i'm up a little early so thought i'd blog...
mary gave a fun recap of the muddy buddy, so i'll try not to repeat too much...

kelly and spivey and matt came to cheer us on and support us, which was so nice!
just a little background. the race was held at joseph grant state park in san jose, which was beautifully surrounded by and in the mountains. it was for sure the most beautiful course in which i have competed. so the entire race was completed on a wide dirt trail (wide enough for a car to get through). runners on the right, bikers on the left. the atmosphere was so fun. some people had on costumes, wigs, etc. and had decorated their bikes in crazy ways. everybody was pretty rowdy, which made it nice and relaxed (not as competitive as triathlon or half marathon).

1 mile: mary biking, me running-- what was supposed to be a "gradual" uphill turned into ridiculousness within 60 seconds. all bikers were hopping off their bikes and walking them up the hill. nothing was heard but huffing and puffing along with some cuss words by angry/exhausted racers. so mare and i got to do at least a little bit of the race together in the beginning. it helped for sure. the hill flattened out after a while so i ran up ahead while mare hopped on the bike again and i yelled, "mare, it's downhill from here!" then i turned a corner and MORE uphill. it turned into a short downhill (where mare took off) and we came upon our first obstacle.

THE ARMY CRAWL: mare had put the bike down and completed the obstacle and started running by the time i arrived. i army crawled under a net that was on the ground (that hooked onto my helmet every foot i advanced :). then i found the bike sitting in the grass, hopped on, and started to pedal. ahhhh.... downhill flying. i started to feel guilty for having such a nice bike ride after what mary just endured! and then minor uphill crawling. and repeat that throughout the next 1.3 miles. i passed mare somewhere in there and yelled encouragement and she yelled back. on one of the super fast downhills i started laughing with glee. then i noticed some larger fist-sized rocks in the trail that i was about to run over as i was passing another biker. "ahhhhhh" i yelled. and whew! came out of it just fine. and just in time to see a man laid out at the bottom of the hill with his bike on the other side of the trail, wheel still spinning. yikes.
but then on to obstacle #2:

THE TRIANGLE ROPE WALL: i've seen enough of these adventure reality shows to know how to do this deal! i put down my bike, climbed up one side and down the other and i was off and running for 1.4 miles of mostly flatness and some rolling hills. i chugged away and then i heard mare yelling my name from about a quarter mile back. she came flying by on the bike as she yelled encouragement. after a while, i started to get tired and then i remembered that the "mystery obstacle" was up ahead.

THE INFLATABLE SLIDE WALL THING: picture a giant inflatable slide (at least 20 feet high, 12 or so feet wide) with a rope wall on one side. not too difficult to climb up and then when we arrived at the top-pure steepness! and then i screamed the whole way down! so fun!!! i picked up the bike that mary had left there and started pedaling for 1.4 more miles. after a while, i saw mare's red shirt bobbing up and down in the distance so i started yelling after her. not too long after i spotted her, i came to the easiest obstacle:

THE MONKEY BARS: there was nothing glamorous about this obstacle. it was just like the monkey bars everyone played on in elementary school. i was delirious, however, and started climbing the opposite way on them. that is, until a high-school aged volunteer informed me of the error of my ways. that being over, i set off running for the last 1.2 miles to our destination finish line! mare caught up with me when there was about a half mile left. she slowed down and pedaled with me for a minute and offered to stay with me. what a nice girl! but no, i wanted her to enjoy the rest of that bike ride and i knew she'd only be waiting for me for a couple of minutes at the transition area. i finally arrived to hear the screaming people and the mud pit was in sight! i heard kelly screaming my name, which helped incredibly ( i was about to collapse) and then i saw mare, who also screamed my name. we had finally made it to:

THE MUD PIT: which was FREEZING!!!! but we were laughing hilariously the whole time!!! i couldn't believe how slowly we moved through that mud!!! at one point i said to mare, "i can't move!" and she said, "just swim--SWIM!" and that did sort of work. the crowd was screaming and then booing. in our delirious confusion we thought they were booing at us and we got even lower in the mud. until we looked around and saw some girls trying to run/walk through the pit. some guys came from the cheering section and tackled them and made them get down and crawl. so fun!!!! covered in slimy mud, we finally made it out and were laughing so hard. matt and kelly and spivey were there to greet us. yay!

after getting food and chatting with those three for awhile, mare and i rinsed off. the rinse off area consisted of about 50 hoses hooked up to a giant pole. everybody was rinsing off and spraying each other and yelling--more rowdiness and fun. i wish i could have had a picture of that funniness!

oh, side note-- spivey won a bike rack in the raffle! $85 value, and he gave it to us, saying "trace, you're the star athlete--you deserve it" so fun to have a former BGSU football player respect you as an athlete!

anyways, the muddy buddy was one of the most fun things i have ever done in my life! i know mare agrees--mare, thanks for yet another excellent event! see you next year in san jose for round 2!!!!!

hey, quick blog here---
michelle and i are going to be on the price is right tomorrow!!!!
set your VCRs--we're in the second row and one of the girls in the group next to us is the first one to "come on down!"

i'll write about muddy buddy later--trying to get ready for my trip this weds-sunday to go see heidi!