Press/Media

Dirty Kicks

By Christian Davenport
Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, July 14, 2006;

Page WE26

Kathy Zeiler is a serious person -- ambitious, successful, with a curriculum vitae four pages long that boasts a PhD in economics, a law degree, two master's (social sciences and taxation) and a bachelor's in business.

So what in the world was the 37-year-old Georgetown University law professor doing diving face first into a mud pit and crawling on her hands and knees until she was covered in a thick film of sloppy, sticky muck?

The short answer is she was loving it.

Yes, it was, as she said, "disgusting." But there's bad disgusting and there's good disgusting, and this was clearly the good kind -- the sort that allowed her to shed her professional persona and left her reveling in grime after completing the Muddy Buddy race in a state forest outside Boston last month.

Grime, in all its disgusting degrees, is what the Muddy Buddy, a six-mile mountain bike and trail-running race, is all about. On Sunday the eight-race series comes to Pocahontas State Park outside Richmond, where 1,600 people are expected to participate.

One of a number of outdoor adventure-type races popping up across the country, the event -- part competition, part carnival -- has become increasingly popular with people tired of workouts confined to the treadmill and traditional road races. Muddy Buddy is an escape from ordinary duathlons but also the workaday world, adulthood and stress, said Bob Babbitt, who helped found the event seven years ago. It's mud therapy, he said, a primal and cathartic retreat that can be found only by crawling through a dirt and water bisque.

"No one is going to the Olympics in Muddy Buddy," Babbitt said. "The whole idea is run three miles, ride three miles, have a great time. . . . How often do you have a chance to just act like a kid again?"

This year, about 12,000 people will participate in Muddy Buddy events in eight cities across the country. As such races go, the Muddy Buddy is relatively easy. There's even a Mini Muddy Buddy for kids that features a truncated version of the course where they run through a few obstacles -- tires, a balance beam and a small wall -- and then splash in the mud pit as well.

In the adult version, teams of two -- many of which are coed -- run and mountain-bike. Teammates trade off about every mile or so, when they reach a boot-camp-like obstacle: rope ladders, monkey bars, a wall. The last challenge is the mud pit, a 60-by-60-foot man-made trench filled with about 60 tons of soil, devoid of rocks, glass or twigs that could injure racers, and 6,000 gallons of water, according to race director Michael Epstein. About a dozen racers crawl through the pit at a time, often to raucous applause, before they hit the final sprint through more knee-deep muck. It takes most teams no more than an hour to finish the race. And then there's a keg party.

Winners are awarded medals. But most participants, many of whom are cloaked in costume, are more interested in having a good time than posting one.

If you want something a bit more serious, there are plenty of off-road events in the area. The Nissan Xterra USA Championship Series is sponsoring a grueling off-road triathlon in Charlottesville next month. EX2 Adventures is also sponsoring several outdoor adventure events in the area, including a race called VentureQuest in September that takes five to nine hours to complete.

Participants don't learn the details of the VentureQuest course -- which is composed of a series of checkpoints they have to find in Fountainhead Regional Park in Fairfax Station -- until shortly before the race. They could be called on to paddle, bike, run or even traverse a gully while strapped into a climbing rope.

"It appeals to people who want to try something new," said VentureQuest race director Jim Harman. "Marathons have been around for a long time. Triathlons have been around for a long time. This is sort of the next big thing, and people want to give it a go."

In Muddy Buddy, no compasses are required. And though the race is somewhat strenuous, most people in decent shape shouldn't have a problem finishing. But many of the athletes seem more intent on outdoing each other with ridiculous get-ups than beating each other on the course.

At the Boston race, one guy competed in a grass skirt, and another competitor wore a gaudy Hawaiian shirt and a clashing red tie. One team fastened pink flamingos to their bike helmets; another took turns racing with a rubber chicken strapped to members' backs. There was Batman and Robin and a team in sombreros, ponchos and fake mustaches. A portly racer wore a T-shirt that stretched over his ample belly. "Powered by Burritos," it read.

When he attends a Muddy Buddy race, Babbitt said, he sometimes dresses as a frog, which is part of the group's logo.

Why?

"Why not?"

In real life, Joe Coyne, 27, of Washington, who made the trip to Boston, works as a psychologist for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Southwest Washington. But at the Muddy Buddy race, he morphed into an expert in all things mud. Having competed in several of the events, he has acquired a bit of expertise, which he imparted to his girlfriend and racing partner, Kate Caddick, 23, also of the District.

The mud pit is only about 1 1/2 feet deep, he was telling Caddick, who was about to participate in her first Muddy Buddy.

"That's pretty deep if you're laying down in it," said Caddick, looking surprised.

The key, Coyne said, was to keep your mouth closed because "you're going to get covered."

"Good, it'll be like a facial," she said.

And it was: a full-body facial.

About an hour later, after she and Coyne had completed the course, she was barely recognizable. With rain-slicked mud covering almost every inch of her body so that her red nail polish was barely visible, she proclaimed: "I've never felt so refreshed."

Ali Brewer, 30, of Springfield, Mass., who crossed the finish line a few moments later, had gotten so muddy it covered her eyes. As she trudged toward the finish line in knee-deep mud, she yelled: "I can't see! I can't see!"

"The mud," she said, "sucks you in." Several racers lost their shoes in the muck. But Brewer had managed to keep hers. "You can't see where the deep spots are," she said.

She stopped talking for a moment and wiped her teeth with her finger. "I have mud in my mouth," she said. "I'm chewing it."

After the race, Zeiler was a far cry from her normal, well-scrubbed self. Her shoes were filled with mud. Gook was in her hair, her eyes, her ears. Even some of her teeth were covered.

"This is not for the faint of heart," she said.

She hit the showers -- a series of hoses event organizers had put out for racers. She rinsed for several minutes, dousing every part of her body.

She sprayed and sprayed and finally put the hose down. But no matter how hard she scrubbed, there were still several hunks of mud stubbornly clinging to her.

"This is really disgusting," she said with a smile.

MUDDY BUDDY Sunday; race starts at 8:30. Pocahontas State Park, 10301 State Park Rd., Chesterfield, Va. 818-707-8867. E-mail muddybuddy@mesp.com. http://www.muddybuddy.com.

Christian Davenport is a reporter on The Post's Metro staff.

 

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