Sometimes my husband is crazy.

Mark is a marathon runner, which is fantastic. He's in shape and loves to run and I am so proud of him. But sometimes, he signs himself up for things that are a little...er, extreme. Like doing adventure races that involve finding his way around in a forest preserve at night (this one worries me because sometimes he can't find his car in a parking lot during the day!) or signing up for the Muddy Buddy.

The Muddy Buddy is an obstacle course type of race that takes place on a huge farm and involves lots and lots of mud. This year's race was this past Sunday. After the thunderstorm we had Saturday night, it was even muddier than planned.

One of the reasons my nephew spent the night on Saturday was because N. and J. were supposed to run in the kid's Muddy Buddy race. Unfortunately, by the time we had everything sorted out, the race was full.

I thought I'd share a few pictures of N. in last year's Muddy Buddy race so you can see what it's like. This is the very end of the course; a huge mud pit.

The small kids are allowed to stand and lift up the ropes, but when the adults finish their race in this mud pit they have to lay down on their stomachs and wriggle under the ropes. I've heard stories of onlookers throwing handfuls of mud at participants who didn't get on their stomachs in the mud pit. That's worrisome.

Racing for the finish line. Notice how muddy the track is.

Proud of his medal. Daddy looked pretty proud, too. I know he was disappointed that N. couldn't run in it this year.

This year Mark again did the race with his friend Michael. I think I forgot to mention that the race is done by a two-person team.

Mark is on the right. I don't know who that fella in the middle is.