Superhero Dash

Best cheering section!

About a month ago, I got really exciting news that my nephew Ben was going to come down this weekend and do the Superhero Dash mud run in S-town with me. Ben and I have been wanting to do a mud run together for over a year (I mean, really - running AND mud!), so we were thrilled. Even more fun, my brother-in-law Kyle was also going to join us.

Then life happened. Or really, the start of school happened. And a wicked cold is going through the Bartholomew house. They waited as long as they could, but made the smart call and did not make the almost 4 hour drive, while feeling completely miserable, for a 3k race. I was really bummed, but also totally understood. And let's be honest, it sounded like a horrible cold ... and we really don't want it!

Fiona, Dec, and me in the big puddle

Even though he hates running, Mike was sweet enough to do the race with me so I didn't have to do it on my own. My sister was coming down anyway today to help celebrate Bugs' birthday, so she bravely watched the trio - during what should have been naptime - while we ran. "Kyle" (Mike) and I finished in just over 18 minutes. It was a pretty low key race. The obstacles were fun, but not very hard, and there was not a huge crowd of people. There was free face painting and balloon animals, which kept the kids entertained for Auntie.

Before our race, Dec was ticked off that he was not part of the mud run. So he jumped at the opportunity to be in the kids race once the bigger mud run finished. He would have run into the giant mud puddle before the kids race started if Mike hadn't stopped him! I was a bit surprised, but the girls decided to do the kids race too. Unfortunately Quinn and Mike had a bit of a slippery mishap in the giant puddle that left her covered in mud with a huge scrape on her face. She recovered enough to try the puddle with me, but soaked and covered in mud pretty much ended her day at the races.

Mike realized during the race that he has cracked the door of doing races with me - and that this would probably not be the last time I "tricked" him into running. He even said something tonight about "when we do it next year ..."! Now - we just need healthy relatives and the five pairs of shoes on the deck to dry.

Rainbow face paint

Hearts. And serious side eye

Monster face!