Muddy Buddy

A while ago, Todd had mentioned the idea of doing the Muddy Buddy to me. I just wasn't that interested in the hassle of getting all dirty for a race, plus I'm not a regular offroad bike rider so I felt intimidated. Todd's Toastmasters friend Ashley to the rescue! Ashley has finished a full Ironman Triathlon (2.4 mile swim, followed by 112 miles of biking, followed by 26.2 miles of running). :: stare :: So yea, I think Todd was fortunate to have her as a partner! Plus, she provided the bike.

So this morning around 7am, Ashley came to our house and we piled our stuffs and us into our Explorer and off we went, headed on the hour-long drive to the backcountry of Temecula for the Columbia Muddy Buddy race. I couldn't wait to get photos of Todd and Ashley!

When we got there, we had to park in a makeshift grass parking lot, then walk about 1/3 of a mile to the event.


One fun thing about this race is that you and your buddy are encouraged to dress up in costumes. They even have a costume contest before the race. So I found some good ones.


On the walk in from the "parking lot", I turned around and saw this breath-taking view.


A photo of Todd and Ashley before the race started, when they were still dry and clean!


I set up my chair near the finish line, with the intention of reading a book. But about 36 minutes after the race started, the winners came through, followed by a steady stream of finishers. So I took some photos.










I almost didn't see Todd and Ashley until they came out of the mud pit, because everyone sort of looked the same when covered with mud. :p Good thing I'm quick with the camera.






I caught up with them after the finish line.


Well, we can just forget about these shoes.


Off to "the showers", which turned out to really to be a "hosing station".




Albeit a hosing station situated on the edge of beautiful Vail Lake.


After the cleaning up, we walked back to the car.


Well, it looked like fun but I'm glad Todd found a partner to do Muddy Buddy with, because I'm still not sure about the mud. :-| You can read Todd's side of the story on his blog here.

This evening our friends Anne and Gilbert invited us over for dinner, which was exciting enough already.  But they actually cooked stuff from the cookbook that we made and gave them!   Dinner was awesome, but the company and stories were even better. Unfortunately, Gilbert had an emergency at work and had to leave, but Anne kept us plenty entertained with good stories. AND we ended dinner with lemon blueberry cupcakes, which I ate two of.

Yea. And I didn't even do the Muddy Buddy today!


Thanks Anne and Gilbert, for an awesome evening of good food with good friends! :)