Mud, mud and more mud at Camp Pendleton as civilians run the course.

 

It was a Saturday morning of strenuous exercise, costumes and, most of all, mud, lots of mud, at the annual World Famous Mud Run at Camp Pendleton.

For the thousands of civilians in attendance, it was a chance to tackle a 10K obstacle course on the base, as Marines watched and cheered them on.

The Marines are the ultimate tough guys, said Brooke Pizzo, 32, a stay-at-home mother of two from Las Vegas. “Now I can say I’m one, too, at least for a day.”

There were teams aplenty. Among them models from the Wet & Messy website;  three friends from Orange County wearing wrestling masks;  a group of serving personnel  from a  San Diego restaurant in  “Wizard of Oz” costumes; and Team Fishel, employees from an underground utility construction company.

Melody Casillas, 29, a software company employee from Los Gatos in Northern California, finished ahead of  her husband, Army  Sgt. 1st-class Jose Casillas, 31, a Green Beret stationed at Fort Bragg,  N.C.

“We’re very competitive,” she said at the finish line, panting and shaking her muddy arms. “He’s better than me in the water though.”

Participants were offered a spray-down before they departed the base. Some declined.

“I like it,” Pizzo said of the mud caking her legs, torso and face. “I think I’ll stay like this for awhile.”

-- Tony Perry, at Camp Pendleton

Photo: (left to right) Justin Young, 27, of Lake Forest; Mark Cipolla, 27, of Lake Forest; and Natasha Ohta, 24, of Anaheim, in Misterio Rey Jr. masks purchased in Ensenada. Credit: Tony Perry / Los Angeles Times