Hello to everyone out there! How are you all today? Much has been going on since I wrote my last blogs many months ago. I will try my absolute best to get everyone caught up!
Well, I had a "1st" in my life on Saturday morning. My boys and I and a friend of ours from church (Avram, an extended part of our family and former Marine) decided to participate in a 5K mud run called the Dirty Dash. Let me start off by saying...I HATE running! I despise running. Running is in no way, shape, or form fun for me in any way. Now that I've made that perfectly clear...
We showed up for the event around 8:20 a.m. We were signed up for the first heat of the race which started at 9:00 a.m. The Dirty Dash was being held this year at Wild Life West Animal Preserve in Edgewood, NM. When we got there, there were already tons of vehicles coming in for the event. I didn't know how big this was going to be.
We started stretching and getting warmed up for the run. They were doing a pre-race get to know the MC kind of thing. He had one of those t-shirt launchers and he would launch t-shirts, koozies, and Red Bulls!!! They even had a battle of the sexes doing a tug of war. The women won and pulled the men into a watery mud pit before the event even started! They asked for 5 male volunteers and 1female volunteer. Avram and Aaron were 2 of the 5 men. He loaded his t-shirt launcher with a T-shirt and a Red Bull. He instructed the men to go off a couple of hundred feet, then launched it in their direction. The Red Bull went soaring through the air. It landed pretty close to Aaron and he had to run, grab it, pop it open (it exploded due to be violently launched through the air and landing abruptly on the ground) and proceed to chug it foam and all!!!! Aaron was so excited he got it. It got him pumped (literally) for the race!
So prior to the race, there had been some talk amongst my very own team members. I still don't think I know what truly was said! According to Aaron, Jordan wanted to get everyone on board with taking on Avram, ganging up on him and throwing him face first into the mud. But, according to Aaron, Jordan just wanted to make me think that and he wanted everyone to gang up on his poor little ole mother! The story according to Jordan is just the opposite, saying Aaron wanted to gang up on me.
Anyways... I was a little but concerned about the race. I have never run a 5K before. No, I didn't train to get ready for this. Didn't I tell you at the beginning how much I just LOVE running??? Why on Earth would I practice??? They also set up an obstacle course. I wasn't sure what all they were going to have. I've never done an obstacle course before either! So, the plan was for the four of us to stick together as a team. I already told everyone on my team that I didn't want to hold anyone back and keep them from enjoying themselves and to just run on their own and I would run my own pace and I'd finish when I could. Avram insisted that we would stick together as a team since Marines never leave a man (or in this case a woman) behind!
So the race started off with a bang, well not really...their buzzer thing was jammed and wouldn't work, but we started off like a herd of cows! We immediately came to the first mud pit and only a few people jumped in without hesitation. The rest of the group kind of waited to see what would happen to those first few people. When they saw how deep the pit was, everyone made their way through it. I cautiously made my way in and bless Aaron's heart, when I got ready to climb out, he was already looking for me and he was waiting to lend me a hand to be sure I made it out ok! What a sweetheart! Btw, need I mention...Jordan was NO WHERE in sight!
We ran to the second mud pit. I was a little less reserved this time and just charged right in! Again, aaron was waiting for me if I needed help climbing out of the pit.
We came to our first real obstacle, a verticals wall. They had two short 5 foot walls and two taller 7 foot walls. They had a series of two of these back to back. I tried the first short wall and failed! For those of you who don't know, I was diagnosed about three months ago with a fractured L5 in my lower back. I was not able to get enough power in my jump to get over the wall. Avram was a doll and he cleared the first tall wall, then he came back to give me a boost over the short wall. He misjudged my weight and actually LAUNCHED me over! He cleared the tall wall again and met me at the second vertical wall. He gave me another boost and cleared his tall wall, then the three of us made our way to the third obstacle.
We got to two sets of monkey bars. I failed miserably. I couldn't get enough momentum to keep moving and let me say, it didn't feel so good on my back! Aaron stayed with me though. So we all took off for the next part. We ran, and ran, and ran some more.
We came to a ramp with a long plank and a ramp down. I tackled that, no problem. Then we came across another mud pit with four culverts half buried in mud and water. We crawled on our hands and knees to get through.
Our next obstacle was fun! It was a series of logs that were raised maybe a foot above the water in the mud pit. Avram and Aaron decided to do it the hard way (seems like that's how all the Marines are trained!). The went over-under-over-under. I did it the normal way...over-over-over-over!
We ran some more. I began to slow down some, but I never quit! I walked a little but still kept moving. My back was really beginning to not like me. We ran for what seemed like ages. We had no idea how far we had gone. We even stopped and asked at the two water stations they had set up along the race, but they didn't even know how far we were. FYI, don't drink Edgewood water...YUUUUCKK!!!
It tasted about like what the mud pit water looked like!
We cam upon our last main set of obstacles. They had two short cargo net obstacles and two large. The short ones were about 6-7 feet and the large ones were 12-14 feet. I'm not exactly sure of the measurements, but you get the idea. I opted for the short one since I've never done this before. I went straight up and over! I felt robbed! I felt cheated!! I decided to run around the obstacle and do it again...this time on the large one. Avram and Aaron completed the large wall and cheered me on while I completed the large one! They were proud of me! I was proud of me!
The last obstacle was an almost verticle wall with ropes with knots to help you climb up and over the wall. They had two sets of these and I did the big ones without any help!!! Again, I surprised myself. Then we all ran some more. My back was killing me, so I pulled off to the side and tried to stretch out my back again. I told the guys to go on ahead, but they wouldn't hear of it! (Still no sight if Jordan...still love ya babe!)
We walked a ways and then we could hear people getting ready to start their race and we knew we were getting close to the finish line so we began to run again. We came to the final mud pit and guess who we saw???? Mr. Jordan Gabriel Cogburn was waiting for us on the other side of the mud pit. He was bragging, "What took you all so long? I've been waiting for you forever!!! I'm almost dry. I'm not even wet!" That was it! Avram grabbed one arm, I grabbed the other and Aaron joined in! We grabbed Jordan, push him down onto his back in the thick mud and slid him all the way back down into the mud pit!!!! Word of advise...never, Never, NEVER make fun of your mother and leave her behind!!!
We had a total blast! I have never done anything like this before. If you ever get the chance to, you ought to try it! I am so looking forward to this event next year. Maybe I'll even make over ALL the obstacles all by myself!
I just want to say a huge thank you to Avram and Aaron for their patience and understanding. They could've totally run this race doing circles around me. They probably could've run it twice in the time it took me to run it once, but they held out for me. That says a lot about your character and team building skills. On the other hand, I'm proud of Jordan for running to the best of his ability. I think he was born a runner, so good for you for using the skills God has given you! Well, I couldn't have asked for a better team. Thanks guys! Next year, maybe???
