Go, you chicken fat, go away!

My wife's sister, Missy, you know, the one that likes to grab my sweaty pocket, has been getting a lot of discount coupons lately.  I think they have something to do with her husband being a veteran.  So she got a 60% off coupon for the Mudathon.  I don't know if she wanted to do this because it sounded like fun or because she got a coupon for it.  Anyway, she thought it was a 5k.  I told her, "Didn't you read the big bold letters on the website? 'This is not a 5k!  This is a 5 mile obstacle course!'"  That worried her a bit, but I told her she'd do fine, even if I had to drag her by her hair.

She had another friend join us for the run.  That made it fun, kinda like being a team, but not really. 

In this picture, Missy is #2.  Haha!  I just said Missy is #2.  Daylene is next to her folding her arms.  I think they're saying a prayer before the race.  I'm right behind them.  I'm #17.  Apparently Missy and I signed up to be timed.  There were only 22 registered runners that signed up to be timed.  We didn't mean to, but oh well.  Next to me is a cute photobomber.  It's like she's looking right at my wife's camera who was so far away from us and zoomed in.  She must have magical photobombing powers.  It looks like she's wearing a tiara, but it's a bandana that someone behind her is wearing.  Anyway, they crammed as many runners as they could into the corral and started groups running every 8 minutes.  We were in the second heat.  As we were waiting a bee flew by and started making everyone nervous.  I calmly extended my arms and clapped it to death.  Everyone was so impressed.  I told them not to worry about this obstacle course.  I had their backs.

This Mudathon had a lot more obstacles than the Mad Mud Run that I've done in previous years.  It was real fun.  There were tires to run through, giant tires to climb over, sandbags to carry, balance beams, cargo nets, monkey bars, walls, steps, and four of five mud pits.

The run was pretty easy.  We stayed at Missy's pace.  She did real good.  She only had to stop and walk for about 30 seconds a couple of times in the last mile.  I was surprised that there were only a handful of competitive runners.  We all kept encouraging each other.  Daylene was afraid of heights and one of the cargo nets was about 20 feet high.  She was scared, but we all helped each other go over each obstacle.  When we got to the monkey bars I tried swinging across but I slipped off after about two or three.  Then Missy got up there and powered her way through.  I was like, "I can't let her show me up."  So I got back up and went and did it, grabbing each bar with both hands because I couldn't skip bars.  I was glad I did it so she didn't have bragging rights.  But it did make me sore afterwards.

The hardest obstacle was the cargo net/monkey bars.  It was about 16 foot long.  In the middle there were a couple of planks that you could stop and rest at.  Well, you were kinda obligated to rest there.  You had to use the cargo net like a set of monkey bars, but the problem was that it hurts your hands.  So one girl got the bright idea to climb to the top and go over the obstacle.  Another person swung their feet up to the net and crawled upside down.  That's what I decided to do.  It was difficult, but I made it to the middle.  The rope hurt the back of my ankles, too.  Since I only had about 8 feet to go, I decided to try and jump out as far as I could and Tarzan swing the rest of the way.  When I grabbed the rope it sunk down and my feet landed in the mud pit.  Missy ended up falling off the net into the mud pit, too.

All in all, we had a fun time.  We hosed off when we were done.  I donated my shoes, tossed my socks, and then went out to eat breakfast.