2013 Summary!

2013 has come to an end!  And if you remember from our very first post our goal for 2013 was to run one race every month.  If we doubled up one month, we still had to run one the next month.

Unfortunately we didn't hit every month, August and October ended up being very poor and busy.  We were prioritizing and budgeting as Ben likes to call it for the Disneyland Half Marathon in August, and in October was busy with football season and getting ready for #500Strong for homecoming.

We had some awesome memories however!

From our first run at Grassmere Zoo in Nashville for the Zoo Run Run then heading over and grabbing some spiked milkshakes at Burger Republic.

Starting 2013 off Right with the Zoo Run Run at Grassmere!

Then doubling up in February and doing the Royal Family 5K followed by the Princess Half Marathon!

Royal Family 5K at EPCOT

 And, while we didn't know it at the time, we were finishing half the runDisney Coast to Coast Challenge with running the Princess Half Marathon!

Princess Half Marathon in Disney World!

 While i'm not sure if it was the best idea, we certainly tested the limits running in the elements of the 2013 Charlotte Spartan Race

Then making it a family affair in March at the Color Run!

Color Run with the Famliy!

Then we headed to Georgia for the 2nd Annual Party of the Southland Adventure Weekend for Warrior Dash!

PartyOTS Adventure Weekend 2013

We brought a couple newcomers with us for Foam Fest in Nashville.  While it was our least favorite race of the year, the Banderas made it much better!

BANDERAS!

Then we all busted out our #Swag for the first Urban Obstacle Course by Muddy Buddy!

#SWAG

We learned at the Fourth of July 10K that after a 10K, 2 beers is my limit for re-hydration.  3 beers, and I feel terrible.

Sisters at the Fourth of July 10K

Then we missed our first Tennessee home game in 20 years to complete the runDisney Coast to Coast Challenge at the Disneyland Half Marathon!

After just running through the castle

We met some friends from college as they also completed their Coast to Coast Challenge.

The whole crew at the Disneyland Half Marathon!

Then we nearly froze to death at the BoroDash in Murfreesboro on Thanksgiving!

Ben and Jenn at the starting line!

And we finished it off with the Christmas Story 10K virtual Race!

It's a Major Award!

We look forward to repeating some races in 2014, trying some new ones, and continue to run in our drinking shoes!

Muddy Buddy Nashville

Finally, a obstacle race where we are running it as a group and we don't have to travel.  This is the first time we've done a race as a group and not had to stay in a hotel. We signed up for Muddy Buddy.  It was their first race in a downtown setting.

We invited everyone over to our house Friday night where we ate supper then the girls had to go out to get shirts for everyone.  We were going to decorate shirts - because what fun is a Buddy Run without matching costumes?  It was getting late (probably 10:00) and we didn't really want to decorate shirts so we looked around and lo and behold we found them.  The perfect shirts!

#Swag

#Swag Shirts. Awesome.  Words cannot describe the joy the boys were in when we showed up with these shirts for them to wear.

We went to bed and had a 5:00 alarm set for the next morning.  It was then that some of the girls realized that we don't drink coffee, nor do we have a coffee maker. There were cuss words....and a stop to the gas station.

We got to the race and met up with another member of our group who cannot tell the difference between the North and South side of the stadium that he's lived by for almost 10 years.  That guy checked his bag, then realized he forgot his arm band, ran back to his bag got it, came back to the group where I pointed out he forgot his wedding ring and it's still on.  "I'll make a fist in the mud"...it's never a good idea to "make a fist in the mud"

We ran up one side of the stadium ramps - did a couple obstacles at the top, ran down, ran up the other side of ramps, did a couple more obstacles, ran down, around downtown a little and then we were almost finished.  My sister met us and took some pictures at the end of the race.

Getting over one of the final obstacles. 

 This obstacle didn't look too hard.  It wasn't tall, we've certainly done taller walls like this.  But they had soaped down the front side of it.  You get a running start and then BOOM your legs are out from under you and you're face first into the wall.  That's what happened to one of our friends, we were on the other side of it and heard this loud boom and I said "oh shoot that was on this end of the wall...that was one of us" about that time one of our friends came walking around the corner holding her chest that had hit collarbone first into the wall...at least she raised her head up.

A valiant effort was made to find the ring.

Remember what I said about how it's a bad idea to just make a fist when keeping on a ring.  You will forget to make a fist, you will lose your ring, and your wife will be mad.  Just take the ring off or at LEAST unlace your shoe, put it at the bottom of your laces and tie it back.  Your hands do so much during these obstacle races you will probably lose it.

The whole crew after the run.

 Here's the whole crew after the run, sans wedding ring that is being pointed out.  Thanks Sister for the pictures!

Ben basking in the glory that is Muddy Buddy.

With the Muddy Buddy entry we got not one but TWO free drink tickets.  You could choose between beer, or the new Cayman Jack canned Margaritas.  Let me tell you, these margaritas are delicious.  Way better than the Lime-A-Ritas.  I was double fisting the Cayman Jack margs, while Ben had one, then switched to beer.