Tough Mudder!

Last year in October, Nate (George's brother) ran the Tough Mudder at Wintergreen. Inspired by the awesome pictures George took during the course, George and I decided we wanted to run one ourselves. So we signed up!

In April we ran a 5K mud run and while we completed the course without too much effort, we realized we needed to do some serious training before actually running the Tough Mudder or we were going to die. Yes, die.

Four months of squats, dead lifts, bench presses and pull-ups later, we felt fairly confident in our preparation.

I should have worked harder.

The morning of the Tough Mudder (September 8th) was beautiful. George, Nate, Amy and I piled in the car with my mom--our official photographer-- after dropping Jude and Cole off at Jen's house for most of the day and left with plenty of time to check in and make our heat of 11:40. So we thought.

Once we were within 3 miles of the course, the traffic came to a standstill. Two hours and only 1.5 miles later, we decided to leave the car with Mom and walk the last 1.5 miles to the course.  We got there, checked in, bought t-shirts, used the bathroom, got our running gear on and even had time to wait around before mom came almost TWO HOURS later! Needless to say, we did not make our original heat time.

Before.

Not too bad for having three kids!

Don't you love George's shorts? Amazing.

On our way to join our new heat at 1:20. I love that we're all in step together. No, it wasn't planned that way.

Yes, Nate does look like a gay highlighter. He was probably the most popular person there and was asked several times if he would take pictures with other runners. Another plus: we never lost him during the race.

Because everyone had a hard time getting to the venue, our heat was enormous. All the people who were unable to run in the morning joined in the last few heats, so it was packed.

Warm up!

Fake start! See that storm behind us?

We had a little fake start and some 8-foot Berlin walls to muscle over before we got to the "real" start.

They gave us a pep talk and had us take our Tough Mudder pledge and then we were off!

I think the excitement of it all was getting to me. I look a little doofus in this picture. It reminds me of P!nk running on the treadmill in her music video of "Stupid Girl" when she's making fun of the other girls. Nice.

Running... it just started to rain right here.

Because it was lightning, we were not allowed to do our first obstacle--the Arctic Enema. Basically you jump into huge dumpsters filled with ice water. I wasn't too too sad to miss it, but bummed that they were cutting out obstacles. So we all did some slides in the mud to make up for it.

Mom was a champ and took our pictures in the beginning and then began the looooong wait for us to get to the end where she could take pictures of us at the last few obstacles. She had to sit through an intense storm and probably intense boredom. Thanks, Mom!

George decided to take our little water proof camera with us and was our official photographer for much of the course. The pictures aren't the best quality, but they capture the race perfectly.

Next up, crawling underneath barbed wire.

It hurt! There were little rocks under all that mud that made it difficult to crawl.

Hay bales!

Yeah, Nate! There I am climbing up.

Amy conquering the bales.

3 miles into the race. :) It was raining hard!

Obstacle: Carry your wood. You had to grab a piece of wood and trudge it up a hill and then back down. If you look in the distance, you can see the loooong line of people carrying their wood (*giggle).

You can see Amy throwing her piece of wood back onto the pile. And it's still raining.

More barbed wire.

See those rocks? Yeah. These were hard for me because it HURT!

Nate was consistently ahead of us the whole time. He would run to the next obstacle and wait for the rest of us to catch up. He was a good sport about being held up.

Here Nate goes into these very dark tunnels they dug. They twisted a bit so you had to feel your way around as you crawled.

George went into the hole feet first. Lucky for me, I was short enough I could crouch and crab-walk through it instead of crawl. I was done with the crawling.

Walk the Plank. This event was scarier than it looked. We had to wait about 20 minutes before we could jump because there were so many people trying to do it. Basically you climbed up a slanted Berlin wall to get to the top and then had to jump about 15 feet into the water below.

Here's Nate about to do his jump.

It doesn't seem that high, but when you're up there, the water looks so far away.

George getting ready. I think this may have been the scariest event for me, once I got to the top. I was scared I would jump on top of someone (or vice versa). We all survived and it ended up being really fun!

More hay bales--even taller this time.

I'm the girl with the pink belt. You can see Nate in front.

Almost there!

Amy!

Electric Eel--you had to crawl through water under live wires.

