RIPPLE/Lindsay Craven
From left to right, Alison Ball, Hannah Pearson, Carolyn Pearson and Robyn Hicks pose for a before picture before taking off down the hill to start the Marine 5K Mud Run at Jomeokee Park in Pinnacle on June 2.
RIPPLE/Lindsay Craven
The team wades through the mud pit to make their way to the finish line. Marines were stationed throughout the mud pit and were authorized to dunk anyone who touched the yellow caution tape zig-zagging the top of the pit.
RIPPLE/Lindsay Craven
The team crosses the finish line arm-in-arm. They finished the run in just under an hour.
RIPPLE/Lindsay Craven
The team poses for their after photo before desperately search for somewhere to rinse of the caked on mud before heading back home.
A couple of Yadkin County residents got down and dirty on Saturday when they competed in the Marine Mud 5K Run at Jomeokee Park in Pinnacle.
The Marine Corps League Det. #1075 in Winston-Salem presented the run.
The run included individual waves and team waves. Team waves require four team members. A group of individuals from the Yadkin YMCA decided to team up and take on their first mud run.
“It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do,” said Robyn Hicks, a personal trainer at the Yadkin YMCA. “It’s coming out of my shell I guess. I’m ready to get dirty.”
“I wanted to do this and a 5K before I turned 40,” Alison Ball said. “I had been thinking about it and teetering with the idea, but I didn’t want to do it as an individual, I wanted to do it as a group. When Robyn asked me to do it I went for it.”
“I started Transformation Nation 15 weeks ago. I lost 29 and a half pounds, and I wanted to do a 5K so when I saw an advertisement for the mud run,” Carolyn Pearson said.
A fourth teammate had originally planned to run with the group but had to back out at the last minute. Pearson’s daughter Hannah stepped in to fill the gap.
All of the team members prepared for the race a little differently. Hicks said that she focused on strength training to prepare while Ball said that she had picked up her mileage on her runs.
“I’ve been running, walking, lifting weights and everything so I can get prepared for the run,” Pearson said.
The big day arrived, and the ladies gathered at the top of a hill that served as the starting line. They each wore black biker shorts and a neon yellow tank that they’d written “muddy duds” on in sharpies.
“My fear is the endurance of running the whole time,” Hicks said. “The obstacles I’m not afraid of; it’s the running part. My last 5K was on New Year’s Eve, so it’s been a while since I’ve run a race.”
Ball also looked a little nervous as she had a family member put duct tape on her shoes, a tactic suggested by mud run officials to help the runners keep their shoes in the mud pit.
“I’m worried about losing my contacts and losing my shoes,” Ball said. “I am also worried about snakes during the run.”
After a short wait the buzzer sounded. Then the ladies posed for a last minute before picture before racing down the hill.
During the course of the race they were faced with obstacles with ominous names such as “devil dog pit,” “walk of shame,” “meat grinder” and “grenade throw.”
All four teammates were able to finish the run in just under an hour.
“It was good,” Hicks said. “There were some hard parts. Carolyn cut her hand on one of the walls. There was a rope wall and the rope was covered in slick mud so you really just had to lean in. I fell and hit my hip so I will probably have a bruise later.”
“It was good and it was really fun,” Ball said. “We stuck together the whole time but that mud pit was nasty and it smelled like cow poop.”
In the end all of the ladies said that it was well worth the hard work, dirt and grime and that they would definitely do it again.
Reach Lindsay Craven at 679-2341 or at lcraven@heartlandpublications.com.
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