Mud Run Tips And Tricks

Mud Run Tips, Tricks, Advice, Helpful Hints, Suggestions, and What You'll Need (Sort Of):



1. Tie your shoes tight enough that you can't slip them off, but not so tight that they end up hurting. You do NOT need to duct tape your shoes on. I have seen many people do this at mud runs, and for the first mile there are piles of discarded duct tape littering the course.



2. Wear tight socks. Again, not so tight they hurt, but tight enough that they won't fill with mud and sag, leaving one or both legs a few pounds heavier. Yes, I know this from experience. =(



3. If at all possible, bring a spectator/camera person. You do not want to bring a camera with you into the mud, because once it's muddy, the pictures will be crappy. You can bring one on an obstacle course if you have one of those heavy duty cameras that can get wet and dropped and stuff, but don't try to bring a camera through a mud pit. Instead, have someone following you around NOT in the race, taking pictures. A runner who does not want to get muddy is great for this, because they can keep up when they need to. If you know someone with a super fancy camera, they are great, because people rarely question the authority of someone with a huge camera, so they can go places someone with a point and shoot might not be able to go.



4. If you have a camera person, make sure they get a ton of pictures of you once you're done race, but before you're rinsed off. Get close ups of your face. Make silly poses. There are few times in your life when you will be willingly covered with this much mud, so take advantage of it.



5. If you have shoes that you're ready to toss anyway, where them! Most mud runs have shoe donations afterward, so you can toss them in the pile and not worry about it. But, if you don't, most running shoes can be thrown in the washing machine (but probably not the dryer), so don't worry about it too much.



6. Either way, BRING A CHANGE OF SHOES. You do not want to try to walk around in wet muddy shoes. I recommend flip flops. Your feet will thank you. If you have a camera person, have them have your flip flops ready post race, so you can strip off your shoes and socks as you rinse off, and not have to hobble around barefoot.



7. Bring a full change of clothes. If you do a mud run right, everything will be wet, along with dirty. You'll be more comfortable if you full change, even if you weren't able to fully rinse off.



8. Bring a large towel or sheet. You'll want to towel off either way, but most mud runs are in places that don't have dedicated changing areas. Being able to wrap yourself in a huge towel or sheet, strip down, and put on fresh clothes will improve your post-run frame of mind GREATLY.



9. Do not bring fancy/white/nice post run clothes, towels, or sheets. They will likely get muddy. No matter how hard you try, you will not likely get all the mud off of you until you get home and shower. Bring the crappy towel you only end up using when you need to do laundry. Sure, it has holes in it, but no one is judging you based on your post-mud run towel.



10. If you wear any rings, and they slip off even semi-easily, do not wear them on the run. Can you imagine losing your wedding ring in a 10' x 20' mud pit? Yeah. Plus, if you have a fancy pants ring, it can be annoying to clean off later. Better safe than sorry. I have worn my ring in my runs, but I usually freak out halfway through and start obsessively checking to make sure it's still there.



11. HAVE FUN. Your time? Really doesn't matter. You shouldn't be out there to run it as fast as you can. Don't avoid the mud pits. ENJOY them. You're there for a silly, fun, messy run. You're going to get filthy. Revel in it.



12. Sunglasses can be the difference between mud in your eye with no way to wipe it out, and no mud in your eye. Just make sure you don't need to keep pushing them back up your nose, or you might have a clump of mud on your nose by the end of the race. Yup, happened to me.



13. Bring a garbage bag to dump your wet/muddy clothes, shoes, towel, sheet, etc in. You can deal with it when you get home, but there's no point in filthying up your car.

EDIT: NOW WITH ADDITIONAL TIPS!!!!!!!



14. Wear sunscreen. And make sure you get it everywhere, including your ears, your scalp, the tops of your hands, and the backs of your knees. You might spend a fair amount of time out there in the mud, and you want to make sure you don't have a purple burn on the back of your knee for the next three weeks. I speak from experience.



15. If you wear contacts, go blind for the day, or rock an old pair of glasses. This is most important if there is any chance you will get submerged in any kind of dirty water. Getting bits of grit behind your contacts, and having hands too dirty to do anything about will make the rest of the run pretty awful. I have better than 20/20 vision (gloat gloat gloat), but my friend Sara suffered through a few miles of contact hell. And, if you're wearing fancy pants glasses, they might get scratched or broken. =(





I'm not an expert, but I have done six mud runs (four different ones, and two twice). These pictures were all pulled from my five previous mud runs. So, I speak from experience.

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Have you ever done a mud run?

Do you have any tips or tricks you'd like to add?