No Brother Left Behind: Camp Pendleton's World Famous Mud Run

Team Dyer Brothers

Last month, my four brothers and I got together for the last session (June 15th) of this year's Camp Pendleton World Famous Mud Run.  This was the first time that all five of us have run together in a race and it was a lot of fun. We started off the race fast and I did my best to keep up.

Look closely and you can see Team Dyer Brothers just off to the right in our blue sleeveless shirts

I bought matching shirts (moisture wicking, of course) so that we looked like a team.  It turned out to be a good call.  The light blue color that I picked really stood out in the crowd.  My parents were watching the live feed in Colombia and they were able to pick out all of us on the live feed (and by "all of us," I mean everyone but me!  Apparently, I didn't get any love from the cameras!).

This year's race had a lot more obstacles than last year and it was a lot of fun--except for the low-slung cargo nets.  They were set at about 2.5 feet off the ground and were pure torture for me.  I was just too tall!  I also narrowly averted disaster when the watch strap on my million dollar Garmin watch broke going over the "Wall" obstacle.  Luckily, I noticed that it was loose and grabbed it before it was lost forever in the Camp Pendleton mud.  That was the good news...the bad news was that I had to carry it the rest of the way and that meant I didn't have full use of my hands for the remaining obstacles.

One of the first obstacles: The Steeplechase - My brother N. successfully completes this!

The first few obstacles went smoothly...N. is my youngest brother and is just a year removed from his mission (to Argentina).  This was his first race, so I kind of stuck with him and within sight distance of L. and Big S.  Click here for a cool pic of L. with N. and me in the background going over the Steeplechase.  SLD was gone as soon as the gun went off.  Only later would I learn how amazing his race was.

SLD tackles the high "Wall"...Notice how there don't seem to be any other runners in sight.

The high "Wall" was a difficult obstacle.  I was so tired by the time that I got to it, that it seemed like it was 8 feet tall.  I managed to get over it somehow, but landed in the mud as my watch dangled from my wrist.  Luckily, I snared it and kept going.

Here's some video of me going through the final obstacle...the Mud Pit:

One thing that occurs to me when re-watching this is how utterly exhausted I am at this point.  You can see it as I enter the Mud Pit and then you can see it as I stagger out to finish the race.  Even though I was tired, my motto is to just keep moving forward.  Hopefully you can see my determination to keep going.

Here are the links to the videos of the rest of us going through the Mud Pit:

• SLD
• L.
• Big S. and N.

Thanks Nicole for taping these for us!

Here are some of the notable achievements.  Indulge me for a second while I brag on my brothers:

• SLD - 51:59 (for a course that billed itself as a "10k" but was actually about 6.6 miles long!).  SLD got 14th overall and 2nd in his age group!!  There were about 3,000 runners in the race.  SLD is a frickin' amazing runner!
• L. - 1:02:34 - 13th in his age group (118th overall)
• Big S. - 1:06:05 - 19th in his age group (#168 overall)
• N. - 1:06:53 - 8th in his age group (#186 overall).  This was an awesome result for his first race ever!
• Me - 1:09:44 - 28th in my age group (#246 overall).  As the oldest brother, I took responsibility for making sure that no brother was left behind.  Someone had to do it....  :-/

After the race, we hit the showers:

And took some more pics:

N. and SLD with his medal

Superman photobombs the post-race brothers pic..

My miracle, super-nephew!

If you're family and not already bored out of your gourd, you can check out Nicole's photo album on Google Plus here.

Love this cute fam pic!

Riding the shuttle to the parking lot...

I love my nephew's cute smile

This run has become somewhat of a tradition now in our family:

2011

2012

2013

I'm sure we'll be back next year!

Camp Pendleton's World Famous Mud Run

The Camp Pendleton World Famous Mud Run

I'm "running" in Camp Pendleton's World Famous Mud Run tomorrow.  I put "running" in quotes because in addition to running (including up and down hills), I will be dodging blasts of water from fire hoses, fording streams, wading through mud holes, swimming across a lake, crawling through obstacles, and getting very, very muddy.

This part comes at the very beginning of the race...
....the fun is only getting started

Last year, I "trained" for the race by getting no sleep for about the entire two weeks before the race and "carbo loading" by going to Golden Spoon for a frozen yogurt the night before.  Yep, I literally skipped dinner and had a frozen yogurt the night before the race.  Little wonder that I pretty much bonked the next day.

But forgetting to train and not getting a lot of sleep are pretty much par for the course with me, so I can hardly complain that my time was so crappy.  My time (1:09:29 for the 10k course) was terrible.  I only post it here so that you know that I am not exaggerating.  My brother L. (a gifted runner if I've ever seen one) clocked a 58:01; S. was 1:01.  I swear I will be faster this year!  (even though I still haven't trained!!)

I don't know anyone in this picture.

But I did manage to do a few things right and a few things that I'll learn from.  Here are some tips if you're considering doing a mud run in your area (even though it probably won't be the Original, World Famous Mud Run at Camp Pendleton!).

• Sign up early.  Camp Pendleton's races sell out in the first few hour after they go live.  If you are checking up on me, you won't see my time (or my brothers' times) on the official web site because we bought someone else's run bib.  Technically against the rules, but still an option if you miss out on the registration.  This year, I have my own bib so you can see how bad my time really is this year!
• You will get muddy.  They have showers that you can use after the race.  Plan on spending about 5-10 minutes in the cold shower getting mud out of every crack and crevice of your shoes and clothes.  Don't wear something with pockets.  They'll just fill up with mud.  Last year, I bought matching shirts for Team "D".  They were pretty fitted and worked out great.  I made the mistake of buying some moisture wicking shorts that were a bit baggy.  Bad call.  They were pretty much falling off of my booty the whole race.  Nothing is more embarrassing than having to cross the finish line with one hand holding up your waist band!  My brothers were wiser than me and wore swim trunks.  This year, I will prove to be the wisest among us because I'll be wearing running tights!
• Nutrition.  I will eat a good dinner tonight and my typical PB Bagel tomorrow morning before the race.  No more Fro-Yo this year.
• Get Some Sleep.  I think I spent the few days before last year's race jetting off to Florida where I took about four depositions in two days, including working all night on my laptop during the red eye flight.  I remember actually falling asleep in the car as the client drove us back following the first day's worth of depositions.  The client loved me for working so hard for him.  My body rebelled when it came time for race day.   So you'd think I learned my lesson for this year right?  Wrong!  I had to pull another all-nighter last night on a project.  I have a really good friend that always gives me crap about my sleep habits.  According to my friend, the most important sleep before a race is the sleep you get two nights before the race.  I got no sleep last night.  Awesome!
• Pace Yourself.  I started off strong last year, only to wilt on the hills and dales of the military base.  Nothing is more humiliating than having two brothers smoke you as they leave you in their rear view mirror. L., who had such a great time, actually started off behind both S. and me, but just kept it going the whole time--ultimately passing us both.  On the other hand, nothing made me prouder than to cheer both of them on as they passed me. I really am lucky to have such great brothers!
• Have Fun.  The most important point of all!  I'm set to do the race with 3 of my 4 brothers tomorrow (not sure if any of my sisters are doing it??)  SL didn't do it last year because he was in Florida on a mission, but he was a high school cross country star.  If I'm not careful, I'm likely to find myself cheering on three brothers as they pass me tomorrow!  ;-)

This is after the post-race showe...ignore the tan lines and soggy, saggy, baggy shorts...
...I'm proud to be standing amongst literal and figurative giants of men!