When given the choice to stay at work chained to a desk or leave to go run through giant mud pits in the sharp chill of the morning, Master Sgt. Shannon Mehalik didn't hesitate.

Bring on the mud, she declared.

But it took some convincing for other Reservists in the 86th Aerial Port Squadron at McChord Field.

"The mud part didn't excite them," Mehalik said.

But Mehalik managed to convince her husband, Anthony, a senior master sergeant in the unit, to join in the fun. The couple has been in the same unit together for 11 years.

In all, nine Reservists from the 446th Airlift Wing braved the elements and participated in the sixth annual 5K Mud Run sponsored the by Joint Base Lewis-McChord Morale Welfare and Recreation Center May 21 at Lewis Main.

The run started with participants pounding the pavement for about a mile, and then led into the woods where the fun began.

"As soon as I hit that first mud pit, my shoe came off," Mehalik said. "But after that it was just fun."

They trekked through the mud, ran up and down hills, got sprayed with water cannons, and crawled over and under logs set up throughout the course.

"The physical fitness part wasn't really the difficult piece to it, it was more the conditions," the master sergeant said. "I think it was the coldest I've ever been."

Making the conditions more brutal was the fact organizers were constantly filling the mud pits with water from fire hoses.

If competitors just happened to be passing through the pit at the time of the filling, too bad.

"The mud pits took the most physical energy from you," said Mehalik, an Auburn resident who works for the Federal Aviation Administration at the Air Traffic Control Center in Auburn.

At one point during the run, there was a high-jump mat where many did the "leap of faith" trying to jump over the mat. Some cleared, some landed in the middle, and some bounced off and landed on their face.

Mehalik managed to stay with her husband throughout the race, and the two finished together.

"We looked like the creatures from the Black Lagoon when we crossed the finish line," she said with a laugh.

While the run was taxing and left some sore the next day, all said they had a great time.

"I want to show the unit that there is more to fitness than just push-ups, sit-ups, and running a mile and a half," said Master Sgt. Derek Abdella, the noncommissioned officer in charge of training for the 86th Aerial Port Squadron. "I did the run to have fun with my friends, at the same time staying in shape."

"People pay good money at the spa to be covered in mud and we were able to do something fun like this as an alternative form of PT," said 2nd Lt. Lori Fiorello, a public affairs officer on the 446th AW wing staff.

Mehalik is already making plans to run in the event again next year.

"Knowing all that went on, we'd still do it all over again because it was so much fun," she said.

And she'll likely do her best again to recruit more from her unit to join in the fun.

Information from an article by 446th Airlift Wing Public Affairs officer 2nd Lt. Denise Hauser was used in this story.