Race Recap: 2011 SwampFoot

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Today I ran in the second Swamp Foot 4 Mile mud run.

The runners and their sherpa's

Last year when I ran this event, although I had fun, there were a few issues I had with the race. I am extremely happy to say that this year they seemed to have addressed everyone of my concerns.

The weather was great as Mike, Julie and I prepared ourselves to run the 4 mile obstacle course. The first thing I noticed was a beefed up vendor, food, and kids area. Since Julie brought her three youngest kids, it was great to see the bounce house and climbing wall there for them. Having beer and hot dogs for sale is a nice touch as well.

Julie's Kids

Julie and her husband who is doing the Swampfoot next year

After signing our waivers, getting our gear, and using the potties, it was time to get ready for our wave. Having different waves starting at different times was another nice improvement this year. Last year it was an "everyone starts together" race and the congestion caused some problems during the day. This year it was much better. I'm not sure how many people were in each wave but it was the right number if you ask me.

Nice and Clean

Warming Up

The race started the same way as last year, with a decent run through the property of Rattle Run farms while hurdling several logs scattered across the path. Julie, a first time swampfooter, but avid runner, started with a face pace. Mike and I did our best to keep up with her but this would cost us later on.

Running together (it's still early)

Eventually we made it to the first real obstacle. Last year we were faced with five logs about five feet off the ground. These logs were still there but next to them was a set of logs somewhere around 8 feet off the ground. Julie chose the lower logs, Mike and I did the higher ones. Last year there was a big back up at this obstacle but there was no wait this time. I was really liking the the staggered start times.

Around the bend from the logs we came to the hay rolls. The rolls of hay ranged from 4 to 6 feet off the ground. The object was to bound or climb over the hay. This year I followed Mike's technique and jumped into the air and turned so that my back landed on top of the hay. Using my momentum I swung my legs over and dropped to the ground. It was a very efficient way to get past this obstacle.

After the hay rolls were the fallen logs across the water. A new rule they added this time was that you had to run over the logs, walking would get you disqualified. This was a great rule since there was also a traffic jam here last year. I discovered that a  short step jog worked perfectly for this obstacle and passed the advice on to Mike. Julie had crossed before and has started to pull away.

Next came the monkey bars over swampy water. Julie chose to skip the monkey bars, and had to swim in the swamp water under some barrels. Mike and I chose the monkey bars and I went first. Having increased the number of pull ups in my work outs I was pretty prepared for this, and I was doing a great job skittering across three to four bars at a time. Unfortunately with only about 4 bars left, I lost my grip and fell into the water.

Mike may not have much upper body strength but he has kung fu grip that the GI Joe dolls were modeled after. Slow and methodical, he swung his body, clamped onto a bar, swung is body, clamped onto a bar and so on. More like a machine than a human his method was working perfectly. He was one bar away from completion when he ran out of room to swing. Without the momentum, he was going to to have to lift his body onto the platform, unfortunately he didn't have enough in him and he plummeted to the mucky water below. Several choice swear words echoed up from the swamp.

By this time Julie, the fastest of us was long gone. We wouldn't see her again until the finish line which was probably a good thing since we were obviously slowing her down. She ended up placing in her age group for the entire day.

Speaking of slowing people down, the next obstacle was wading through a pond with muck on the bottom a least a foot deep. Just like last year I almost lost my shoe in this swamp.

Trudging through the swamp

You can't tell, but she's having fun.

Mike and Scott show up much later

After this was a decent run that helped shake the mud from my shoes. As soon as I was mud free there was another obstacle that forced me to walk in more muck and mud.

We climbed a steep hill then walked through a swamp, climbed a stone wall, walked through a swamp, walked through a swamp, then walked through a swamp. I have finally figured out why this race is called "Swamp Foot"

Eventually we made it to the cargo net climb where we climbed up to a platform then grabbed a rope similar to the one we had to climb in gym glass. This time, however, we had to climb down it. I was very happy to have full gloves on, for I just held onto the rope and slid down it like a pole.

Julie, on a mission.

Here she comes.

Making a splash wherever she goes.

After complaints from our multimedia team (our wives) Mike and I made sure we went down the mud hill at the same time. To ensure this happened, we locked arms and slid down the hill together.

Siamese Twins?

Holy Tsunami!

After the mud hill were just a few more obstacles. There was the mound climb.

The tire(d) jog

The four foot wall

And the mud crawl.

Then the finish line

And the beer

Last year I said this race was too easy, but the addition of the new obstacles added some difficulty to this race which I truly enjoyed. It was a great race with good friends.

The price increase for the event was tough to swallow but seeing the improvements to the race and knowing that it helps out a local charity, I'm okay with the amount.  Plus, this was the first mud event I've done to date that had actual showers.

The tech shirts are very cool too.

Great job, Swamp Foot crew and volunteers. I will see you next year.