Nate developed a "rolling" strategy that seemed to work.

I got shocked twice while I crawled.

George took Nate's lead and rolled, too.

Amy made it all the way through without any shocks! Good job!

On to the Water Tunnel event. Not really sure why it's called a tunnel since all it really involved was swimming underneath floating barrels. The hardest part of this event was getting in and out of the lake. You pracitically fell in from all the mud, walked out to the floating barrels, swam under them and then had to literally drag yourselves out of the water on your hands and knees because the mud made it almost impossible to get any traction.

The water felt really warm. It was a nice obstacle.

Second set of Berlin Walls. These were HUGE!

It definitely took two people helping you to make it over. Hard and hard again.

Dirty Ballerina. We were supposed to do this obstacle second (after Arctic Enema), but because of the lightning it was closed at the beginning of our race. They re-routed us to allow us to do it at mile 7, but by that time we were so tired and spent, the four-foot wide trenches could have just as easily been 10 for how well we cleared them by jumping.

George and Nate did a pretty good job.

This is what Amy and I looked like through every single trench. In and out, in and out. It took forever and may have been the most challenging for me because the rocky mud did a number on my hands and knees.

Next up: our favorite obstacle--the Mud Mile!

 Mom camped out here for a while and took some picture of other participants, but left to get ready to take our pictures at another obstacle before we made it there. Basically you had to make it over numerous piles of muddy clay that had 18 inches of slurry between them.

Here Nate and I are about to go over the first one.

This wasn't muddy water--it was watery mud. Seriously, it was the consistency of pudding.

Besides it being slippery, the climbing wasn't bad because the mud was more like clay--you could dig your fingers in to get some leverage. (Nasty note: George kept the camera lens clean through all of this with his tongue. Yes. He licked the camera clean.)

The best part was sliding back down the other side of each mound--it was too slippery to walk down, so slide you must, only to land with a thick splash in the slurry below. Awesome.

My camera-licking skills are just not as refined as George's. I tried to get a picture of him coming up over the mound, but this is the best I got. Sorry, Love! The Mud Mile left us completely covered in mud. We were brown from head to toe.

The Funky Monkey! 

Basically you had to make it across these monkey bars that were peaked in the middle--you're pulling yourself upward for the first half. Easy enough, except that you're caked in mud, you can't wipe your hands clean and each rung is covered in wet nastiness.

 Nate's attempt.

He made it almost to the middle before he had to drop.

My turn! Poor Mom had been waiting here forever. Luckily I picked her out of the crowd and got her attention, so she was able to see us do this part of the course.

Go!

You're. Almost... not there. 

I got to about here and couldn't muscle my way any farther.

Into the water I go!

Next up, Amy!

She did a great job, especially since all the bars were covered in mud.

Keep going!

In to the water.

Sisters!

George was up last (since he was taking Nate's picture).

Yeah, baby!

Nope.

I love this picture.

Just a few more obstacles to go!

Next up--Twinkle Toes.

Amy waiting her turn.

You had to balance across these wooden beams.

So I know it's called the "Tough Mudder", but that's because many of the obstacles involve mud (clearly). However, thanks to the rain, "tough mudder" soon developed a whole new meaning.

This is what the entire course looked like after the first two miles. If it wasn't three inches of slick, slippery slide-y mud, it was paths covered in baseball-sized rocks that threatened to twist your ankle every other step. Honestly, I'd take the mud over the rocks, but it sure made running fast nigh impossible.

Can you tell we were freezing at this point?

On our way to Mt. Everest.

Mt. Everest. A half-pipe they keep slippery with water, mud and vegetable oil. Nice.

In order to get to the top, you take a running start and try to catch either the top ledge of the pipe or the people's outstretched hands at the top.

By the time we got there, the line that had formed was so long, they were only letting people try once to make it up. If you didn't make it you could either go around the obstacle to finish the race or you had to get back in line. We had been in line for so long (about 20 or 30 minutes), we all decided we would try it once and if we didn't make it, oh well.

Nate made it! Thanks to the guys that brought the rope, he was able to climb up the last little bit.

George almost made it. He jumped high enough to grab hands, but slipped.

He would have made it if we had tried again.

