The Dirty Dash

So today we were out the door with both kiddies at 8:00 AM to get to the starting line for the Dirty Dash at Soldiers Hollow at 9:20 AM.  I forgot about a parking fee so Eric dropped me off and then parked for free next to the course so he could wave with the kids as I went by. 

Of course, we had to buckle up Sean the Sheep.

I made it to the entrance and checked my bag and phone into the bag drop off.

The next thing I know, I'm in the front of the line facing a big hill that is being sprayed with water to make it treacherous mud.   I started worrying about my shoes while I kept an eye out for someone from the same 1-800 CONTACTS team to run with.  I found a girl who seemed to be on par with me fitness wise.  Her name is Laurel and she works in the call center.  She is also the host for Footsteps for Fertility.  She told me that at their last event, they were able to give out eleven $5,000 grants to couples struggling with infertility.  I was pretty happy to run next to someone so awesome.

After the mud hill, we climbed up and over a rope obstacle and then on to several large mud pits and they were the worst!  I did lose a shoe and had to dig it out.  It was fun to watch people help each other though and I was so pumped!  Even though I had mud in places I tried not to think about...

After that was a few other smaller obstacles like going over mounds of straw bales and through tires.  THEN, we do to the slide at mile 1.  We climbed up one side to slide down the other.  Laurel told me people get cuts on that part because there is so much dirt on the slide so I should keep my legs up.  My brilliant idea was to keep my feet flat on the slide to keep my knees up.  And down I went.

When I got to the straw at the bottom, my foot caught and my body went over, pulling my foot down and under.  I hear and felt it pop on the top left of my left foot.  Swear word.

I sat on the straw bale for a bit feeling pretty nauseous, embarrassed and angry.  Laurel was such a doll and stayed with me and let me use her shoulder as I limped along.  I got to where I felt like I could walk very gingerly on it and could maybe walk it off.  A women that works at an instacare looked at it for me and told me it was probably sprained.   After standing there talking to her, it got so bad that I literally, could not take another step.  I about punched an EMT when she tried to take my pulse on the top of my foot! Fast forward to being carted out to the waiting ambulance where I refused going to the hospital.  There was no way I was going to pay for that!  They were super nice and gave me the crappiest ice pack ever.  She also brought me my bag so I could take this picture and call Eric.

Eric came to get me, threw me over his shoulder and got me to the car.  I cannot walk on it and will probably be down for a week or so.

 And so ends my Dirty Dash experience.  I might try it again next year....