So, I told you last time that I had hurt my calf muscle running right? Well, turns out that it wasn’t my calf muscle but my soleus as I was able to determine with the help of my buddy who is a track coach. He said “Go get new shoes, stat!” So I did and voila! – no more pain. I’m kicking myself now for not consulting him sooner but he does live all the way over in New Zealand…however, email is easy enough right? Ha ha. Anyway, point being, we’ve been able to start running again and have been getting more and more mileage in over the days. I’m somewhat stressed about it, but at the same time look at it as a challenge that I want to attack head on. I’ve been running with the stroller during the day – which, I will say is harder than HELL – and have then been adding on some mileage with Tommy at night…if he ends up getting home at a decent hour.

We’re still doing strength training all over the place so I’m not worried about any of the obstacles…Ok, that’s a lie. There is ONE that is scaring the hell out of me. That would be the ICE BATH. Yikes!! Basically you jump into a pool full of ice cubes, duck under a divider and jump out the other side. Why is this scaring me?? Several people have commented on the Mudder website that after this obstacle, they were yanked from the race because of hypothermia. Seeing as I almost got hypothermia on my HONEYMOON of all things, I’m nervous about how I’m going to handle the intense cold factor. Sooo, we’ve decided to run a mock race when we head to NM for Christmas. It is going to be colder than hell there and a ditch runs through our neighbors property that we’re going to jump into and then run down the canyon for a couple miles to see how we manage it. I’m planning on asking my bro to take some pics of us so we can share them with you…stay tuned!!

Training has been steady and even though it hasn’t been too long, we’re starting to see and feel the results. We’ve decided to incorporate some of our climbing training into our routines to give us upper body strength. After not being on a hangboard for a while, our forearms were absolutely wrecked. But we’ve been able to hang for a little bit longer everytime. It’s small, but progress nonetheless. I strained my calf the other night running from not hydrating or stretching enough. Stupid really and a mistake that I can’t afford since we have such a short time to get in good shape. Tomorrow is a running night so we’ll see how I do. It still aches a little bit, but I’ll make sure to give it a proper warm up before running on it. Other than that, we’re slowly getting there. Tom is doing good, but still hates running, of course. The boys LOVE riding in the stroller while we’re running and pushing it. Atleast SOMEONE is enjoying it, right!?

So in an earlier post, I referenced a race that we’re running in January called the Tough Mudder. If you’ve never heard of it, check out the website here. This race is insane. It’s held globally and touts that it’s probably the “Toughest event on the Planet.” Courses are roughly 11 miles long with obstacle courses peppered throughout that include walls, freezing cold water, mud and live electrical wires. You shouldn’t be suprised that our buddy Vollmer (crazy monkey climber and fellow crew member) was the one that tipped us on to this thing. He sent me an email while I was still pregnant joking that he would be my trainer if I decided to run it. Well, after reading up on it and watching some inspiring videos, I got the bug. We emailed back and forth and decided we’d run it together and try to recruit as many other people as possible. I was almost positive that Tommy would say NO since he is constantly saying that running is the “Devil’s work” and hates anything that has to do with it. Well, I was floored when I pitched the idea to him and he said he’d do it. I tried my hardest to recruit Matty but he sounded completely disinterested. He said he’d check his calendar but was “pretty sure” he was attending a Cannibal Corpse or Cattle Decapitation concert that weekend. April was a go at first but later found out that she has a wee baby Vollmer due in May so she’ll be cheering us from the sidelines. Other people have said they’ll join us, but haven’t committed yet, so we’ll see. For now, there are three of us and that is, of course, a crowd. 🙂

So after having Will in August and being a wreck through early September, I’m finally healthy enough to start training. It’s going to have to be pretty intense seeing as we have about 3 months get into good enough shape to run the whole thing without it kicking our ass. So last night we went and bought some new running shoes for motivation and decided that today is our first official training day. We’ll keep you posted on our progress…let’s hope it’s good!!

So yesterday Matty, myself, Tommy and Will headed up the mountain to attend a wedding for our buddies Steph and Jared. We had to drive basically all way up the mountain and then get shuttled back down to Windy Point (which is about half way up) and go to this lone spire near the parking lot called Hitchcock Pinacle.  At the campground where we left the car to get carpooled back down, it was raining which basically foreshadowed the rest of the evening but we didn’t realize until later how bad it was going to get.  So we all hopped the van and were driven back down to the site. Upon arriving the weather looked OK and we were impressed with the way the nuptials looked like they were going to go.

At the tip top of the spire, which is roughly about 30 feet ( I think) stood a guy who looked to be performing the ceremony. The groom (Jared) threw on his harness and climbed to the top as well – while also wearing a tux! The guests were chilling out at the bottom of this rock mingling and commiserating on the crazy approach hike to this location. While it wasn’t too far from the parking lot, it WAS fairly steep and some ladies made the treck in high heels which seemed absolutely insane. They did tell us to wear the appropriate attire but I suppose, like myself, they thought it would be on more even ground. Anyway, I had flip flops on, Will on my chest and was wearing a  long ass skirt that i kept stepping on so between trying to find good footing, not falling on my baby and not de-pantzing myself, I was a little flustered. However, we did find a good place to hang out and then began waiting for the bride (Steph) to arrive.

After about 45 minutes of waiting and mingling, we noticed dark clouds rolling in to our left. On top of the rock, the guys were looking a little weary. Wouldn’t it be nice to be struck by lighting on your wedding day? Not only that but we were given these little paper binoculars to see to the top so we assumed that Steph would be climbing up to the top as well which would most likely take 5-10 minutes and she hadn’t even arrived yet. Suddenly the wind started picking up and we began to feel a couple drops of rain…just as we saw Steph walking down the sidewalk to make her way up to the rock. Within a couple of seconds the weather went from little rain drops to big ones and then to full on hail. It was coming down fast and we were soaked within a matter of minutes. Steph made her way up to a smaller rock on the side of the big one and Jared repelled down and gave her a quick kiss for a photo op and then it was every man for himself. People scattered everywhere trying to get back down to their cars or the vans and it was hilarious. I needed help from Tommy and Kevin to not trip and fall and kill my poor baby so it took a little time but Kevin saved our butts and offered up his car for shelter. We all hopped in but were absolutely soaked.

We made our way back up to the campground and it was pouring rain. After getting Will some food we went and gathered under the veranda with all the other people and Steph told us we were going to eat first to stay warm and then after that they’d probably try the ceremony again. Meanwhile, I was freezing and wet and trying to warm up but to no avail. After about an hour and a half, the food was finally ready and we had some good eats. So at about 7:30 or so, it was time for a second try. We all sat down and watched the two sweethearts finally say their vows. It was short, sweet and beautiful. Then for the first dance. The DJ played some kind of Russian song and the bride and groom tore up the dance floor. It was absolutely amazing to see Steph move around like that in her wedding dress! After dancing, the cake was cut and we ate some red velvet deliciousness. By that time however, Tommy and I were pooped and said our goodbyes and made our way back down the mountain.

This wedding was the coolest one I think I’ve ever been too. Maybe that’s not saying much since I can count the number of weddings I’ve attended on one hand, but Steph and Jared were absolute troopers after getting rained out and demoralized – they just kept rolling with the punches and smiling the whole time. It was a fun atmosphere and we got to catch up with a lot of good people we hadn’t seen in a while. Even though we got soaked and were cold for most of the night, the company was great and it was a lot of fun to see our buddies start a new chapter together.