I almost made it, too. I actually grabbed the guy's hand, but slipped out.

:(

Amy actually grabbed the rope and held on for a while trying to get the last few feet up the ramp.

These guys were so great to help her out, but in the end she was just too tired and told them to let go.

It's harder than it looks!

We were on our way to the finish line when George realized he dropped the little camera, so he and I turned around and started back toward Everest looking for it. Fortunately, a nice lady had picked it up and gave it back to us. Whew!

On our way to the last Obstacle:

We had to run through live wires that were being charged by car batteries. I didn't get shocked at all (thank goodness!) but I heard that it delivered quite a kick.

We did it!

Official Tough Mudders.

We got our coveted orange head bands, a t-shirt and a wonderful foil blanket. I don't think I've ever been colder in my life. I couldn't stop shaking and wasn't even able to shower off because I was so, so cold.

See that banana? Every two miles during the course they had water stations that gave out cups of water and bananas. Have you ever had a really warm banana? I couldn't decide if I liked it or hated it. I guess I was just grateful to have something to eat, even if it was a hot, squishy banana. Yum.

Gosh, I love you, George Glass!

Mom was such a champ! She took 12 hours out of her busy life to come cheer us on in the rain and mud. Thanks, Mom!

And a special Thank You to Jen for watching the boys most of the day, and then Laura who watched them that night (with a migraine) until we got home around 8:30 p.m. You guys are the best!

If you asked me the day of the Tough Mudder if I wanted to do it again, I would have probably said "no". However, a couple days later I was already trying to figure out how to run it again and all the logistics involved.

The next one is in April 2013. So the big question is: anyone wanna join our team?

Camping, Air Show, and San Diego--Lance's summer

Lance has had a busy summer! While he spent much of it hanging out in Charlottesville with us, he spent several large chunks of it with his dad doing some really fun things.

First up, camping with the Young Men on April 20th. Lance's dad is a young men's leader so Lance has been able to attend several events and camp outs. Lucky boy!

Apparently this is how Lance hiked the whole time. He had to go to the bathroom a lot.

Serious hiking face.

Oh man! Hanging out in the hammock. Lance was probably in heaven.

Next up, Scott got to chaperone a Kindergarten field trip to the Nature Preserve in Richmond on May 9th.

Turkey vultures.

Bald eagles!

And bears! Lance was really excited his dad got to come. Scott was so good to take so much time off work to drive all the way down here to do this with Lance.

And it wouldn't be the summer with their annual trip to the Air Show at Andrews Air Force Base--May 18th.

Camping again --June 16th.

This is such a Lance picture. I think he was a monkey in another life. Or this life.

Visiting Arlington Cemetery--July 1st.

And, of course, San Diego--August 11th-21st!

Lance's uncle Dan was leaving on a mission, so right after we got home from Florida, Lance was off on another airplane flying out to catch his Farewell. He and his cousins got to sing "I'm trying to be like Jesus" in Sacrament meeting. Scott said Lance did a great job and was so cute singing up on the stage. Good job, Lance!

While in San Diego, they went to Sea World a few times.

Megalodon jaws on display at Sea World.

Cousins Clare, Parker, and Austin with Aunt Jessica watching a show.

Lance and his dad at the show.

Lance has been right on the cusp of 48 inches all summer (remember Busch Gardens?) and finally made the cut at Sea World! He got to ride the newest coaster "Manta" while he was there. He was hesitant at first, but LOVED it!

Getting ready to ride with Uncle Pete and cousin Calvin.

Lance and Calvin. It is so obvious how he feels about the ride. Love it!

Visiting some cool hands-on exhibits.

Alligator!

And of course being in sunny San Diego, he got to go to the beach with his cousins.

The Gondas take their dog Tressel to the local dog beach and have a great time playing in the sand. 

One day when they were there, Tressel got attached by a dog even bigger than him--impressive because Tressel is a Rhodesian Ridge-back and weighs about 140 lbs!

Poor dog! He had to get that flap of skin removed so they could suture the area closed cleanly. 

And here is a picture of all the Dahlquist grandkids:

Parker, Lance holding Austin, Lexey, Calvin holding Jo, and Clare.

Lance had a busy, fun summer!