Noah's Big Day at The Yard

Man, I'm setting us up for dissapointment next weekend.  Last weekend, Noah got a Daddy day to go see the Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium.  This weekend, he got another Daddy day to go see the O's game.  At this rate, he's going to expect like, a personal appearance from the Backyardigans next weekend or something...

In any case, I had this day circled on my calendar for the past two months.  I knew Noah really wanted to catch an O's game, and I felt like I really owed him after I got to go for Andy's bachelor party.  So looking around at games, I noticed that today's game vs the Royals was "Kids Run The Bases" day.  Literally, for no cost, no membership, no nothing, any kid 14 and under runs the bases post-game.

Yes.  Yes please.  Yes a MILLION TIMES PLEASE!  I knew that would just make his head explode, so I decided it had to be this game.  But, I did the sneaky thing of not telling him.  That way 1) if he acted up, I could just not do it without a tantrum and 2) if the thing was not setup well, I could just not do it without breaking a promise.  I'm jumping ahead, but the 1st one was blown about 10 minutes into our visit, by a friendly, chatty stadium employee.

In any case, here's how the day went, with things that Noah loved bolded for effect of just how awesome I think the day was for him:

We drove down to catch the Metro down to Baltimore.  We were slated to pickup the Light Rail for the rest of the way to the stadium, but for 3rd time in 3 tries, that train was just super late.  So we walked instead.  Got to the gates and I went to take Noah's picture with the Babe Ruth statue.  Slight problem: I forgot my SD card.  Crap, of course I remembered everything but THE ONE PIECE MY CAMERA NEEDED.  In my luck, the stadium store did hapen to sell 4 GB SD cards, so crisis averted.  Once inside, I bought him a Kid's Program.  While we were figuring out what to do, I noticed outside of Boog's BBQ, sure enough Boog Powell was there, signing autographs.  Noah was heavy before the game on "Can I get another autograph?", and Boog Powell is a pretty notable guy.  So I ask him if he wants one, and of course he does, so voila.  Noah got an autograph and a picture with Boog Powell (which in his head became Paul Boo).  After that, he remembered the Orioles playground we saw last week when walking through Camden Yards, so he went there for some playtime. 

After awhile, we headed back to see if they were doing BP today, which they weren't due to the late game last night.  So we headed to our seats instead.  Along the way, we walked through the statue court which has statues of Jim Palmer, Earl Weaver, Frank Robinson, and as of yesterday, Eddie Murray (Before end of year, they will also unveil Cal Ripken Jr. and Brooks Robinson).  Noah was okay with that, but I got the vibe he didn't care much.  So we sat down and Noah liked our seats.  In as much as it was a seat in a ballpark, and one where he had a "footrest" (Row 1 of Lower Reserve, so just a guard rail in front of us).  At that point, we decided to get food.  He wanted a hamburger, so I got him Gino's.  I decided to get Boog's BBQ, like I usually do.  When we were trying to find a spot to eat, a friendly stadium attendant suggested we head up to the CF perch, which is new this year and I figured it'd be packed, but sure enough there were a few stray seats.  And the view was AWE-SOME.  You could see right down into the bullpens where the starters were warming up.  Same attendant was the one who asked him if he was ready to run the bases.  So, that suprise lasted a bit.  But it helped me to keep him grounded for the whole game.

So, food done, we headed to our seats.  The one thing he didn't like was our seats were in some sun, so his legs kept getting hot.  About two innings in, we got to see Manny Machado smack a home run, and then he got to dance. After that, his tolerance (and mine) was wearing thin, so we decided to take a walk around the stadium.  We went to fan assistance and got him a First Game certificate.  It wasn't really his first, but the usher who said no BP was going that day was friendly and chatted us up and suggested I go get him another one, even if it wasn't really his first game.  So we got that and then we headed back to the playground area.  That was really some sort of kid's central area, because they also had Pitching and T-Ball cages so Noah got to do those.  And then he played on the playground more, of course.  After some time there, we walked back to the seats again to try to finish the game.  We saw Nick Markakis hit a homerun too, so that was pretty neat.  After the top of the 8th inning, Noah was about done with sitting, so we took another walk.  Decided to go ahead and get him a souvenier, and I managed to talk him out of the bat.  He picked a suitable alternative, a big Oriole Bird flag.  We took that and headed towards Gate D for Kids Run The Bases.  While standing around watching the end of the game, a stadium employee took notice of Noah, standing there well behaved and waving his flag, beaming happy.  He walked over and, with my okay, casually slipped him a baseball card.  Ozzie Smith (a little huh? because it's an O's game, but hey, it was pretty neat and Noah LOVES the baseball card now)

