Skip to main content

A Muddy Saunter

Last Saturday our family participated in "The Dirty Dash".  We had never done anything like this so we really didn't know what to expect.

We drove up to Soldier Hollow where it took place.  On the way, the traffic was a little heavy because the Utah Valley Marathon was taking place so one half of the road was blocked off.  There were a lot of really tired and hot-looking people walking and running down the road as we drove past.

After our 4 participants got their race packets with their T-shirts, they went to the starting line for their starting time of 10:40--when you sign up, you pick the time you start.  We could see a lot of the race course from the observation point which was on a ridge above the start and finish lines.  There were a lot more obstacles than we had realized there would be.  The whole race was a 5K and there were maybe 15 or more obstacles scattered throughout.

Obviously, the main point was to get really dirty.  Immediately after starting there was a big mud pit to get through and there were many more like it.





The very last obstacle was a very deep pit of muddy water which required help to get out of:



There was a Slip 'n Slide in the middle:



And other unique obstacles:


I didn't run the race; I sat on the side by the bleachers with our two youngest.  I have to admit, I was getting pretty tired of being there mostly because I had to listen to the very loud race starter who was doing all kinds of gimmicks to keep the people waiting to start entertained.

I had no idea where my family was on the race course, so after a while, I started asking the people coming up from the finish line when they started.  The first guy I asked said he started more than two hours earlier!  He confessed that they didn't run at all; they just walked.  It was really a social event--not a race.  I started feeling concerned this was going to take another hour! But after a few more minutes my son and daughter showed up.  They had actually run the whole course and finished it in a reasonably amount of time.  After a little longer my husband and older son also showed up.  We took our obligatory pictures:



My husband was the dirtiest of them all--he had gotten submerged at one point when he slipped in the mud.  They took some very cold, quick showers and then we headed home.  It was definitely a unique experience which they enjoyed but aren't looking to do again any time soon.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Do Dots Family System

The original post was written in January of 2015. I wrote an update at the bottom of this post in March 2021. A few months ago, a friend of mine told me about something she was doing in her family to help her family function better.  Her teenage autistic son had been struggling a lot so they had been working with behavior therapists to help him and this "Do Dots Family System" had been recommended.  As she described it, I was greatly intrigued since it sounded like something I wanted to implement at my own house. I looked into it and decided to purchase it right after Thanksgiving.  Here is my review of how it has worked for us over the last six weeks or so. The basic idea of the chart is that children need to take care of their responsibilities before they get any privileges.  It strongly reinforces the concept of "Work Before Play" .  The chart helps children see in a very visual way that, until they have completed their responsibilities, they are on Le...

Hansen Family Reunion 2024, Thursday afternoon

For lunch on Thursday, Lauren and Kurt made Cafe Rio which was delicious.  On Thursday afternoon, we had free time at the lake. Heidi and Aaron rented a pontoon boat and took people out for rides. This was very popular. Some of us went on the kayaks and/or swimming or just hung out on the beach.

2024 Hansen Family Reunion, Wednesday

Recently we had another Hansen Family Reunion at Bear Lake. We've been having these destination reunions since 2008. There were about 70 of us in attendance. Bruce and Michelle organized the activities and did a good job. I enjoyed myself! Hopefully lots of other people did too. We showed up on Wednesday afternoon and enjoyed a taco salad dinner, served by Neil and Kristie's family. We also worked on two mixer games:  a word search with the names of all 100 Hansen family members as well as a Bingo card that involved finding people with different attributes like recent high school graduation, birthdays in certain months, etc. The word search was definitely the most popular. Also popular was playing Nine-Square and Sandy Pickle (a cross between pickle ball and badminton). Thys and Katrina might have won! After dinner, we had an FHE activity/lesson. Liz had made a book with stories of the first ancestors to join the church. She had selected different stories for us to act out in g...