Get Active! Get Dirty...

So you've been a runner, you've tried the whole cycling thing, maybe even started swimming so that you could do all three and call yourself a triathlete. But where's the fun in pounding clean pavement, coasting down pristine roads, swimming in (hopefully) crystal clear waters? If you're ready to take your workouts to the next level and get good and dirty, then it might be time to try something new.

Soiled Runners

Tough Mudder Vermont 2012

When you're ready to combine running with getting good and dirty, plenty of options await you. Perhaps you want to get dirty but not covered in dirt - then you could find a local Color Run where you where white and get pelted with colored corn starch during the race so that you end up looking like a rainbow. Or if you need obstacles mixed with dirt, try a Warrior Dash, a 5K that has boot-camp style elements. Want to mix in some blood with that dirt? Take it one step further and do Tough Mudder race, where not only do you have obstacles which will likely involve you falling into cold water, running through fire, and on your hands and knees in the mud, but you get shocked by electrical wires at the very end, after jumping (and smacking yourself up against) a half pipe which is, of course, covered in water and mud.

Riding Rugged
I always assumed that if you were a cyclist and you wanted to get dirty, you picked up mountain biking. Mountain bikers, in my experience, enjoyed the dirt, liked the fly recklessly down bumpy mountainsides with their fat knobby tires, and did very little uphill riding. Well, turns out that if you want to get your skinny tires dirty, there is a sport for you too! I recently attended the Gran Prix of Gloucester, a championship cyclocross race. In cyclocross, participants ride several laps of a course featuring any number of obstacles such as sand, stairs, wooden risers, hairpin turns, muddy pits, etc - all on a road bike (or a special cyclocross bike which looks a whole lot like a road bike). Sometimes they have to dismount and un-clip their pedals, or if they're really skilled they can bunny hop up and over (jumping while still on your bike). The riding goes on for approximately 45 minutes and whoever finishes the course first wins! For local races in your area, check out the race calendar.

Gran Prix of Gloucester 2012

Gran Prix of Gloucester 2012

Love that Dirty Water
I like to at least pretend that all of the water that I swim in is clean - or at least a very safe level of unclean - so I won't focus on races you can do if you're a swimmer who wants to get dirty. However, because of the nickname, here is information on the Charles River Swim, a 1-mile race that takes place each June, assuming that the water has been deemed safe and free of toxic algae by the government...