VALLEY CENTER, Calif. — Dogs love to run in the mud and deep down I'd be willing to bet you do too. I am always up for a challenge so I decided to preview California's first dog and owner obstacle mud run at Bates Nut Farm in Valley Center.
I went with my 10-month old puppy Raleigh and he must have thought I was nuts because he wasn't about to dirty his paws. He ran around the first mud pit. Next up, we found ourselves scaling the hay bale pyramids.
"You got it, good boy. Good job let's go. Yeah," I yelled. Raleigh was starting to get the hang of things when we hit the Labradoodle Loopy doos. "Come on buddy," I yelled.
The organizers of this event, Paul Cofield and Lan Lan Chen, were strangers until their dogs befriended one another at a park. "That's Zeus and Zeddy, it's the Z's, we are Z Dog Events. It's all about the Z's today," they said. Fitting because we were in the Zevely Zone. Inspired by their love for dogs, Paul and Lan Lan spent the past two years organizing the Rad Dogs Mud Run. "We just wanted to put on an event that would allow people to be outside to socialize with other dog lovers," said Paul.
And get muddy of course, throughout 20 obstacles in all in a 5k filled with fun. "Get down low. Raleigh let's mud crawl!" I yelled.
Then Paul told me, "You didn't have to crawl through that one you could have just run." That was information I could have used earlier...
Through a tunnel of trees, we sprinted toward the finish line. We were a muddy mess and I started to wonder, what will they do with all of these dirty dogs?
"That's it? Where's all the mud? Let's get you cleaned up," said the crew from Dr. Bronner's Magic Foam Experience.
I should have known they would be waiting with warm water and lots of soap to clean up the mess and what I can only describe as Nut Farm Nirvana. After all, every dog has his day.
As Raleigh and I were doused in foam I realized that there were dogs, it was muddy and it was rad. The name definitely is a perfect fit for this event.
The Rad Dogs Mud Run takes place Saturday morning, February 8th at the Bates Nut Farm. The event will help raise money for six non-profit animal organizations. For more information or to register, go to https://raddogsmudrun.com/