Running for Fun

Scott and I have participated in some fun running events in the past couple months. Wait - "fun running events"? That's an oxymoron right? For Scott, no, he truly enjoys it. For me, yes, although despite how much I hate running, these past couple races have actually been pretty fun. You might be asking yourself why do I run if I hate it so much? Because I'm crazy? No, but really, it's because if I don't sign up for these various fun runs and 5Ks, then I would never get off my butt in the first place. I would be spending even more time than I already do contemplating my next Words with Friends move. And truthfully, although I sometimes dread putting on my running clothes, and sometimes those training runs are painful, I have to admit, I'm always glad I pushed myself in the end. 

Scott, his brother Shaun, and his friend Matt all did the Wisconsin Tough Mudder in September. Tough Mudder is this crazy 10-12 mile run and obstacle course where you jump into freezing cold water, run through fire and get electrocuted, among other things. Talk about psycho. 

They prepared by shaving their hair into mohawks (but then all forget to put sunscreen on their freshly shaven heads for the race) ;)

Lookin' tough:

In the end, they all survived to tell about it and immediately started planning their team for next year.

Future Tough Mudder?

A few weeks ago, our whole family participated in the Barneveld Great Brigham Road Run. It was a twilight run around the village. We all wore neon t-shirts and glo-necklaces. Scott and I ran while Scott pushed the kids in the stroller. It was a 1.5 mile run/walk. By some miracle, I ended up being the first female finisher of the race and won a balloon bouquet and Subway gift card! I attribute my win to the fact that I was running with Scott and he pushed me to run my fastest 1.5 mile time, and also to the fact that the competition was pretty sparse ;)

And finally, the Color Me Rad 5K - this race was really fun, despite the cold, rainy weather.
We started out looking like this:

And ended up like this:

You basically run the course and every 5 minutes or so, get pelted or sprayed with a different color! At the end of the race there's a giant color bomb fight. It was a lot of fun, and a great thing to do together.

So there you have it, probably the last of the races for 2012. Now looking forward to 2013...