If you have never heard of the Mud Run before let me give you some background information.

The Mud Run takes place annually on Camp Pendleton (Near San Diego, CA). The race gets capped at 4,000 participants and sells out every year. You can run it as an individual or as part of a 5 man team.

Let’s go over the course itself: It’s a 10k unlike any 10k you have ever run. There are hills, tire obstacles, 2 river crossings, two 5 foot walls, Suicide Hill, screaming Marines, Super Soakers, and a huge mud pit at the end you have to crawl through and run through.

You can do it as part of a five man team or by yourself. I did it as part of a five man team, with a twist. One runner was blindfolded and the other was legally blind and we had to guide them through the course.

I ran with a group called Blind Start of America. This organization is a non-profit that strives to help the blind & visually impaired obtain independence through learning and obtaining job skills. They like to focus on helping disabled persons with the personal & financial independence of purchasing or renting a home.

We had to raise money and were assigned a blind runner to our team. We also had one of our sighted runners blindfolded throughout the course. It was challenging to say the least. But well worth it.

After months of training, eating right, and group meetings the day finally came for the run. And was it worth the wait. The best memory I have is the crossing of the main river. It was intmidating because the water literally went up to my shoulders, my head barely bobbing above the water. It was unlike anything I had done before.

The 5 foot walls with mud pits were also a lot of fun. I fell once and landed on my bottom, but immediately got up and did one of those “did anyone see that?” moves.

Another part of the course that was not hard but memorable was when we turned a corner and were running through empty one story buildings. The buildings were used for training exercises for the Marines. Next thing you know we are being pelted with Super Soakers that Marines were having way too much fun using on us.

At the end of the run is a huge mud pit that you have to crawl through. This is where you really get muddy. You have Marines encouraging, yelling, and throwing mud on you. It was awesome!

All in all it was an amazing event that I can’t wait to do again. And you should too!