Dell Osso Mud Run

Months ago Josh came home and asked me if I wanted to do a mud run with him. I about died of shock. My husband does not enjoy running at all and he never exercise, let alone run. I of course was pregnant at the time and first asked if he was serious then asked when it would be. He said the Dell Osso Farm down the street was putting on a mud run near the end of September. I knew at that point I would have had about a little less than 4 months to heal from my c-section. I of course told him heck yeah I want to do a mud run. I personally enjoy running. I have not done it much since my half marathon back in 2008, but I knew my body would be able to handle it. My excuse is I would love a running partner and haven't found one, plus Josh leaves for work too early in the morning, and I hate exercising at night.  Anyways, back to the mud run. We had asked a few friends if they wanted to run in the mud run, but no one really seemed as excited as us. We also asked some family members. A few of them were as excited as me. We then decided that we would bless Mckinley in church that Sunday after the mud run since family would be in town.

We were very blessed to have both sets of grandparents here for the weekend. None of them did the mud run, but they had the responsibility of watching all the little kids so us adults could all run. The runners included...

Josh, Mal, Brother Josh, Christy, Rob, Braden, Bryce, Liz, Kevin

The 4 grandparents had 10 little kids age 10 and younger.

Josh and I in the shoot right before the ran began

Josh, Mal, Brother Josh, Liz, and Kevin

Liz found these awesome shirts all for $1. Kevin designed the logo. It was a picture of a pig and it said, "What's the mudder with you"

The race began and off we went!

The mud run was 3.2 miles long. Like I said earlier Josh does not exercise or run so he did not do any training for this run. He played soccer a few times throughout the summer, but thats it. Me on the other hand couldn't exercise for the 1st 6 weeks after having Mckinley which meant I had less than 8 weeks left to train. Well...I was lazy and had no desire to or time to get out and run. I kept pushing it out a week. I got to were we were a month out and so I decided to do a few of my workout DVD's. I did that about 5 times total. On a Saturday 2 weeks before the race I told Josh I have to go out and run, so I did just that. I went and ran 3.6 miles, just to prove to myself that I could do it. After that run I did nothing. Not the smartest thing ever! The day came and the race began. I felt pretty good most the time. I was of course the last in our little group. Josh and Brother Josh stayed with me. I did run the entire time, but not fast at all. It was a little hard because there is no way you could train for those obstacles. Having those throughout the course made the run that much harder for me. Being soaked by mud and having your feet weigh a good 3 pounds each made for a challenge. 

Some of the obstacles included...

Swimming through pools of mud and going under ropes, climbing up and over bunches of tires, climbing up and over bales of hay, climbing over walls with a rope, leaping over various sized walls, running through tires, balancing on a piece of wood over a trench, running zig zag through an empty narrow trench, running through hanging tires on chains while jumping through tires on the ground, swimming through a pool of floating pumpkins, and just running through the dirt with the sun beating down on you. You couldn't wipe the mud off your face, you couldn't lick your lips, your shoes were filled with water and dirt would just build up on them, and the mud dried on your skin so your skin felt very stiff.

The grandparents were all watching with the kids at the last obstacle, so we have no pictures throughout the race, but we have lots at the end.

The last obstacle included going up and down about 4 different dirt hills with each one leading into a big pool of mud and water. This is my nephew Braden! He was a ton faster than all of us!

My brother in law Rob climbing out of the pool of mud and water.

Kevin just getting over the dirt hill and on his way down into the pool of mud and water

Christy sliding down into the pool of water and mud. 

You can see in this picture the green ropes they had leading the way to the last obstacle. So you came running and you got to the first dirt hill. You don't even look muddy, but trust me we got muddy throughout the run, but it would dry as we ran between each obstacle. This picture shows Kevin and Bryce just getting into the first pool of muddy water.

Christy and Liz heading down into the first pool of muddy water.

Brother Josh and Josh climbing out of a mud whole

Finally out and ready to tackle the next dirt hill.

Josh and Josh climbing up yet another dirt hill!

Last there is me in the group. I was so tired and ready to be done at this pointI made it up the first hill and headed down into the muddy pool of water. I basically just leaped into the muddy water!

Everyone was yelling "go under", so of course I did just that!

Its hard going under muddy water and coming out and not being able to rub your eyes.

Trying to get the mud out of my face so I could see.

I made it through the first mud whole and headed onto the second pile of dirt. I could not get over. It was so slippery and wet that I just kept sliding back. I attempted many times, but just kept laughing at  myself and sliding back. I finally went to the side a little to get up and then went to the middle to head back down. 

Got down the dirt hill and just jumped into the water. My nephews all said I had splashed them. My bad!

I made it through that and got up and over the 3rd dirt hill

Got to the 4th dirt hill climbed up and saw this giant pool that I had to swim through before I could reach the finish line. I was not fast at all through each of these. I was so tired!

