Edge the Ledge

  I don't  know how well known this is, but awhile back I set  a goal for myself to complete one organized running event every month for a year. I was planning on starting this adventure on January first with the Color My New Year run in Oshkosh. However, I am impatient and decided to start a month early with a local 2 mile run in Kiel in December. As it turns out, that would be the warmest run I would do until May. Crazy isn't it, the weather was nicer in December than it was in April for the run that Ashley and I did? Well, that's Wisconsin!

Yesterday was our run for the month of June. We did the Edge the Ledge mud run in Fond Du Lac. This was the first obstacle course run that we have done. It strays a bit from the normal runs we do where you get out, run and try to run as fast as you can. This one had 10 obstacles strewn about the 3 mile course. And people, this ain't no joke!!! This run was advertised as being "fun".....yeah, that's not what I was thinking as I was climbing the edge that was pure mud with some dangling ropes to pull yourself up.

But seriously, I have bruises, cuts, my knee hurts like a mother, and this morning I feel like I have been hit by a truck, but I can't lie, it was FUN!!!! Would I do it again, heck yes! In fact, I have already contemplated coming back for this same one next year when it hopefully won't kick my ass as badly.

And I am trying to put some pictures in here but everytime I try to upload the internet stops working!!! I will get them up as soon as I can....

So the run started and we started at a typical starting pace. It was about 27 seconds before we hit the mud. I tried to keep pace, but then I decided if I did I was going to fall/break my ankle/ look like a fool.  before that goodness ended we hit our first obstacle. It was pretty simple, climb some barricades. The metal fence kind they have at amusement parks to guide the long lines you have to wait in. I can't remember how many there were, I remember commenting that 4 would have been enough, but there were more than that. then there was a short distance and we hit our next obstacle. the Louisiana Bayou. to get into this one we had to go down this little slope, but being that we were the 4th wave to go it was completely smooth and pretty clear to us the way to go was the butt slide. First taste of mud, a dirty butt. then it was into the swampy water with some boards floating. To get out of the little swamp was a bit challenging, grab some trees and try to find a foothole. Like I said, we were the 4th wave of people so things were pretty torn up already. I can't remember the exact order of things after this, so it will be a little jumbled. There was a lot of slipping, sliding, and from me, falling. I can't count how many times I fell down, but it was a few and I think I get the most times falling award. We had to run through tires that were filled with mud and water. Thus far, things weren't so bad. We had to wade through a river (maybe a river I'm not sure) and then wade under this bridge. It was a little cold, but still nothing bad.  Hmmm...can't remember what was next exactly... more running, or trying to move quickly down mudhills and such during which I fell again. But after that fall I got up and got moving and saved myself from falling again with some pretty awesome balance moves  and a lot of flailing and arm waving.....it probably looked ridiculous but I didn't fall! We had to go through the river again, there was a guy to help us jump in, and a guy that was warning us of the giant rock that we had to step over to get into the culvert to get out of the river....yep, guy to warn us about the giant rock and I still managed to bash my bad knee on it pretty hard.

I wanted to sit down and cry, but my out of shapeness was already slowing us down a lot. Not long after the knee bashing I kind of felt a little dizzy and then the headache set in. I knew it was going to be a great one, I could feel it in my eyes and that part of my head right above the neck...oh joy, a migraine! I came prepared this time, I had my migraine meds in my bag in the car...awesome, let's get this done so I can get to my drugs....unfortunately we were still in the easy stuff. After the knee bashing we still had to jump haybales, not really too bad, and go over balance beams, again not the worst. Then there was the climbing wall. It was just some boards nailed together, green on the way up, yellow on the other side to go down. This was harder than I thought. Getting to the top was easy enough but getting over the top was a little harder. But I did it, and I didn't fall off the top and break my neck (which is what went through my mind when I was trying to get over the top.)At some point there was a hill that we had to inch worm down backwards, tough on the arm muscles, sweat dripped into my eyes burned like hell, and with my pounding head, a little but uncomfortable. There was also some ropes we had to go under, and a gorilla walk which was a fallen tree that we had to cross. And the love tent, I'm not sure where the name comes from, but it wasn't that bad.  There were monkey bars, of which I fell off of into the hay below. (was that 5 falls, 6, I can't remember) After the monkey bars we had to wait in line a bit to go down slip and slide. Face first was the way to go, superman style, so of course I get up there, trip in the mud right before the tarp, and land on my butt....so I went with it, I pulled my knees up and slid....and then slid some more. Apparently this fat girl can slide, I went pass the tarp like all the skinny people did and landed in the grassy, muddy, pit at the end and slip through that to the next obstacle. The mud pit...this wasn't bad, just crawl through the mud under the little flags that were hanging a few inches above.

This was the bitch part....the edge....thus the name of the run. this was a steep hill that is clearly not meant to be climbed, but heck why not. I mean after all, they tied some ropes at the top to help us pull ourselves up.  This was ok until I was about 5 feet from the top. the people behind were pulling the rope higher and I lost my grip and I fell. (yes, again, I fell again) and slid a few feet back down the hill. the people behind me moved forward and I couldn't really jump back into my spot on the rope. I decided to go off the beaten path, and moved off to the side and found a small tree to grab and worked my way up to the top where my most amazing best friend grabbed my hand and pulled me over the edge. I took a ten second breather at the top then we carried on. At this point I really thought I might pass out, and my knee hurt worse than it has in a long time, but I knew we were so close to the end. We walked under the witches den, then down the Russian split, and there it was. Gladiator's Hill. The end, all I had to do was make it past the galadiators and that was it. But the hill was muddy, and my vision was starting to get fuzzy, and my knee, well, could it hurt any worse? But I was so close, and Ashley was already past the gladiators. So I tried to stay close to the person in front of me and hopefully sneak by the gladiators because to be honest if they had hit me with their giant q-tip things I probably would have fallen to the bottom again and just stayed there. But, as luck would have it, one of the gladiators dropped his giant q-tip thingy and the other one tried to help him grab it and I had a path and I took it. And that was it. I was done. I handed over my timer, and went to the buckets to wash up a bit. And I didn't pass out!

We headed back to the car, took our finishing photos, and changed into some less muddy clothing. I got my migraine medication, and got to sit down for the drive home.  After a good long shower and much scrubbing to get off the dried mud, I started to think. Here is what I realized,

1. I am not a trail runner, I have great respect for those who do, but I am not good at it.
2. I can do things. I am a quitter by nature, always have been....but with Ashley with me and pushing me, I finished the whole mud run. I fell off the monkey bars so I didn't really finish them, but I did every obstacle!!! A year ago I never would have done this. And if I did sign up and start, I would have quit. I would have let the pain get to me and I would have left the course and just walked back to the end. But, I finished, I did the whole thing, and I am glad.

So, overall, I am glad that I did the mud run. I learned that I can do these things. I feel miserable today, but I had a piece of my nephew's birthday cake yesterday and I didn't feel guilty at all, I earned that cake!! If I push myself I can do things I never thought possible. I am capable of things that I used to just say I couldn't do. It has been good motivation to continue onward and to see what else I can accomplish.

So, as an endnote, I will not give up I will not quit, I will continue to challenge myself and to see what else I can do. I may or may not have revealed a challenge I have set for myself to Ashley this weekend....she seemed to think it was a fun idea....it's awhile off so I have time to prepare and feel comfortable with this.  Too soon to make it known to everyone, but as soon as I am fully committed to this new challenge I will tell....

Until then, tough mudder, here we come!!!!


(p.s. pictures still won't upload, so I will have to put them up another day...)