The Dirty Dash

A few months ago my friend Amy told me about this sweet race called The Dirty Dash. Basically, it's a muddy obstacle course spread out over 10 kilometers. It sounded awesome, so I committed to doing it. Amy was really helpful and gave me a training program to follow since I was starting from zero. Unfortunately, soon after that, I came down with a horrible case of bronchitis. All training plans were put on hold until I felt well enough to run. The problem was, it took about 6 or 7 weeks until I felt like I was back to normal. By that time, it was really too late to train for a 10K. I decided I would do it anyway, but I knew it was going to be ugly. The only thing I had going for me was that I had been playing soccer once or twice a week. Definitely not enough, but at least it was something.

The neat thing about this race is that you run in teams of 5. Our team consisted of Hilary, my friend Candice and some of her friends, and me. They encourage you to dress up in costumes for this race, so we went for an 80's theme. Hilary's costume was definitely my favorite. She had a sweet Blondie T-shirt, polka-dot leggings, and some awesome socks. And let's not forget the side ponytail. I went for the clashing pink and red color scheme.


This map is deceiving because it makes you think that only the first part is uphill. Liars! It felt like at least 3/4 of it was uphill. Lots and lots of switchbacks. I was just glad I wasn't the only one who was out of shape in our group, because there were times I was really glad that other people were walking, so I could slow down too :) I guess they wanted everyone to start the race out muddy because the first thing we had to do was run up a big, muddy hill. They had a huge sprinkler spraying all the runners at the same time. Mud was flying everywhere, including right into my face. It was fine with me until the race was over and I washed my face off only to realize I was sunburned... except for where the mud was splattered. Note to self: remember sunscreen next time so you don't look like a fool.

After running uphill for what seemed like years, we came to some large hay bales. The point was to climb over them and continue down the trail. Climbing took too much effort, so I decided to just jump over them. According to my group, my jumping skills are amazing. I think I acquired them from the one time I did hurtles in 5th grade.

After showing everyone what hay bale jumping was all about, we came to some crazy mud pits. And some crazy people (particularly one crazy guy) in these mud pits. There were also walls that we had to climb over while in the pits. It was pretty hard to do since the mud was so sticky, and it would suck your feet down any time you stopped moving. Some people crawled under the walls. That was fun to watch because they came out looking like swamp monsters :)


Farther down the trail we had to struggle through a very soggy (and large) marsh. If I could only describe the smell of it in one word, it would be death. It was awful, and there were flies everywhere. It took awhile to get through the mud, and then afterwords, our shoes weighed about ten pounds a piece.

Finally, towards the end we got to go down a huge slip-and-slide. That part was sooooo much fun. I felt like a kid again. Before we reached the end, we had to wade through one more mud pit. This one was about waist deep, and many people just went all the way under. I didn't want mud coming out of my ears and nose for the next week, so I decided to pass on that method.

Even though this race sounds like torture, it was actually so much fun. I will definitely do it again if I get the chance. I'll just train for it more next time so my hips aren't on fire halfway through :)

Lost in Translation

Two posts within 24 hours?! Yes, it is true my friends.

We often get in cheap wallets, purses, shoes, and other items at work. They usually come from China, and sometimes (if we're lucky) they come with these little gems.

It's always fun to try and guess what they mean with these labels. You can tell that it was run through a very poor computerized translation system. I really have a deep love for these babies. My only hope is that one day I can reach the "fragrant personal status."

P.S. Sorry about the poor picture. It was scanned from our copier, so obviously you don't get the best results with that.

Peach Days

Dave and I headed up to Brigham City for Peach Days a couple of weeks ago. We met up with Matt and the kids, my parents, AJ, Hil, and Griz. I'm not really sure what all goes on at Peach Days. The only thing I saw was the car show. Not really my thing, but it was good to be with family.

I guess Jonas is too cool to hug me now. That was sad to find out. At least he's still cuter than crud.

Zoie still likes to hug AND she's cuter than crud. Take that, Jonas.

Griz scared me when he snuck up behind me and put his cold, wet nose in my ear. I think he was as surprised to see me as I was to see him. Good times.

Yay for dog/owner portraits! It only took about 15 tries to get a shot of griz looking at me.

No trip to Brigham would be complete without going to Maddox. They have a very tasty burger, and the chocolate malts are dear to my heart. We wanted to get some peaches, because hello, it was Peach Days! Unfortunately, they weren't ripe, and they were going for $25 a box.

Dear Owners of Paul's Patch,

I will gladly keep my $25 and spend my money on ripe peaches going for $14 at a roadside stand. Thank you very much.

Scuba Diving - Hawaiian Style (Of Course)

Before we went to Hawaii, we decided it would be a good idea for me to get scuba certified. We knew we wanted to go scuba diving while we were there, and Dave was already certified. I took classes at a place in West Valley. They do a few sessions in the pool, then they take you to the crater in Midway when they think you're ready. It's a pretty scary feeling at first. It's almost like claustrophobia. But after I made myself calm down, I had tons of fun.

I obviously needed to get some gear for my class, and I found a really good deal at Sam's Club.

Unfortunately, thanks to my husband, my mask is now somewhere at the bottom of Lake Powell, but that's another story in and of itself.

Diving in Hawaii was definitely one of my favorite things we did while we were there. It was a completely different experience than diving in a pool or the crater. For one thing, you're way more buoyant. I had a really hard time getting under the surface. The dive master put a bunch of weight on me, but it didn't do much at all. I finally grabbed onto the anchor line and pulled myself down until there was enough water pressure to keep me under. That part of the dive experience was not so fun. The waves beat you around pretty badly when you're on the surface, and I definitely was in panic mode. Lots of bad things can happen while you're on the surface. Slamming my head into the side of the boat was my number one concern. Once I was under though, it was an awesome experience. Seeing all the different fish and other sea creatures was pretty darn cool. The science books you read in school don't do the ocean justice. A huge sea turtle came up to us and just checked us out for awhile. He seemed pretty interested in us. He was so close to me, I was actually able to reach out and touch him. When we got back on the boat, I was really excited to tell everyone that I had touched a sea turtle. One of the workers told me that it was illegal. Oops! Thankfully she just laughed it off and didn't report me :)

R.I.P. Mask: February 2010 - July 2010. You will be missed...

Off Roading - Hawaiian Style

Finding a starting point to update this thing is a little overwhelming, so I decided to go through my pictures and see if there was anything I wanted to comment on. Here are some pictures of our trip to Hawaii. We had such a good time, and I've never been so sad to go home after a vacation. Hawaii was awesome, and we'll definitely be going back.

We took a Jeep ride one of the days we were there, and this is what it looked like the whole way. Kind of scary when you're going along a crazy road with blind corners.

This is where we ended up. The cliffs here are huge! Thankfully the rain stopped right before the roads got REALLY bad. Let's just say it's a good thing we had 4 wheel drive.

Our noble steed. I want one of these babies. I think Jeep should buy this picture from me. What do you think? :)

New Goal

Alright, it's about time I step it up with this thing. I am making a goal to post something new once a week. Pretty crazy, I know. They may not be the coolest posts, so no complaints people! Just kidding. I doubt anyone is still following this thing anyway :) By the way, this doesn't count as this week's post.