On Saturday, I participated in my first trail race – the Carl Touchstone Memorial Mississippi Trail Run – and what an adventure it was. Never have I been so unprepared for a race or more uncertain about what to expect. But perhaps that’s what made it so fun and exciting. There were only 300 runners spread across 3 race distances: a 50-miler, 50K and 20K. I participated in the 20K with just 65 other runners. This was the complete opposite from the big road races I typically run that attract thousands of runners with star quality race expos and live entertainment along the course.

Last year, I started doing a little trail running on Sundays. I enjoyed the serenity of being surrounded by nature. I loved not having any pressure to hit certain paces and mile splits. So, as I was setting my goals for 2013, I decided that this year I would run my first trail race.

This past weekend, my BRF (best running friend – thanks @alauth for that word!) Tammy and I loaded our stuff into her car and set off on a road trip to Mississippi to accomplish that goal. Little did we know it would be an unexpectedly amazing adventure – full of laughter, mud, ice-cold water and many unladylike moments.

I’ve put together a little video that shows clips from the entire weekend: from the drive to Mississippi and the pre-race dinner to race morning and in the car after the race. But there are a LOT of moments that aren’t included, so keep reading! Yes it is my first video, so go easy on me for how amateurish the quality is (and for how hideous I look in all the shots). I will get better (the video quality not the looks). I promise.

Now before we get into the good stuff of this race report, I have 2 favors to ask you: 1) please remember that the name of this blog is rUnladylike for a reason. It is a mash-up of the words “run” and “unladylike,” because there are so many things about running that are unladylike and I’m not afraid to share that. 2) I might gross you out a little today. Keep coming back anyway. *wink*

The Top 10 Most Memorable Moments of My Mississippi Trail Run

10. The road trip to and from the race. During the course of just more than 24 hours, my BRF and I spent more than 10 hours in the car together. Never once did we even think about turning on the radio because we talked. The. Entire. Time. About running. Family. Friends. The race. Running. Life. Running. Part of a race is the entire experience and the journey to get there. The conversations in the car will be just as memorable and special to me as the race itself.

9. The pre-race dinner and “expo.” Never have I run a race where a free dinner was served to all the athletes. Or where not a single vendor was selling anything. Or where the race director stood up without a microphone and terrified you with comments like, “Your shoes will be soaked by mile 1.1,” “You will likely be wading waist-deep in water at some points,” “It has never been this cold for the race,” or “Watch out for horse trailers in the parking area, as they can take out your car bumper if you park too close to them.” This was the craziest pre-race “expo” experience I’ve had to date, but its quirk and oddity is what gave it its charm.

8. Carb-OVERloading. As many of you know, I started eating a mostly paleo diet at the beginning of this year. Well, I chose to eat the spaghetti and bread offered at the pre-race dinner, and that sent me into a carb-induced obsession with sugar and flour for the rest of the weekend. In a 24-hour period, I ate spaghetti, bread, 4 cookies, a handful of Cheezits, tortilla chips and queso, a chicken wrap and a French toast latte. I ate even more sweets when I returned home, like it was the last day on Earth and I would never eat food again. It was seriously deranged. It was the bingiest binge I’ve ever had. My paleolithic ancestors would have gone into cardiac arrest. Thankfully, today is a new day.

7. I was surrounded by the friendliest runners I’ve ever met. On race morning, we chatted with many runners. Both before the race and on the course. Runners of all ages, genders, shapes and sizes. We even met a runner named Brenda on the course. She was from Seattle and decided she would run the race with Tammy and me. We stopped to take pictures along the way (which I’ve never done during a race before), and other runners would stop and ask us if we’d like them to take our photo. It was great fun and confirms my hypothesis about the magic running bond.

6. This was a REAL mud race. With the explosion of mud races during the past few years, it is easy to find man-made obstacle courses where you can run a 5K and then climb through a pit of mud and get your dirty on. Well, the Mississippi Trail Run was the original mud run. It required us to take what Mother Nature threw at us. We traipsed through squishy mud that sucked your shoes like quick-sand, only to run through a stream ankle or knee-deep moments later that felt like an ice bath in 35 degree (f) temperatures. But getting down and dirty is what this blog is all about, and the mud and filth just made us feel like complete bad assess. Just sayin’.

5. My Brooks Pure Grit 2s. In January, my friends at Brooks Running sent me a pair of the Pure Grit 2s to try especially for this race. Not only are they super cool looking in hot yellow and green, but they were the perfect shoe for this race. The tread on the bottom successfully got me through the changing terrain of the course – from gravel, to mud, to dry dirt, to pine straw, to streams. Anything I ran through, my shoes got me through, providing great grip and balance. Because I’m a slight over pronator, I could probably use a tad more stability support (like Brooks’ Adrenaline trail shoes with Gortex), but I love the light weight feeling of the Pure Grits. And the fact that I was color coordinated in my hot yellow top didn’t hurt. My shoes were completely muddy by the end of the race, but it wasn’t anything that a rinse in the bathtub back at our hotel couldn’t fix.

4. The aid stations were awesome. Although I didn’t partake in any of the goodies, there were all sorts of amazing treats at the 3 aid stations along the 20K course, such as MnM’s, Oreo’s, Goldfish, gummy bears. See #8 and stop me now.

3. I pooped in the woods. Actually, I went diarrhea in the woods at mile 4.4. Yes, I’m gross. But yes, it was necessary to get me to the finish line. I normally have a strong stomach, but on Saturday, my stomach started hurting during the second or third mile. I knew I wasn’t going to make it. I also knew there were no porta potties on the 20K course. Luckily, I packed some first aid supplies in my Nathan Hydration hand-held water bottle pouch, including 2 Wet Wipes. Thank. God. For. Those. Wet. Wipes. Enough said.

2. The course. The 20K course was great. Although there were some rolling hills, it wasn’t anything that you couldn’t power through, and the course was extremely well marked. I never felt for a single instant that we would get lost.

1. I finished – accomplishing one of my 8 race goals for 2013. I was the 7^th female to finish the 20K, and was 28^th out of 65 total runners with a time of 2:13:19.

Have you ever run a trail race? What was the most challenging part? Have you ever popped a squat during a race like I did? Eek!