I just took my time and swam under each of the ropes.

I really just crawled through.

Last rope before getting out

Out of the mud and running the last little bit to the finish line. 

Brother Josh

I made it, just a little muddy!

Josh, me and Brother Josh. They gave us banana's and bottled water as we finished the race.

Christy and Bryce finished!

Braden finished 1st out of us 9.

Our group after the race! Brother Josh, Josh, Kevin, Mal, Lis, Braden, Christy, Rob, and Bryce is missing. 

The line for the showers was crazy long. We decided to walk to the river which was just a little bit down the road. We jumped in there to get cleaned off. Christy, Liz, Bryce, Kevin and I decided to just walk back to my house. It was like a mile back no big deal.

Overall I would totally do this again. I would definitely train a little better next time and tie my shoes a little tighter also. It was so much fun and I am so glad we had a group of us.

Aunt Jacie/ Kansas City

I wish I was so much more better at blogging. It serves as my journal and photo book. I hate feeling like I am constantly having to catch-up. I will keep doing it though and one day I will be better at it. 

A few weeks back we had the privilege of having Aunt Jacie fly to our house and stay for a couple of days. She flew in on a Saturday morning and Josh flew out that same morning to Kansas City to be with my brothers and dad. She stayed with the kids and I till Monday evening and Josh flew back home Monday evening. I was so GRATEFUL that she came and stayed with us. We had a fun time hanging out and being lazy. She and I had never spent that much time alone together. It was fun getting to know each other better. 

The kids hanging out! This was the day before she came. They like to play on the iPad. 

Payton is such a wonderful big brother! He loves to take care of his sisters.

While Jacie was here we really didn't take very many pictures. The kids did ride their bikes and had her watch them. 

Scarlett of course had her read books. Scarlett loves books!

Love these pictures

 She was able to spend a little time with each of the kids. They loved it.

Having her here was amazing. I would have never made it through church on Sunday without her. 1 adult to 3 kids can be very overwhelming at times. Most the time my kids are really good and will listen, but there are those times that it just seems like completely craziness. I was able to help out in Payton's class on Monday morning and Jacie kept the girls for me. She is the best!!! Its not very often that I get to help out, so it was nice to be able to go do that for a couple hours. When we took her to the airport Monday evening we dropped her off and then went and waited at the park and wait area at the airport for Josh's flight to get in. The kids did really well for those 2 hours that we were waiting there. 

During our time with Jacie Josh was off in Kansas City with my dad, brother in law, and brothers. They have a tradition of going to various baseball fields and watch a baseball game. They haven't been able to go for the past few years since my brothers have been on missions and things. This year they made it happen and went to Kansas City. 

 Danny, Josh, Josh and Jared in the mini van.

 The reorganized church's 'temple'. What a silly looking building!

 During their time they drove to a few different church sites that were close by. This is them watching a reenactment of something.

 At the Kansas City Royals game. They were all so excited because they got on the jumbo-tron like 3 different times. I am sure my husbands craziness helped that occur. 

 They had the privilege of going to Liberty Jail. All of them felt the spirit while there. Josh told me all about the building. It's crazy the way they built the building to make sure no one would escape. These pictures show that it was a 2 story building. The top floor was were the guards stayed. You can see in the middle of the room there is a square hole in the ground thats how they got prisoners in and out from the bottom level.

 As you can see from this picture the bottom level were the prisoners were kept was very dark and small. There was a believe one small little window that brought in some light during the day. The bottom level was not very tall from floor to ceiling. The men were in a very small, cramped space.

 They made each exterior wall very thick. As you can see from the pictures They had cinder block, gravel/rocks, and then wood.  There was only one entrance into the jail. Since the walls were so thick there were two doors back to back with a little space in-between them. Josh said the door locked only on the outside so the guard that was inside was locked in the building until their relief came to switch them and then that person would be locked inside. 

You can see from this picture that the space they had was cramped. I believe Josh even said Joseph Smith could not even stand completely straight up because he was too tall. These men were in there for a long time. I could not imagine what it was like for them. 

 A replica of the golden plates!

 The gang!

Jared, Dad, Josh, Dawson, Danny, Josh

They even went and took a tour of the Harley Davidson building which took them through and they got to see how Harley Davidson's were made. Josh was very impressed with the way this factory operated. He learned that every motorcycle that was being made was all ready bought by someone and they were each customized to that person.  He was amazed at how efficient and well organized the machines and assembly lines were.

He had a blast with the guys!

 He of course came home with gifts for the kids. They loved this and thought it was the coolest stuff ever!

Mckinley with her Royals bear. 

We did miss Josh while he was gone and are so glad he had such a great time. It was so fun having Jacie here with us. Look forward to many more years of this fun tradition in the Cambra family.