We got to see the win and JJ save it, and then I decided to ask where we needed to stand for Kids Run The Bases.  Turns out, you go OUTSIDE the stadium.  And that's when I saw the line...It wrapped from home plate area, down the 3rd base side of the stadium, then across the outfield nearly to Left-Center field.  And that wasn't the end of the line eventually, that's just where we got in line.  But, once they cleared the stadium and set up everything on the field, the line moved rather quick.  They had it setup for maximum efficiency, parents on the left side of the aisle going down, kids on the right.  Kids got onto the diamond at 1B, ran all the way home to where the parents would be waiting, and then all walked out to the 3B side to exit the stadium.  And that kid LOVED running those bases.  Even if about 5 minutes later, he asked me if he ran them.

After that, we waited to catch the Light Rail where Noah got to sit on funny folding seats in the waiting area (yes, that was part that he liked a lot too) .  And then, he got to ride both Light Rail and the Metro home.

So count it...12 things he loved doing today.

Couple side notes:

1. It's worth noting that this is probably the first time in...10-15 years that I've attended a professional sports game (that counted) and the team I was rooting for ended up winning.  I've been to preseason games that the Ravens won, but never a regular season game they've won.  And the last 3-4 O's games I went to, they lost.  So go figure, my losing streak finally ended!

2. Finally got to pickup my tumbler from Andy's Bachelor Party (It was supposed to be the giveaway that night but a vendor issue delayed shipment, so everyone got a coupon to pick one up in July or August instead)

3. I noticed while waiting in line, a service road that went along the stadium.  Up ahead, a Cadillac was sitting there and a guy got out, looked almost like he was a valet.  I saw an older lady get in the passenger seat and it started to drive off.  I made a comment aloud like "I guess they have valet parking here" and wondered if it was a player guest.  Nope, it was Peter Angelos.  And he looks even more villanous in real life.  Kind've sorry I missed seeing him walk to his car.  I can't complain about him for today's experience, everything was really great today.  But that man has just tightened the screws on a baseball team that while frustrating, still holds a very dear candle in my heart.

Ravens Training Camp...at the Stadium

I'm going to preface this by saying...I miss Westminster Training Camp.  It was just a couple blocks from my house, so I could literally walk up whenever I wanted to go, not have to deal with parking, etc.  And get a killer look at my favorite sports team in the world.  I understand why the Ravens chose to move it to their own facility, but I still miss it.

Given that, I took Noah to the public stadium practice yesterday.  We'd tried this in 2010 (Had a flat tire the day before) and 2011 (Shannon had to go to the hospital for a blood clot), so 2012 was the first one we'd been able to do.  This would be our only chance to see the Ravens this year, as I had to choose to skip preseason games due to stuff upcoming in August.  So I was looking to see how good an experience we got.

From Noah's perspective, yesterday was probably like "kid in a candy store with unlimited pocket money" awesome.  We rode the train to get there.  Rode the Metro to get down there, then walked to the Stadium because for the 2nd time in a row, Light Rail was crazy behind.  While walking there, Oriole Park was open so we walked through it.  When we got inside M&T, I beelined for the home bench side (going on a tip from a message board friend who said that side was most likely to get autographs).  We got a group of seats in the 5th row, so I thought we were in good shape to get an autograph.  More on that later.  Anyway, the view of the action was pretty great.  And the Ravens definitley utilized the stadium atmosphere to their benefit.  Jumbotron video montages, loudspeaker announcers, a broadcast team that did various interviews through practice, and the practice itself was 2.5 hours long.

Here's where I'll bitch and moan.  I was really trying to get Noah an autograph of a player.  I said I didn't care which one, I just figured he would explode at the idea of getting any Raven to sign his football.  So at various times during practice, players who had a moment or so off would come over and sign.  A couple guys did so around our section, but by the time you saw the guy coming over, there was a SWARM of people cramming into the section to find any room to get stuff over.  So we never got one that way, and as practice was winding down, I said "I guess I'll just get into the aisle and get as close as I can", figuring that eventually, the people ahead of me would get an autograph and clear out.  After awhile, a stadium official came up and told "the group" that we couldn't stand in the aisle, due to fire marshall rules.  Noah and I moved out.  And then we watched as NOBODY ELSE MOVED A DAMN STEP.  And the guy sat there talking with them for a few minutes, then walked away.  Yeah, great.  Let's give three cheers for people who followed the rules.  So of course, when someone else came over to sign things, we ran over and missed it entirely, due to the people who never moved.  The other thing that screwed us over?  The people at the front were just COLLECTING autographs.  Like, they were trying to get as many Ravens as possible to sign their stuff.  So once someone signed their stuff, they stayed there.  Meaning we never got any closer.

