Hello everyone!

Looking for something totally different and off the wall to do in the upcoming weeks and months? Ever heard of Muddy Buddy? Sponsored by the Columbia Sportswear company, it’s a multi-sport event that involves running, off-road biking, obstacles and mud. This event’s making people dirty one city at a time, traveling around big cities in the US during spring, summer and fall. You participate in a two-person team. When the race starts, one of you runs while the other bikes. You both get to an obstacle, go through the obstacle (successfully 😉 then switch off with each other (the biker now runs, the runner now bikes). You get to the next obstacle, then switch off again. You do this for five obstacles and eventually make it to a good old mud pit at the end of the event–the one through which you will both crawl and emerge “muddy buddies.” The whole event covers a ground distance of six or seven miles; by the end each of you will have run about three miles and cycled three miles. Apparently I shouldn’t be worried that I’m not an Olympic athlete–it’s designed with all sorts of competitors in mind. Nice. Adding to my bucket list.

If you’ve got little ones who’d like to try their hand at an obstacle and a mud crawl, sign them up for Mini Muddy-Buddy. This event is geared towards kids age 4 to 13 (the 4-, 5-, and 6-year olds must be accompanied by an adult for the crawl), and involves a short obstacle course followed by a mud bath. Fun stuff.

The entry fee for the event will run you and your partner $150 total (it’s $15 more for the Orlando event). Mini Muddy Buddy costs $15. Click here to see scheduled dates and locations. It’s mostly in bigger cities for now, but it’s in enough states that you should be able to drive to one nearby if it’s not taking place right in your town. There’s one coming up on May 8th in Orlando. I won’t be able to make it that week, but there is a South Florida Muddy Buddy coming my way in late November, so we’ll see if I muster up the courage for that one. By the way, if any of you sign up I’d be more than happy to bring my camera to document the historic occasion. You know, for posterity. And for Facebook.

This thing sounds like a blast, and it beats dinner and a movie hands down, doesn’t it?