Race Review: The Dirty Dash

Tweet

I was nervous about this race considering how I have been feeling of late but I was also very excited. I have never done a mud run before, and I had a feeling it was going to be lots of fun, I wasn't disappointed.

We arrived early to the race on Saturday morning to hand out some Rock 'n' Roll Oasis Vancouver Half Marathon & Cunningham Seawall 10k promo t-shirts.

*limited sizes and quantities available

All you have to do to get one is find me at an upcoming event and show proof of registration into RnRVAN. If you haven't registered yet, I still have a discount code for you (valid until online registration closes the week before the race)!

So after we hung out in the parking lot (or field rather) handing out shirts, we headed towards the event.

We saw lots of clean people awaiting the start of the race which was going to start in waves. We were in the 3rd 9:00AM wave and made a last minute decision to check Cindy's bag with our phones, THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA and I highly recommend doing so.

We started off in the mud right away, up to our knees and a mini hill to climb over. Soon after, a lake, yes a lake, appeared before us. If you were really tall, you could likely walk all the way through. I was not tall enough and had to swim and with all the people in there at the same time and the weeds in the water, it was pretty gross!

The next section was some wooden walls that we had to climb over. We had to wait a little bit at a bottle neck of people here and everyone was feeling exhilarated (umm I mean gross) after swimming through the lake. There were more obstacles including a blow up castle type thing that you had to climb through but it would deflate without warning so you would get stuck. Following that, a tube which we had to crawl over, presumably without falling off.

There was a bit more running at this point and then we crawled through some more mud and some tunnels and into another water crossing (swim). That one was rather stinky though... We had to climb over some big rope walls and then...

I think at this point we hit the "slop 'n' slide"!
A HUGE slip 'n' slide which was tons of fun!

After this, there was a beer stop! Yes, a beer stop :) Root beer for those who couldn't drink beer. I firmly believe all races should have this now.

Next, there was another wooden wall to climb over. At this point, we ran through some barns and I ran into my sister's friend who I knew was going to be there but didn't know if I'd be able to find her in all the muddy chaos! She decided to join Cindy, Jacki, and I for the rest of the race!

There was couple more mud pits, one of which was called the "Mud Mines" where blasts of mud exploded as you ran through!

We were nearing the finish where there was a huge yellow pyramid blow up slide, when you reached the bottom, you landed in none other than a huge pit of mud!

Next time I think I'll where goggles.

I had such a surprisingly great time at this race! I really did enjoy all the obstacles and didn't so much mind all the mud either.

There were some showers at the finish line which was awesome and very necessary. All in all, a great day had by all.


Race Review Summary 

Package Pickup/Expo:
Package pickup was really busy even before it opened but the line moved along at a decent pace.

Price/Value: $60 (depending on when you register)
But there were lots of discount codes along the way.
 
Aid Stations: 
The only aid station was the beer/root beer one. That was enough as far as I'm concerned for 5k.

Course Difficulty: 
Moderate. The obstacles aren't all easy. One of the rope walls we had to climb over was quite high. There were a few points we had to help some young kids too. I wouldn't recommend it for kids under 7 and definitely be there to provide assistance. Although, if you had difficulty you could skip some of the obstacles, except for the water crossings.

Medals:
No medals but awesome swag! We got a cute v-neck t-shirt, a bandana, and lots of temporary tattoos. I even bought a tshirt at the race for only $15. Because it is the same organization as Color Me Rad you can expect similar quality and prices.