After awhile, I was getting super pissed and just started shouting "4 year old here, wants ANY autograph".  One of the said collectors decided to be decent and handed Noah's football over for me, and back once the autograph was done.  I never even saw the guy who signed it.  So I had to ask who it was.  "Cecil Newton, Cam Newton's brother"

...

Okay, of the 90 people on the Ravens roster, I could probably rattle off about 75 of them.  Cecil Newton was one of the 15 I had no idea was on the roster.  But whatever, I said any autograph and we got one.  After that, I had no desire to wait around any longer so we left.  I know players stayed for a long time signing, and so I bear no ill will to them.

My complaint/suggestion...Ravens, you need to structure the autographs.  At Westminster, you had a specific spot where kids could line up and the players would go right there to sign for them.  Stadium practice should have the same deal.  You don't even need to limit it to kids.  Just have a spot where people can line up after practice, you go in, get an autograph, and then you MOVE THE F%$# ON!  If you want multiple, get back in the damn line.  Yeah, Noah was happy, but imagine how much cooler it would've been if he had SEEN the guy who signed his autograph.

My takeaway for the future...I need to get there earlier, and find ANY front row seat, whatever section/side.  Then just dig in and hold my ground.  The other thing?  I need to remember Noah is only 4.  He's starting to understand this football thing, but again he doesn't really care much about who signs it.  It'd be nice if he saw the guy sign it though.

All in all, it was fun.  But I still miss the close quarters of Westminster and the expanded opportunities to interact with players.

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, But I Try: Citrus Marinated Grilled Chicken

A little bit late on this recipe, I did it Wednesday night, but had a run that night and just didn't have time until now to throw this up.  With summer upon us, I wanted to find some nice recipes that I can do that have more of a "summer" air to it.  Like, we obviously retire the crockpot stews mostly for summer, so I need something to replace it with.  That line of thinking gave us the previous post's pasta salad, and this recipe, which I found through Food Network's webpage (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/grilled-citrus-marinated-chicken-thighs-recipe/index.html).  This one was a pretty big hit with everyone.  Noah liked it, despite hearing it was chicken with OJ, Lemons, and Limes and saying "eeeeeewwww".  Shannon thought it came out good and juicy, which I agreed with.  The citrus flavor was pretty low on it, which was both good and bad...Bad because it was about 20 minutes of prep work to zest and squeeze the fruits, for really no big payoff, but Good because if it was heavy, it might not be liked by a lot of people.  And usually, our grilled chicken is done with no marinade at all, so it comes off pretty charred and dried out.  I'm not sure if it was the use of Chicken Thighs instead of Chicken Breast, or using an EVOO marinade, or what, but I swear these things came off the grill nice and clean, and were really "smooth" to eat.  Also, since we're cooking for kids, we replaced the Cayenne pepper (which may have been too spicy for me even), with...you guessed it, OLD BAY!
Also, I suppose you could do this one without a gas/charcoal grill if you use a Foreman or likewise type of grill (This is directed at you, Andrew Hamilton).  Not sure of the results, but I think it's worthwhile to try it...

Citrus Marinated Grilled Chicken

1.5 lb of chicken thighs (You can up the amount of chicken if you want more servings, or you can try a different cut of chicken)

1 lemon

1 orange

1 lime

1/4 cup of EV Olive Oil

Kosher Salt

Pepper

Old Bay

Sprigs of Thyme


1. Pour EVOO into a baking dish large enough to hold all the chicken in a single layer

2. Zest and Juice the orange, the lemon, and the lime into the EVOO

3. Add in about 10 sprigs of fresh thyme and a couple blasts of Old Bay

4. Season the chicken on both sides with plenty of salt, pepper, and Old Bay

5. Place the chicken in the baking dish, turning a few times to coat both sides well
6. Let the chicken marinade for 30 minutes to a few hours

7. Pre-heat the grill to medium-high heat
8. Once the grill is good and hot, take each piece of chicken out of the marinade, allow the excess marinade juice to drip off for a bit, then place on the grill

