Some Great pics of the boy. He is getting so big and so grown up. I miss him every second of every day he's not here.

Hurt in the Dirt!

July 31, 2010 - I took part in an endurance duathlon called the "Hurt in the Dirt" in Ogden. It was 4 miles trail run/10 miles mountain bike ride/4 miles trail run/1o miles mountain bike ride. There was a 4 hour time limit, I did it in 3:19 - if my run had been a bit stronger the time would have been much better because my bike laps were really good. ANYWAY, it was a total blast - I'll give you a little detail as we look at some pictures:

This is getting ready to take off on the shotgun (they literally started and ended the race with a shotgun blast) start. The run started with a 100 meter dash to jump over a fence (see below)


and then proceeded into densely forested areas where we had to jump logs, duck under branches, run through the river (twice),

(missing a head, but that's me in front!)

climb a looooong set of stairs to a plateau in the park and then descend the steps on the other side, only to have to run up a steep embankment and immediately descend a sandy slope to a, what I like to call, duck and jump - there was a fallen tree to jump over with a low lying branch right above it - so I, being somewhat tall - had to duck and jump at the same time, pretty funny looking, I'm sure! We had to zigzag through thick undergrowth, dodge branches, run through gravel and do it all 4 times! (2 laps per leg to equal 4 miles) Then we transitioned to mountain bikes (and yes, I intentionally left out the part where I had to walk for 5 minutes to shake off cramps in my calves! you don't need to hear about that...) -

(taking off after first transition)

The mountain bike course had fallen trees to bunny hop, gravel beach along the river to dig through, 5 climbs (some had names - heartbreak hill, "Ouch", pain in the ash (a section that had a fire a week ago or so) - two of which were so bumpy it was like climbing up the buzz strips on the side of the freeway - you know, the ones that wake you up if you drift over too far??? Yeah, SUPER bumpy (not to brag, but I made EVERY climb! Riding with Sean and Paul definitely gets the climbing skills honed)! Then there was the "hike a bike" about a 1/2 mile section of 1' deep sand that you could not ride your bike through, I tried every time - hahahaha! By the third time through, I was ticked, but then SO happy when I could get back on the bike and hightail it out of there! There were a couple of really technical downhill sections that I bombed down (again, riding with Sean and Paul is the key!) and had a big grin on my face the whole way - the climb is the work, the downhill is the payoff! There was more zig-zagging through the forest on some TIGHT single-track, lots of dodging obstacles, a couple of places to jump off the bike and climb rocks or fallen trees, just good old-fashioned crazy fun!

So, I finished pretty strong, I was very happy the race ended on the bike because I could really push the last mile or so, whereas running I probably would have limped over the finish line. When I finished, a bunch of my friends had shown up to cheer me on - they were awesome during the race - screaming for me to get going as I passed them on each lap - and Roosters pub had mugs of root beer for the racers - strange recovery drink, but REALLY tasty, I highly recommend it!


My cheerleading crew! Adam, Marcee (who was also my coach on this race), Syd, Christine - who found her new love at this race as he ran by her, took a triple-take, and made a good enough impression that she went and got his number after the race, and Jess - who has been to 3 of my races now! These are some awesome friends!!! Thanks guys!!!

So, that was a fun race - 20 miles of biking and 8 miles of running through a crazy course. Luckily it was fairly cool for most of the race. We even had a little rain to keep the dust down and me cooled off! I had a blast and I will definitely be back next year!!! Those of you reading this, should be racing with me ;-)