2012 Racing Partner

In 2012, I just might have a racing partner for 2 of my races, and it comes in the form of my now 4 year old nephew Cooper.


(This pic was taken in July 2010)

Cooper LOVES sports. He's REALLY good at them too. He has his own set of golf clubs, and hits the golf ball farther than his grandpa sometimes. He plays baseball, loves to play basketball, everything.

Earlier this year I did the Utah Tour de Donut and had a BLAST!!! You should totally consider doing it next year. Well, after the Tour de Donut, I was talking to Cooper about it. He LOVES to ride his bike with his mom. I asked Cooper if he wanted to do it with me next year and he said yes (this was back in July when we had this conversation). He told me he could eat a whole box of donuts (the kid probably could).

Then, after the Dirty Dash in September, I asked Cooper if he wanted to do the 5k with me next year and play in the mud and get dirty and of course he said yes.

Well, I thought absolutely nothing of it after that. I mean, he's 4 years old, he won't remember. Well, when they came over for my birthday, Cooper came up to me and asked me if he could still race with me next year. Lol. It TOTALLY made my day! I couldn't believe he remembered the conversations we had 1 and 3 months ago. I told Cooper he could do the races with me next year if his mom and dad would let him.

I sure hope they let him race with me. I think it would be a ton of fun.

The Dirty Dash 2011

The Dirty Dash 2011 was SO much fun! I did the 10k version & I had a couple of tricks up my sleeve to have fun this year.

I got all prepared & dressed in my swim suit so that when I hit the FREEzing showers at the end, I could just strip down to my swim suit & get clean.

First off, I was SUPER excited for this race because I found out the night before my friends Jen & Brandon would be there to cheer on some of Jen's students. I haven't seen Jen in a loooong time! I love her!



So, soon it was time to start the race! I knew I was in trouble when I headed up the first mud hill & my shoe started to come off. Lol.


Look at how clean we are!!! The cleanliness didn't last long.

They added ALOT more obstacles this year! Yes! I LOVED it! So after you got up the first mud hill, shortly thereafter, you came to another mud hill/stream. This mud hill was harder to get up because it was smaller & more wet.

Then we got to 2 deep mud pools. You could either attempt to climb over some 2x4's to get over the mud pools or do like me, Sylvia, Betsey & Kirsten did & just jump in the water!

Side note: Every year I swear I'm going to take a water-proof disposable camera with me on the course & I forget every stinkin' year! Gah!

So then we ran for a little longer & got to the hay bails & had to go over a TON of hay bails.

My goal was to run the entire 10k this year instead of stopping to walk any where. I did it!

See this bruise:



It is from crawling through 3 metal corregated pipes! It was SO much fun!!! I'd do it again in a heart beat! After you came out of the pipes you got hit with a snow machine spewing water at you.

We soon came to the climbing walls. I only climbed over 1 of the walls 'cause I couldn't climb over the others. There was nobody there to help me. :( Lost my shoes a couple of times there too. :(

Another side note: I always use last season's running shoes so I can donate them at the end of the race. :)

After I almost lost my shoes...twice...in the mud pits by the climbing walls, as I was running downhill, I decided to ditch my shoes! Yes, I ran the last 4 miles barefoot! SO. MUCH. FUN!!!

One part of the obstacle course that I'm not good at is the tires. You have to run through a bunch of tires (like you see the military people do in basic training). Yeah, I have NO coordination, that just doesn't happen with me. Lol.

We went over by Deer Creek Reservoir and last year it was just a bunch of ooey gooey mud, but this year, besides the mud, we ended up getting in to waist deep water! It was fabulous!!!

Some of the other obstacles they had was a rope ladder/climbing wall thingy. If I was wearing shoes I would've been able to do this, but it hurt the bottom of my feet too bad.

Then, one of my favorite parts...the super duper slip-n-slide!!! So fun!!! I actually slipped & slided down it this year!

Then, the last thing, you come running down the hill to head to the big final mud pit! In this picture you can see me runnin' barefoot too!



