If cleanliness really is next to godliness, then it’s safe to say Midway saw its fair share of sinners this weekend.
Nearly 5,000 people ran the first ever, and now annual, Dirty Dash 10K at Soldier Hollow on Saturday. But calling this race a mud run is sort of like calling the Pacific Ocean a lovely little pond. This was a downright filth festival and participants loved every muddy minute of it. Including my team, made up of myself, Megan Briley, Liz Bynan, Laurie Macander and Ali Provines. We were the ladies of Victorious Secret and, in more ways than one, wore dirt-cheap lingerie over our running clothes. And we were certainly not alone in our game of dress up.
In the true spirit of “tutus and funny hats make everything more fun,” costumes were all but mandatory the more creative and absurd, the better. My favorites included the prisoners who ran the entire 6.2 miles shackled together, a team of Tom Cruises wearing Risky Business-esque outfits while chanting, “I like that old time rock and roll,” and my personal favorite, the Muddy Butties, who channeled their inner Kim Kardashian and wore voluptuous plastic butts over their running shorts.
“I can’t decide what hurts more. My sides from laughing so hard at everyone’s costume, or my legs from running all those hills,” Megan told me the morning after the race.
Oh, the hills. “Rolling” would be the best word to describe the course with runners tackling trails that were home to Olympic competitions in 2002. After starting the race at a near-vertical pitch (and knee deep in mud), the obstacles that soon presented themselves were downright exhausting.
First there were the hay hurdles to jump over. Then participants crawled through tubes on their bellies, climbed over slippery mud-soaked walls, jumped through tractor-sized tires, made mud angels in the Deer Creek Reservoir swamp, slid down a massive inflatable water slide, and for the filthy finale the pig sty: a muddy swamp so deep, most people had to dog paddle across it.
“It was like American Gladiators meets America’s Funniest Home Videos,” joked Megan.
But perhaps my favorite part of the race is what happens now, in the days after it. “We raised over $30,000 which will be donated to the Soldier Hollow Legacy Foundation, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the recent fire victims in Herriman,” noted John Malfatto, the race organizer. “We also collected over 2,000 pairs of muddy shoes, which we’ll hose off and send to charities in Mexico.”
That alone makes all the dirt clods still stuck in my ears worth it.
John and his team of dirty old men who helped organize the race say they are doing it again next year, and they’re even planning a 5K Dirty Dash in May. “I am overwhelmed by the success of this first-time event. It was awesome! Better than I could have hoped for,” he said.
In fact, the race idea was so popular that the morning Dirty Dash sold out in July. After procrastinating-but-hopeful participants begged, pleaded, and promised first-borns, organizers added an afternoon race to meet the demand. “I never in my wildest dreams would have thought we’d sell out one race, much less two,” John told me.
To the surprise of many, people in Utah are up for getting down and dirty. Who would have thought a state known for its purity would find such pleasure in being filthy?
I guess the word is out: Sometimes, dragging your friends through the mud is really just good, clean fun.
To learn more or register for next year’s race, visit www.thedirtydash.com
Amy Roberts is the public relations director for Park City Medical Center. In a former life she worked in TV news, both as a reporter and sports anchor. In her spare time, Amy can be found skiing, mountain biking, hiking, running, and playing soccer.