Mud Runner for Life

Remember this?

Well, unless you were there, or if you know any of these ladies, you probably don't because I was being a lame sauce and didn't post it. Luckily for me, Andrea got pictures somehow and I snagged them off of her site. (Thanks!) We did a 5K in December here in Rancho. It was raining, as you may have guessed, but we were running on concrete.

Note the contrast.

This is from the SBSD Mud Run this weekend with some women from our ward (we missed you, Andrea!). We had a couple young women, a few women around my age, and a few ladies who have kids that are about to graduate from high school. ALL of them were awesome and abolutely a BLAST to run with! This picture shows why we don't want to leave California (well, we do to be closer to family, but we don't--very bittersweet). It's not the mud (because that's fake and created with a firehose and a backhoe anyway), but being muddy with friends. (Aw, isn't that so senitmental?) :)

It sounds cheesy. So sue me.

No, don't. Don't sue me.

But understand that I mean it! Leaving the people we have met here is the hardest thing about moving.

BEFORE

AFTER

At the beginning of the race, the firemen sprayed everyone at the start line. It is amazing how drenched we got when we were only getting a few drops of all that water (relatively speaking)! They had the crane hoist up a huge American flag when the national anthem was being sung. Pretty cool. And they had a flyover of two helicopter SWAT teams.

There were two or three places like this in the race. Look at the guy in the black shirt. See how hard he's struggling? Totally fo' real. :) That was some thick mud! They had people on the side sometimes to help you out, but it was easy to get kind of freaked out because you got stuck so easily. Craziness!

Also, click THIS and THIS to see some of the other obstacles. This course was WAY more physically demanding than I anticipated--but what a BLAST!

I'm pretty sure these ladies would agree. Just look at them. Aren't they awesome? Can't you just tell by looking at them? They even have a wonderful aura about them when they're covered in mud. Love it. Love them. :)

My race partner, Dani! She was a trooper. She was asked to fill in for someone the night before and she did, but she didn't have her running shoes, just Keds. Well, those were off once we went through the first pits, pretty much, so she did most of the race barefoot.

So, long story short, I thought this was one of the funnest things I've ever done!

Mud Runner for Life!

And thanks to my good friend from work Heather and her husband Mike, Michael actually got to take a study break for a couple hours and go out to lunch, so I think it was a nice day for him, too. :)