Mud Run Extravaganza

(THE COURSE!!!)

The LONG-awaited "World Famous Mud Run" at Camp Pendleton, in Oceanside, finally happened! I'd been looking foward to this since December. And it sure didn't let me down! This was seriously, the most fun and awesome run I've ever done. I don't know if I would ever want to do another 10K that wasn't just like this one! Full of obstacles and PEOPLE. Although completely exhausting, both mentally and physically, I never would look back on this and regret it. It was SOO fun!!! Anybody who hasn't done this, runner or

not, just needs to buckle down and DO IT! I have never in my life been a long-distance runner of any sort. In fact, I was a sprinter all through high school. I never thought I would run and actually like it, at that! So, if you want to get into it the best way is to give yourself motivation and just register. It really got my butt kicked into gear!!

Stephen and the girls were there supporting my every stretch and my every step. It was fun waking them up at 5:50am and throwing them in the car. They were actually quite the little troopers! They had a blast playing in the little playground provided in the event area. They got to get themselves completely filthy in the sand...in their pajamas even!

(middle picture) Our fab running friends: (from left) Christy (Stephen's lil sis), Matt (Stephen's big bro), Katie (S's big sis), Cari (my BFF), ME, Jack (my dad!) and Mark (my neighbor!). We had a very fun running group. For the first 1/2 mile we ran/walked together. It was so crowded for a while that we hardly got to run. Condensing all those people into a medium pathway was fun! My dad was cracking me up during the race, as well as everyone else. When it came time for the mud walls (with watery mud on either side), he was diving in the mud and swimming. Everyone must've thought he was crazy, but we all cracked up anyway. SOO glad he came!!

(pic below that pic) Me coming through the home stretch with a run time of 1:26:39!!! I hope to do LOTS better next year! (kind of in the middle, blue top, black shorts) MAN was I tired!!

So glad that we all ran this 10K! There's truly nothin' like it...and I FULLY plan on doing it every year!! Good job to my awesome family and friends who ran it with me!!