Guest Blogger: Muddy Watters Cider Slam 10/10 (Julie M)

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This was my second bump and run with Jeff Watters and Motor City Boot Camp crew. These races entail trail running with a twist. The twist is various exercises and hazards thrown in just for fun! A risky, crazy kind of fun, but fun none the less.

This particular race was titled the Cider Slam. Runners have to partake in slamming cider and eating donuts to the point of vomiting, or so it says in the brochure. I wondered how eating donuts and cider could be a bad thing, so I signed up. Scott, my friend in charge of this nonsense, was worried the field of 70 would fill, so I hurried and signed up, not reading the fine print. The other premise of this race that made it different from all the rest was that the course was unmarked. We were to run through Bloomer Park to several different checkpoints and get our ticket validated by a race volunteer after a given activity was completed. Runners were to use maps and a compass to navigate through the park in the most efficient manner possible. Scott and my other friend Mike decided to wear our silliest costumes and try out our orienteering skills. Scott spent many hours training in Bloomer Park since the last race we had there, so he felt he was familiar with the lay of the land. I think he was trying to redeem himself from getting lost at two previous bump and runs. He also poured over maps of the park and attempted to determine the most efficient manner to traverse the park and hit the various checkpoints. Mike and I reviewed his instructions and they seemed reasonable.

So let the race begin! All the runners began going in different directions. This was a weird feeling because usually a race course is predetermined and we all follow the same route. We headed out to the first obstacle which was a 200 step staircase. We were to go up and down 2x and slam cider and donuts at the top before heading to the next checkpoint. We went down, up and back down again when we decided to change course based on what some of the others were doing. We headed to a bridge area where we were supposed to do 15 down ups. There were no race officials at this point so a fellow runner suggested we skip the down ups. This idea sounded appealing to me as we just finished 300 steps and I knew we had a lot of the race ahead of us including climbing broken collar bone hill and a proposed bridge jump. However my dear friend Scott is a stickler for details and he has been training hard for this race...down ups and all. So we diligently did our down ups!! I think his look of satisfaction was almost worth the effort.

We are now back on the trail heading for the stairs when I notice an older gentleman with his teenage daughter and son in tow. I suddenly began having flash backs of Scott being lost in the woods at the previous race and going about 4 miles out of his way. Any self respecting dad would never take his precious children running through the woods without a plan. Maybe I should follow them? I sort of began following them. I very soon began to hear jeering and shouts from Scott and Mike. It was apparent they did not like my change in plan, so I let the others pass and rejoined my friends. After all they are a fun bunch and I rather like hanging out with them, even if it means a major detour..aka LOST.

We then headed back to complete the next 200 stairs and time for DONUTS!!! The reason for the race!! Now this was a situation in which I knew I would excel. I am used to long distance running and choking down warm electrolyte/sugar gels, which taste awful. Many times I swear they will come back up, but soon the delightful sugar high starts and I can run like the wind. I chose a cinnamon sugar donut and a cup of cold sweet cider. I quickly devour my tasty snack and look over at my friends. They were struggling to get a teeny tiny donut hole down. I am feeing high on sugar and very excited. I even began to think ridiculous thoughts like doing the bridge jump in 42 degrees. I'm on fire, bring it, lets go!! We have 20 minutes to run 2 miles to get to the bridge before the obstacle closed at 1015am. At this point MIke was falling behind. It seems he went walking all around Boston the weekend before in improper footwear and bloodied his heels. The bloodied heels were screaming, but he had his heart set on the bridge jump. (for the record I told Mike to bring his running shoes to Boston, but he didn't listen) I was shouting out the time as each minute passed to Scott up ahead and he could maybe stall when he reached the bridge to buy time for MIke. We arrived just in the nick of time! My silly friends catapulted themselves off the bridge and through the 42 degree air into the cold and swirling water below. This part of the race is a bit of a blur because apparently they removed their clothing prior to the jump and I had no recollection of this happening until I saw the pictures. As they rose from the water, I observed that they looked cold, wet and miserable. I was having no part of that so I climbed under the fence and crossed the bridge via the road, the way the law intended the bridge be crossed.

Now we are doing some road running to the next checkpoint. We have been instructed to bring $2 along for reasons to be determined. We found out we had to go to a party store checkpoint and purchase the candy for the children's race. Seems like Jeff has us doing his work for him, but we obliged since it was part of the race. In the store there were other racers also purchasing their candy! How fun to have some camaraderie with fellow racers! I love hearing everyones' stories so I began chatting with the other runners and the store keeper. My teammates apparently still had their game faces on and want to get moving so I had to cut it short. But I did get a chance to tell the friendly police officer about our silly little bridge jump. My friends scolded me later because apparently the jump is not legitimately condoned by the law. I was astounded! Jeff would never get us into trouble! I still think they are wrong! Bridge jumping is totally legal, right?

Our last obstacle is the infamous sledding hill. We only had to run down and back up again which seemed incredibly easy compared to the last race going up and down 5 times with burpees in between.

We ran back to the pavilion where we started. We had to solve 2 puzzles, do 20 push ups and 50 mountain climbers in any order. We chose the puzzles first so we could sit down for a minute or two before completing the race. We handed in our tickets and sighed with relief. We helped ourselves to a big bowl of warm, bubbling, chili on the grill that looked absolutely amazing!! I kept my mouth shut because I just then realized we never finished our push ups and mountain climbers. Don't tell Scott!!!

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