Dirty Dash

Inspired by all the racing I have done this year, Lisa decided to throw her hat in the ring.  She was extremely (overly) excited about this Dirty Dash race coming to Missoula.  My initial thoughts were - what is this Dirty Dash and why is held at a horse park?

The smoke was out in full force.  Probably the worst smoke day of the year and here we are at the horse park - yee haw!!  I started to feel uncomfortable almost immediately aka the parking lot.  A full grown man was wearing a sparkly woman's bikini bottom and NOTHING ELSE and pounding a beer while in full sprint... must be the warm-up.  Can't wait to see what his stretching routine looks like.

Lisa had done little preparation for this race save getting a brand new, white OULA t-shirt.  Let's do this 9573.

I have never seen anything quite like this...  it was very.... American.  A full on celebration of dirt, beer and being out of shape.  The race organization was passing out beer at the starting line.  Here's to you Mr. Moose!!!!!!!

This American dirt celebration includes (obvsiously there is mud, beer, costumes and people who shouldn't be running) obstacles to test one's agility and resolve.  Watch young kids launch water balloons at the racers... and I got another great shot of Mr. Moose.






Lisa took a solid face plant on the pipes.  One severely intoxicated individual, outsmarted the competition with a nice backstroke through this section and proved to me that beer (in the right hands) can be a performance enhancer.

I just love it when the smoke hits the mud at just the right angle...

Somewhere between the pipes and the slip and slide I managed to lose Lisa's race t-shirt.  I did a quick recon of the area but someone snagged it.  Lisa is going to kill me.. at least she is smiling in the photos. 

Ok, well I missed the rest of the course because I was trying to hunt down that punk kid who picked up Lisa's shirt.  Though I never found that kid, I did manage to catch her at the finish swamp.

Watch the guy in a green cutoff tee behind Lisa shove his friend face first into the swamp.  He had a lot of fight in him.  My vote for performance of the day.

With smoke filled lungs, a stomach filled with PBR and a mud covered body Lisa reflects on this great "American" experience.  Where else in the world would you find your neighbors, friends and family on a Saturday morning drinking beer, cross dressing, climbing hay bales, swimming through mud and coughing profusely from extended smoke inhalation?  I don't know what Obama and Romney are so worked up about - the American Dream is alive and well!

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Encore?  Lisa and her OULA friends had rehearsed a dance for a flash mob.  The only problem is that they couldn't stop dancing from the time the finished the race until their "secret" flash mob was set to take place.  It wasn't hard to figure out that 20 women, all wearing the same OULA t-shirt, were dancing together by the stage.  Eventually the song came on and this is what transpired...