9. Grill for about 15 minutes, turning to evenly cook both sides.



Per each piece of chicken (assuming 6 pieces in 1.5 lb):


182 calories


10.5 g fat

3.7 g carbs

21 g protein


Notes:

• I topped this with more Old Bay. It made it more awesomer.
• Side note, it looks like it's definitley time for a new grill.  Already can't use middle burner due to it rusting and falling down, but when I went to pick something up from under the grill, noticed the drip pan has corroded in several places...as in things dripping off the grill can go right down on top of the gas tank.  So, I think that may be my Father's Day gift this year.  We use that grill for so much nowadays, it's practically a necessity!

I'm Not a Gourmet Cook, but I Try: Broccoli and Pepperoni Pasta Salad

The recipe I'm posting tonight, I have to thank two sources for getting me onto this recipe.  The first is Shannon...two weeks ago when coming with me for grocery shopping, she picked up a box of Suddenly Salad Classic by Kraft and said it looked like something she would want to try.  I never look at those things, so I may not have ended up trying this recipe without it.  The other person is my Mom...back in the days when I lived at home with them, she made a pasta salad out of tortellini, broccoli, pepperoni, and dressing.  The broccoli and pepperoni with pasta combination gave me the idea to tweak the pasta salad recipe on the box.

So, without much further ado...A simple, 40 minute recipe you can make without much effort, which is suprisingly low in calories and fat.



Broccoli and Pepperoni Pasta Salad

1 Box of Kraft Suddenly Salad Classic (Will need EV Olive Oil or Vegetable Oil)

23 slices of Wilson Turkey Pepperoni

3 stalks of broccoli

10 cherry tomatoes

0.25 cup of shredded parmesean cheese



1. Start boiling water in two pots
2. While waiting for water to boil, chop up the broccoli, tomatoes, and quarter the pepperoni slices.
3. Steam the broccoli for 10 minutes
4. Boil the pasta for 12 minutes
5. While boiling/steaming, combine 2 tbsp of EV Olive Oil, 3 tbsp of cold water, and the packet of seasoning in a separate bowl, and mix until blended
6. Strain the pasta and then rinse in cold water
7. Combine all ingredients except cheese in large bowl and toss/mix well to make sure all ingredients get coated by the dressing
8. Top with the shredded parmesean and server




Per 2 cup serving:

333 calories
12 g fat
45 g carbs
15 g protein



Notes:

• I topped this with Old Bay.  It made it awesomer.
• The box called for vegetable oil, I used EV OO.  I liked it fine with EVOO.

Old Bay Makes Everything Better (Challenge Accepted)

I've started a couple of challenges with this blog.  There was the Eating Out challenge where I had to find a meal at a random restaurant that could pass for a decent diet meal...that pretty much petered out.  And then there was 30 Days, 30 Dinners...which also petered out.

But this one is going to stick, because it's near and dear to my heart...

I'm from Balmer, hon...I am a child of the Charm City.  Just about everything about Baltimore is near and dear to my heart.  And one thing that is an absolute truth about Marylanders....We cannot get enough Old Bay...

It's practically a requirement that all Marylanders have a can of Old Bay in their house.  And if you are a true Baltimorean, your can of Old Bay is the biggest one in your spice collection.  My love affair with Old Bay dates back to making Oodles N' Noodles at my parents house.  My favorite was shrimp flavored and after it cooked, I'd top it off with a couple good shakes of Old Bay for good measure.  Old Bay is heavily used when it comes to seafood...

But, I love it so much, I like to say "Old Bay makes everything better!"...Do I hear a challenge there?

I'll start collecting a list of everything I try that is awesome with Old Bay.  My theory is that, except for desserts, EVERYTHING is better with some Old Bay on it.  I've been keeping tabs on this for a bit, and here's my current list...

Grilled Chicken
Sausages
Eggs
Steaks
Burgers
Fish
Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Pasta Salad

If you want to dare me to put it on something crazy, go right ahead.  I'm out to prove that Old Bay literally can not make a food taste worse.  And if Old Bay wants to throw in a few free cans for me doing this, I would never in a heartbeat turn them down....

