It’s one thing to go for a 4-mile run; it’s another thing to run four miles while intermittently climbing walls, descending giant slip-and-slides, wading through mucky creek water and crawling through mud.

Lucky for you, the rare opportunity to do all those wacky things mentioned above in Buffalo is once again upon us. The Finn McCool 4-Mile Odyssey returns to Cazenovia Park on Sept. 8, the same day as the South Buffalo Irish Feis and Expo.

The race begins at 9:30 a.m., with a kids run at 9 a.m. Participants can celebrate completing the challenging race with pizza, beer (no, the kids can’t partake) and a fire hose shower. Also, you get a cool free shirt out of the deal.

Registration is $60 per runner (with some exceptions), and awards will be presented to the top three finishers in each age group in both male and female categories.

The race supports a whole slew of organizations, including Special Olympics, Bishop Timon St. Jude High School, Orchard Park Recreation Department, Village of Wilson, East Aurora Cross Country Team, FISH of East Aurora, Buffalo Underwater Recovery Team and the Patrick Kaleta Foundation.

If the idea of sloshing through Caz Creek doesn’t sound appealing enough, maybe you should see how much fun Ben K. had when he ran the race last year. He’ll be representing Buffalo.com again this year.

Or live vicariously through this runner, who completed the course with a camera strapped to his head:

Photo courtesy of Youtube.