Muddy Madness, Pre-Race

What have I gotten the girls into?

When I went to pick up the race bibs and goody bags for the SBSD Mud Run on Friday afternoon, this thought was prevalent in my mind. At first anyway.

I pulled off the freeway and swung a left onto a road headed out of civilization. The SBSD Mud Run is just north of San Bernardino, on the outskirts of the IE (Inland Empire). It's about a half-hour from Victorville, on the way to Las Vegas. Pretty much the edge of nowhere.

Desolate. Barren. Isolated.

Well, I should temper that with mostly.

SBSD stands for San Bernardino Sheriff's Department, and the race is on their training grounds.

First, though, I came across a rehabilitation center. Not sure what kind of rehabilitating they do, but I'm guessing it's not injuries or anything medical. Then I came upon a women's correctional facility, and just so I could get an idea that this was indeed the real deal, a group of orange-clad women were out in the yard, behind several chain-link fences, just a tad off the road.

Finally, I came up to where race central was - parking, the start line and the registration tables.

On Saturday, this area will be teeming with runners - and mud.

I parked and the first thing I heard were cracks. It sounded like gunshots. Actually, it didn't sound like gunshots. They were gunshots.

On left: a shooting range; On right: bib pick-up and registration

I heard some loud voice over a speaker blaring instructions and then a series of crack crack crack crack piercing the air.

I got our bibs and goody bags and t-shirts and started to head back to my truck. I was excited as we got consecutive numbers: Kennedy is 622, I'm 623 and Yvie is 624. Awesome.

But then I realized that I'd meant to check out the youth course. I asked around and was pointed to the course itself.

So what it looks like is the girls will have scale those mounds and then the cement barrier on top. There looks like four sets of mounds, which for the girls might be muddy hills. They can go around the barriers on top, I was told, so if they can't do that part, they'll still be okay.

Of course, it's not going to be this dry come race time. No way. There's going to be plenty of water and mud everywhere.

As for the main race, the start line is off in the distance.

Notice the "Gun Cleaning Room" and the silhouettes of the SWAT team?

If the course is anything as hard core as the location, this is going to be a helluva race.

What did I get the girls into? Well, that thought dissipated fairly quickly. They are going to have fun and they are going to take this challenge. The best part of this for them is that they will be able to say they ran their first Mud Run when they were six and four, respectively. How cool will it be for Kennedy to say that she ran her first Mud Run before she was even in kindergarten?

They might like ponies and unicorns and butterflies but my girls have a tough side to them. And they're going to show that on Saturday.