Monday, June 17, 2013

Tough Mudder 2013



This past weekend was one of the funnest weekends I have ever had! It was the week of my Tough Mudder. If you don't know what the Tough Mudder is look it up or go to their website www.toughmudder.com. It is amazing!

I did the event with a friend from Oregon. We became friends since both our husband's grew up together. We also had her brother-in-law on our team as well. The three of us conquered this event and are officially Tough Mudders!

The course is 10-11 miles long and there were 19 obstacles along the way. Some of the obstacle names were, "kiss of mud," "artic enema," "walk the plank," "funky monkey,"trench warfare," "Berlin walls," "cage crawl," "wounded warrior carry," "everest," and "electroshock therapy." They are all obstacles that are designed to be like military training obstacles. They were tough but the whole spirit of the event is No Mudder Left Behind. Everyone helps everyone through.  It is all about comradery and teamwork. It's not a race! It was awesome!

I posted on my FB page a few days before the event how excited I was but still a bit nervous. I said, "I am sooo excited and am looking forward to that huge feeling of victory at the end. But knowing I couldn't do it without all the other mudders out there with me. It is going to be amazing! I know I am going to hurt, scream, ache and want to give up at times but that's not what this life's about. Its giving it all you got and pushing yourself to achieve greatness. And we're all in it together! That's what makes this event so great" and yes it was all of that and more! It was so much fun and so cool to see everyone working together, stranger helping stranger. I even had someone come jogging behind me, tapping me on the shoulder on his way by and said, "tag you're it." It was a boost of encouragement and when I caught back up to him I tagged him back. I even had someone on the wounded warrior carry take me the ENTIRE way. He didn't put me down for us to switch spots. It was awesome!

I posted a bunch of the videos that Dan took of us on our route on my FB page. So if you're friends with me on there be sure to check those out. 
Here are a bunch of pictures. Just keep in mind they aren't in order.
At the Start! Nice and Clean still, but not for long...

Made it to the top of the hill! Can see the finish line from here but oh so much still to do between here and there.

The Berlin Walls obstacle. Our man Stan Wester on the bottom right.

The day before the race on our way to the campground. Had to pull over and take a picture.
Stan and his Orange headband! I wish I had a pic of Jessi too but she was in the car nursing her 5 month old after a much needed lunch break. Can you say super mom?!

I did it! I earned that orange head band! Official Tough Mudder!


This sign was posted at the bottom of a very long and steep hill climb. The way back down was even worse. Very steep and rocky! I can't believe some people did this event bare foot!


Jessi on top of the Bail Bonds obstacle


1/4 of the way through. I thought the sign was pretty funny.

The muddy mile. Probably one of my most favorite obstacles.

And old church building we passed on the way there 



Way to Go Team 'Muddy Mormons!'
The Tough Mudder was an amazing experience and I WILL be doing it again! And Dan even said that he'd be interested in training for it with me! I'd love to have a bigger team next time too. The more the merrier. But it sounds like our next big event might be the STP (Seattle to Portland) 200 mile bike race. This is Dan's idea too! Should be exciting! Saddle up!

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Ethan's Preschool Graduation

I am so behind on blogging right now but I think it's because it is the end of the year. In fact today is both Ethan's and Kiera's last day of school for the summer!

Today was Ethan's Preschool graduation. He has learned so much this year and is leaps and bounds ahead of where I expected him to be right now. He will do awesome in Kindergarten. Here are a few pics from his graduation program today. It was so fun to hear him and his classmates sing all their fun songs for all the parents.
Ethan receiving his preschool diploma from his teacher.
The big graduate!
Ethan with his WONDERFUL teacher Mrs. Shoen.