Same Side!!!

You may remember back in June, Chogs (aka. Bryan Sendelweck, aka. "The Dean") flew out to San Jose for the Muddy Buddy. It is two man, one bike, leap frogging bike/run race that is 7 miles long. There are a handful of cities in the US that host this event including San Jose, LA, Boston, Austin and Boulder. At the San Jose event we suffered a flat tire at the beginning of the race which was a huge hold up but still a lot of fun. We decided we'd sign up for the Boulder race in hopes of finishing without any technical difficulties. I flew into Colorado Springs late Friday night for the race weekend.

The race is broken up into heats by age. We signed up for the "Beast" heat which means that the combined weight of the team is over 400 lbs! We were right on the edge weighing exactly 400 lbs so we went out for huge burritos, margaritas and beers in Boulder the night before to make sure we were adequately qualified for this category.

Paul with a sissy marg, Joe & Bryan with manly mini-margs at The Rio in Boulder.

We did wonder why we always end up eating spicy mexican food and drinking the night before the race. It is a horrible way to prepare. We both agreed that if we lived in the same state and got to hang out more frequently, we wouldn't feel so compelled to take an opportunity at partying. Racing and partying is not necesarily a synergy from an athletic perspective, but why not use the trip out as an opportunity for both!

Chogs's girlfriend Myra has a super fun group of friends we hung out with the night before. As a result we lost track of time we made it back to Chog's parents house in Louisville at around 2:00 AM singing Justin Timberlake. We had to wake up early the next morning at about 5:45 in order to make the shotgun race start at 8:00 AM. We got up, ate and were off to Boulder Reservoir!

Overall we both agree that the Boulder event was much more organized than San Jose. There were 27 teams in the beast category and we ended up finishing 2nd place out of the 27!! Much better without the flat tire! We were only about 40 seconds behind the 1st place team. We think next year we might take it a bit more seriously to test the bounds of our potential. In either case we're proud of our finish...

We wanted to thank our spectators!! We had an excellent showing! My mom came to cheer us on as well as my "Best in-laws on my wife's side of the family - in the world", Greg and Amy!! Myra also came out to cheer us on. I was very proud to have such a supportive showing! It is always fun to "get out in the day" with family and do something different. We really appreciate everyone getting up so early to come watch and for taking all the photos I've posted!

(Bryan at the start with the Bike)

(Shotgun start - Bryan in the blue shirt with white bike tires)

(Shotgun start for the runners. Im' in there with a green shirt near that trojan looking guy)
(Entering the Mud pit at the finish)
(Almost there!)
(Just a few feet more!)

(Hanging out with the fam!)
(Myra, Chogs, Amy, Me, Raquel)

What does "Same Side" mean? We wanted to come up with a signature move that would set us apart from all other runners. We came up with the "Same Side" running technique. Normally people run or walk with their arms and legs moving in opposite directions in order to balance out their motion. Same side is where you have your arms and legs going the same direction. It looks very awkward like some type of ghoul, but it is quite intimidating for the competition and my wife thinks it looks very manly. (Ok - I might have made that up - but she might think so!)