5,500 compete in an obstacle run with a muddy finish

Not a drop of rain has fallen from the sky in many days.

But, as poet e.e.cummings might say, the world was mud-luscious in Fairmount Park on Sunday morning.

More than 5,500 competitors ran, crawled, climbed and slithered their way through something cummings never experienced but might have enjoyed: the "Merrell Down & Dirty Mud Run."

They navigated an obstacle course - 5 or 10 kilometers for the adults, a mile or 100 yards for kids - that ended with a 20-yard, military-style crawl through a mucky mix of sifted topsoil and 12,000 gallons of water.

The event was part competition, part fun, with proceeds going to Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit that sends care packages to the nation's service men and women.

With the mud bath as a grand finale, racers crossed the finish line looking like they'd just been dipped in a vat of milk-chocolate fondue.

"This mud is actually refreshing," said Alan Mui, 27, a pharmacist from Philadelphia who competed with a miniature video camera strapped to his forehead "to show everyone that I did something crazy."

For many seasoned road runners who already have progressed from 5Ks to triathlons, this was a new frontier.

Running across fields and through woods, they faced anywhere from six to nine obstacles, including a ladder wall, tunnel, hurdles and waist-high pit of water.

"I do a lot of races. This is just to have fun and to push yourself on the obstacles," said Shannon Gaffin, 39, of Newtown, Bucks County, who ran the 10K event and brought her daughter and son for the kids' races. "The mud is an extra bonus."

The Down & Dirty Mud Run is one of a national series of races in nine cities this summer. So far, said Michael Epstein, executive producer of the event for the Merrill footwear company, Philadelphia's has attracted the biggest crowd.

A curious fact about the mud run series: 65 percent of the competitors are women.

"We're trying to figure that out," Epstein said. "We've struck a nerve. It's a unique way for women to get together and challenge themselves."

So, Deanna Reczek, what's going on?

With mud caked in her ears and only the whites of her eyes showing, Reczek, 49, of Downingtown, waited to get her face hosed off. She was with her daughter, Hannah, 19, and two other friends.

"Girls just like to have fun," said Reczek, a mother of three who works in the underwriting department of XL Environmental. "It's an inexpensive spa treatment, a good workout - plus you get a free cheeseburger at the end."

Juliette Cumberbatch, 45, traveled down from Brooklyn to run the 10K race with her friend, Cherie Williams, 38, of Wilmington.

Running buddies who have competed in the 10-mile Broad Street Run, they saw this as a new challenge. "We do it to keep fit and to keep our friendship going," Cumberbatch said.

Added Williams, a special education teacher with a 5-year-old daughter: "Being a working mother and a wife, this is just mine, something I do with no interference."

For kids, the race was an excuse to plunge face-first into the mud with mom and dad cheering you on, camera at the ready.

"I was almost going to sink, but I held my breath," said Layla Cujdik, 4, emerging from the mud crawl, holding the hand of her mother, Gwenn Cujdik.

Layla's blond hair was smeared with goop. Did her mother usually let her get this muddy? "Noooo," Layla giggled. "She'd tell me to take a bath."

Cujdik, 33, of Philadelphia, who ran the 10K earlier in the day and usually competes in triathlons, said the event was a family outing. Her sister and niece also took part in the races. Her mother came along to cheer.

Cujdik thinks women get a sense of empowerment from competitions like this.

Before heading into a human "car wash" (sponsored by Subaru) by the finish line with Layla, she added: "Besides, when can you even get this muddy?"