Cinco De Muddo!
This is the second 5K mud run in a 4 race series put on by the same organization at the same location. My friends and I did the St. Patrick's run they put on and this one was geared around Cinco de Mayo. The weather was definitely a lot better than March - we were so cold and uncomfortable at the end of the last one that it was hard to keep a smile on our faces. The sunshine was nice and though there was a cold breeze at the end that made it tough to stay warm, it was still WAY more pleasant. This was almost the same course, with a beginning half mile or so of obstacles, a 1.5 straight trail run and then another mile of obstacles to finish it up. One big change was that they took the zip line out of the race - it was still there, but they made it more of a fun "after race" activity to help rinse off, etc. This cut back on the line AND took a lot of waiting out of the race itself. The obstacles were all pretty similar - it started with the same muddy bog, but this time the mud was so deep that I got stuck and had to throw myself to the side to pull myself out of it. I did NOT lose my shoes though! They added some 6 and 12 foot walls to climb, and I'm proud to say that I climbed the 12 foot wall on the side WITHOUT the helper steps. I may have used the side brace and a little boost from a friend, but I got over that thing - it was awesome. They still had the basics: A frame climb, tire moutain climb, TWO slip and slides, rope wall climb, quarter pipe climbs, pitch black maze, balance beam, hay bale climb, log crawls...etc. There was a large mud pit at the end, of course - just in time for awesome finish line pictures. My favorite part of this race was that for the very first time (and I've attempted it 3 times) I was able to complete the rope traverse! I couldn't believe it - I was so psyched. This is a frame that you climb up and over, then hook your arms/hands and legs over a rope and pull yourself across the rope - usually above a pit of water. I was so excited when I got off of that thing. I do have to shout out to Nana, who held her hands out under my back for a little added support. The vegetation was a lot different this time on the trail run - last time it was pretty barren, but this time the grass and trees had grown up so much that it felt like we needed machetes. It was a complete jumgle and the grass was taller than me in a lot of places. Last time we ran through a dry river bed - but this time there was water, so we ran through the actual river. We did a lot of climbing in and out of the river, which was a cool twist on the route. Overall, this group's races are just getting better and better - this was a big improvement over March and I'm sure they're going to be even better by the next one in July.
Girl Scouts Troop 5K!
The second race was a much smaller event, but something that I've been excited about for a while. A couple of months ago a friend of mine asked me to come and speak to her Girl Scout troop about exercise and running. This would be to help them earn their "practice with purpose" badge and their yearly them has been "Get Moving!" I think that its so cool they are being encouraged to get active at an early age. I'm late to this fitness game and love when I see active kids getting outside and playing. I spoke to them back in February about setting goals and building up slowly. I gave them all a 5K training program to work from to build up to being able to run their own 5K race. They ordered super cute Girl Scounts medals and set up a donation drive to the Food Bank at the same time. I decided to bring the kiddo with me - it would be his first experience at an event like that and since it was a more casual race, I knew we could both just relax and have fun. The race was at a park in Plano with a small little lake in the middle. So the route was a 4 loop run around the lake with a water stop at the start line. I knew going into this that the chances of Gage running/walking the ENTIRE thing were slim. But I figured we'd go and see how it went. It was so much fun watching all of the girls (and their moms!) running and having a good time. Gage ran quite a bit AND walked a bit. I carried him once or twice and at the end of the day, we ended up doing 2 of the 4 loops. To be honest, he had the energy to walk 2 more loops - but he did NOT have the attention span. Ha ha! There's a big playground we kept passing and he was not going to let me walk him past it for a 3rd time. He's a lot like his mama, though - he would be distracted or walking, and if another one of the kids ran past him, he would start running after them, yelling, "Hey wait! I'm going to catch you!" Little bit of my competitive streak in there, I'm afraid. We still got our medals and he had a lot of fun outdoors, chasing kids and playing at the park. It was a lot of fun!
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