After having trained an intense year working on countless start pieces, tedious hit-drills, and maddening power strokes in preparation for the racing season one may ask, "what does a Space Dragon do now that the season has ended?" Well, besides jammin' out together rockstar-style in a garage with Rock band, eating delicious grub, and/or simply drinking it up @ the local watering hole, the answer is simple...mud wrestling.If you're thinking of a challenging 10K run with hills, tire obstacles, river crossings, two 5-foot walls with mud on both sides, tunnel crawl, slippery hill climb, and the pièce de résistance--a final 30-foot mud pit then you've got your head in the right gutter (or should I say mud pit?).
Made up of 15 cut and chiseled Space Dragons, the Mud Dragons awoke from their caves (in some cases Tran's house) chipper and cheerful at 5:30am to breakfast, coffee, and a light serenade by yours truly.
After a long stint in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the off-ramp (and making sure no sneaky SUVs cut into the mix) , the Mud Dragons arrived safely for last minute sunblock applications, quick stretches, and pre-race (clean) team pictures.(note the clean white t-shirts...MUAHAHAHA!) ---------->
Finally, its 9 o'clock and at last the moment has arrived for the race start...Runners (Paddlers) take your mark...ATTENTION PLEASE...GO!! With dust in the air and 4,000 hearts pumping the Mud Dragons took the course, jockeying for position as neither fire hose spray nor river crossing would stop the raging fury of the Mud Dragons...although a photo-op might (course pictures from Galen coming soon).
The results you ask? Needless to say our Space Dragon men pulled out an impressive 10th place finish with a time of 1:10:54 (only 5 minutes behind 3rd place!), narrowly beating out teams with names such as the "Dogtown Demons" and the "Swampdonkeys." Team estrogen and YAY more estrogen also had interesting race sets which involved scenic route type photo-ops and breaststrokes (yes, breaststrokes...ask Galen for details)!
In the end, the day was filled with our usual infectious laughter, raucous energy, and did I mention delicious pizza and beer (the perfect post race food combo)?
Many thanks and love to our race team organizers Tina, Tran, and Robert for all the behind the scenes magic; Randy for cranking out those awesome Mud Dragon t-shirts; Robert and Jason for baking/cooking some amazing (not to mention addicting) pre/post race treats; Mayana and Jimmy for taking the role of paparazzi/hugging post (post-mud pit); and the entire Mud Dragon team for making those mud pits look oh so good!
So the next time you're considering a boisterous romp through the mud, consider doing it with us next time (TBA) because some things are "for sure" after the race end...Laughter, fun, and group showers!! =P
