Running the Dirt Yard Dash

Mr. Trouble on Feet saw his big siblings run the Dirt Yard Dash, a mud run put on by a local church that our neighbors are involved in, a few years ago when he was too young to fully participate.  He was so excited when he found out that this was the year he could run and that I signed him up.  The Banana saved her yucky tennis shoes to run as well, but she had multiple conflicts that day and didn’t get to.  We accidentally threw out DS’s bad running shoes, so he elected not to participate as well.  I duct taped Mr. TOF’s shoes to his legs with a ridiculous amount of tape (The Banana lost a shoe when she ran, as do many people).

Mr. TOF had a glorious time from start to finish.  His favorite part was the swampy mud part when the mud came up to his chest and he had to swim through because he forgot to grab a walking stick to help him through that part of the trail.    I don’t have any pictures of that part of the race because it’s off in the woods, but here he is climbing through the mud crawl:

They had build a PVC pipe shower center with lots of shower heads, fueled by a water truck for people to wash off after the race.  After his rinse down, Mr. TOF said to me, “I think I’m still going to need a shower.”  Why yes, my child, you are!

The mud was great, but he also loved that the UMD marching band was playing at the start and finish of the race.  We love our marching bands!  Mud and marching bands all in one place makes for an excellent day.