Ever since I got my Silhouette Cameo machine, I have been offering to make shirts for my family and friends so I can test it out and see what that sucker can do.  (My findings are that it can do pretty much anything).  When my friend Aimee mentioned that she was looking for a site that made shirts for an upcoming mud run she was doing with some friends, I happily volunteered my services to make the shirts.  Meaning, buy some shirts and make iron-on vinyl transfers with my Cameo.

Then things got complicated.  They had their hearts set on pink camo tank tops.  Those are easy enough to find, but not in wicking fabric.  I consider myself pretty good at finding stuff on the internet and I couldn’t find them anywhere.  So, I checked Spandex House, and they of course had the perfect fabric, so I offered to make all the shirts from scratch.  And do the iron-ons.  And make headbands.  And run the race with them.

I used good ole McCall’s 6559 as a base, making it smaller around the bust to accommodate sports bra smoosh and added a Jalie-style binding to the neck and arm holes.  I also made a super simple matching headband for each runner with a 3X19 inch rectangle of fabric. The pink iron-on vinyl is “pink cosmopolitan” from Happy Crafters.

As for the run, we. had. a. blast.  I can’t remember the exact order of the obstacles, but I’m pretty sure “Under the Wire” was first.

Aimee had to book it through this one because a giant front end loader was about to dump a full bucket of water on her!  

Then we did the ‘I’ve Got Your Back’ challenge where you carry a teammate on your back for like 50 yards. We had an odd number of teammates, so we found another odd-numbered team and helped each other out.

A couple miles and a few challenges later, we hear screaming, giggling, and general loudness coming from the next challenge, 50 Shades of Mud.  OMG, this was hard/disgusting/hilarious.  You are in a trench filled with water and you have to climb over a big wall of mud and slide into another trench of water and repeat several times.  We could have NOT done this one without teamwork, but our team was awesome, so we rocked it.

Trying to keep my mouth closed so I don’t swallow muddy water:

After that we ran into my hubby in the woods and he got this great shot of us all filthy:

Then we did the Balancing act challenge:

And the Wheels In Motion one:

And then we came to the wall.  The one I had been dreading all day:

But I don’t know what I was so afraid of because I totally slayed it:

Then it was on to the final challenge: the slide!  Wheee!

And then on to the finish.  Yay! We did it!!

The race ended up being around 5 1/4 miles and I believe there were 15 or so obstacles.  I hesitate to say they were “easy” because not everyone could do them, but if you’re in decent shape, you could handle them easily.  And not everyone was running between the obstacles, so you don’t even have to be a runner to do this race.  It was an awesome day with lots of encouragement within our team and from other teams.  Most of us had signed up to do another mud run by the end of the week!

My tips for a successful mud run would be:

• Wear wicking compression clothes (NO cotton!)
• Wear a wide headband and restrain your hair somehow (braids, ponytail, etc)
• Wear old shoes you can donate after the race
• Consider some sort of elbow & knee protection.  My knees were fine because I had on capris, but my elbows had a few cuts on them from all the crawling obstacles.  I think a sweatband on my forearms would have helped.   I also wore some fingerless gloves because my hands are a little sensitive.
• Sunblock, sunblock, sunblock.  We were in full sun almost the entire day.  Use something that will stay put like Coppertone Sport
• Hydrate well before the race and consider carrying your own fluids.  I was so thirsty all day because the sun was sucking the life out of me and the water stops were few & far between.  Next time I’m going to carry some gatorade and just set it down somewhere while I’m doing the obstacles
• Wear some cheap sunglasses to protect your eyes from the sun and the mud
• And this one will be easy: Have Fun!

I highly recommend doing a Mudderella run.  Other than the insufficient water stops (IMO), it was a really well run race.  We didn’t have to wait in a line for any of the obstacles and the course was well marked and staffed.  I was nervous before the race that I was going to twist an ankle out there, but the few times the terrain was uneven, I just walked those parts.  And my hydration woes were cured when they handed me that delicious ice cold beer at the finish line!