The Dirty Dash is part masquerade ball, part mud wrestling event

Wanna hear something dirty? I'm talking about something downright filthy. So awful it even makes my wife shudder in disbelief. I did something last weekend that was utterly disgusting, and I'm not even ashamed of myself for doing it.

No, I'm not confessing to some deep dark secret. It's not even as bad as the latest gossip from the lives of (insert favorite Hollywood tabloid star here). I'm talking about The Dirty Dash, a 10K running event that more accurately should be called a huge masquerade ball/mud wrestling tournament where some running breaks out.

I showed up at the event, held at Soldier Hollow last Saturday, not all that pumped up to cover it, let alone run in it. Boy was I surprised at the sights I beheld. My angst quickly turned to curiosity, then excitement.

At first glance, I discovered that a majority of the participants had shown up in some form of a costume. They ranged from men in business suits to men in pink tights, or women in straw hats to women in prom dresses. It was obvious, I was a little underdressed.

At the starting line, one of the founders, John Malfatto, gave instructions regarding the course, which included bales of hay to hurdle, tunnels to crawl through, mud bogs to wallow in, walls to scale, swamps to slog past, and the world's largest slip-n-slide to bathe in. "At the finish line," he informed us, "you have to crawl, not walk, through the huge mud pit or be shamed by all your friends."

And crawl we did, up to our armpits in cold, wet mud to finish what most finishers were calling, "the funnest race" they had ever run.

I'll admit, it was fun. A blast, really. And I think my enjoyment would have been greater if I'd dragged some loved ones along with me. But I should mention, it's not all mud-covered roses. There is plenty of running involved, and at times, some pretty difficult running. Dirty it was. A Dash — well, not so much.

There were some steep hills, both up and down, and most of the participants I saw were half running, half walking and half throwing their friends in the mud. (I know that's three halves, but that's what running in the mud can do to you).

Since I didn't have a ton of time, and I needed to shoot some pictures, I ran pretty hard. I started in the second wave and soon found myself passing muddy legs from the first wave. There were all shapes and sizes, most of whom were not exactly out to get a PR.