A Winner By Default Is Still A Winner

My friends are cool - I'm sure you are sick of hearing it, but really, they are! I sent out an email a few months ago to try to put together a team for the Mad Mud Run - a four mile run with obstacles and a mud pit and the big draw for me...A COSTUME CONTEST! I got so many responses that I was able to put together two teams. Cool friends, I tell ya. Though I did get two pretty lame responses: "It's going to be too cold in November" and "I don't have a spare pair of shoes that I can get muddy".

The teams were divided by those who run fast (and maybe-not-so-coincidentally weren't interested in the costume aspect of it) and those who wanted to dress up (and maybe-not-so-coincidentally those who weren't interested in the running part of it).

Team #1: Too Cool For Costumes:Laura, Julie, Brian, Leah, Christy

Team #2: Not Too Cool For Costumes, dressed somewhat ambiguously as Sticks in the Mud. Get it? It's a MUD run. We are sticks in the mud. We were going for a themed costume here. Get it???Irene (VP of Growth), Me (Branch Manager),

Kristi (Twiggy), Robyn (Woody) and Kiri (Splinter - she
has a splint on her pinky)

Yeah, it was kind of obscure so we gave everyone a BIG hint on the backs of the shirts (if the picture is too small for you to read - they say STICK):

The obstacles were spread at one mile intervals and were pretty lame. The first was hay-cube hurdles, the second was a low crawl under a tarp, boot-camp style and the third was a scaling wall, but it was only half the height as the one we did in the Gilmore Adventure Race. Somewhere in there was a big ol' log balance beam, too. The last obstacle was the mud pit. You needed to go under the rows of flags. As you can see below, you had the option of either going fully under and embracing the mud like the headless person on the far left is doing or you can be a wussy and lift the ropes like the girl in the white is doing.

Team #1 is not only Too Cool for Costumes but also apparently Too Cool for Mud - this is their "after" shot. Hardly a speck of mud on their shirts!

Team #2 is definitely NOT Too Cool for Mud - this is our "after" shot. Mud on faces, in the hair and definitely on the shirts! Sticks in the Mud love themselves some mud!!
After the race, the winners of the costume contest were announced. It went like this:

"Now it's time to announce the winners of the costume contest! Are the Speedo Vikings here?" The boys were in Speedos, the girls were in bustiers, they all had on capes and Viking helmets. They were awesome! Maybe I was just excited to know that there is a 28th thing you can do in a Speedo, but this team definitely had my vote.

Alas, they were not present. "Are the Incredibles here?" Also a good costume and well executed. Alas, they also were not present. "Ok..." (long pause for while the speaker tries to remember another costume) "Uh..how about the Crabs?" These guys had crab hats on that were kind of cute, but their shirts read "Mud Bugs." Bugs?? You can't wear a hat that is CLEARLY a crab and try to convince me you are a bug. Lame. Luckily, they were not present either.

Then...."How about the Mud Sticks?" Mud Sticks? Oh, he means Sticks in the Mud. See, I told you the costume was obscure. The race guy still didn't get it even after he awarded us the prize. But anyway...YAY!! We won the costume contest! Do we feel bad that we won by default?? Absolutely not!! A winner by default is still a winner! And we do like to win!

The prize? One bottle of wine and travel packs of Shout Wipes for all. Yay! We won!
Next year we are going to be a caterpillar. Or....um...crap...I have forgotten all the other awesome ideas we had. But I do remember that they were all very clever.