The Mud Gauntlet

Annika gushes about a lot of people, and she tends to see the best in everyone. This is a character trait I wish I could take credit for, but unfortunately, she didn't get it from me.  With this knowledge, I tend to take her words about people with a grain of salt, but when she gushes about the owners of Newbsanity, I throw that grain of salt out the window.

The Newbys have been nothing but gracious, kind, and encouraging to Annika, and she's matured a lot from her experiences there this summer. She has no real money-making means out here in the boondocks, but she's saving all her pennies to pay for next summer's Wednesday Night Workouts. Because of this, she knew that racing in the Mud Gauntlet was out of the question, as it's quite expensive if you haven't paid for the all-in pass at Newbsanity.

When our friend Evan (who is also nothing but gracious, kind, and encouraging to Annika) asked about the possibility of a discount for her, Jarrett said there was no discount but-- probably after seeing the wave of crushing disappointment sweep over Annika's face-- he then offered for her to do trail maintenance in exchange for a free race. Since every time she's worked up the nerve to ask when she should do the trail maintenance, he's shrugged it off for another time, and since the race was almost four months ago, I'm thinking he wasn't too desperate for trail maintenance workers. :)

I was there for the start of the race but not the finish, because I had to get home to get everyone ready to leave for a wedding shower, but I was able to take these two pictures. Here are the intimidating, steely women in the front line (seriously, they still have me shaking in my doughnut-filled boots).

Aaaaand here's our Annika, the person who had a grin instead of looking grim.

The remainder of these pictures are copyright of Newbsanity, except for the one with the watermark.

Here she is running up the hill toward the finish line. We all think she looks like Ruger. There's a definite kinship between those two.

After Owen and Evan drove her home, Annika asked if there was enough time to take a shower before the wedding shower. Since she smelled like a walking swamp, and her braids were stiff with mud, I said I supposed we could spare the time.  All in all, a wonderful day.

Thank you, Newby family and Purdy boys men! You made one of this girl's favorite summer memories!