The Circus Takes On The Dirty Dash.

In a twist of fate that not even I can explain, the urge to do something somewhat crazy and off the cuff, and completely and utterly messy, got the better of me.

And a tradition was born.

This year The Circus got to come with us to The Dirty Dash.

The expression on their faces as we hit that first set of mud holes was complete joy.

They did the back stroke in the mires, literally,  and slid down the muddy hills on their bellies, giggling the entire time.

I dare say Casidee was in her element.

Her room does resemble a pig sty after all, it only makes sense.

 

The beginning of summer will never be the same for them, now that we've introduced them to our tradition.  (Previous years here and here).

For those who keep thinking that you need to come and do this with us...

DO IT.

a favor

If you happen to have a facebook, whether you're friends with me on there or not, will you please do me a favor?
If you do this, I promise to do the same for you in return, if you're ever in "need" of it.
Please go to this facebook link right HERE
it's going to take you to this picture on the wall of The Dirty Dash:

All I need you to do is "like" it so I can win a Dirty Dash hoodie.

Thanks so much!

the dirty dash 2012

Sometimes when you're a good wife and put up with your husbands antics (here.  And here.  Just to name a few), he'll be a good husband and put up with your antics in return.
This year I got The Man to do the Dirty Dash with me (last year's dash here).

Can I just say that it was so much more fun having The Man there with me?  He makes everything better.

I learned a few things after last year. 
1. Spandex shorts are a must.  They don't rub in nasty ways when they're heavy with mud.  Also, they're easy to rinse out in a hasty fashion when you're in the freezing showers in the parking lot after the race.

West was very happy I talked him into them.

2.  After two years I do believe that tennis shoes are optional.  I think next year I'll be tackling this event in Teva sandals.  This way I won't have mud building up under my toes and instep.  And I'm hoping that way I can avoid the tiny rock that cuts into my heel and, no matter how many times I try to swipe it out with my finger, doesn't budge and ends up cutting a rather large hole in my heel. 

Don't worry, I'll spare you the gory picture of what is my heel this morning. 
But let's just say that I'm not going to be wearing shoes for a week or two while it heals.

human hamster wheel.

Heel heals...

I crack myself up.

I picked a later start time this year because last year we had to start this muddy, wet race in 40ish degrees weather.  Who wants to get wet in 40ish degrees?  Not to mention that also affected the temperature of the mud.  And it probably didn't help that it was the end of September.  So this year we signed up for the June race, and placed our start time in the afternoon.  I also did this because originally we were going to have The Circus join the piglet plunge for kids and that started in the afternoon.  I was aiming for us to finish about the time they needed to start so we wouldn't have to stand around too long in our drying mud masks.

Turns out it wasn't our weekend for kids so we didn't have to worry about those details.

There are pros and cons to starting later vs. starting earlier.

Temps vs. crowds and parking.

This would be all the cars that were already there as we were driving up

Our obligatory "before" picture:

Me, The Man, Aaron, Megan, Natalie

The first mud hole Aaron decided to go all out and did a canon ball.  It was all down hill from there for all of us.  Because if Aaron is going down, he's taking us all with him.

Megan and Natalie

If I ever find myself hanging off a cliff and I have to pull myself up to save my life...

I'm going to die.

But Natalie will survive.

And so will Megan.

Natalie

Natalie

Natalie... and me contemplating the situation on the other side of the wall

But then again... if it's not too big of a cliff, I might be able to do it after all:

At first we were just planning on doing the 5k course.  The only difference between the 5k course and the 10k course is that the 10k course breaks away to a marsh/swamp and then comes back.

We paid to get wet and muddy.  Natalie and Megan were set on tackling that marsh/swamp.

It stunk.  Reeked.  Made me want to wretch.

That didn't stop Aaron from doing the back stroke in it:

the slime monster that is Aaron, Natalie, Megan, The Man

We climbed walls, crawled through tubes, had mud fights in holes and ditches, conquered the sludge, slid down the giant water slide, and did quite a few canon balls into the finish line mud pools.  The mud was better than last year (last year it was a lot of dirty water, this year it was thick), and they had more obstacles than last year.

We, my friends, are Dirty Dash champions in our own rights.

Natalie, Megan, Aaron, West, Me

Natalie, Megan, Aaron, West, Me

Megan and Aaron

Natalie

Me

Us

I love this man.  Even if he does reek of muddy fish.  He did it for me.

Now that's true love.

I copped a feel.  Can you blame me?  That man is hot.



the awesome muddy mess is coming

Remember the awesome muddy mess of the Dirty Dash that I got myself into last year?

Guess what time it is :).



I. CAN. NOT. WAIT.

I have never laughed so hard.  It was an experience like none other and I am so there again.  Faithfully.  For the rest of my life.

Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but you get the picture.
And this year I'll be dragging my kids into it.  And possibly The Man.  He said he wanted to try it after seeing lasts year's antics, but we'll see how good his memory is now that it's time to sign up. 

Last year I did the 10k in the fall, which I may still do again, but this year, with the kiddos, I'll be doing the 5k in the spring.

You can check it out here. 

You should do it with us!  I'm forming a team.

Oh, and one more thing...

Well, time in a mud pit maybe.  I am recieving compensation (not in the form of money cash) for posting this video on my blog, but I promise to you that my opinion is my own and my excitement is genuine.  It's the fact that I really feel this way about this race that I've agreed to post about it.  Bribing wouldn't have even been necessary, but it sure does sweeten the pot.

Dirty Dash 10K

I got to do my first Dirty Dash yesterday with my friend Jen who is pretty amazing.

Jen has a bunch of runner friends who let me join their team for this.

The proceeds for entering this 10K went to support our local homeless shelter. And I got to play in a lot of mud. For those of you who don't have something like this in your areas, it's a giant obstacle course in the mud. Being September in the mountains of Utah, the morning was starting out at a blistering 44 degrees. But as the sun came up it quickly got to 70 (THANK GOODNESS, because not only was the air chilly, but the mud and water was too! And there was a lot of submerging up the waist and crawling around that took place). We decided next year we need to figure out how to take a camera with us with out getting it mucked up. We saw some people had cameras sealed up in baggies. We crawled over haystacks, crawled through tubes, climbed over or under wooden walls, where sprayed with icy water, walked across planks, waded waist deep through an actual marsh (stinky gross), climbed a large spider net, slid down a giant water slide, and...

That's us climbing out in the pic above (and we're in the middle of the bog above that). Below, we made it out.

Above, "I think you have something on your face..."

My "handy" dandy artwork on Jen...

Next year... I'm doing it again. With a camera all the way through. A huge thanks to my most amazing hubby who waited around to take pictures for me. Next year I think he'll be joining me now that he's seen how funny it is.