The Brown Family: Muddy Buddy

Amy and I headed back to San Jose for another try at Columbia's Muddy Buddy race! This time we went by ourselves and had to leave our cheering section at home.

We're all set and ready to race here. The sun was shining and the weather was much warmer this year than last. We posed for a quick photo before getting in some warm up time in on the bike.

We were excited to wear our new matching running NuMu dresses! They turned out to be super cute and super comfortable and even easy to wear on the bike!

Amy had a great idea to tie a bright pink balloon on our bike so we could see it in the transition areas. We just had to make sure the string was short enough not to hit other bikers and riders on the trail!

Just the perfect length when the bike was on the ground!

We loved our pink polka-dot balloon! When I picked the bike up at the first transition I could see it from the top of the hill I was running down. It was so easy to spot in a sea of hundreds of bikes!

Combining our ages put us in the 2nd to the last heat! We had to wait an hour after the first heat began at 7:30. At least the weather was a lot warmer this year. While standing in line it was interesting listening to all the teams that had not done any training at all. Some hadn't even been on a bike in over a year or more! Amy and I trained some, not as much as we would've liked though. We did hit Mines Road several times to get used to riding up a hill on the bike.

There's our pink balloon at the end of the race!

My muddy pose in front of the Muddy Buddy travel trailer.

Amy gets quick pose post 10K bike/run and mud pit crawl.

Head to toe, front to back...I'm covered in mud! Love it!!

This is such a fun race! Who'd think we'd enjoy riding up a super steep hill for a mile (it was said at the race that the San Jose Muddy Buddy is one of the most difficult of all Muddy Buddy races around the nation!), feeling like I couldn't pedal one more inch, climbing over a wall, running 2-3 miles, walking a balance beam, sliding down a big inflatable slide, riding just one more time to then race through a pit of mud?! Can't wait to do it all again next year!

Fit moms rock! Love my Muddy Buddy, Amy!

Time to hit the showers!!! Here's one of the spickets attached with lots of hoses at the "showers."

Amy waits in line for her "shower!"

Muddy shoes, bib and socks!

Gotta remember the gear in the photos! I don't know how I got so much mud on my helmet! I must've dipped my head too deep in the mud while crawling under the ropes in the pit.

Another Muddy Buddy comes to a close...time to head back home. Until next year...