It had been drizzling all night and was still drizzling on race morning. During the course of the first lap I discovered that I had no idea how to run in mud. I kept running alongside the trail in the grass trying to prevent mud from building up but all I was really doing was alternately adding some mud and then some grass to the bottom of my shoes making huge adobe bricks. I noticed that the people who started passing me ran straight down the trail right in the mud so I did my best to scrape the bricks off my feet and did the same. I discovered that as soon as the mud became heavy, since there wasn't any grass to bind it together, it just fell off my shoes. However, I had already pretty much blown out my legs from trying to run fast with huge bricks on my feet so I started to slow considerably and then I stopped enjoying myself. I finally decided this was BS and that I was here to have a good time so after I ease way up and then at the end of my second lap I sat around at the start-finish area to wait for my wife to come through so I could run the last lap with her. We ended up having a great time.

I didn't know it at the beginning of the race but apparently next time I do a trail run in the mud and rain I won't try and avoid the mud, I'll avoid the grass instead.