MS Portland Mud Run

View of the area.  

The MS Society does a great job of advocating for those with MS.  I take advantage of their services so I like to give back whenever I can.  The MS Mud Run is a new fundraising event in the Portland area.  Participants raise money to run on a muddy obstacle course.  Since it was not wise of me to participate in the mud run (lack of stamina and poor balance after my most recent relapse) I decided to at least volunteer.  Sure I raise money for the walk, but I needed to see what the Mud Run was all about.  When I signed up I mentioned that I was at the end of a relapse and although being a course monitor sounded like loads of fun, I said an easier assignment would be best.  Being the MS Society, they completely understood and they assigned me to the Information Booth.  HA!  They gave the Info Booth job to someone who can barely remember her name and gets distracted by shiny things very easily.

Mud Runners lining up.

It was a dreary day in Oregon.  Ok, a lot of days are dreary here in Oregon, but I was hoping for a little bit of sun.  I don’t know when I’ll stop hoping for sun.  I suppose the rain didn’t really hurt considering it was a MUD run.  As someone who was just standing around, the rain was not fun.  It was cold.  There were quite a few people there to run in the mud and they didn’t seem to worry about the rain as they were there to get dirty.  There were those who were just doing it for fun and those who were there to compete.  The morning was designated for the fun runners and there were 5 flights and each flight was full.  I really enjoyed seeing people dress up for the event.  There were a lot of people wearing tutus, women AND men.  I suppose people just like wearing tutus when they play in the mud.  When I was a child, I believed tutus to be appropriate attire for any occasion.  It was great to see so many people playing in the mud for a good cause.  I really enjoyed seeing the runners return COVERED in mud.  The pretty tutus were dripping with the disgusting muck! 

I didn’t stick around for the competitive series.  I was wet, cold and tired.  I’m sure a lot of the participants were feeling the same way.  Of course they were probably wetter, colder and more tired than I.  They were definitely muddier. 

I plan on crossing this finish line some day.  

I would like to do it next year.  I will not be in the competitive flights as the only reward will be finishing the course.  I don’t care who I beat, if anyone.  My priorities in life certainly have changed sense being diagnosed.  Just finishing a race means more than defeating competitors.  There will also be free beer at the end of the Mud Run.  It was Ninkasi Spring Reign too.  I will use beer as a motivator next year. I'll use beer for all kinds of motivation though.  

Mmmmm Spring Reign!