MUDDY BUDDY!

The race that Caloy and I did this morning in Boulder was beyond phenomenal. It has rained here for several days and the course was muddier than you can even imagine ... thick, deep, sludge ... it was awesome!

I started on the bike and Caloy ran. We were separated by a minute and a half. The 1st go on the bike was smooth till I turned a corner and the path led down this steep hill of slime ... people were stopping and pulling fist-fulls of mud off their tires, they couldn't move. I trudged through as much as I could ... then came the 1st obstacle. I dumped the bike and looked back to see Caloy coming up to the transition area too! We had to get up and over a climbing wall and down a cargo net on the opposite side. I then took off running and Caloy was left with the muddied bike.

My 1st run was more like a walk or a jog at best. The trail was so slippery and the mud was so thick, it just wrapped around every step I made ... again, it was awesome! Caloy could hardly ride by this time and he had to pick his bike up to get to the top of a hill ... it was more like a steep mud cliff ... I was glad to be running that leg and not holding a bike over my head while climbing.

The 2nd obstacle was a weird tower-pyramid kind of thing. You had to climb over and under these beams ... again, everything is covered in mud, which made it a little more difficult but a lot more fun! Caloy had dropped the bike and he waited there for me because just down the bend was water ... We had to go through waist deep water, with the bike ... it was nice to be able to wash it off, but then your feet and socks were covered in lake bottom sludge. Once out of the water, I took off riding again and Caloy started to run.

At the next mile marker, I dropped the bike and the 3rd obstacle was a huge balance beam ... my days of gymnastics came flooding back and I was up and over it in no time ... and again, I started to run! All the people that were racing were so fun and encouraging. We made T-shirts last night that said TEAM FERNANDEZ ... Matthew wrote GO MOM on the back of mine and GO DAD on Caloy's. Other participants had some really creative and insane costumes ... tutus to superheros, smurfs and peter pan ... it was super crazy!

My last running leg was great and it ended at a super huge inflatable slide for the 4th obstacle! Not the normal back yard jump house style inflatable ... it was HUGE! I had to climb a ridiculously steep cargo net to the top and once there, I actually got butterflies since it was so high. The slide was muddied and slick ... so flying down it was easy. I hopped on the bike then for the last leg ... and Caloy was running.

I passed him and got near the end and decided to wait for him. It was right by the swim beach at the reservoir, so since I had a minute or two, I dunked the bike again to wash it off ... didn't help too much, but it felt good. Caloy came along and together we went to the finish ...

The mud pit!

We dumped the bike and had to go up a sand bank that had a cargo net laying on it, the only way through was on your tummy ... then into the mud pit! The flags that lined the mud pit were maybe a foot off the ground, so again you had to army crawl through it. It was ridiculous and funny, kinda hard to trudge through and unlike anything I've ever done in my life!

We had such an awesome time. Caloy and I cheered each other on, a few kisses when we saw each other, high fives when we passed, and we held hands through the mud. It was just so much fun! We will do it every year ... and encourage our friends to do it with us! Super fun, muddy and silly ... what better way to spend a Sunday morning?!?