My husband and I signed up with another couple to compete in this past weekends Muddy Buddy Ride and Run.
Oh....my....word.
Here are the details...
The race:
This race features a 7 mile course and 5 obstacles. At the start of the race, one team member will run and one will ride the bike. At the 1st obstacle, the rider will drop the bike, complete the obstacle, and begin running. The runner will arrive, complete the obstacle, find their bike, and begin riding. Teams will continue leapfrogging each other through the entire course. At the end of the race, racers will crawl through the infamous Mud Pit crossing the finish line together!
The teams:
My husband and I are slightly different in height (he is 6'2, I'm 5'2 on a good day) so partnering up wasn't going to be an option since we had to share a bike (I can't even reach the pedals on his bike with the seat all the way down). We decided to sign up with a couple we love (Sara and Shawn) and thought it'd be fun for the girls to be on one team, the guys on another (this would also take care of the height problem as Sara and I are much closer in height).
The boys called themselves Team Stud Muffins (this is kind of an inside joke stemming from a drag brunch) and us girls called ourselves Team Spam Musubi (if you're from Hawaii you probably know what this is--for those of you who don't know what spam musubi is, here is a photo):
Team Spam Musubi
Team Stud Muffins
The pre-race dilemna:
My partner came down with food poisoning Saturday night. The race was Sunday morning. Early Sunday morning at that. So, we waited until the last hour to see if she'd be able to compete. She really couldn't. She called around to see if anyone else would be available to take her place (as you can't compete in the muddy buddy without a buddy) but there wasn't anyone available on such short notice. So the decision was made that Shawn would stay home and take care of Sara and my husband and I would compete together. I actually didn't mind this one bit (I actually wanted to compete with him originally until we realized the bike problem), but my husband definitely had reservations about this new plan. We wouldn't be able to use his bike because I couldn't get on it, so we'd have to use mine, which was too small for him. Oh the sacrifices one makes in a marriage. =)
So, Team Spam Musubi and Team Stud Muffins united.....
I give you....Team Spam Muffins. =)
The Muddy Buddy:
Being the stronger biker (and not wanting to run) my husband started the race off on the bike while I started on foot.
The course was really challenging but SOOOO much fun!
I ran the first leg of the race pretty slow (it had been raining the past 3 days so the trails were very slippery). I got to the transition area where your buddy puts down the bike to complete an obstacle and saw that my husband had dropped the bike on the left side of the area (which is something we worked out ahead of time). I completed the first obstacle (a rock wall with a cargo net down the other side), picked up the bike and started out.
The next leg unfortunately consisted of major hills....and for me...(on a bike)...that was bad. I pushed through it though, I didn't once get off that bike to walk it. I was so proud of myself!
By the time I got to the next transition area, my husband had already completed the obstacle (walking over a balance beam with wet, muddy shoes) and was just waiting for the bike. I handed it off to him (gladly), gave him a quick hug and a wink and watched him hop on the bike and speed off. I completed the obstacle (which was actually quite difficult having just raced uphill on a bike) and started out on the next running leg of the race.
The trails kept getting muddier and muddier...and I was loving it. I love trail running because you have so many obstacles and it keeps your mind busy.
We kept leapfrogging throughout the race. When we saw each other, we cheered. It was....awesome.
And then....there was the mud pit at the very end of the race:
Team Spam Muffins ended up placing 44th in our coed age group out of 111 teams. =)
GO SPAM MUFFINS!!!!!!!!! =)
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