Mudslingers It Is

It's official: We are the Mudslingers. Our Muddy Buddy team received tons of great name suggestions, but in the end it was Lisa's name that stuck. Thanks to everyone who wrote in! We will be slinging mud with the best of them on Saturday, May 10, so stay tuned for more updates about the race.

It hit me this weekend: In a mere 40 days, I will be crawling through a grimy pit in Orlando with my buddy and Her Sports Editor Kristin, after tackling a 6-mile run/bike and some kind of mystery obstacle course. Yikes!

So I did what any self-respecting mudslinger would do: I went online and tried to find out what I was in for. Turns out, there are a lot of stories, like this New York Times article about the sheer dirt appeal of this event and the bizarre costumes, ranging from superheroes to frogs.

What I didn't find much about was what to expect from the course. I'm wondering: What is the obstacle course like? Are we talking Marine boot camp or just navigating a few jungle gyms? How many swaps (from run to bike or vice versa) can we expect to make? Anyone out there who would care to share some tips or stories?

On another note, my countdown to Muddy Buddy also made me realize I needed to step up my training and find some unpaved trails to ride, which is no easy feat in Tampa where most bikers are of the road-cycling variety. But the Mud Gods were smiling on me last weekend. My husband and I found a great network of trails not too far from home. Wilderness Park in Tampa offers fun, shaded biking trails. They're mostly single-track and can get fast in places (at least for this girl). Routes are not too technical, but scattered tree roots and stumps kept my adrenaline flowing. The trailheads can be a little hard to find, as Wilderness Park is a network of six area parks. Check out this map of the parks, and be sure to visit outdoortravels.com the next time you are looking for a bike trail, or any other outdoor pursuit. This helpful site contains only first-person accounts and even offers actual photos of the trails.

We look forward to hearing tips and stories from fellow mudslingers. Until then, happy trails.

—Jeana Durst