Mud & Chocolate Spring Trail Run Race Report

It's spring!  Yippee!  After a very rainy and wet (as in all time record setting wet) fall and winter here in Western Washington we are finally seeing a little bit of the promise of summer sunshine.  Lately we've all been feeling like God turned on the sprinklers and then went on vacation, having forgotten to set the automatic timer for the sprinklers to turn off at some point.  They've been watering, and watering, and watering the region day after day after week after week after month after month.  We are growing moss between our toes and our hair is beginning to mildew.  It's been bad, folks.  And this comes from a girl who normally runs happily in the rain.  But promising days are ahead ... finally.  

The days leading up to the Mud & Chocolate Half Marathon were some of those glorious sun filled days.  My weather app promised partly clouds and sun breaks for race day.  My weather app is a big fat liar. The afternoon/night before the race rain moved in.  Great, this is a trail race and that meant my new trail shoes were going to get a rude and muddy awakening to mud. When I woke in the morning and checked outdoors I was greeted with grey skies and moisture.  I checked my app ... it still promised sun but the hour upon which the sun was supposed to "wake up" had been pushed back a little bit.  But still, it was supposed to get nice so I dressed for a little bit of everything; capris, tank, and light half-zip pullover.  It was a good decision.  

My husband had agreed to do this race with me and by "with me" he actually intended to stay at my pace and run together.  That doesn't always work out well for either of us as neither of us winds up doing what's best for us individually, but being a trail race that neither of us had any time goals for, we figured what could it hurt.  His hours at work have been horrendous lately so it would be some good quality conversation time for us.   It also meant I had an on-course photographer!  And yes, I made him pose for a couple photographs as well.  (See the moss on that tree? That's the stuff growing between our toes in this region and if the rain doesn't stop soon it'll spread to our legs and arms - ha!)  

I'll cut to the chase regarding the race.  First, it was FUN!  I finally met my Skirt Ambassador Sister, Kim, after many failed attempts at other races for various reasons and we also met Ambassador Judy from New York. The race itself was well organized and beautifully run by NRG Running.  They always do a wonderful job with their races.  It was a 3 loop course which can drive some folks mad but I kind of like the way it breaks the race up into chunks.  As for the course, it was pure Pacific Northwest green glorious nature! Well, green and brown.  Yep, lots of brown mud and brown muddy puddles. We found ourselves leaping, dodging, skirting, and slipping and splashing our way through a plethora of muddy terrain until we finally gave up and just slogged through. Trail shoes are meant to get muddy! Even if they are brand new.  Sigh.  All the mud made the course way more difficult than the other two times I've raced on this trail system. It required a much higher energy output. It also rained almost the entire time.  I believe the sun started poking its shy head out the last 30 minutes or so that my husband and I were on the course.  But at least I wasn't hot.  Or cold.  In fact, I was pretty much the perfect temperature through the entire race.  That's unusual!  

Kim and I met for the first time in the bathroom of all places!  She was coming out of the stall I was waiting on.  My husband heard our  girly exclamations of delight from outside and just shook his head. 

After the race with our medals and mud caked shoes!

We'll need some long hot showers after this one!

 At the finish we got a large and cute medal, a chocolate medal, a full sized chocolate bar and the t's we had ordered.  Oh, and the finisher's goodie table full of chocolate eatery goodness!  Chocolate cupcakes, chocolate candy, chocolate donuts, chocolate cookies ... chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.  Yum!  Well worth the mud!  

Yummy cup of sweet chocolate goodness!

The race swag is cat approved!

I totally recommend any of the Mud & Chocolate Runs.  You can find information about them at their website and they offer multiple trail runs a year. You can link to it here:  Mud and Chocolate  And no, I haven't received any form of compensation for telling you this ... I just really think they put on a great race!  And now that you've read this race report, come back in a few days as I'll be posting about the Snohomish Women's Run where I ran the half marathon and met up with a bunch of friends!