Unfortunately, due to the extreme muddiness, we didn’t take our camera on the run with us so we were only able to get a few pre-race photos prior to getting utterly filthy. By the end of the race though, I don’t think there was a single clean spot on either of us. The race weaved back and forth around the Soldier Hollow bowl and consisted of tons of sloppy mud, several snow machines to ensure that the mud didn’t dry up and lots of obstacles. We proceeded to slip, slide and crawl over, under and through multiple challenges which ended in us being muddier and wetter than we were before each. A portion of the race even went out into a pond and consisted of “running” about a quarter mile in waste deep water. We climbed rope towers, played on a rope swing, climbed through large drain pipes and ended the race by sliding down about a hundred yard water slide.

At the end of the race, Emily donated her shoes to charity and I donated mine to the trash (Nike shoe foam apparently has about a 20 year shelf life and my high school track shoes decided to give it up about 3/4′s of the way through the race). We also got to take a group shower in water which was apparently piped directly from the arctic ocean. It was actually cold enough to cause a brain freeze from the outside and the end result was a severe lack of cleanliness because we couldn’t stand it in long enough to actually get clean without fear of losing extremities to frostbite. We made up for it by having lunch in Midway though. All in all it was a fun outing and I was only sore for about a week afterward. Hopefully we’ll find some muddy photos, but until then, here’s our pre-race outfits.

As we got a bit of a late start we stopped off in Park City for some Wendy’s (and to let the Jeep cool off a bit). After finishing our Frostys, we arrived at the campground and setup our tent. Jack played with Cutwer and the rest of the boys while I got things set up and then we sat around the fire and roasted some marshmallows. After a short fireside we went to lay down in our tent. Luckily I had good coverage on my phone and we got to watch a few episodes of the old 1960′s Spiderman series on Netflix.

The next morning we woke up and had an excellent breakfast of pancakes, eggs and bacon. After taking the tent down Jack and I went on a walk around the campground and spent some time throwing rocks in the river. We then proceeded to wade into the river and Jack ended up on his can in the water after trying to stand on a rather mossy rock. Once Jack was in some dry clothes we played some frisbee with the Tomers and threw his football around for a bit. Even though it was a short outing, we had fun sleeping in the tent and sitting around the fire.

Regardless of the overheating issues though we had some good times putting the Jeeps through their paces and using them for the purpose the great creator intended. We forged rivers, played in dirt holes and climbed the lower portion of The Rock Garden. It was a great outing and one which I wish I had time to enjoy more often.

Anyway, in an effort to be fair, Jack and I also went to Yogurtland. His choice was very similar to Annie’s and he ended up with strawberry yogurt with blueberries (cause I had some) and gummy bears. It was an interesting choice, but I respect his ability to make wise decisions (I was actually just curious to see if he’d eat it). We had a face making contest and then ran around on the playground in the cold afterward. It was a fun outing.

As you can see below, Annie and I went to Yogurtland down in Jordan Landing. I had the tart fruit mix with strawberries, raspberries and blueberries on top and Annie had the strawberry yogurt with mini gummy bears on top (disgusted shiver). We spent some time making faces and talking about dance class and primary but mostly Annie was distracted by activity going on around her. She commented on what everyone was getting and the strawberries in the water cooler and the colored spoons and everyone’s reflections in the glass and the fire pit outside Iggy’s. Basically I had a tough time retaining her attention, but we still had fun and she thoroughly enjoyed her gummy bear filled strawberry yogurt.

Since the switch to digital signal this past year, there is a new “kids” channel called Qubo. This channel is designed specifically for kids and tends to show the cheaper range of cartoons and kids programming. Most of the shows they broadcast are the rejects from Sunday morning pbs, but recently I found that they have started a “Night Owl” session akin to Cartoon Networks “Adult Swim”. The Qubo version is much less adult, but they are catering towards a more adult crowd with their selection of programming. And this brings me back to the greatest cartoon of all time. It seems that Qubo has obtained the rights to the Filmation library and along with Brave Star and The Ghostbusters (not to be confused with The Real Ghostbusters), they have begun showing He-man and the Masters of the Universe. It’s truly an awesome thing!

It’s always interesting to go back and watch shows again that you enjoyed as a kid to see if you can try to figure out why you liked them so much, but with He-Man the answer is obvious. He’s a friggin’ barbarian with a magic sword that kicks the crap out of bad guys during every episode. Not to mention the fact that all the women on the show are of the “Amazonian” type that share the ability of bad guy butt kicking and all while wearing rather skimpy armor. There’s no question that the show is a bit cheesy, but unlike other cartoons from my childhood, I find myself enjoying the nostalgia of it. And the funny thing is, my kids love it too. I must admit that it’s kinda fun to share one of my favorite childhood shows with my kids and watch them get just as much enjoyment from it as I did when I was their age. I guess a good thing never goes out of style. So if you’ve got a hankerin’ for some good old fashioned Eternian barbarian butt kickin’, tune into Qubo around 10:30pm and enjoy.

I HAVE THE POWER!!!

For those who are unfamiliar (don’t worry, I had no idea what this thing was when I agreed to it), it’s basically a race that makes you pray there will be someone waiting at the finish line with a gun for you to shoot yourself with. The race begins in Logan and then winds 190 miles up the backside of the Wasatch to end somewhere round about Park City (Course Map). The race takes the better part of 2 days and we’ll be running straight through the night. Each of the 12 team members gets 3 legs of the race for a total of around 15-20 miles and spends all of their non-running time packed into a couple minivans which follow whomever the current runner happens to be. Basically it’ll be 2 days of tired, cramped, smelly hell. Fun, huh?

This is a happy pre-death picture

Anyway, the main point of this post is to solicit support from our dear beloved readers. Emily and I have joined up with several friends from my new job to be on one of two “Cancer Teams” that will be running the race. The main difference between a regular team and a “Cancer Team” is that all of our entry fees will be going to the American Cancer Society. The only downside to this is that the entry fees/donations for the Cancer Teams are much steeper than are those of the regular teams and this is where you, my dear readers, come into the picture. Emily and I are humbly asking for your monetary support in the way of donations to the American Cancer Society as we train for this brutal ordeal. Please feel free to donate as much or as little as you can and be assured that all donations will go to the ACS in the form of one lump sum donation that will be put together by the members of our team. Emily and I will need to come up with $700 for our part of the donation so every little bit helps. The only thing we can offer in thanks is the hard work we’ll put into trying to survive this thing as well as a promise to have someone post pictures of our limp and lifeless bodies located wherever we happen to collapse between Logan and Park City. Thanks in advance for your support and prayers for our survival. We’ll need em.

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Bus to Beelzebub Team Donation

Or you can donate via PayPal below and we will include your portion with our team donation.