cause, and was a ton of fun. I would do this race again, and continue to skip any obstacle that I felt was not safe enough to be worth doing. Hopefully, if enough others can agree that being shocked is NOT a fitness test, we can do away with this ridiculous fad all together. A girl can dream!
Successfully completed obstacle! Photo property Tillery Training.
In conclusion:
3.2 mile muddy course
Definitely doable obstacles
For a great cause
Some poor design causing unnecessary safety hazards
Did you do the Muddler? What are your thoughts? Have you completed similar races? What were some similarities/differences you noticed?
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