the orange door: unique living since 2007: Muddy Buddy

Didn't Matt just do some race that involved mud? Yes indeed, last weekend he did the Warrior Dash. This weekend, however, is another race with mud, the Muddy Buddy. Let's follow along.

Matt and his partner Bill get ready for the race. A port-o-pottie note. The Warrior Dash (with, admittedly, more people) had a much better ratio of port-o-potties to people. At the Muddy Buddy there were 10. Five here and five at the start line. Next year, I'd like to see double that number.

Despite my stern countenance, it was much easier to be an athletic supporter for this race this year than it was last year. Last year we had to be there at six, which meant we had to leave at five am. This year we had to be there at eight, which meant we left at a reasonable seven am. Also this year the time between the start of the race and the start of the awards ceremony seemed more compressed, which was also nice. Also, last year the race was in October and it was freezing. By which I mean the official temperature as we were driving to the race was freezing. This year it was three or four weeks earlier and much warmer. And this year it rained on the drive out, cleared up for most of the entire time we were outside and only began raining when we were leaving anyway. Lovely.

So many details to attend to.

Like prepping the shoes for the mud.

Bill arranges his number.

Finisher medals at the ready.

They were big, heavy things.

A preview of the finish line.

A preview of the mud pit right before the finish line.

Prepping the number for the helmet.

Excellent bed head.

Matt at the starting line.

Matt and Bill at the starting line, Matt demonstrating his layered effect.

Official starting line photo. This year there was a double loop which meant each person got to bike and run each segment.

More starting line readiness. If you look closely, you can see that Matt has again used the Ramen to mark the bike to avoid confusion.

A broad view of the starting line. Many of the "buddies" dressed alike, either in costume or in general athletic gear.

After Matt and Bill were off, I staked out a good spot for a mid-race picture. It was near the Muddy Buddy truck, which I assume carries all the equipment to each race.

Here's my framing shot.

I took a goodly number of practice photos, but still nearly missed Bill as he ran by.

I was better at capturing Matt on the bike.

The announcer, bored with waiting for the first racers to cross the finish line, began throwing Chex Mix samples across the mud pit to people on the other side. This was rather amusing to watch.

Before completing the last obstacle, the buddies had to meet up. The first one to arrive, waited in the holding area for the next one. Sometimes the wait was long and they got to chatting as with these participants.

"You can choose any height, or just run on through." These youth repeated that sentence over and over for each team that approached the climbing wall. Though they would happily let people run through, they did cheer most enthusiastically when people climbed the ropes.