MUD. FIRE. ROPES. WATER. TIRES. NETS. BEER.

What do all of these things have in common? They are all an integral part of the inaugural Mud Dog Run being held on Saturday, April 16th at the Ceresville Mansion in Frederick County, Maryland.

Wow.

Now, I’ve tackled a couple of intense things in my lifetime (182 mile Ragnar Relay, anyone?) but this just seems like some tough, insane FUN. With beer.

Folks who participate will get to tackle a 3.1-mile course and wind their way through 14 different obstacles including tires, cargo nets, wall climbs, rope walks,  not to mentionrunning through parts of the Monocacy River. Did I forget to mention the jumping over fire part?

(Those of you familiar with the Warrior Dash, should know that the creator of the Mud Dog Run, Jay Jeffrey, drew his inspiration from that very event.)

Many of you are probably wondering where the beer part comes in. (Bunch of lushes!) Flying Dog Brewery, fabulous brewery that it is,  will host the after-party for its mud-covered runners. Think: beer, food and music! (Note: Families and friends are encouraged join the party afterward.)

What makes this fun-fest even better is that proceeds from the race will benefit the new FISC Foundation aimed at bestowing college and summer sports camp scholarships to local athletes. The goal for the first race is to fund five college scholarships and five sports camp scholarships. (I love a good cause!)

THE DETAILS:

Registration is $55 until April 1st and $65 thereafter. Participants will receive a pint glass (classic!) and light lunch with their registration.  For more information or to register, visit www.muddogrun.com.

Disclosure: My company is helping raise awareness of this event in the area. That being said, I was not asked to share this information on my personal space. I did it because, obviously, I am a crazy runner and this is so right up my alley! Who is joining me? (Still trying to get my husband to commit to mucking in the mud. Jury is still out.)

When you are a kid, winter birthdays can be a drag.  Options are extremely limited.

Those able to accommodate indoor parties (think Chuck E. Cheese or around these parts Adventure Park) are very (VERY) expensive and have limited “birthday party room” time. I mean, give me a break! You spend hundreds of dollars and an establishment and get 45 minutes to an hour in a room where your kids need to quickly stuff their faces with pizza and cake before being wisked out by staff. Not to mention the fact that the children quickly run out of money or tokens and you end up shelling out another hundred dollars for more game time just so they can cash in their tickets for an ERASER or a PENCIL or SILLY BANDZ.

Hate that.

Really, really hate that.

We came up with a better alternative for my son this past weekend. And yes, I’m putting it out there so all can steal it. It is genius.

We threw Young Jedi a pool party at a local hotel. Wait, don’t judge on the price. Hear me out: for a fraction of the cost of the traditional birthday party we rented a two-room suite at the Residence Inn and held a pool party sleep-over.

The beauty of the Residence Inn is that it has a complete kitchen and living room. We were able to bring in our own  pizzas, juice boxes, sodas, snacks, a cake, etc which allowed us to save money because we controlled the cost. As for decorations – a ton of balloons on the floor and streamers throughout the rooms were uber-festive and again not very costly.

The best part of the arrangement was the fact that we were able to have a really long party and not worry about being wisked out of there. Our boys got a good three hours of indoor pool time before the “official” party ended. (It could have been all day by the way. We set the time frame ourselves.) We played games with them and held races. They even got the chance to try out a hot tub. (Which resulted in hilarious comedy.)

Mid-party we went back to the room for cake and presents. Once they were all sugared up we took them back to the pool and tired them out.  Now, the pool didn’t close until 11:00 p.m. that evening so we could have stayed all night long but our boys chose to go play pool in a game room by the uber-swanky lobby. This mom went and filled up her coffee cup (anticipating a long night ahead) and mucked around on Twitter by the fireplace for awhile. Go ahead. Hate me. I realize birthday parties are not supposed to be stress free so I am gloating a bit here.

Some of the boys stayed the night, some left. The remaining children were exhausted and conked out pretty quickly. Come morning we were able to all have breakfast at the complimentary buffet provided by the hotel.

We never wanted to leave. And I think THAT is the takeaway here. We got a two room suite, all the pool time we wanted, an overnight stay and breakfast the next morning. My ten year old never felt so special.

Do you see why this concept works? Truly it is a joyful experience. Your kids will love it, even if you don’t invite any guests along.

I would be remiss if I didn’t point out one thing – We stayed at the Residence Inn in Frederick, MD owned by the Plamondon Hospitality Partners. I know some of the executives on staff at Plamondon and mentioned to them that we would be celebrating there that weekend. Waiting for my son in the room was a celebration balloon, birthday cake and card signed by all of the staff members wishing him a happy birthday. And for my husband and I? Ear plugs. (Awesome) Have they made me a customer for life? Why yes, yes they have. (One tiny note – If any Plamondon folks happen to read this blog, the boys would like to suggest that you remodel the hotel to include a “zero gravity” or “velcro” room. Ahem. I’m sure you’ll get right on that.)

