Padden Mudfest

Kyle Carrick, 2nd Place

After a couple weeks of snow, the course around Lake Padden and the horsetrails up in the mountains were thick in slush and mud; ideal conditions for the race. I hadn't felt so free to get dirrty since high school, and even back then it afforded me getting kicked off the team several times.

These local races: Love Em or Leave Em, Two-for-the-Road, Padden Mudfest, all of these encourage a resurgence of why-we-do-this or, why-did-we-even-start-to? Running is such a job sometimes; the symbol of many synonymous things, like Love, Relationships, Work, etc. Something you have to nurture, invest in; you put everything in and hope for something substantial at the end, but it's never a guarantee, and it's always hard to earn and easy to lose. Lydia & I toed the start line confirming we'd use the race as part of our long run, no racing. We see women in front of us, and our competitive natures toss the plan. We're tempo'ing our long run, I'm surging down the slick mud slop, Lydia yelling, "Be careful." We're no. 1 & 2, run home from the race to a crockpot of millet, apple cider & apples. Egg burritos.