The final mud pit was bigger too! They had 2 mud pits you had to go through! I loved it!



Here I am after the race:



They're doing a race in January 2012 called Lick the Pole and it's very similar to the Dirty Dash except it's in the snow & ice. I think I might do it! Sounds fun!!!

The Dirty Dash

Yesterday I competed in the first annual Dirty Dash competition up at Soldier Hollow. It was SO much fun! It was hard, but so much fun.

Basically, it was a 10k (6 miles) obstacle course in the mud. I didn't realize it until the race started, but alot of it was uphill. It was harder than I thought it would be, but it was still fun. Granted, I didn't think it would be a piece of cake, but it was even harder than I thought.

First, we had "The Big Pig Climb", which was basically running up a mud hill. It was slippery and muddy, but fun.

Then we ran for a while until we came across one of the snow machines that you see ski resorts have, but this one was spraying water. That water was awfully cold.

Then we ran for a little while again and came across a bunch of bales of hay. I was kind of jealous 'cause alot of people were able to basically run and jump up on to the bales, but I wasn't able to, so I did the tuck and roll over the bales.

Then, we came across a couple of tunnels we had to crawl through. That wasn't bad at all. It would've hurt less if I didn't have a scab on my knee.

Then, I believe the next thing we came across were walls we had to climb over. It was awesome! There was one guy that was dressed up as a superhero. He had on blue tights and he was wearing superhero underpants and he knelt down in the mud and let the ladies use him as a step stool to climb over the walls. I remember saying to him "are you sure?" and he said "I wouldn't be down here if I wasn't".

Then we came across tires we had to step through. Good Lord that was difficult. You know how you see football players run/step through them so fast? Man, I wish I could do that, but I knew if I tried to do that, I'd do a giant face plant, so I just walked through them.

Then, we had a "mystery" element that we didn't know about until the morning of the race. Over by Deer Creek Reservoir, which is right next to Soldier Hollow, it was just a bunch of eewy gooey mud that was about as deep as your calf. The announcer guy said that he lost a couple of shoes in there. Haha! It was disgusting, but fun. After we got done with that part of the race, it was like trying to run with 100 lb blocks on your feet. There was one part of that where I hit a sink hole and got down in to the mud all the way up to my thigh, but only on one leg. Haha!!!

After that, we headed over to the giant slip 'n slide. The slip 'n slide was kind of a disappointment. They did really well at keeping it watered down, but it wasn't very slippery. I ended up just running down it.

Then, last but not least, we headed over to the "Filthy Finish". They gave us specific instructions that we had to CRAWL under the flags on our hands and knees. It was so filthy, but so fun.

They had these makeshift showers for us after the race, but they didn't do very much good. I ended up donating my shoes after the race.

I can't wait to do the race again next year. I think what I loved most about the race is that it wasn't really a race. I don't think anybody was in it to win it. I think everybody was in it to have a good time and play in the mud. If you needed help along the course, everybody was helping each other and cheering you on. It was awesome.

I think next year though, the only thing I'd change is I'd get a hotel near the race for the night before so I don't have to wake up so god awful early to get up there and then I'd be right close so that as soon as the race was over, I could go to the hotel room and shower and get cleaned up before making the 1 hour drive home. Now granted, a 1 hour drive home isn't too bad, unless you're soaking wet and covered with mud. :)

Here are pictures I got from the race:

This is a picture of the "filthy finish" before they filled it up with water.


A picture of the giant slip 'n slide.


This is before the race. I don't look happy 'cause the sun was in my eyes and I was freezing.


Running past my mom & dad and heading for the giant slip 'n slide.


Me running in to the "filthy finish".


I army crawled through the "filthy finish".


I finished!!! I just got done crawling through the "filthy finish" and climbing a mud hill.


Oh so dirty, but oh so fun. I'm just standing in line waiting for my "dirty" picture.


these are the makeshift showers they had for us.


Here I am, all showered off and ready to head home.