For the past week my hometown has been obsessed with one thing and one thing alone – the amazing, the incredible…Great Frederick Fair.

When the fair comes to town all of the radio stations do live broadcasts from the fairgrounds, all of the newspapers produce special editions devoted to it, heck, even the public school system develops a curriculum around the Great Frederick Fair. (Not to mention the fact that they actually close schools so that kids can attend. No, I am not kidding. Really.)

And like a good Fredericktonian family, we also make the annual pilgrimage out to the fairgrounds to experience this annual tradition.

This year I had the distinct privilege of chaperoning my son on his fourth grade field trip to the fair. When I learned that I was only responsible for  three boys during the trip I was ecstatic. A small manageable group = success and a pleasant learning experience.

Or so I thought.

As it turns out, the boys who attend an agriculturally-focused fair are mainly interested in one subject: ANIMAL POO.

People, believe me when I tell you that we examined a lot of poo that day.  Cow poo. Goat poo. Chicken poo. We even experienced Alpaca poo.  Oh yes, that was a rare treat.

These boys debated the cleanliness of the pig pavilion as opposed to the goat pavilion and horse pavilion. They evaluated the current animal facilities and mused over the inefficiencies of manual labor with regards to cow manure. (And really, why can’t cows just use the port-a-poties like the rest of us have to?) They even witnessed a goat relieving itself while getting a bath.

I can say with much confidence that the young men who attended the field trip with me that day can now identify and categorize a farm animal’s excrement in 3.4 seconds flat. Of that I am proud. I am sure that is exactly what the public school system had in mind when they authorized that field trip.

It was a joyous day, indeed.

I’m the subject of a little secret project.  Well, I guess it is not exactly SECRET.

I’m writing an article for Frederick Magazine.

Who cares, right?

Well the article is actually about … ME.

I’ve been asked to write an article about training for the Frederick Marathon.  I guess the interesting angle here is that I am not a youngster (ouch!).  I am a middle aged? married woman with two small children trying to train for a marathon while balancing a full time job, children and a husband.  (Not to mention a dog, 6 fish and a bearded dragon, but I digress.)

So, I’ve been keeping a journal of my experiences and have been working on the story for a couple of weeks now.

The interesting part of this whole experience is having a photographer assigned to you.  Oh yes, I have my own personal paparazzi. (Actually, my paparazzi’s name is Mike and he is a pretty great guy with a lot of patience who I am quite certain thinks I am a little loopy.)

Poor Mike has had to follow me around at all hours while I train for this sucker.  And by train, I mean run.  So how boring is THAT? You have got to feel for him.  It’s been cold, rainy and well, EARLY.  And he has been taking pictures of some silly woman doing the same things over and over again.  They can’t be paying him enough.

Although I must admit that it has been pretty amusing to see people’s expressions as we (meaning me and my running partners Katie, Rani & Rachel) run through downtown Frederick with this photographer jumping out at us taking pictures.

I feel like Britney Spears.  Only older.  And wider.  And…. okay, gonna stop now.  You get my point.

My new ASICS! Awesome.

The Frederick Marathon is six weeks away.

SIX WEEKS, people.

I’m determined to be ready for the torture challenge.

This specific marathon has an interesting course. The first part is through downtown Frederick, MD.  Lovely. I’ve loved downtown Frederick ever since I was a kid.

The course takes a nasty turn from mile 15-25 traveling Interstate 144 up the the Spring Ridge development and back.  ALL HILLS.  ALL hills.

The second half of the marathon route is, quite frankly, the entire reason I didn’t do the full last year.  I was freaked out by the hills.  THEN I went and signed up for the 2008 Washington D.C. Ragnar Relay with some buddies.  That sucker had hills 3 miles directly UP.  Non-stop.  In the rain.  At 1:30am.  Complete darkness.  Worst possible case scenario EVER.

Spring Ridge hills don’t intimidate me anymore.  Oh, they will be difficult and it might even be raining.  (But at least it won’t be in the middle of the night on a Boonsboro hill.)  My big strategy for this race has been to alternate my long runs – one week Spring Ridge and 144 hills with the next being the flat part of the course.  I think it will help me cope mentally. Cause, as any runner knows, the struggle is mostly mental.

So we did 18 miles yesterday.  It was good but I’ll be honest – I was so DONE at the end.  I’ve been cross training pretty heavily (with weights) lately in the hopes of finishing strong.  We will see, huh?

BTW – When it comes to running in general, most of my family actually think I am insane.  I’m sure they are right.