Sixteen: Dirty

Today was the 'Caveman Crawl' mud run that Brandon, Mica and I ran together. It made Brandon happy for me to run with him. It made me happy that Mica agreed to run with me. Win win all around.  The day was a blast. I laughed so hard so many times throughout the day with Mica. Don't get me wrong, it was HARD. We had times of serious struggle...there were many more hills and mucho more water than we were expecting. During the race, laughing, wanting to cry, almost puking at times...I decided that I wasn't even going to try to compete with Mica's blogging abilities. There are so many stories, so many funny things from the day...and if you want to read her blog, click here (be warned, it get's a little 'dirty')

Hopefully we will get some fun, dirty pictures of us from the race back from the 'professional' photographers...because apparently these pics aren't 'dirty' enough (trust me, we were thick with mud at times, but had to do so much swimming, it was rinsed off regularly)....but for now, here are our pics from the day. 

And just to add an additional little fun, let me introduce you to today's 'guest blogger':

I feel it is only fair that after reading Mica's blog someone needed to tell "the real story".  Although Mica is an accountant I often wonder if she is a secret card carrying member of a sales organization somewhere.  You know the type; they start with something true and then twist it around until it fits their own personal reality forgetting all the "little people" along the way (or maybe that's just me)....I digress.

So here it is, the real story, mothers cover your children's eyes, THIS COULD GET MUDDY!

The real challenge started many moons ago on a warm early spring day.  I began the arduous task of selling Kellie on the idea of a mud run.  As most of you know this is not an easy task.  Kellie can be as stubborn as her dad's mule but I was determined to close this deal.  

I caught my big break in late May with the help of fellow sales person Mica.  She offered to lay her life on the line for a friend and signed up.  Such a hero.  Now for those of you that didn't read comic books growing up I will fill you in.  Most of the heros I knew had a cape and spandex and so it was only fair that I talk "hero Mica" into dawning appropriate attire for the role.  I knew that this was all but necessary if Brandon's world were to be saved post race.  

Fast forward to race day:  

We arrived at the battle grounds with time to spare. This left for just enough time to do a little CYA and mention anything that I might have (absolutely 100% honest truth) left out by mistake. ;)  Here is the short list I failed to previously mention:

• This is a 5k if it were flat but probably more like a 7K after the hills
• Enough water obstacles to drown Michael Phelps
• Rattle Snakes
• Vertical hill climbs with loose gravel
• Skunks
• Shoe steeling mud pits
• Bees
• Ice Cold water holes
• and an extremely dangerous pair of 33 year old Pumas

Here we go, the race begins with Kellie shoving me to the ground yelling "O'Doyle Rules" and sprinting ahead approximately .05 miles ahead.  Fortunately I was able to catch and pass Kellie and her sidekick spandex girl.  The race was a bit of a challenge covering 40 plus obstacles with water everywhere.  The recent rains had turned every non-water obstacle into a muddy mess and the entire course into a giant slip and slide.  I kept my speed up often hearing the distance sound of thunder (Kellie and Mica throwing mud and yelling profanity at anyone that resembled me).  Needless to say the race was a complete success.  We all had a great time and finished with a smile on our face, some because it was over and other because we had accomplished something special.  

I can officially say that even after that race the wedding is still on and in fact we might even have time for one or two more races before then... Who's in??