This turned out to be one of the funnest runs I've ever done. My old high school chum Mike invited me to join his team. That was a lot of pressure because he's won the costume contest the last two years in a row. We decided on a Christmas theme, and that evolved into a Grinch theme. My wonderful wife sewed me up a Christmas present costume.
Doesn't it look good? Mike's costume was awesome. He made it out of mattress foam. He spray painted it green and was getting high off fumes all race. More to come on the costume.
Here's a picture of us as we made it to the finals in the costume contest. It was us against one guy that was dressed as a nerd. He played the role quite well. The crowd cheered for "Who" they liked the most. It was a tie. Three years in a row for Mike!
I saw a guy that looked like a teacher from my high school. I mentioned to my wife that it looked like Mr. Dykman, and she agreed. I never had him, but his daughter was two years younger than me and ran track with me. So I stalked him down and saw his daughter there. It was fun to catch up with them.
She's the 5th tutu girl from the left in the picture. Can you see her in the back? Sunglasses on? That's her. Turns out she lives real close to me in Val Vista Lakes. Small world.
When the race started it didn't take long for Mike's ornaments to start falling off. Let the ball dropping jokes begin. At least no one would get lost. He called it his trail of tears. The most mysterious thing was when we were running and saw one in front of us!
The first obstacle was the over-under hurdles. It was over then under then over then under. Over was easy. Under in a box and a Christmas tree, not so much. The next obstacle was the balance beam, tires, balance beam, tires. Keep in mind I couldn't see my feet. Good thing I have ninja-like balance. Now the sun was starting to shine. I mentioned that my costume felt like a confectionery oven. But I knew Mike must be twice as hot in his get-up.
The third obstacle was the wall climb, a 6 foot wall at about a 80 degree angle. The first thing I did when I arrived was give some lady a boost. Then Mike gave me a boost and his niece, the Grinch. He was able to impressively hop over unassisted. Cindy Lou Who and the Ornament were a little ahead of us, but they waited here, and we basically ran the rest together. The fourth obstacle was the low crawl. Down we went under the ropes. Somebody behind Mike thanked him for wearing something underneath his costume.
The fifth obstacle was another wall, this time with a cargo net. Luckily I only needed two steps to scale it because I couldn't see my feet. It was like I was fat again. The next obstacle was the hay bales. They were stacked so you stepped up twice and down twice. Not too bad. I just had to trust my instincts. Finally we approached the finish line. We had to climb through a 3 foot diameter, 10 foot long pipe, then one more hay bale pile, then to the mud pit.
As we stood on the bank getting ready to take the plunge, Mike pushed all of us in.
Oh, guess what. I can't see underneath me. I feel a body underneath me. I'm sure it's the Grinch. Am I on top of her head? Am I smothering her in a bog of disease ridden mud? I don't know.
Okay, she's fine. But holy cold! My wife said everybody was hanging out to see the tree go through the mud. They got to see a little more than they bargained. That mattress soaked up the mud and water like a sponge. It quickly became 100 lbs. of dead weight, and there was no way he could keep it on him. Somehow he managed to drag the remnants of his sad tree with him and used it to cover his, well, branches?
And then we were done! A very fun time.
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