Do I Really Know Best?: Veggie Tales

So, Noah has recently been skipping on his vegetables at dinner and lunch...he basically eats everything else, then claims he's all done or he doesn't like the vegetable I made.  This kid used to be ALL about the fruits and veggies.  He still loves his fruits.  But the veggies have become a pain point.  Some of it, I'll accept.  He doesn't like asparagus, or my grilled squash and mushrooms, or cooking broccoli ANY way other than steaming it.  That's fine.  But lately, even vegetables that HE CLAIMS he will eat...nothing.  Absolutely nothing!  He just plays with it, throws it aside, and claims he's done.

Short of bribing him, which I try never to do as a parent, I am at a loss for this one.  This all came up on...Thursday?...when I made enchiladas and carrots.  He ate the first one I put out and asked for another, along with a chicken quesadilla.  The RIGHT thing to do there was tell him he had to eat the carrots first, but I wasn't thinking.  So I gave him the 2nd enchilada.  He ate most of it, then said "Done!".  Looked at his carrots...basically untouched.  So that touched off a discussion where I told him he HAD to start eating vegetables or we'd have to take some sort of drastic steps.  I asked him why he wouldn't eat the carrots I made: "Because they were raw!".  Yeah, they were steamed carrots.  I asked him what kind he liked: "Carrot Sticks"  Yeah, the raw kind...So, I decided to try the "Pleading Parent" routine.  I told him that it was SUPER important he eats vegetables and next time if he didn't eat them, we'd have to make a vegetable smoothie as his breakfast the next morning.  What's in a vegetable smoothie?  I have no freaking idea.  But it was the only idea in my head at the time...

Friday was a wash out, literally due to the storms, so we had pizza.  Saturday, Shannon had a bridal shower, so it was on me to make the kids dinner.  Noah asked for quesadillas, I said okay, BUT we have to eat vegetables!  What kind would he like?  Green beans.  Then, when shopping, I decided to make myself a salad.  Guess who had to have one too?  I asked him 4 times, "Noah, are you REALLY going to eat this?"  He has done salad before, but...I knew what the answer was really going to be, and that it was going to be different from reality, but I figured "he's making the salad himself...maybe this will work!".  He also threw a fit about getting a Ring Pop as snack...Light bulb, I said he could have the Ring Pop after dinner IF he ate his salad.  And guess what...it didn't work.  Not at all.  He had 3-4 bites of salad after eating his quesadilla, then he was done.  So, Ring Pop got put away.

Sunday morning, he wanted the Ring Pop.  Mommy put the foot down...he didn't eat his salad, he didn't get the Ring Pop.  So that was about 30 minutes on a tantrum....He eventually got the Ring Pop after he did some writing/hand exercises for pre-school.  So, I asked him when we did our weekly grocery shopping if he wanted green beans with dinner still?  Yes, he did.  We went over the whole vegetable smoothie thing again.  So, made dinner, Noah started eating, he ate his fish, he ate his potatoes...then he mashed his green beans.  Claimed he was getting rid of the bad beans.  After doing this with a handful..."Daddy I'm done".  Alright kid, that's it.  VEGETABLE SMOOTHIE!

Oh yeah, except I still don't know how to make one.  Crap, bluff called.

So, here we sit...I vowed to do something.  This kid is going to eat his vegetables.  That's just that, he is going to one way or another.  Among my ideas, replacing all snacks with vegetable options (We usually offer fruit or another low-cal/fat snack anyway, but if he won't do the veggies, maybe just force him to either eat them at snack or at dinner), making dinner a "vegetable first" serving, or back to the vegetable smoothie idea.  Noah actually said he wanted one, so I'm looking for recipes to start seeing if he'll do that.  My biggest concern there, he'll grow accustomed to doing that and will never go back to eating plain old vegetables.  It's a pick your battle thing there...Either he gets the nutrients and takes "the easy way out", or I stick by the traditional way of doing it and he doesn't get his nutrients in.

Do I Really Know Best?  Ugh.  At least the kid loves his fruits....

This call is for a Warrior

Let's be totally upfront and honest about two things:

1. I've sucked at updating this blog lately.  I owe a whole chronicle of Disney World, but I haven't even done it for my own journal, much less this blog!
2. I've not done as awesome with my health stuff this year.  Don't get me wrong, I've maintained my weight loss.  And I'm still running, but nowhere near the pace I wanted, and I haven't lost much this year.

So, on Saturday, I got an opportunity to push my fitness to a new level.  When I'd planned to do Tough Mudder this year, I decided to pass on Warrior Dash, which is a 3.02 mile obstacle course and, while it's the "biggest running series on the planet", is thought of as a much milder version of Tough Mudder.  I didn't pass on it because I didn't want to do it, but I just figured to focus on TM, plus Shannon was out of town that weekend too.  But Bill was doing it and convinced me to sign up anyway, and just get Kelly or my parents to help with the kids.  The Maryland WD is held on a motocross track, so plenty of hills to go through, and it's nestled by a nice wooded area for the trail runs.

