Running through the mud

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Joshua Edwards
  • 17th Training Wing Public Affairs
Fifteen soldiers came out to challenge the 344th Military Intelligence Battalion’s mud run course, and each other, at the Camp Sentinel training area July 7.

This batch of soldiers chose to show up at the course and race for the best time.

“I wanted to come out and compete, and I thought it’d be fun,” said Pfc. Breanna Dagen, 344th MI BN trainee. “This was my first ever mud run.”

Sgt. 1st Class Miguel Nieves, 344th MI BN instructor, designed the 2.2 mile course with several obstacles including barrier jumps, a dirt hill climb and a low crawl through mud.

“The main purpose is to have fun outdoors, get wet, get refreshed and boost some morale out here,” said Nieves. “Having fun and getting dirty at the same time, is always a good time.”

Nieves said he got the idea for the course while at a Spartan Race with his daughter.

“All the Spartan Races have mud and water and all that stuff,” he said. “That Spartan Race didn’t have any mud. It was really dry and it was hot. You can’t have a course that is long and hot at the same time. My thing was, I have the field out here and I have the water. Why not do some obstacles in between where you can refresh and reboot and continue going.”

The course was only available to soldiers this time around, but the 344th MI BN plans to open the course to a larger audience at a later time.

“Our intent is to open it up and do a base-wide event,” said Nieves. “We are thinking in the near future to do an event where it is going to be 3 to 5 miles with 15 to 20 obstacles. We are going to open it to anyone who has a military ID and they will be more than welcome to participate.

“I’m looking forward to the next one. I want to make it bigger and better.”

Dagen, who was the only female to compete at the event, said she agrees with Nieves.

“It was a lot of fun and I wished there had been more obstacles,” said Dagen.