Hey everyone! It’s Monday and like most of you, I am trying to get back into the swing of the weekdays over here.
This weekend was filled with rest and packed with fun! For the last few months, I have had an exciting event circled in my calendar, and Sunday was the day Scott and I finally got back into racing!
Well… kind of racing.
This one was a 5K, and was more about the obstacles and less about a finishing time. Without the pressure of getting a new PR, Scott and I had a complete blast getting dirty, crawling through foamy obstacles and slip ‘n sliding our way to the finish line!
Pre-Race
I am always interested in reading about what people wear, eat, and do the night before and morning of a race day. If I am the slightest bit intrigued, that might mean some of you might be too… so here’s my routine!
Scott and I entered this race as a team, so we figured out matching outfits earlier in the week. Regardless of what we were going to wear, it was most likely going to get ruined, so we went with some cost-effective basics.
Tank Top: Old Navy
Shorts + Sports Bra: Five Below
Old Running Shoes: Under Armour (3 years ago!)
Bandanas: Michael’s
We named ourselves the Horse Powered Hotties, and coordinated it with Pistons colors. It only seemed fitting!
As with any kind of race, I wanted our meal the night before to be substantial and a good mix of carbohydrates and protein. Turkey Sausage Skinny Pasta Pizzaiola (minus the peppers and onions) did the trick! I love making different variations of this recipe because it is so unbelievably easy to do.
Start out with any kind of marinara sauce (I went with Newman’s Own Sockarooni Pasta Sauce), then add in your meat (I used Jennie-O Lean Ground Turkey), veggies (only mushrooms this time), and spices of choice! This time I grabbed the standards: oregano, red pepper flakes, and a little garlic salt. I know… not the best option, but so good.
I made enough to have leftovers (would probably serve 4) and served it over whole wheat linguini.
Protein + pasta = Pre-race Protein Pasta. BAM.
Race Day: Foam Fest 5K
With a 9 a.m. heat time, I had a 7 a.m. wake up call and knew that would be plenty of time to eat a normal breakfast and drink my normal coffee with the same protein/healthy carbohydrate mix in mind. I didn’t snap any photos of it, but enjoyed a serving of overnight oats using Low-Fat Strawberry-Banana Chobani Yogurt.
We planned to meet at our house and drive over to the park as a team, and we were all bummed to find out one of our team members wasn’t going to make it. She came down with some version of the flu, which isn’t exactly the best condition to race in. Boo.
That just left the three of us: me, Scott and our friend Stephanie.
Bare team or not, we still “powered” on and walked towards the starting line with plenty of time to spare. Welcome to the Foam Fest 5K!
This is a foam and mud run with handful of obstacles throughout a 5K (3.1 mile) course. None of our team members had previously run this type of race before, so we were excited to get down and dirty foamy to see what it is all about!
We signed up for one of the first heat times, which turned out to be a great idea. With races that involve obstacles, I learned that the earlier start time the better, in order to avoid having to wait in lines.
Ready to run, we couldn’t help but get a pre-race photo in the foam at the starting line. It’s like it the bubbles were calling to us!
Which, in turn, left us foamy and muddy before the race even started.
At 9 a.m. on the dot, everyone in our heat set off at the sound of an air horn. We ran about a half a mile before hitting our first obstacle, which was running through a slippery foam pit. Just around the corner was our second obstacle of climbing a mud pile.
About half way through was the biggest obstacle: the Death Drop Slide. Climbing up and sliding down 40-feet is definitely a first for me. I have always been afraid of the tall water slides at water parks, and whether I liked it or not, it was time for me to face that fear.
I knew the faster I got up and slid down, the sooner it would be over with, so raced up and did so as quick as possible. Before long, we hit a slip ‘n slide which was foamy and not as easy as it looks! The three of us actually got scraped up a bit.
The very last obstacle was the Electric Mud Crawl… except it was in dirt. I actually would have preferred mud over dirt. As soon as I started army crawling, the bun in my hair got caught in the wire and I was shocked! It was very minimal, but I for sure felt a little something. As I made my way to the end, my bun got caught a few more times, which made that one my least favorite. Next time I will remember to duck and drop it extra low! 😉
In a nutshell, here is what running a mud + foam race looks like.
Crossing the finish line gave us the same runners high both Scott and I got after finishing our first half marathon. We did it, and it wasn’t half as difficult as we thought it would be.
We spent the next few minutes acting like idiots and took advantage of being muddy for photo opps.
Feels good to do every once in a while!
Post-Race
After some photos, we cleaned off in the facility’s showers and got changed to head home. One of the biggest tips I can give you for any kind of dirty/foamy/muddy race is to bring a complete change of clothes. Head to toe! Bring face wipes, a plastic bag to put everything wet in, and don’t forget to pack a towel.
On our drive back to the house, Scott and I ran into a few stores and took care of some Sunday errands. We weren’t completely starving, or helpless like we usually are after long distance races.
When we did make it home, I made us both the same lunch:
Cajun Turkey sandwiches with shredded cheese, avocado, tomatoes and Morton’s Nature’s Seasons on whole wheat bread. (Scott also got some mayo!)
I sided it with a generous helping of low-fat cottage cheese and a dill pickle.
We spent the rest of the afternoon doing projects around the house, then caught a matinee showing of The Internship. It was funny, but nothing to hurry up and rush to a theater for.
Now back to a busy week! Taking part in this race got us excited for our next one coming up just next month. Remember, you can still get $10 OFF any Drenched 5K entry using my promo code!
Have a great rest of your day!
Question of the Day
• Have you ever done a water, mud, or foam run? Which one is your favorite?

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