I didn't really train for WD.  I got some running done, but lately I've had some persistent runner's knee, so I've had to skip a lot on the runs.  I started taking glucosamine which seems to have helped, but anyway, I just sort've winged it to see how I'd do...

So, for the 4pm run, we had a couple that are friends of Bill and Kelly's join us, with some of their friends too.  We got there a bit late, so we literally were lining up right at the countdown to start.  And with a blast of flames, we were off!....to wait in a big line.  There was a HUGE logjam at the beginning, which lasted for the first 0.5 mile of the course really.  Combination of trail narrowing and really wussy runners avoiding a mud puddle about 100 feet in.  Bill and I of course just blew through it once we saw an opening...I mean, spoiler alert, the end is a huge pool of mud you have to swim across, who really cares about some mud in the beginning?  So once the logjam opened up, we tried to make up some time.  It was very different running a muddy trail, required a lot more stutter stepping.  But I was blasting through...until we got to the knee high puddle...I knew it was coming, so I was prepared, but some jerk in front of me stumbled in it, so he grabbed a tree branch on the side of the trail for balance, and brought it down right into my face.  I didn't feel it much, but it cut up my cheek enough that I had blood on my shirt halfway through the race when I wiped at my cheek.  After about 1 mile, came the first stretch of obstacles...

First up, a series of chest-high walls to climb over intertwined with barbed wire to duck under right after.  And the duck spot was right into a mud pit :-).  That was a bit on my arms, but nothing much.  Shortly after was the huge cargo net.  Crawl up it, over the top, and down the other side.  Had to wait awhile for a few people who had breakdowns at the top, but we got over and trekked to the next one...Giant Cliffhanger, which was a big incline you used a rope to help you scale, then over the top and a ladder on the back.  Short run to the Deadman's Drop, which was a ladder climb up, over the top, and the way down was either a big slide (if you faced outward) or a hang and drop (if you faced the object, which I did).  Then, a big longer run, up the first of many hills.  Around this time, I started getting pretty fatigued.  I guess it was a combination of the heat and doing those obstacles, but I was struggling to make it up the hill.  Got to the "halfway point" water station, chugged a cup and kept on.  After a small downhill, it was army crawl time under the barbed wire field.  Did suprisingly well there compared to others crawling at the time who were going pretty slow.  Gets a little hazy after that, I think it was more hills and trying to run but barely being able to do it, so we walked for a bit.  After more hills and toughing it, we got to the fun obstacle...a huge hill turned into a water slide.  That was fun, but the speed you pick up on it ends up spraying water back into your face, so I had a flood up my nose.  After that, a couple more big hills, where we caught up with Bill's friends Matt and Beth.  After another water station, it was Trench Crawls under tree trunks, then a horizontal cargo net.  That one injured me too, because I had the bright idea to try walking across it and ended up rolling off the rope and falling into it.  That was the suckiest obstacle for me, easily.  After that, it was Teetering Traverse, which was basically a plank walking obstacle, then a shed sized object you had to climb up the side of, over the top of, and then down the other side of.  About 0.5 mile more of running and we got to the warrior fires to jump over, followed by the mud pit to swim through, and finally the finish!  My time was 52:59, which sounds pretty bad for a 5K, but was probably the median time for all runners.

So what was my takeaways:

#1 - That was a HELL of a lot of fun.  I loved the feeling of accomplishing a big challenge and knowing I could do it.  I am ready to do it again next year
#2 - I really need to work on strength training.  Tough Mudder is 12 MILES, not 3.  Plus tougher obstacles.  My quads and arms were sore until today, so I know I'll need better strength to make a go at those obstacles
#3 - I need to get the running back on track.  I was so dissapointed in the amount of walking I had to do.
#4 - Do not take shoes you want to wear ever again.  They literally had a mountain of shoes in the end which people were recycling

It was a ton of fun and I'd reccomend it to anyone.  Even if you feel like you can't do it now...set your goal and make it happen.  Next year, we hope to put a team together, because if you do St. Jude's Warriors and raise $250, you get use of private showers at the event (I had to use the public firehose truck, which really just gets you clean enough to not be dripping mud as you walk around).